Weekly #2: Traveling to the North of Thailand
The second week of our world trip is a wrap! From Ayutthaya we travelled further up north and visited Sukhothai, the former capital of the Siam Kingdom and Chiang Mai, a great city full of beautiful temples and amazing cafes. We are still amazed by how easy it is to get around in Thailand and by the friendliness of the Thai people. And above all, we are enjoying our time together!
Travel Day from Ayutthaya to Sukhothai
Thursday, 9 January 2020
After two nights, we leave Ayutthaya to continue our journey to Sukhothai. Sukhothai used to be the capital of the first kingdom of Siam, established about 800 years ago. Many travellers say that Sukhothai is even more impressive than Ayutthaya, because many temples and palaces are in better condition. We are very excited!
From Ayutthaya we take the train to Phitsanulok. I love train travel in Thailand, it is so easy to get around and very comfortable. We even get some lunch on board (jasmine rice with spicy mackerel curry and some 5 spices flavoured eggs)! From Phitsanulok we have to take a local bus to Sukhothai. The fans on the roof do their job well and the temperatures in the bus are high, but bearable.
After a few hours of travel and a refreshing jump in the pool, we head to the night market of Sukhothai. There is so much choice and the food looks so amazing! I had a green curry for only 30 Baht (€0,89) and Kai had some ginger chicken with rice for 30 Baht. The beer is more expensive (65 Baht = €1,94), but at least you get a bottle even bigger than a German beer (600ml) for that!
Exploring the Historical Park of Sukhothai
Friday, 10 January 2020
Today was all about exploring the historical site of Sukhothai. The park contains 193 ruins, is 2km wide and is located in the old part of town of Sukhothai. It was a 20 minute tuk tuk ride from our guesthouse in the new part of town to get there. It got a little chilly along the way, as mornings in Sukhothai turned out to me much cooler than in Bangkok (it was only a perfect 24 °C, however that rose quickly to 35 °C). The historical park opens already at 6:30 AM in the morning but when we arrived there around 9 AM, it was still relatively quiet. Overall, I had expected it to be much busier with tourists during this time of the year in Thailand. Pleasantly surprised by that! At the Wat Mahatat (the royal temple) we meet a group of monks from Myanmar, they are visiting the site as well. The atmosphere was so quiet and peaceful, that we decided to do a 10 minute meditation. It was a beautiful experience! We just finished when we see Jochem, the same Dutch guy that we met in the bus yesterday. We spent the rest of the day together, biking from temple to temple with a with a quick curry and smoothie break in between. We end the day just like yesterday: pool and street food time!
Travel Day from Sukhothai to Chiang Mai
Saturday, 11 January 2020
We have a long travel day ahead of us today! The bus ride to Chiang Mai will take approximately 6,5 hours. But we had nothing to complain about during the journey. The bus was on time, there was airconditioning (and not even too cold), water and Oreo cookies were provided and we even stopped for lunch. And all of that for just € 8,67! The scenery changed, became greener and less flat along the way. Upon arrival at the bus terminal in Chiang Mai, we shared a tuk tuk van with 6 other travellers and already spotted a few cool looking cafes.
Today it was the first time we where really underwhelmed. The private room in our hostel wasn’t private (there are walls in between the rooms but not all the way up to the roof), the room had no door and the airconditioning is shared among three rooms. Luckily the room next to us is empty so hopefully we’ll have a good night of sleep! Note to self: read some more reviews carefully before booking or visit the accommodation before booking.
On a positive note, we really like the climate in Chiang Mai. A nice and fresh 24 °C! Perfect weather to have some food at the night market and end the night with a cocktail. Our first impression of the city is really good!
Strolling through the Old City of Chiang Mai
Sunday, 12 January 2020
Kai did'n’t sleep for most of the night and used the time to find another hostel. We got lucky and found a really nice family owned guest house (Junior House) located within the old city walls of Chiang Mai. This seems to be a much better place to spend another 3 days in this city, so we switched accommodations.
There are healthy juice bars in Chiang Mai everywhere so we opted for a smoothie bowl breakfast and some fresh juice. We spent the rest of the day walking through the city with some coffee and food breaks in between. Chiang Mai seems to be a really cool city, with lots of nice cafes, boutique shops, co-working spaces and greenery. Today we also visited the Sunday Night Market and tried the traditional Thai dish of the north: Khao Soi (egg noodles and chicken in a curry coconut broth topped with fried egg noodles) and we love it!
A Day at the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary
Monday, 13 January 2020
Just before 7:00 AM we got picked up at our hostel to spend a day at the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary. At first I wasn’t really into visiting elephants, as I didn’t want to support any activities that could be harming the animals. Then I found this sanctuary, where mistreated and abused elephants in the entertainment and farming industries are being taken care of. The sanctuary is keeping the elephants in a wide living space, providing them lots of water and shadows and are giving them a better life. We got to learn all about elephants, their behaviour and their relationships. It was so special to see these beautiful smart creatures from close by and see how they interact with each other and the people from the sanctuary. We learned that every elephant has its own caretaker for almost all of their lives as the lifecycle of humans and elephants is very similar. It was definitely one of the highlights of our time in Thailand so far!
Tuesday: Temple Visits in Chiang Mai
14 January 2020
The breakfasts in Thailand… they are simply the best! Chiang Mai is full of nice cafes serving the best breakfast. One of the reasons why we really feel at home in this city. We have a mango/passion fruit bowl, some homemade coconut yoghurt and great iced lattes at Goodsouls Cafe. A great start of the day! The rest of the day we spent visiting the temples Wat Phra Singh (all temples in Thailand have a lot of gold but this one must be the one with the most gold!) and Wat Chiang Man (known for the elephant statues). We really liked Wat Chiang Man as the location was very idyllic in the shadows of the palm trees and it wasn’t very busy. Chiang Mai isn’t a big city and we can do everything walking. We spent our last night in Chiang Mai at the Night Bazar. We skip the clothing section (how many stalls can there be, all selling the same shorts, tops and throwers?) but the food section is quite nice.
Wednesday: Travel into Paradise!
15 January 2020
It is time to switch scenery from temples to beaches. Our destination of today is the island of Koh Kao Yai, an island located in between the buzzing tourist areas of Phuket and Krabi. However the island is very easy to reach from both Phuket and Krabi, we’ve read that it should be still relatively quiet, authentic and natural. And based on our first hours spent here, I think we can confirm that! The first views on the island from the boat already looked amazing. Lush green hills and no resorts or skyscrapers. We dropped our luggage at our guest house and walked down the road straight to the beach. We walked for 5 km along the coast line and only saw a handful of other tourists. At the end of our walk we reach a powdery white sand beach with palm trees and a little bar selling smoothies. This comes pretty close to paradise! Tomorrow we are planning to rent a scooter and to discover the rest of the island.
