Eric Stahl

First two weeks in Thailand

Our first two weeks in Thailand have been great. Lush, beautiful landscapes, friendly locals, tasty food and comfortable guest houses... all at prices you have a hard time believing at first (even after the US dollar/Thai baht has fallen by 25% over the last year or so).

We got to Bangkok on the 4th. The flight was far less painful than I expected but getting on local time, which is 14 hours ahead of San Francisco, takes more than a couple of days.

Bangkok is a hot, crowded city but it also has some good sites to see. We stayed in Siam Square, which is close to the AirTrain and the water taxi, which are key for getting around. The traffic is a mess in Bangkok so we tried to only use taxis and tuk tuk's if we absolutely had to.

We hung around for three nights to get our bearings, meet up with an old friend (Smitty) and figure out our next steps. We checked out the Grand Palace, the Jim Thompson House and just walked around taking in as much as we could in a few days.

From Bangkok we took the train 80km North to Ayautthya, the ancient capital of Thailand. We rented bikes and toured the ruins for two days. The city itself isn't special but the ruins and working Wats are amazing. We stayed at the Baan Lotus Guest House, which I would recommend if you are passing through here.

From Ayautthya we took a 12 hour overnight train to Chiang Mai, the second biggest city in Thailand. The overnight train was fun but not the best night of sleep you will ever get. Chiang Mai is a major destination for a lot of travelers, catering to the backpacker community with trekking, hill tribe visits, rafting and elephant reserves. We found Chiang Mai to be a little too big for us so we hit the road after only one night.

From Chiang Mai we took a four hour minibus to Pai, a much smaller town in the far Northwest corner of Thailand- a stones throw from the Myanmar border. We've fully unpacked in Pai and have already been here for four nights. We will probably stay here for at least a week. It's small and friendly, has much cooler temperatures and is full of good food, bars and things to do. The place we are staying, Pairadise, is a deluxe bungalow for $30/night. We have a scooter to cruse around on for $3/day. Two days ago we rode an elephant for an hour and a half, including a swim in a river with it.

Yesterday we took a full day cooking class at Let's Wok. We learned how to make Thai curries, soups, salads, stir fry and noodle dishes. It was also great hanging out with Tee, who answered all of our random questions about Thai life. I would have never gotten around to taking a cooking class but Margaret had her mind made up so I went for it and would have to say that it was a highlight of the trip so far. I look forward to busting out some Thai dishes for friends and family when we get back.

Today was another lazy day of hanging out, eating, doing some email, reading, taking a nap, eating some more, going for a ride on the scooter, picking up laundry and just hanging out. On Tuesday we will take a two day guided trek, so on to the next adventure...

[Here's a link to all of our unedited pictures so far. You will need an Ofoto log in.]

Labels: Chiang Mai, cooking class thailand, Pai Thailand, Thailand

posted by Eric Stahl @ 2:05 AM