Over the course of our trip we have experienced some big changes as we move from place to place. Europe to Nepal, Nepal to India, and now India to Thailand. Each new landscape we enter is so different than the last that and it takes some time to adjust to our new surroundings. A lot of traveling is becoming comfortable with all the little things you either have, or don’t have. The transition from India to Thailand felt great. Thailand caters to travelers so much more than India. In India you are truly on your own, you don’t know who to trust, and more often than not people are after your money. It is sad to say that but believe us, its true. In Thailand you simply walk into a travel office, tell them where you would like to go and they ship you like cattle to your final destination. It’s as easy as that. Another one of the small luxuries we have neglected is ice. Sounds funny but ice in India is off limits to travelers. In Thailand all of the ice is made from treated water, meaning we can now have smoothies, cocktails, and cold everything! So having ice was a treat like you could not believe. You don’t notice it because you have it, but ice is just like your pillow at home, its great to have all the time!
We had a few days in Bangkok, which was a great start to our Thailand adventure. Bangkok was beautiful with clean streets and glittering Wats (temples). We saw all of the sites and enjoyed our new surroundings. Bangkok was so different than some of the bigger cities we went to in India. We relaxed, ate Thai-curry, shopped and took in all the hustle and bustle of this enormous city. We visited the Weekend Market in Bangkok, which is the biggest market in all of Thailand, and it did not disappoint. You could buy anything from coconut ice cream to a yorkie puppy. We contemplated buying the puppy to say the least and defiantly ate some coconut ice cream.
From Bangkok we went to Chiang Mai, a smaller city with great energy. We took an overnight bus to get to Chiang Mai, which was not the best. We ended up getting in two hours early at 5:00 AM, obviously too early to check into our hotel but we were able to work out a very good deal into a much nicer hotel. We got some sleep, rented some scooters and were off. We scooted around the city checking out the Wats (temples) and took some longer journeys into the mountains.
After Chiang Mai we headed further north to the small town of Pai. Simply put Pai is paradise. It has everything you would want and nothing more. The best, healthiest food is here, and it’s cheap. Check our photos to see more, but we had a perfect home, perfect food, a dog to call our own, and plenty of adventure to make us never want to leave this small town in the jungle. We met Dan and Priscilla, they are a great couple from Oregon that just finished two years of teaching in Korea, and they just got hitched! Congrats! So we shared the great vibes of Pai with them and had an amazing time. Can’t wait to see them again! Our time in Pai was suppose to be about 3-4 days and ended up being 10, and it was still far too short. We will be back! From here we head to Laos with a two-day trip down the Mekong River on a “slow boat.” From Laos to Cambodia to meet with some of Jeff’s family, and then to the islands of Thailand. Life on the road is too good. Glad there is much, much more ahead of us.
Street food, Pai
More Destinations -
