Koh Lanta

This place was bliss. After coming from a party island, we made it to Koh Lanta which was more easy going. Caleb found us an amazing resort, Pimalai Resort, on the island with air condition, no broken shower head and the most amazing view!

Pool at the Pimalai Resort

Koh Phi Phi

After Chiang Mai we headed south to Koh Phi Phi Don. Koh Phi Phi has two islands - Don and Leh. Everyone stays on Don and travels to Leh for adventures in snorkeling and with monkeys. We flew into Phuket and took a ferry to Koh Phi Phi Don. When arriving, there was a bit of a culture shock. I never appreciated the "No Solicitation" signs until this point. You are instantly bombarded with people selling hotel rooms and boat rides to Koh Phi Phi Leh. I just ignored them and moved on. A porter from our hotel greeted us and got our luggage to carry to the resort.

We made it to the "resort" and checked in just fine. I put resort in quotes because this was not a resort. I can describe Koh Phi Phi as an island to go to when you're between 18 and 25 and just want to party. The "resort" was basically a place with a bed to lay your head between drunken stupors and running water to wash off last night's alcohol that's oozing through your skin because you reek of it. Can't you tell that I like this island? If you can't tell - this is complete sarcasm. We did not participate in any of the parties but this is what I observed. I would not recommend this island to anyone but maybe one day to do snorkeling and see the viewpoint.

Chiang Mai - What a Gem

After the hustle and bustle of Bangkok (it's almost the same number of people as New York), Chiang Mai was a very welcome retreat. This town has the smaller beach town vibe.

Chiang Mai - Elephant Jungle Sanctuary

Elephant Jungle Sanctuary

When looking for activities in Thailand, I immediately thought about riding elephants. As I did more research, I learned that the elephants that are ridden are typically abused. Therefore this was not an option for us. But through the research everyone mentioned going to an elephant sanctuary where you get to interact with the elephants more than if you rode them. Done and done. I found the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary online and signed up for a half day excursion.

We were picked up at our hostel and met our excursion group. These people - Joe, Helena, Rianne and Emily - were amazing! All of them had so many adventures and stories and we all clicked.

Bangkok - Day 3 with Temple Visits and Shopping

For the 3rd and final day in Bangkok, we visited the three major temples - The Grand Palace, Wat Phor and Wat Arun. It was a very hot and very humid day! Both Caleb and I ended up getting burned at the end of it all.

The Grand Palace

We did not have much luck with Uber cars in Bangkok so we took a taxi out to The Grand Palace. While driving up to the palace, there was a huge long line. I thought oh my goodness I hope we don't have to stand in that to get inside. I guess we would see soon enough. Google took us to the main gate of The Grand Palace, but that's no where you enter. There is a security check around the corner and across the street. Once through the security line, we got into the palace grounds pretty quickly.

So what was that line for? The king of Thailand passed away last year on October 13, 2016 and he was very beloved. The country is in a year-long mourning and the line was mourners come to give their respects to the king.

Bangkok - Day 2 a Thai Cooking Class

I was super excited about this cooking class and it did not disappoint! Brian was still sick (so to find out it was flu) so just Caleb and I took part in the amazing experience. I booked this hotel on TripAdvisor. It was called a Half Day Cooking Class in Bangkok .

The class was at the Bangkok Thai Cooking Academy. We picked 6 different courses from about 30 different offerings. To keep things a little simple, they had each group booking pick the same thing. With Caleb's knowledge of food, I was happy to have him pick the choices.

Bangkok - Day 1 Ramen, Muay Thai Match and Rooftop Bar

Seriously the 14 hour flight to Seoul and 6 hour flight to Bangkok were no joke! I thought I could handle it and I did but man was it exhausting. We arrived in Bangkok about 11pm on the 13th and got to the hotel about 12:30pm because of an Uber mixup. Anyways - we all passed out pretty much immediately.

Me after 14 long long hours of flying

The next day, poor Brian was so sick and stayed inside to sleep. Caleb and I headed out to get our bearings. Right outside of our hotel is a little market that starts up and takes down each day. They sell everything from fruits and vegetables, flowers, fish and prawns, and cooked meals. We walked along these little shops to get to the metro station. Figuring out the BTS transit was not hard at all! Bangkok has done and amazing job with their public transit. Every train was well documented and the trains were super nice.