Reset search
Norther ThailandNorther Thailand
SatelliteEdit route

Norther Thailand

January 2018
A 11-day adventure by Shahnavaz Read more
  • 8footprints
  • 1countries
  • 11days
  • 46photos
  • 0videos
  • 300kilometers
Follow Calendar Share Bucket list
Date ascending
  • TravelerNorther Thailand
    Day 1

    Chiang Mai

    January 17, 2018 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    We've now started our northern Thailand travels and what a great start. Wow we can't recommend the sleeper train more! It was really fun and so peaceful. They lay the beds for the evening and then wake everyone up at around 6am to put the seats back ready for everyone to depart the train. Its really fun, especially if you have kids!

    The train arrived at 7am. When we arrived in Chiang Mai it was such a relief, we felt we could finally breathe! Chiang Mai is still bustling with cars, scooters and people but feels more pleasant (well still 33 degrees but with a breeze!)

    On day one we decided to just go round all the many many temples and decided to go to a park on the edge of the city where we met a great guy called Vic.

    It was just before sunset and we realised we hadn't actually eaten for over 18 hours. We planned to go to a night market but it wasn't great and was just a tourist trap, so left disappointed and very hungry. We headed back towards our hostel (we were on over 20,000 steps by this point) in hope to find food but just couldn't find anything that grabbed our attention. After quite a bit of googling we found a place near the hostel and for novelty value ate a panang pizza with stir fried veg on the side. Not the best pizza ever but God it felt good!!    Read more

  • TravelerNorther Thailand
    Day 4

    Chiang Mai - Time to relax

    January 20, 2018 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Well we've been seriously on the go for over a week now and we are shattered, so we've taken the day to do some well earned TLC. We naturally got up pretty early and went down for some our morning eggs, toast and banana and we met a great guy called Randy. We must have been chatting for about 2hrs!It's time for a Thai massage. There were Thai massage parlours on every street, so we read a couple of reviews and decided to go to a rehabilitation centre for ex prisoners. For this I need to give you two sides of the story. I'm generally quite flexible and so for me it was great, she cracked every bone in my back at one point and I came out soo relaxed. Will, let's just say he's a lot less flexible and so the poor little old lady just didn't want to break him! But she tried to bend him as much as she could and he also came out loving it.

    In the evening we went to Bo Sang where they had an umbrella festival to support the locals whose sole job it is to make them. It was really cute! We got a Songtaeu there for cheap as chips and met some really great people who were doing a massage course in Chiang Mai.

    Tomorrow we have a very early day planned to see the Sakura trees (cherry blossom) so we planned to have an early night. We packed our bags got everything ready to check out for 7am and then I went for a shower... Next thing I know Will is knocking on the door asking if I have the key for the bedroom. Uh no you were still in the room... We were locked out of our room with nothing but our tiny towels. No phone, no key and no one at reception. All we could do was wait for another guest to come to our rescue. And luckily they did!!    Read more

  • TravelerNorther Thailand
    Day 6

    Doi Inthanon

    January 22, 2018 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Doi Inthanon is the highest mountain in Thailand, so naturally we were drawn! When in Chiang Mai we met some guests in our hostel who recommended camping nearby so again we were drawn. Reality was that it was so cold we barely slept and decided to just get up and out in the morning.

    We went to mae pan waterfall and then doi Inthanon and was ready for a hike. Sadly this is actually a tourist site where you drive all the way to the top and take a picture at the sign. We then drove to the Great Holy Relics Pagoda which was really beautiful with gorgeous views of the mountains and really interesting gardens.

    However as we didn't end up doing a hike we finished early and was spoilt for choice in what to do next. In the end we decided to go to Chiang Dao so we could climb the 3rd highest mountain 😊 So it'll be an early start tomorrow.    Read more

  • TravelerNorther Thailand
    Day 7

    Doi Chiang Luang Dao

    January 23, 2018 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Wow what a sleep. I've barely been sleeping, whether it was pure exhaustion I'm not sure but I slept like a baby and woke up just in time for our 5:45am start. It was pretty cold outside, 9 degrees, which was truly refreshing. By the time we packed and drove up it was about 7:15am. For those that know Will I obviously don't need to explain, but the main reason for us leaving this early was because the checkpoint to enter the national park (you have to pay) is unmanned early in the morning. Also we were told by some that you must have a guide and by some that you don't. So we decided to get out early to bipass any locals. And we were indeed successful and actually saved a minimum of 1400 BHT. To put this into perspective, to have a full dinner it is 50 BHT, so that's 28 dinners! So although it's being a bit cheap it was actually a success.

    So we pulled into the car park and was ready to start but hit a no entry sign. Obviously Will completely ignored it and marched on, saying he would claim to be Italian if anyone asked. And wow what a walk, although not the most difficult we've done, it was tough, steep, beautiful and a great day. We saw incredible bamboo trees, a buff striped keelback snake, black crested bulbul and... As I can't limit this walk to only 6 pictures I've done two footprints 😀    Read more

  • TravelerNorther Thailand
    Day 8

    Bye bye Chiang Dao, hello Pai

    January 24, 2018 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    In the morning we woke up very sore, so before leaving Chiang Dao we visited the local hot springs and decided to climb 500 steps to a temple on the top of a hill where I met a lady from Clitheroe!

    After talking to a couple from Canada the day before we decided to go to the infamous Pai, known for its hustle and bustle of backpackers and hippys. Originally we decided to stay clear but we heard about a hidden hot spring and it was a great place for nature trails. Gosh what a drive... The roads in Thailand are very similar (for those that know) to driving up to Papigo village in Greece BUT for 3 hours. Its endless windy steep roads and I mean endless. It barely had any stopping points and as we missed them with a blink of the eye I ended up driving non stop for 3 hours. I felt so car sick by the end of it we had to just stop and sit for quite a while.

    But it was worth it we had a lovely evening having dinner at a local shack and visiting the night Market which had really cute hand crafted jewellery and handmade dresses. We had tea in a bamboo stem, gooey coconut balls and finished the night listening to an open mic band in a jazz and soul.    Read more

  • TravelerNorther Thailand
    Day 9

    Day in Pai

    January 25, 2018 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    By gosh last night was freezing. The temperature difference between daytime and night is a crazy 25 degrees! During the day it's about 30 and at night a whopping 5 or below! Let's just say our quaint, romantic hillside set huts aren't really prepped for cold weather. So we got up really early again to begin our day of rest.

    Starting off with our leftover snacks: a croissant, some peanut butter, an orange and a bit of banana cake while in a hammock!

    Obviously after that, on our rest day..., we decided to trek up 500 steps to see the magnificent white Buddha. It truly was a grand sight and worth the very slow uphill walk. It was really peaceful with few tourists so we just sat at the top for a whole contemplating the rest of our day.

    Heading down we remembered a very well rated vegan cafe so went to check it out. All I can say is look at the picture. It was so fresh and tasty. Just yum!

    Next we went to a hot spring and wasted away another hour and half before checking into our next hostel which is owned by a really lovely proud female farmer who grows fresh fruit for her guests. We tried Star Fruit which she picked straight from the tree.

    We then went back to the white Buddha for sunset which was again just really relaxing !

    Finally finished off the day with dinner at the same restaurant as yesterday, vegan banoffee pie and listening to smooth jazz in a hammock. I think we've finally worked out how to rest 😊

    We've had a really, unexpected, fabulous time in Pai. Yes it's touristy but actually in a really positive, calm and natural way not a trashy way. Definitely could have stayed here longer but we are going back to Chaing Mai tomorrow to hand back the car.    Read more

  • TravelerNorther Thailand
    Day 10

    Bye Pai A Brief Hello to Chaing Mai...

    January 26, 2018 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    OK so it's time to start thinking on moving on from Thailand on to Laos before the burning season gets in full swing. For those that don't know farmers burn their rice paddies to regrow the crops and also to grow special mushrooms and this is when the air pollution because severe.

    We started the morning by eating homegrown bananas, star fruit and papaya. YUM! Before heading to Pai we visited the Pai Canyon which was really beautiful! We then got started with the torturous drive back through the 3 hours of winding roads back to Chiang Mai. Half way we decided to make the journey even longer by taking a detour to the sticky waterfalls. It was really worth it! We walked up a waterfall with little slippage.

    Finally we got to Chiang Mai for, what we thought, was going to be a 2 day stopover...    Read more

  • TravelerNorther Thailand
    Day 11

    An unexpected week stay in Chiang Mai

    January 27, 2018 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Will fell pretty ill with a stomach flu which gave us the chance to wind down, relax and just enjoy. Our hostel although basic had such a fantastic family atmosphere and I met some truly great people from the Netherlands, Dublin, Manchester and the hosts of the hostel joined in our little family. Originally we were staying for 2 nights as was everyone else but everyday we would all wake up and extend for 1-2 nights. We did this 4 times! Although Will's time was not so pleasant I had a great time of resting, meeting people, dribinking, dancing, going to a Thai cookery school, getting on the back of a scooter for the first time and shopping at the market with our hosts, cooking a bbq for the family and on our final night the hosts taught me to cook 3 Thai dishes which we served to the family and then watched the Blue Blood Moon. A really fantastic end to an amazing time in Thailand 😊Read more

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English