Thailand Extras - ประเทศไทย

A year ago today we were on a plane traveling and making our way to Thailand! What a dream trip it was. There are so many of those moments during a trip that don't really fit into the story of what you did when you are journaling about it. This post is full of all those extra pictures and moments :)

POSTS ON THAILAND
Bangkok

Tigers in Chiang Mai

Karen Long Neck Tribe Chiang Mai

Elephants in Chiang Mai 

Koh Samui
Thailand Extras

Koh Samui เกาะสมุย - Thailand

Yes, that would be a scuba mask mark on my forehead haha :)

I can't believe it has taken me almost a year exactly to finish blogging about our trip to Thailand! My bad! Life got a tad nuts after we got back, me getting a new job, Trevor working full time at his new firm, house hunting, and then moving! Oh yeah and then getting pregnant. Trevor, who I swear almost never reads this blog, was getting after me the other day because I hadn't finished blogging about our trip to Thailand! haha So that is when you know it is bad. It has been hard to finish these up because I want to do each place justice and I spend a lot of time recapping everything. Time is something I don't have a lot of these days, but since Trevor got on my case, here is the next part of our trip, almost exactly a year later, oops! And beware, there are a TON of photos! haha

POSTS ON THAILAND
Bangkok

Tigers in Chiang Mai

Karen Long Neck Tribe Chiang Mai

Elephants in Chiang Mai 

Koh Samui
Thailand Extras 

 

The next morning we didn't have enough time to go into town for breakfast because we needed to catch our flight. Conveniently the hostel we were staying at had a little bar and restaurant in the main garden and we ordered a quick breakfast there. They also called a taxi for us, talk about service! The meal was great and we finished up just as our taxi pulled up. Soon we were at the airport on our way to Koh Samui, the last leg of our trip! It was hard to say goodbye to Chiang Mai. We just loved it there so much and we wish we could have stayed longer.

The airline we were using to fly to Koh Samui called themselves a "boutique airline." I didn't really know what that meant but when Trevor said there was a special lounge in the airport for us to wait at until our flight, I was intrigued. It did not disappoint. The lounge was beautiful. Clean, spacious, modern, and there was food! They had drinks and a variety of snacks for you. Of course I dove head first into those, and did I mention they had wifi? Wifi while in an international airport for over an hour is pretty special. While in the lounge we started researching the best beaches on the island and where we wanted to go first and do once we got there. We were getting excited about heading to the really relaxing part of the vacation.

CHIANG MAI เชียงใหม่ ELEPHANTS ช้างไทย

We were in a very secluded area, with random houses and small villages spread out. At one point we made a turn as we climbed higher and higher into the mountains and I couldn't believe my eyes. I did a few double takes. There was a large valley with green as far as the eye could see, and elephants scattered throughout. If I didn't know better I would think I was starring at a picture, a painting, something not real. It was incredible. We proceeded to see scenes like this along the way, and once I spotted the first elephant crossing sign I got so giddy I could hardly contain myself.

 

POSTS ON THAILAND
Bangkok

Tigers in Chiang Mai

Karen Long Neck Tribe Chiang Mai

Elephants in Chiang Mai 

Koh Samui
Thailand Extras

Chiang Mai - Karen Long Neck Hilltribe

After the day we had before I didn't think it would be possible to top it. No way. It was just too good. But I also knew that by the end of the day I would be riding an elephant. AN ELEPHANT! It has always been a dream of mine to ride one, so the excitement of that had my adrenaline pumping pretty early that morning. Since being in Thailand, Trevor and I had planned everything we had done on our own, but for the elephants we had booked the day through Blue Elephant and had picked a package for the day that included a bunch of different things. 

Our tour guide picked us up early that morning. Our first stop for the day was at a market outside of town. You could instantly tell that it was different then some of the other markets we had seen in the big cities. You could tell it was where the locals went. Mr. Nong, our tour guide, walked us through the aisles. Aisles of color, variety, and just plain beauty. That may read like a dramatic way to describe a local fresh market, but it isn't. Everything about this place was beautiful. The exotic foods, the people and their interactions with each other. The whole atmosphere was just, beautiful. We picked out fruits and treats for the day as well as some bananas for the elephants. I loved watching Mr. Nong talk to his friends, and he would take the time to tell us about the food and who he was talking to. Speaking of our tour guide, Mr. Nong was a smart good looking young man, around the same age as Trevor and I. It was fun to spend time with someone our age from Thailand, and really learn about his life. He was funny and never ceased to amaze me with all the information he knew about Thailand. As a history major I was soaking up everything and loving every second of it. He proceeded to tell us facts and teach us phrases in Thai through out the whole day. He really was amazing!

POSTS ON THAILAND
Bangkok

Tigers in Chiang Mai

Karen Long Neck Tribe Chiang Mai

Elephants in Chiang Mai 

Koh Samui
Thailand Extras

Chiang Mai, Thailand - Tigers! เชียงใหม่

Sorry it has taken me so long to write about the next part of our trip to Thailand! Life has been pretty hectic since we got back, and I had NO time! If you missed the first post, check out Bangkok HERE.

Chiang Mai. Oh beautiful Chiang Mai. We got into Chiang Mai very late and grabbed a taxi to our hotel. It was almost midnight and the town was fairly quiet, not nearly as much hustle and bustle as Bangkok. Trevor and I looked at each other, subconsciously agreeing how much better we already liked it here.  So far everyone was so kind, and so helpful. After a cold shower and a good nights rest, we woke up on the hunt to find a highly reviewed breakfast spot I had found online. We of course quickly got lost going up and down random side streets of this old town. We were hesitant to ask for help after our experiences in Bangkok, but figured we had no other choice at that point. We spotted a young man opening up a store and asked him for directions, without a word he just pointed at this man on the street. This sweet man walked us all the way to the restaurant! We chatted along the way, talking about his life and how he was born and raised in Chiang Mai. He waved and greeted those around us as we talked and you could tell all of them were his long time friends and neighbors. Of course the place wasn't that far away at all, and we quickly realized we had been walking in circles earlier. To our defense the streets are tiny little alley ways zig zagging like a little maze all around the city. Even if you knew Thai you could easily get confused. It was so refreshing to meet someone who just wanted to genuinely help us, expecting nothing in return. We quickly learned that everyone in Chiang Mai was like this. A very genuine and kind city.

Breakfast World, the restaurant, sure lived up to it's name! The place was gorgeous. It had all outside seating, and was covered in green plants, and beautiful flowers. It was a mini paradise hidden amongst the local streets of this old city, a true gem. And the food was just as good. We didn't realize how big the portions were and I am pretty sure we looked like we were fitting into the American stereotype nicely, because when our food came out we were shocked with how much there was. SO MUCH FOOD! The guy who took our ordered had given us a kind of weird look when we placed the order and I was realizing why after we could barely fit all of our food on our table, HA! We walked back to our hotel very satisfied and almost too full. I highly recommend it if you are going to be in Chiang Mai.

A gazillion more pics after the jump ;)

POSTS ON THAILAND
Bangkok

Tigers in Chiang Mai

Karen Long Neck Tribe Chiang Mai

Elephants in Chiang Mai 

Koh Samui
Thailand Extras

Bangkok, Thailand - กรุงเทพมหานคร

This post is going to be very picture HEAVY! :)

Thailand has been a dream destination on my list of wanderlust for awhile now. The start of May was amazing traveling around Thailand with Trevor, and I can't wait to share everything we loved, and learned about this beautiful country. I hope that my insight can be helpful for those of you who have thought about or are planning on going someday.

We started the long trek of traveling just a few days after Trevor's graduation. After catching a flight to San Fransisco we boarded the thirteen hour flight to Taipei, Taiwan. Apparently you aren't able to choose your own seats on China Air, and we were separated for the longest part of the traveling, which was a pretty big downside when you are on a flight that long. But we arrived in Taipei excited to be done with the hardest part of the journey and ready to be in Thailand in just a few short hours. We landed in Bangkok and the first thing we did was grab a taxi to head to our hotel.

POSTS ON THAILAND
Bangkok

Tigers in Chiang Mai

Karen Long Neck Tribe Chiang Mai

Elephants in Chiang Mai 

Koh Samui
Thailand Extras

Unplugged.

So I had all these grand plans to have blog posts set up and ready to go for when I was gone. But the reality is, the last few weeks leading up to us leaving for Thailand was so hectic and chaotic. So much needed to get done, so much wasn't ready, and so much was going on with graduation and family in town. Then I thought about how I could swing managing it from abroad, that idea lasted for about a second.

The thing is, I blog about my life and interests, and never want it to to be priority over quality time with friends and family. So often I feel we let our jobs, hobbies, whatever it may be take the priority. I wanted one hundred percent focus on me and my husband while away. I loved being totally unplugged from it all while in Thailand with Trevor. It was a much needed break.

After a grueling three years in Law School, working, life in general... we have not had much time for the kind of quality time all couples need. Can I just tell you how AMAZING the quality time we had in Thailand was?! I think my favorite thing about going to Thailand was reconnecting with my husband. It felt like a honeymoon, like we were dating again. I get a little teary eyed thinking about it honestly. I love that man so much and have renewed the goal to make sure we get that quality time more often, and don't let the common stresses of life get in the way. Oh how important it is. It is THE most important thing.

We both are ready to get back into the groove of things and are looking forward to the new changes happening in our lives! I will be back to blogging regularly, and get ready for lots of posts about Thailand :)