Thailand: North to South

September 25 – October 10, 2019

Bangkok – Icky and Sticky

After a long day of travel, four hours getting from Cambridge to Heathrow through London and a 12 hour flight, we were exhausted upon arrival. The heat and humidity hit us like a hot wet blanket stepping out of the airport in Bangkok and we thanked our lucky stars for the air conditioned airport transfer the hotel had arranged for us. We stayed in the Sukhumvit neighbourhood, which is where the nicer hotels are situated, but this doesn’t insulate you from the seedy side of Bangkok.

We had a great budget hotel, $70.00 CDN a night with air conditioning and a pool. We were steps from the SkyTrain stop and we availed ourselves of the various transportation option during our stay. SkyTrain, Tuk-Tuk, cab, water taxis helped us navigate this frenetic city over our four day-three-night stay. We picked a few things a day to do as we could not see ourselves rushing anywhere in this heat, 34 degrees and 100% humidity saps your energy after leaving 15-degree temperatures in the UK.

We took a Tuk-Tuk night tour which included multiple tourist stops and photo ops and a few stops for food at different markets, including a small local market and the famous Bangkok flower market. We were disappointed the tour wasn’t a food tour, (our mistake for not double checking), but we did get to try “The Best Pad Thai in Bangkok”. Both Heidi and I agreed, we preferred the Pad Thai we have had in Vancouver, personal taste I guess.

We took a water taxi and toured the royal palace, amazing place, and the adjacent temple Wat Pho that houses the famous reclining Buddha, (46 meters long and 15 meters high wrapped in gold) before we ran out of energy. Working our way back home we slipped down one of the many Soi (alley’s) that branch out from the main drag in Sukhumvit in search of authentic Thai street food. We were never disappointed, the food is fresh, flavourful and exotic and almost free it’s so cheap. We ate spicy papaya salad, various curry dishes, (red, green and in between) fresh fruit salads as well as the famous Pad Thai. It was down these back alleys where we witnessed the not-so-nice side of Bangkok, girls and boys young and old plying their trade. Even though Heidi and I had a Thai Massage we made sure it was an establishment that did not provide “a happy ending”.

Like Vegas, 4 days was enough time for Bangkok and we couldn’t wait to catch our night bus out to Koh Samui and our relaxing stay at the beach.

Koh Samui – Paradise on the Beach

Koh Samui is Thailand second largest island and is situated 800 kilometres south of Bangkok in the gulf of Thailand. Before leaving for Thailand, multiple people told me we MUST go to Koh Samui as it was the highlight of their Thai experience.  I researched best travel options from Bangkok to Koh Samui and read multiple articles and blogs talking about the overnight buses, so we thought what the heck, let’s give it a try.

We were picked up in Bangkok, driven 11 hours on a sleeper bus and then delivered by ferry to the island for a whopping $22.00 CDN per person, which included a blanket, pillow, sandwich and water. My Scottish blood sang. So ignoring the fact that we almost missed it because of my oversight on check-in times, the bus was only half full and had fully reclining seats, so we were both able to catch a few hours’ sleep on the way down, lots enough when heading to a sleepy paradise.

The house we stayed at was right on the beach in a super quiet neighbourhood known as Taling Ngam on the west side of the island. Our neighbours were a yoga resort known as Future Hippies. Most of the tourist stay on the east and north coast, so we were far from the maddening crowds as they say. We rented a scooter a couple of days to tour the island and visit the waterfalls, but mostly we just swam, read our books and relaxed, which was the goal of this stage of our trip, (heal up after the C2C). There was a fantastic Thai restaurant 100 meters from our place, so we lacked for nothing and our home was very rustic, all teak with no air conditioning but lots of fans. The only thing you had to watch out for were coconuts falling from the trees, our front yard was full of trees and the gentle ocean breezes blew almost non-stop.

The ocean water was like a bathtub, it had to be 90 degrees in the sheltered bay we were in, but that didn’t stop us from getting a little exercise from our daily swim each day. It was troubling how much plastic our oceans have in them, part of our routines each day was cleaning ours and the yoga studios beach of plastic debris. Without exaggeration we would collect 1/2-2/3 of a black garbage bag per day on a 100-meter stretch of beach.

It took us a couple of days to get climatized and to feel comfortable being so isolated, but we grew to love the spot and didn’t want to leave when the time came. This type of super quiet stay wouldn’t be for everyone, but it was just what the doctor ordered for Heidi and me.

A funny anecdote, I told Heidi on arrival in Koh Samui that I wanted to see if we could find a version of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical “The King and I” starring Yule Brenner and Deborah Kerr and Rita Moreno set in early Thailand territory then known as Siam. It took me a while, but good old Google located a version, so we rented it. About 30 minutes into the movie Heidi decided to google what Thai people think of the film, only to discover the film is banned in Thailand, at risk of imprisonment. Given our next door neighbour was cozy with the local police we decided to turn it off, I didn’t want to have to call my daughter from a Thai jail trying to explain, “really girls, we just rented a movie”.

Chiang Mai 

This ancient city dates back to the 1200’s and is situated in the mountainous northern part of Thailand. If you think that means it isn’t as hot, no luck, still 30+ degrees and humid. We stayed in a neighbourhood close to downtown, which is the walled part of old town. We arrived on Sunday and luckily this was the night for their busiest market day called “Tha Pae Walking Street”. It was crazy busy with the local food, crafts and wares, but no cell phone cases, and charger stands like night markets in Vancouver and Bangkok. We wandered around for a few hours, ate our way up and down the many streets that make up the market and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

We also visited a hotel called 137 pillars near our home at the recommendation of our hosts. It was voted best hotel in Asia by TripAdvisor for 2019. When we arrived, we were given a tour by one of the hotel staff, a nice fellow named Toto, (love the name, we were given another hotel tour by a chap named Peter Pan). The hotel was formally owned by a British teak baron named Louis Leonowens. The coincidence here is, he was the son Anna Leonowens, the British schoolteacher on whom the banned movie “The King and I” was based.

Monday we spent all day on a tour of an elephant sanctuary at the strong recommendation of our daughter Sarah and her best friend Maya who did it a few years back. The sanctuary is called, “Into The Wild” and came very highly rated on an ethical scale based on Heidi’s research. I must admit I was expecting to be disappointed because these animal tourist tours often turn out to be less than expected, but thankfully I was wrong.

We were driven 2 hours up into the mountains to a large plot of land filled with jungle and intersected by a river. The sanctuary was home to 5 elephants (two adults and three youngsters under 4 years old), and their handlers, about 8-10 northern Thai people who were born and raised and continue to live in the mountains.   They lived in simple bamboo and thatch huts spread around the large open fields that made up the center of the sanctuary on the edge of the river, We learned what elephants like to eat, helped make up the natural organic medicines they are fed to help with everything from nutrition to regularity and better understood what an elephant not in captivity needs to remain healthy and happy. These giants need to eat 16-18 hours a day to get enough nutrition so supplementing their diets with locally grown sugar cane and the organic concoctions we prepared help them with their balanced diets.

We joined the herd in the forest where they fed from the native vegetation and I marvelled at how dexterous they are, climbing waterfalls over staggered rocks, walking narrow jungle trails, all the while choosing between vegetation they like to eat from the other varieties available. After the jungle walk, we ate a beautiful lunch prepared by the staff.

Following lunch we gave the herd a mud bath and then joined them in the river for a swim. I felt very emotional during this exercise as I really sensed they all enjoyed the physical touching and talking we shared with each of them. The young ones were especially playful rolling around in the river and fully submersing themselves during playtime. The time flew by and before we knew it the 6 hours we spent with the herd was over.

As we were crossing the bridge back to our truck for the journey home, the matriarch of the herd stood by the end of the bridge waving her trunk and huge ears as if to say goodbye. Heidi and a couple of the other girls almost lost it. This was a once in a lifetime experience and we thank Sarah and Maya for their insistence in our participation, we will never forget the day with these gentle giants.

On Tuesday we hired Ben, a local Thai English teacher to take us on a tour for the day beginning with a local attraction called the sticky waterfalls. They are so named because the spring from which this river flows is chalk full of calcium, which deposits on the floor of the river and on the rocks on the waterfalls, allowing you to walk up and down them without slipping. It took a little getting used to but in no time Heidi and I were moving up and down these waterfalls effortlessly.

After the waterfalls we visited a popular lake that has small huts on stilts serving as the tables for local restaurants. You rent the hut for $1.00 per person and then pay for food. We spent 2-3 hours relaxing and eating a sumptuous Thai feast of chili and herb crusted fish, larb, which is the Thai equivalent of lettuce wrap, as well as garlic and chili sautéed morning-glories, which are a cross between Chinese broccoli and spinach. All this food including rice, drinks and tip was a whopping $20.00 for three people.

Later that night we went to Ben’s home, that doubles as his English school, to participate in a night of Thai cooking. This was a quid pro quo arrangement, we got to learn a few Thai dishes and his students got to practise speaking English. We joined a couple of the student shopping for the ingredients and when we returned shared the cooking and eating with about 5-6 of his students. A fun night was had by all.

Our final day in Chiang Mai was spent finishing our to-do-list. We started out in old town visiting the largest and oldest temple in Chiang Mai, very interesting. The Temple dates to the 1200’s and is known for the ornate painted walls that remain to today.  After the temple we went for our final Thai massage, but for a good cause. The massage studio is one of three in Thailand that teaches and employs ex-prisoners giving them employable skills and the dignity that comes with it. Very relaxing and satisfying.

To finish our list, we went to a traditional neighbourhood restaurant that specializes in a Northern Thai dish Khao Soi, (Thai coconut curry noodle soup). Having tasted such amazing food all over Thailand it’s hard to say what I liked best, but this was top three for sure, watch our Sarah and Annie, I have the recipe.