We arrived in Chiang Mai looking forward to nine whole days staying in the same guesthouse. We spent the first two months of our travels moving around at a rapid pace, staying in each location no more than three nights. We welcomed the idea of unpacking our backpacks, settling in and relaxing! We had booked our stay at the Top Garden Guesthouse nearly six months in advance in preparation for the festival we were coming into town for. I am so glad we did!! The place was in the center of everything, was completely adorable and Victor and his wife were the most gracious and friendly hosts we have come across so far! The first half of our stay was spent exploring the old walled city in the center of Chiang Mai, drinking countless mango smoothies, swimming/working out at the sports complex and meeting up with friends, Roxanne and Ian, whom we had met weeks prior on our cruise in Halong Bay, Vietnam.
My brother, Christopher, arrived just in time for the second half of our stay in Chiang Mai. We decided to brave the chaos on the roads and rent individual scooters to explore the surrounding mountains and national park. I'm not exaggerating when I say it was one of the most exhilarating and memorable experiences of my life. The roads twisted and turned around hairpin curves leading over mountain after mountain covered in tropical green forests. Detours down overgrown dirt roads unveiled waterfalls crashing over boulders with powerful force. One of our excursions brought us to Doi Suthep National Park, the home of the gold laden Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep temple. Being in a rainforest as well as landing on a pretty horrendous day as far as weather was concerned, we found ourselves soaked head to toe from the relentless rain that pelted us as we zoomed along. Even so, we decided to push forward, venturing deeper into the tropical park. Up and up we climbed as the road continued to narrow. The pavement turned to gravel, then to a simple two-track plagued with massive bumps and ruts. After 45 minutes or so, we stumbled upon a little mountain village where we enjoyed a hot cup of coffee in an open air hut overlooking the coffee plantation from which the coffee was produced. Further into the village, we stopped at a roadside stand serving up steaming Pho Bo (beef noodle soup). It was just what we needed to sustain us for the long, wet, cold journey back to the city!
As a reward for our long day's journey, we decided to get massages at the parlor near our guesthouse. It was a tiny shop to begin with, but three girls were already inside getting massages. By the time the three of us walked in and the owner had recruited various family members to provide our massages, the place was absolutely packed. They threw down some blankets on the floor between a pair of massage mattresses just to make room for me. After an hour long massage (luckily, fully clothed this time!), we walked out feeling refreshed and a bit giggly. Blair and I were very curious whether my brother enjoyed his massage from the aunt as much as we did. "Did she have nice strong hands? Did her legs scratch you at all? Did her deep voice bother you?" When he stopped in his tracks in the middle of the street with a blank look on his face, we burst out laughing. "Did you not know you were getting a massage from a ladyboy???" His face was completely priceless! We watched it morphe from surprise, to disgust, to creeped out, to acceptance, to laughter in a matter of twenty seconds. We, on the other hand, could not stop laughing.
To be fair, he handled it pretty well, all things considered...but we still had to get him this ornament as a momento:
One of our days was spent at the Ran-Tong Elephant Sanctuary where we had a whole afternoon to take care of the elephants. Blair and I took care of Suriya a favorite of the trainers, while Christopher was assigned a massive bloke that towered over his peers. We fed them, learned some training techniques, road them bareback through the fields surrounding the stables and then washed them in a particularly nasty pond of dirty water. We were encouraged to get waste deep in the water and toss buckets of water over our reclining elephants as massive round turds bubbled up from below the surface and floated by. Blair and I reluctantly agreed and paid the price afterwards with a nasty rash on our legs that lasted over a month! Christopher, on the other hand, refused--he instead sat cross-legged on the rump of his elephant while the girl he was teamed up with did the cleaning for them.
He was stumped when she turned down his request for her number later that day...hmmm, it's a mystery.
JK...he never asked for her number...but it seemed like a better ending for the story!
As our time was beginning to wind down in Chiang Mai, the original purpose of our journey there was just getting started--a pair of massive Thai festivals called Loi Krathong and Yee Peng. The Loi Krathong festival ("to float as basket) is celebrated by sending lanterns made from banana tree trunks, leaves, flowers, incense sticks and candles down the river to pay respect for the water spirits and cast a wish for the year ahead. A relentless display of fireworks (the majority coming from rambunctious teens) are set off along the river, creating a war zone atmosphere, and a parade snakes through the town for a solid 4-5 hours. The coinciding Yee Peng Festival is a time for tham bun (to make merit) during the second full moon of the Lanna lunar calendar. In the midst of all the Loi Krathong festivities, masses of people let off cylindrical paper lanterns that float gracefully into the dark night sky like giant glowing jellyfish. The combination of all the activities coupled with the endless food stands serving up Thai treats offer a sensory overload of the best kind. There is something to do, see, hear and smell every step of the way! Between the river lanterns, the sky lanterns, the candles that are prominately used during the parade and the fireworks, it is nothing short of a miracle that the city hasn't burned to the ground yet!
Our final night in Chiang Mai was spent at Maejo University for the official lantern light ceremony. Thousand of visitors were in attendance to listen to the Buddhist ceremony and send off their wishes in the simple paper lanterns. The affect en masse was anything but simple, though. The sheer scale of the event--the number of lanterns being set off simultaneously was a truly magical experience that sends shivers down your spine and makes the hairs on your arms stand on end.
The following day we hopped on an early flight and found ourselves on the Thai island of Koh Phi Phi in the Andaman Sea. The three of us eventually made our way to a quaint bungalow as far away from the thumping of the incessant beach bar parties so iconic to the island. We were happy to visit the party...just not sleep there!
The agenda was quite simple: eat, beach, smoothie, beach, shower, eat, drink, sleep and repeat. After a couple of days enjoying paradise, our friends Jamie and Breda (the awesome Irish couple that we traveled with through northern Vietnam) joined us on the island. The five of us took a boat trip to snorkle, cliff jump and visit Maya Beach (filming site of
The Beach) Koh Phi Phi. The next day we departed for our next island stop, Koh Lanta.
What a surreal/creepy experience! I'm sure the island has its busy seasons, but when we were there it seemed almost deserted. The absence of people, paired with the island's druggy vibe and the spotty weather made for a low key couple of days. From Koh Lanta, we parted ways with the Irish, as they were heading down through Malaysia and Singapore for the last week of their six month trip. I'm losing count how many times we've said, "I wish Jamie and Breda were here" since they headed home, but I guess that's how these trips go. You meet people from all over the world that you connect with, spend a few fantastic days or weeks together and then head in different directions. We just hope to visit them in Ireland or host them in Chicago sometime soon...until then, there's always Facebook!
From Koh Lanta, we took a bus across the mainland strip of Thailand to the gulf side and then caught an overnight ship to Koh Tao. Koh Tao is the smallest of the famous gulf Thai islands and it is the furthest from the mainland. The trip was so completely worth it, though. We spent seven glorious day on this ridiculously beautiful island. The first three days were spent getting certified in scubadiving--something we have been talking about doing for years. We decided to take the plung (pun intended) here in Koh Tao because it's the least expensive place in the world to get certified; it's more enjoyable doing it on a tropical island than in a scuba shop pool, and the course is done at a rapid pace. We had a great group of Irish, Swedish and Swiss guys in our class and ended up spending the next couple of days hanging out with them and celebrating our graduation.
We spent our last day in Koh Tao not actually on Koh Tao. We took a boat taxi over to Nangyuan Island, a pair of small islands just of the coast of Koh Tao connected by a sand bar that is claimed by the sea at the rise of every tide. The white sand, blue water and coral reef made for a spectacular vista from the viewpoint at the top of the southern island.
As we walked down the beach road toward the overnight boat to Surat Thani, the island gave us one final show. The best sunset of our entire stay in Thailand was a great close to this leg of our adventure!
