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2023 Travelling trip

January - May 2023
After years of conversations, saving and planning, we set off on our adventure on NYE 2022 and landed in Bangkok ready for 5 and a half months of adventure. Read more
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  • 2023 Travelling trip
    Day 1

    Bangkok

    January 1, 2023 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    We arrived in Bangkok after pretty seamless flights through Dubai. Transfer from the airport to hotel icon was much the same as 2019 - fast, chaotic. We were welcomed by the iconic gateway "Welcome to Thailand, land of smiles". We arrived at Hotel Icon which was exactly as we remember it but with addition of a cannabis kiosk outside and no welcome drink or cold flannel post covid. We had arranged to meet Amy's cousin Oliver and his wife Nell who live in Bangkok. We left the hotel after a quick shower approx 10pm and walked to Nana red light district. Despite feeling tired we had a good few drinks in various bars and ended the night with an apparently famous toastie from 7 Eleven for 27 Baht (70p). We returned to the hotel 2am and went to bed.

    The flowing day, we woke up at 5am, apparently due to time difference to back home. We struggled to get back to sleep so we headed out early for breakfast. City was pretty quiet as it was a national holiday. We found a cool cafe called Sarnies, full of young affluent locals enjoying coffee and breakfast. Tom was feeling quite ill so we decided to walk back to hotel, via a huge luxury shopping centre on way back. We got to hotel and crashed out asleep. Later we headed out for dinner and had Tom Yum from a local restaurant. We Walked down to Nana District again and revisited bars we went to in 2019.

    Our third and last day in Bangkok this time around, still not feeling 100% with cold & flu. We walked out for breakfast and back to hotel for check out at 12. We chilled in the rooftop bar area until it was time to head to train station for our overnight sleeper train to Chaing Mai. Amy found a popular restaurant which apparently cashes in on tourists who arrive in advance for trains so we headed there for something to eat before the train. The owner was extremely friendly and fun. We sat with two young guys and an older couple who were from UK, St Anne's. It was nice to chat with fellow travellers and compare plans.    Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip
    Day 3

    Chiang Mai Round 1

    January 3, 2023 in Thailand ⋅ 🌙 15 °C

    We got the 18.15 "express" sleeper train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. This particular train is the most modern and comfortable, popular with tourists and locals alike. Tom was very excited about this after staying up until 1.30am back home to try and book first class with no luck; we ended up in second class but it was still good! Toilets were clean, it was nice and private but the lights were far too bright. Tom wasn't as romantic as the couple opposite us who were prepared with fairy lights! Overall the train journey was a good experience, although the price is actually more expensive than a domestic flight which takes a fraction of the time. We arrived at Chiang Mai just after 7am and took a red taxi (or 'Songthaew') to our hotel. It was far too early to check in, so we had a few hours to kill. We spent the day exploring the street food stalls around Chiang Mai and in particular noticed that all the fruit was huge, on steroids compared to home! We grabbed a very reasonable breakfast of fried eggs topped with scrambled tofu and spring onions, it was delicious and very cheap. We checked into our hotel in the afternoon and had a nap as we were pretty knackered. This was a slight error as we realised that restaurants tended to close fairly early here - and we had not yet discovered the night market.

    We spent the next day at the elephant rescue centre. This was amazing, I love elephants! We fed them, walked with them and bathed them. We learnt about where they're rescued from, unfortunately though it was too busy for our liking!

    Our third day we spent completing a self-guided walking tour which mainly consisted of temples. We a then met up with Amy's friend Vicky and her boyfriend Tom, which was good fun. Unfortunately the night market had run out of the recommended gyozas!    Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip
    Day 7

    Mae Hong Son

    January 7, 2023 in Thailand ⋅ 🌙 16 °C

    The following day did not start well. We had pre-booked the 10:30am bus from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son. The buses in Thailand are often just small minivans, so we were anticipating a rough ride. Firstly, we woke up late after a few too many drinks with friends the night before, and subsequently missed the bus! Tom also realised he'd lost his travel pillow and eye mask in the furore of trying to get to the station on time. Disaster. We booked a new ticket but this bus wasn't until 13:30 which meant we had 3 hours to kill at the bus station. Additionally, the only available seats were the back two which we'd read were the worst available and to avoid at all costs. Dejected, we trudged off to find Wi-Fi and hopefully some breakfast. Time passed relatively quickly and we boarded the bus. Our luggage was tentatively strapped to the roof of the minivan and we crossed our fingers for its safe passage. The journey seemed to start OK, but once we got out of the city we soon started on the 1864 hairpin bends and Amy in particular was feeling very ill! 7 hours later, after the roller-coaster ride, shaken, and exhausted, we arrived at our hostel which Amy had booked and was quite proud of it being super cheap; expectations were low. The owner was really cute and gave us a hand drawn map of the town and pointed out the main things to see. As we were feeling quite weary, we went straight to bed, not really up for exploring. The following day we had a walk around the town which was very quiet and laid back. We also took a detour to the bus station to ensure we knew exactly what we were doing the following day to get our bus back to Pai - we didn't want a repeat of the previous day. In the evening we hiked up to Wat Phra Phat where we saw lots of locals using the steep steps for their daily exercise. We spent some time on top of the hill admiring the Buddhist temples and taking in the views. We waited for sunset and headed back down town for the night market/walking street. The lakeside road had been completely closed off and was now full with street vendors. This could have been the best street food yet as there was so much variety and it was so cheap! Lots of locals were sat on the low tables next to the lake. We bought from a few different stalls including gyoza, stuffed chillis , pork and chicken skewers etc. It was all delicious.
    Our final day we left Mae Hong Son to battle the hairpins to Pai - fortunately this was only half way back to Chiang Mai and therefore a lot fewer bends.    Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip
    Day 9

    Pai

    January 9, 2023 in Thailand

    We got the bus back to Pai and the journey was much better than before. Our accommodation wasn't the best but the woman was cute and we got our first round of laundry done! We got a bike for the first time here and unfortunately Tom had an accident straight away but luckily he was fine other than a cut knee. We'd bumped into vicky etc again then set off on an exploring day. We went to Pai Canyon but the heights were scary and we didn't make it all the way round. We met a couple from Liverpool and that night ended up going to a ridiculous 'rave' in the middle of nowhere. The next day we treat ourselves to our first Thai massage and then did the pub quiz and came fourth (robbed!) Pai was super chilled, we really liked the vibe and the food and wished we'd had longer there!Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip
    Day 12

    Chiang Mai (Round 2)

    January 12, 2023 in Thailand ⋅ 🌩️ 30 °C

    We really liked Chiang Mai but hadn't completed everything we wanted to so we came back for 3 more nights. We stayed somewhere different this time. We booked a day trip to go to the highest point in Thailand, Doi Inthanon, saw an amazing Waterfall which had a rainbow and did the Kew Mae Pan trail which we absokutely loved, the views were amazing! We stopped at the night Market which was pretty overwhelming as it was never ending and so many people but we saw everybody stop for the national anthem which was cool.Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip
    Day 15

    Chiang Rai

    January 15, 2023 in Thailand ⋅ 🌙 17 °C

    We got the bus to Chiang Rai and unfortunately I was ill for most of my time here. This was my least favourite hotel due to a very unfortunate bathroom smell and my first sightings of rats! The place felt scruffier compared to Chiang Mai but it was fun to see the clock tower which has a light and music show 3 times a day at the roundabout! We managed to complete the sights on our final day with a private tuktuk with the stand out temple being the white temple which was amazing.Read more

  • 2023 Travelling trip
    Day 18

    Chiang Khong

    January 18, 2023 in Thailand ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

    We got the bus From Chiang Rai to Chiang Khong and spent a night there. We finally got rid of the bad smells but we were kept up by roosters all night long! In the morning, the owner of the hotel drove us to the border with an early start of 7am!Read more

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