A journey through Thailand - Part two

11th of September - 13th of September / Chiang Mai

Together with two guys I met on the flight, and Inge, a girl I met at the hostel, I took the day-train to Chiang Mai. Here we slept in a really nice and clean hostel for only €3 per night. Crazy times. Won’t ever get used to this I guess. I’m glad that it’s a lot more quiet here than in Bangkok. We visited a few temples, got a smoothie bowl; because fruit was needed, and I’ve got my first Thai massage ever. Actually I asked for a normal massage, but I guess they don’t know what that is. It was rough and I kind of thought my bones would break, but it was a fun experience. Or let’s say, a interesting experience. 

Together with a group of people we rented some scooters. After five minutes the police pulled us over already. Great. It’s such a weird policy because everyone knows they’re just giving many people a unjustified bill and there’s nothing you can do about it. And they enjoy it. Well, actually I’m glad that at least someone does. 

Our plan was to drive to Doi Inthanon National Park but the trip would’ve been way longer than we thought. Like almost double as long. When it started raining we decided just to go to the Mae Klang Waterfall which was on about half way of the trip. It wasn’t our goal to see this, but even though it was really amazing. Such a calming and beautiful place in the middle of the jungle, without any people.

14th of September / 21.30

After some hesitating and research, Inge and I found a Elephant Sanctuary that looked trustable. A 1,5 hour drive into the jungle, a bumpy road with many curves. The elephants live in a big jungle area with a river. The owners live in little huts and it’s their job to take care of the elephants everyday. No one was allowed to ride on them and they looked healthy. We were allowed to feed them bananas and after that we walked to the river together. It was a pretty unreal experience, walking in the jungle with elephants as if it’s a daily thing to do. Well, for them it is. At some point everyone was allowed to get in the water and swim with them, which felt a little unnatural and quite scary, so I decided to just watch and trying to be as present as possible in this kind of surreal moment.

In the afternoon we took a bus to Pai. This busdrive was also not the best I’ve ever had, with about 700 curves. We survived though. For the first time the bathrooms were how I imagined them to be in Thailand. One where you have to open the door first to have a little sneak in, to make sure there are no weird animals inside. But I must have forgotten that tourists and backpackers discovered Thailand early enough, to have a lot of time to build many western oriented hostels.

Our first impression at the night market was really good. Everything looked so clean and there was so much choice between many different kind of kitchens. I am confident to say that this was the best street food i’ve had so far.

15th - 17th of September / Pai

We went to a beautiful waterfall, visited rice fields, the White Buddha, went to the Pai Canyon for sunset, which was pretty amazing. One morning we joined a quite intens but really nice yoga session at a place called ‘Paradise’. It felt so relaxing and good to start a day like this. At the same chilly place they organized open mic evenings, which was a lot of fun. We visited another viewpoint, another waterfall, and had some more nice street food. Pai was such a great experience, which made me feel very content during this trip. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss this cute little hippy town. Wish I could stay there longer.

18th of September / 19.35

After a 3 hour busdrive to Chiang Mai and a 2 hour flight, we arrived in Surathani. What a city. So dirty, so many rats and cockroaches on the street. We were glad that this was just a stop and that we’d leave the next morning. Wouldn’t want to stay here any longer.

19th - 22nd of September / Koh Tao

These days were mainly filled with laying on the beach, scootering around, visiting viewpoints and watching the best sunsets. We joined a snorkel tour, saw a lot of interesting fishes, beautiful coral and even a few mini sharks. Koh Tao is a beautiful island (if you think the tourists away at some places). 

23th - 24th of September / Khao Sok

A long trip from the island to Khao Sok National Park. Somehow the traveling from city to city can be quite exhausting. Even if you are able to sit in the bus, boat, train or car, it’s quite intens. You mostly drive for 3-6 hours, but sometimes even 10 or 15 hours. During these trips we have some short breaks and sometimes we have to switch busses spontaneously. You see a lot of diverse landscapes, different people, weird smells; just many impressions.

We booked a day tour to the National Park. The park is a remnant of rain forest which is even older than the Amazon rain forest. Pretty interesting. First we had a long boat trip through the park, literally mind-blowing. I have never seen anything like this before. It just felt like we were in the middel of a film. Everywhere you looked, huge mountains stuck out of the water, covered with trees and plants. The limestone rocks looked so much more amazing in real life. This is one of the things I can’t really explain by words. 

After lunch we hiked up a high waterfall. Wet shoes and wet socks guaranteed. On our way back to the bus, the motor of our boat let us down. The guy who ran us back and forth tried to fix it, but at some point he gave up and he started to paddle. With just one paddle. Then someone figured out that we could also use the boards of the boat and not much later we were all paddling along. In the end another boat came to pick us up and brought us back to the pier.

25th - 27th of September / Phuket

We didn’t hear too much about Phuket and as we arrived we kind of understood why. So. Many. Tourist. I guess this city is just only living for tourists. The only good thing was that the sun was shining, again! Even though they said it would be really bad weather in the south. And that we could surf. The waves weren’t too high but for a beginner like me that was just perfect. One night we decided to visit the famous Patong party street. Definitely a experience to never forget. Wow, what a crazy street this is, and I don’t understand it at all. Why is it so accepted that everything is so open and exposed, in a country like this? I can’t really explain what I don’t like about it, but I guess it’s just everything. At the same time this is also the only reason why you should visit Phuket, so you can experience it yourself. 

28th of September / Krabi

Today is a sad day. Inge is leaving to Ho Chi Minh, which means that we’re going separate ways from now on. I didn’t expect to find a travel friend right in the beginning, but I am really positive about it. At some point you’re getting comfortable with someone, which can be both positive and negative. You feel less obligated to be social all the time, and also less guilty when you’re just being unsocial for a few days. At the same time, because you are comfortable with someone, you might not meet the people you’d meet when you would be alone. But that is totally fine to me. That is the whole reason why I decided to travel somewhere on my own in the first place, so that I could just do and decide what feels good to me.

It was really nice to share all these new experiences and impressions with someone I met during the trip, and I am curious about how the first days will be on my own. I am leaving to Vietnam as well in a few days, but I will travel from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh. So probably we’ll meet up somewhere along the way again. Which I’m already looking forward to :) But first, let’s see what’s going on in Krabi.

29th of September - 2nd of October / The last days in Thailand

My last days in Thailand are filled with peaceful walks at the beach, walks around the city and some more amazing sunsets. The sunsets. They really take my breath away. It’s crazy to me that something so beautiful can be created by nature. It changes every minute and mostly only get’s prettier. It one of the magical things on earth that I adore the most.

Oh, and I hiked up a hill to watch another viewpoint. This one was spectacular. The path to it was a real challenge, 3,8 km up hill. And back, not to forget. I really can’t remember the last time that I sweated so much, but it was totally worth it.

It felt weird to be at the airport. Flying to another country. In the same continent. A new adventure. Different people. Other perspectives and mindsets. Another culture. Different cities and landscapes. Everything will probably be so different than here. I am super excited for all these new impressions. Let’s go.