Siem Reap & Angkor Wat, Cambodia - Day 2

Angkor Wat is unlike anything you've ever seen or experienced in your life. What's absolutely critical to remember is that you are literally thousands of miles away from the United States (or Western Europe) and any assumptions that come along with that. What am I talking about? And what a strange way to start this particular blog post, yes I know. But when you think about planning to spend a day at a place like Angkor Wat, you have to take into consideration the reality of where you are.

Angkor Wat is a massive temple complex. That means it's not just a handful of buildings in one central location. While Angkor Wat is the name of the main temple, there are no fewer than 25 other named temples throughout the complex. And the entire area is about 500 acres. That's really big. I was trying to think of a good way to help quantify the size. A football field, for example, is about 1.3 acres. Central Park in NYC is 843 acres, so I guess you could say that Angkor Wat is just over half the size of Central Park. Unlike Central Park that is surrounded by a city, however, Angkor Wat is surrounded by jungle.

So, what am I getting at? What am I trying to say? I hear you... "stop rambling" you say. Get to the point. I'm saying that for a place that caters to over 2 million visitors a year, don't expect any amenities. No bathrooms, no where to buy food, no souvenir shops, no picnic areas, no benches, no trashcans, no where to sit (except on the temple rocks themselves), nothing. No handicap access to anything! You are there to see ancient temples...and that's it! What that means, is that you have to have a plan.

I read everywhere that the most popular thing to do is to get up super duper early, see the sunrise, and then head back to your hotel for breakfast. Then around 10:00, the temples get much more crowded with everyone returning. I also read that if you stayed at the temple immediately after sunrise when everyone else returns to their hotels, you practically get the temples to yourself. Truth: since we were there during the peak of summer, we never really dealt with a ton of crowds except at sunrise and sunset.

We got up around 3:30AM and met Adam at 5AM to drive to the temple complex. Like the previous day with the disappointing sunset, we also had a rather disappointing sunrise. Maybe it's the time of year, but we just didn't get those brilliant pinks and reds that you can sometimes see during a sunrise. On our drive into the complex, I snapped this picture.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat - Cambodia

By the time we got to the actual main temple and crossed the moat and bridge, this is all the sunrise we saw.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat - Cambodia

As the crowd started to dissipate, J and I took every opportunity to head directly into the main temple and explore while it was empty.

Angkor Wat Sunrise Crowd - Cambodia

The giant empty temple and deserted corridors really gave a spiritual and somewhat eery feeling to the whole place. For a few brief moments it felt like time stood still, and we were transported to a time long forgotten.

Empty Corridor at Angkor Wat - Cambodia

A special shoutout to our tuk tuk driver, Adam. I know I mentioned in my previous post that Adam took really good care of us throughout the day. When he picked us up in the morning, he took the water bottles that we brought and put them in the cooler he kept on the back of his motorbike. When we arrived at the first temple, he told us exactly where he'd be waiting for us, and he gave us each a bottle of water that he pre-chilled.

After spending as much time as we liked at Angkor Wat (just the main temple), we met Adam where he said he would be, and from there we continued along what's called the Short Circuit. Although Angkor Wat is the most famous of the temples, Angkor Thom is by far the largest city within the complex. On our way to Angkor Thom, Adam stopped at this small structure. I can't remember the name and can't find anything about it in my notes, but I remember him saying something about a "his" and "hers" temples. Throughout the complex, there are so many of these smaller buildings that had some significance to the Khmer rulers at the time. It's sad how much knowledge about these cultures has been lost.

 His/Hers Temple in Angkor - Cambodia

Southeast Asia has no shortage of monkeys. We saw these little guys all over the place, especially in Cambodia and Malaysia. They were by no means friendly or domesticated, but they sure liked mango and knew that tourists were their prime source for getting such sustenance. (Side note - although I mentioned there was no food sold or permitted inside the temple complex, there were a few spots where local women and children sold fresh fruit. For $1.00 you could get a bag of fresh mango or pineapple to eat as you drove. They certainly weren't all over the place, but Adam knew where to look when we expressed hunger. 

Authentic Angkor Monkey

Approaching Angkor Thom

If you look at a map of Angkor complex, you'll easily recognize just how much larger Angkor Thom is than Angkor Wat. Angkor Thom, like Angkor Wat, had a surrounding moat. To cross the moat, they had what are called Naga Bridges. These ancient structures featured statues holding a long serpent, and the two sides are engaged in a type of tug of war.

Naga Bridge at Angkor Thom

At Angkor Wat, there are probably 3 temples that people are the most excited about seeing. First - Angkor Wat itself. Second - the Tomb Raider Temple made famous by the Angelina Jolie movie back in 2001. Third - the Bayon temple...otherwise known as the temple of faces. Inside the ancient city of Angkor Thom is where Bayon is located. This massive temple has numerous levels, but the most notable thing about this temple in addition to its architectural style are the 216 gigantic faces on the stone throughout the temple.

Bayon - Angkor Thom, Cambodia

Bayon - can you see some of the faces? 

After Bayon, we didn't return immediately to Adam. The Angkor Thom complex is massive and there are many things to see besides the main temple. There is a large field that connects some of the other temples on the grounds and the famous Elephant Terrace. Just beyond the Elephant Terrace we found a corridor that shielded us from the scorching sun for just a few moments. We were delighted to find the most fascinating carvings and to enjoy a brief respite from the heat.

Baphoun Temple - Angkor Thom, Cambodia

Elephant Terrace - Angkor Thom, Cambodia

Our last stop for the morning was Ta Phrom, more famously known as the Tomb Raider Temple. There are two main reasons why this temple is so famous. First, because it's the location of the movie Tomb Raider, but secondly, because little has been done to restore/preserve this temple. You can see obvious signs where nature tried to reclaim this structure. Unlike the other temples, where conservationists have done some diligent work in removing the jungle overgrowth, one of the reasons they filmed the Jolie movie here is because it looks even more primitive and undiscovered or forgotten than the others. In several of my pictures below, you can see where the tree roots have grown over the rocks giving it a very "Indiana Jones" or "Tomb Raider" feel.

Approaching Ta Phrom - Cambodia

Famous spot inside Ta Phrom with tree growth over the temple

Ta Phrom reclaimed by nature - Cambodia

One of the Ta Phrom side structures with a tree growing out of the middle

After we finished climbing around Ta Phrom (I'm not sure how else to describe what we were doing. The stairs are steep and uneven. Many stones have fallen, and you can trip or roll your ankles at any moment if you don't step carefully), we noticed the crowds starting to pick back up. It was just after 9AM if you can believe it, but we already spent 4 hours in this massive place. As the sun grew hotter and we grew hungrier, we decided to head back to hotel for a late breakfast, a nap, and a swim.

We returned to Angkor Wat around 3:30 that afternoon. We went to Preah Khan and Ta Keo. Preah Khan had a lot of nooks and crannies to discover. Before we got here, I researched that the two best places to see the sunset were Phnom Bakheng where we tried to see sunset the previous night and Ta Keo. Since we had an epic fail at Phnom Bakheng, we planned to stay at Ta Keo for sunset on this particular evening. This massive temple is a bit off the beaten path, and on this hot May afternoon, we were two of the only tourists there. The stairs had not been restored and were choppy and uneven. In fact, I was so scared coming back down that I did so sitting on my bum. I've never been afraid of heights, but that place made me really uneasy for some reason. As sunset approached, I suddenly changed my mind, and decided I wanted to see my last sunset at the main Angkor Wat temple. We had seen sunrise that morning, and I thought that sunset would create some beautiful back lighting for the temple. What I failed to realize, however, is that they close the bridge to Angkor Wat at 5pm...just before sunset. We stayed as long as possible, but the guards kept shooing us off the bridge.

This is the best picture I could get before we were sent on our way.

Last glimpse of Angkor Wat as we departed

We could have gone back to Phnom Bakheng at that point, but remembering the lines from the previous day, I had no desire to go through that again.

Instead, we went back to the hotel, ordered dinner in our room, sat through a brief blackout, and went to bed.

Tomorrow, we'll head back to Bangkok for a day of R&R before heading to Malaysia.

Thanks for reading!

- Foxy the Traveler

Siem Reap & Angkor Wat, Cambodia - Day 1

The day finally arrived when we would land in Cambodia and get to see the famous Angkor Wat. For those of you who don't know, Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument complex in the world and dates back to the 12th Century. It has gone back and forth from being Hindu to Buddhist throughout its history, and is now one of the top reasons people visit this impoverished country. Many of the temples have not necessarily been restored, but at one point the jungle reclaimed many temples. Since then, nearly all of the vines and trees have been cleared away from the structures. Some of the temples have barriers preventing tourists from going into areas that are especially unsafe, but most of the temples still have incredibly steep stairs and few safety features. Many years of colonial rule and brutal leaders have nearly destroyed this country. In this and my next post, I will explain just how "third world" this country still is, and I was literally only there for a day and a half.

To be perfectly honest, I couldn't be so tantalizingly close to Angkor Wat and not make an effort to see it, but at the same time, I was really terrified to travel here. I researched more hotel options for these two nights than for any other part of the trip. Most hotels near Angkor Wat (which is several hours from any major city), cater to tourists and understand that Americans and Europeans are looking for package deals. Not to be cost effective (though that's a perk), but for convenience.

Flying, once again, out of the Don Meuang airport from Bangkok, we settled into our terminal which was located in the basement. Early, as always, we watched the gate fill up with westerner after westerner. So many backpackers and other tourists had the same idea as we did apparently. When it came time to board the place, we went through the gate, got our boarding passes scanned, but then instead of going across a jet bridge or even going outside to the plane directly (which is common with smaller planes), we boarded a shuttle bus. Hmm...that's a new one. We then rode the shuttle bus for nearly several minutes as it drove us from the airport practically to the runway. Then we got off the bus and boarded the plane. So strange!

Heads up! If you ever decide to visit Cambodia, as Americans, we need entry visas...not just a regular passport. I decided to be proactive and arranged for our visas ahead of time even though I read that you could get your visa upon arrival (which is very different from other visa-requiring countries like China). But the process was very easy, and by getting them ahead of time, I was able to print extra copies, send a copy to my parents, etc. AND, when we finally arrived at the airport, almost no one on our plane got their visas ahead of time, so the visa line quickly grew very long. Since we already had ours, we bypassed that line, and went straight through. (Side note - I was also glad I printed extra copies because the immigration officer accidentally took my entry and exit visa which means I would have had to fill out extra paperwork upon exiting if I didn't have an extra copy).

We flew into the small regional airport of Siem Reap. It takes about 20 mins to get from the town of Siem Reap to the Angkor temple complex. I wanted to find a hotel that was somewhere in between the two. Honestly, nothing that I researched cost more than $180/night (which by my own self proclaimed travel standards isn't too expensive). At the same time, however, we traveled to SE Asia during "off season", so I did expect prices to be more affordable than that. I also found several hotels/guest houses that were in the $50-$60 range. I settled on a place that was somewhere between the two and met all of my requirements.

The hotel I finally picked was called Pavillon d'Orient Boutique-Hotel. For $115/night, our accommodations came with the following: junior suite room with a/c, airport transfer, breakfast, and a personal tuk tuk driver. I had also read ahead of time that this hotel had incredibly cheap laundry service. Since our stay occurred right around the middle of the trip, we definitely took advantage of that. We had 8 articles of clothing laundered for less than $10. The hotel also had an on-site restaurant at which we dined several times.

All of the reviews said not to be alarmed by the neighborhood. That the hotel is very safe and that they lock the perimeter gates at night. #truth. When the driver took us through the gates of the hotel, we really felt like we stepped into another world. And for that, we were very grateful. The entire hotel is open air, but the rooms have personal a/c units. This only became an issue during the nightly power outages. They warned us about them, and during both nights, we definitely experienced a few outages that made for some broken REM cycles. Still, power outages are common in the country, so it's not like other hotels would have been any better off.

When we arrived at the Siem Reap airport, our driver had the biggest sign with our name on it. He drove us the short distance to the hotel, and we got our first taste of what a developing country truly looks like. The huts or poor excuses for structures that were supposed to be houses were truly shocking. We passed many roadside stands selling cooked meat or strange 2 liter bottles that looked like they contained sun tea or lemonade (more on that later).

Through the doors of the Pavillon d'Orient, however, the world changed. Like U Chiang Mai, the lobby was open air and surrounded by beautiful, lush plants and flowers. Upon arrival, they brought us a cold welcome drink (usually apple juice), and carefully explained all of the services included and extra that the hotel provided.

We settled into our room (picture below) and relaxed for a few hours. We got to the hotel right around lunch, and we couldn't get into Angkor Wat that evening until 5pm (if you're staying for multiple days, there are other temples you can visit besides the Angkor ones. They're a little farther away, but I read rave reviews about them). We purchased single day tickets for our full day at Angkor Wat, but they have a really neat offer that you can pick up your tickets for your scheduled day at 5pm the day BEFORE your scheduled day which enables you see the sunset at the temple without buying a second day ticket. Also because many people go to Angkor Wat for sunrise, you have to get your tickets the night before because you don't want to be standing at the ticket office (if it's even open) at 4:30 in the morning risking missing the sunrise.

Since we had some time to kill, we took advantage of room service. A quick word about currency. Cambodia does indeed have their own currency, but around the Siem Reap area, they use American money. We paid for our tickets in US Dollars, the hotel rate was in US dollars, all of the pricing we saw everywhere had both the local currency cost and the cost in $$, which we found very convenient. Also, since we were visiting 4 countries on this trip, it was nice to have at least one place where we didn't have to change money.

Another tip - when visiting Cambodia, bring lots of small bills. It's a very poor country, so $5 or $10 tips go a long way!

Ok, where was I? Ah yes, relaxing at the hotel. They did not charge an extra fee for room service, and most dishes were only $5 or $6, so we happily called and had lunch in our cooled room. Some of the dishes weren't huge, but they were delicious. Chicken or shrimp in some sort of coconut/curry sauce with white rice. We also took advantage of the pool. I actually believe there were two on the grounds, but we enjoyed taking a refreshing dip. It's amazing, though just how hot it was. Even in the pool, we tried to find shade because of the sun glare (and fear of sunburn).

At 4:00, we called the front office and asked them to arrange a tuk tuk for us for the evening. At 4:30, Adam arrived who would be our driver for the rest of our stay. Adam was awesome! He drove us all over, knew lots of things about the temples, always had cold water available for us, and always gave us a clear place where to meet him. But more on that in my next post.

When we first met Adam, he drove us from the hotel to the Angkor temple complex. This gave us our first real taste of Cambodian roads. Sure, we rode in the back seat of a car from the airport, but being in an open tuk tuk really gave us a sense for the way of things. (A tuk tuk is a 2 person carriage being pulled by a motor bike. In the old days it was pulled by hand or by a bicycle.) They don't go terribly fast, but fast enough that the breeze kept us from being too sweaty.

It was in the tuk tuk on our way to the temple that we realized that the roads had no lanes. Oh sure, there was a line down the middle for traffic going in both directions, but if there was no oncoming traffic, the drivers made their own lanes. Bikes were on the far right, then motorbikes and tuk tuks in the middle with cars on the left going around the slower traffic. If any oncoming traffic threatened, the cars would squish back over to the right forcing all of the other drivers to slow down and get into 2 lanes. It was sheer insanity.

When we arrived at the Angkor complex, we got our tickets for the next day, and then Adam drove us to the famous "sunset" temple, Phnom Bakheng. We waited in line for over an hour to climb the stairs to the sunset perch. The guards only let so many people at the top, so no one could go up until other people came back down. By the time we got to the top, the sun had already set, and it was too hazy for there to be any sunset color in the sky. #sunsetfail.

View of Angkor Wat from Phnom Bakheng - supposedly at sunset...

Lunch at the Hotel - Siem Reap, Cambodia

Junior Suite at Pavillon d'Orient - Siem Reap, Cambodia

Waiting in line for sunset at Phnom Bakheng

After sunset, we asked Adam to drive us into the actual town of Siem Reap. Since we were heading back to Angkor Wat for sunrise the next morning, we would miss breakfast at the hotel. He didn't quite understand what we meant by "minimart" but we we got into town, we were able to point to one and he stopped for us.

Wow! Siem Reap! What a crazy place. Picture a normal city (or what you think a normal European/Asia city would look like). Picture a traffic intersection where you would expect to see a traffic light or roundabout. In Cambodia...nothing. Intersections were first come, first served. When you got to an intersection, you just kept going and tried to pay attention enough that you didn't hit the person coming at you from the street perpendicular to yours. Holy cow!

At the minimart, everything was very expensive. We found some fresh, sweet rolls that we bought with American dollars and they gave us Cambodian riel as change.

Back at the hotel, we ate dinner in the open air restaurant despite the heat and turned in early. Shocker, I know! Haha! But, if we're going to see sunset the next day, we had to get up literally before the crack of dawn.

In my next post, I'll tell you all about our day exploring the magical, mythical Angkor temple complex. It's absolutely incredible. I hope my account of it does it justice.

Thanks for reading!

- Foxy the Traveler

Bangkok, Thailand - Day 3

After a fun filled day in Chiang Mai with tigers and elephants, we turned in early and easily woke up the next day around 5:30. Our breakfast scheduled for 6:15 once again didn't arrive until 6:30. The enormous platter at U Chiang Mai consisted of scrambled eggs with onions and peppers, potatoes, baked beans (a UK breakfast food that I love), toast, yogurt, fruit, danishes, sausage, canadian bacon, cappuccino and juice. It was soooooo much food. Unfortunately, none of it was exceptional, but we certainly didn't turn up our noses at it.

We took a taxi from central Chiang Mai back to the airport around 8AM and arrived WAY too early for our second Air Asia flight. The date was Saturday, May 9. Our plan at this point was to head from Chiang Mai over to Cambodia to visit Angkor Wat. Unfortunately, there were no flights that went from Chiang Mai to Siem Reap without stopping in Bangkok. So, I thought that rather than rush from one place to the next (I thought I learned my lesson from Germany), we would stop back in Bangkok for the day and have some R&R. I realized when we were there, however, that instead of it being a relaxing day, it was another single night in a strange hotel and 2 flights back to back. The flights weren't long, but we did spend a lot of time in airports.

One of the main reasons for spending an extra day in Bangkok at this particular time, however, was the famous Chatuchatk weekend market in the northern part of the city. Only open on the weekends (hence the name), our first few days in Bangkok were during the week. (Side note - there is one classic Thai experience that we didn't do, that I feel I should mention. Floating markets used to be a staple in historic Thai culture. The ones we read about or the ones close enough to visit from Bangkok had become huge tourist traps. If you're interested in seeing one, you'll have to make the effort to get far enough outside the city to see an authentic one.)

It's also worth noting that when we flew internationally from the United States to Bangkok, we flew into the Suvarnabhumi Airport, officially known as the Bangkok Airport. This is the new international airport that just opened not too long ago. Prior to that, the main Bangkok airport was the Don Mueang Airport. This airport is still in use and used by budget airlines for shorter flights. When you're taking a taxi to the airport, you need to be specific about from which airport you're departing.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, back in Bangkok for the weekend market. Since I knew this is was our main activity for the day, I picked a hotel in a good location to the market, and this particular hotel even had a shuttle just for the market. For our second Bangkok hotel, we picked the Centara Grand at Central Plaza Ladprao Bangkok. (I've hyperlinked my review if you care to read it.) It was the cheapest hotel we stayed at (about $95/night), and was a very nice hotel. The only negative was that the shuttle had no return service. It dropped us off at the market, and then we had to find our own way back. The hotel is too far north (hence the lower price) to make it terribly desirable for sightseeing the rest of the city, but for our purposes, the location suited us.

They allowed us to check in around noon (early!) and we booked the 2:00 shuttle. In the meantime, we took a covered walkway over to the Central Plaza (mall!) and got some lunch.

What a crazy place, this market! Thankfully, they prohibited smoking, though there were plenty of other strange odors. The market has a main strip of outdoor stalls, and then a vast network of covered stalls. Unfortunately, about 10-15 minutes after we arrived, it started pouring down rain. The air always feels a little fresher while it's raining, so we hung out near the exterior stalls because the interior stalls were still stifling. The rain storm lasted the better part of an hour, so at one point, we did venture through the inside alley ways.

Chatuchatk Weekend Market - Bangkok, Thailand

Downpour at the Chatuchatk Weekend Market

The stalls had everything imaginable. Food, clothes, terrible designer knockoffs, ceramics, flowers, etc. Only the San Pedro market in Cusco, Peru seemed to have a wider variety of wares.

My husband purchased some balls of dough that contained a sweet mango/nut goo. Yes, that's the official description. Haha! I got a grape ice pop from a random old lady with a barrel. (Side note - that was a very dumb thing to do! Have you ever heard of the traveler's bug?? Just wait until my section on Singapore...and you'll understand.)

I also bought some trinkets. I got a mini Buddha, a golden elephant and a magnet for our Tae kwon do master.

Since it had rained so much, we found transportation in limited supply. We decided to walk back to our hotel. The heat made the walk very unpleasant though we enjoyed the scenery. Well...most of it. We walked through a lovely park that had a beautiful pond. Here is the conversation that ensued.

Me - Wait a minute? Do you see that?
J - What IS that?
Me - Is that some sort of hose or filter system?
J - Do you see the color of that pond? That's not a filter.
Me - Uh...then what is it?
J - I think we should leave...and quickly....
Me - Why? <<gasp>> please tell me that's not a snake...
J - Well, I can't exactly tell if it's a python or a boa, and I don't really care to find out.

Friends, I do not jest. We stood in the middle of this park in Thailand, and saw the. single. biggest. snake. I have ever seen in my life.

We arrived back at the hotel drenched in sweat and fear. We showered, and then headed back across the walkway to find dinner and breakfast for the next day.

Walking to the Central Plaza from our hotel - Bangkok, Thailand

After indulging in some Thai pizza for dinner, we took a walk around and found a food market in the basement. This reminded me much of the huge Japanese super malls. These high-rise shopping centers had everything you could possibly want to buy from clothing to television sets, but the basement always contained a food market.

For dessert, we found these amazing cream-filled corn cakes. There were 8 in the little bag that we bought, and they were some of the most delicious little cakes I've eaten in my life!

Cream filled corn cakes in Bangkok, Thailand

Off to Cambodia tomorrow. I was incredibly anxious about this portion of the trip, but also the most excited. Angkor Wat is something I've wanted to see for years, though I never thought I would ever actually get there.

Thanks for reading!

- Foxy the Traveler

Chiang Mai, Thailand - Day 2

After an uncertain start to our northern adventure in Chiang Mai, Thailand, I was pretty excited, to say the least, about our second day. During my research, I read about all of the really adventurous things to do up north, but they were all a bit of a drive outside of central Chiang Mai. Without transportation or a really good understanding of local customs, I just figured those types of activities were off limits for us. But after we met Jay, our whole itinerary changed.

One interesting thing we noticed about Chiang Mai, was the presence of westerners (i.e. non-Asian looking people). Jay explained that the population of Bangkok is roughly 15 million while the population of Chiang Mai is only about 1.7 million. And because Chiang Mai is still very much a hot tourist destination, they (we) tend to stand out more.

Jay picked us up around 8:30AM. We had previously requested our breakfast to be delivered to our room at 6AM. Around 6:15, when it still hadn't arrived, I called, and then it arrived within another few minutes. The U Chiang Mai hotel served a decent breakfast in the unique Southeast Asian style, though the fare was American/British. They gave us what looked like a barrel with metal supports around the center. Instead of it being a hollow container, each layer contained a different food item, toast, eggs, fruit, juice, etc. It was like opening many different layers of a gift.

When Jay dropped us off the previous day, he told us to bring bathing suits, a change of clothes, and shoes that could get wet. (Hence why we bought cheap flip-flops the previous night). One of the excursions I researched before the trip was a day at an elephant sanctuary. We could spend a day bathing, feeding, and cleaning the elephants, though for the price, I just didn't see it as the best way to spend a entire day. Jay told us of a smaller place where we could pay less and only spend a few hours. That seemed much more appealing to us.

Upon arrival, they gave us special clothes to wear and taught us several commands in Thai that the elephants would understand. They are fabulous beasts. Intelligent, stubborn, and incredibly powerful. We fed them bananas, and I got the world's most terrifying hug from a baby elephant. If you're ever given the chance to hug a baby elephant...say no. That mighty, little thing wrapped her trunk around my neck, and she fortunately listened to the trainer's command to release me. Never in my life have I felt my own mortality more than when I realized how quickly that baby elephant could have snapped my neck with her trunk. Not surprisingly, my husband declined the same offer of affection from the tiny giant.

Baby Elephant - Chiang Mai, Thailand

Getting a hug from a baby elephant 

We then met some of the adult elephants. They had several females but only one male. The male, they explained, had been a victim of severe abuse and only had one tusk remaining.

Before the trip, I read about several places in Thailand where you go could go on an elephant ride. I also saw many arguments against the large saddles or carriages that they put on the elephant's back. Unlike horses, elephants' (although used extensively in historic Asian warfare) backs suffer greatly from the weight of those enormous carriages and from carrying humans for hours and hours a day. I wanted to go to a place that didn't support the elephant riding industry.

We did still ride on the elephants, but we did so without any equipment, and they made sure that we sat very close to the shoulders of the elephant and weren't too far on their backs where we would hurt their spines. We also didn't ride them for more than the 10 min walk it took us to get to the river. Yes, river? Why is that, you ask? Elephant bathing, of course.

This part of the day was so much fun! As soon as we got into the river, the elephants squatted down and started splashing themselves with water from their trunks. They also understood Thai commands to spray us with water. Sneaky devils. Haha!

Elephant Bathing - Chiang Mai, Thailand

Elephant spraying me with water - Chiang Mai, Thailand

When we got back from the river, we rinsed off the river scum, changed out of our wet clothes, and bid farewell to the elephant sanctuary.

Our next stop for the day was the Tiger Kingdom. I had mixed feelings about this place too, and even writing this blog a few years later, I'm still not sure what to make of it. I read many online claims that the animals were sedated or drugged. Then other people (and the actual website) claimed otherwise. Other tiger facilities have been investigated and shut down by the authorities, but the place we went to has been open for 18 years. That helped legitimize it a little bit more for me.

The first thing we did was eat lunch at their buffet restaurant. After all of that elephant excitement, a good lunch hit the spot! Actually, I take that back. The first thing we did upon arrival was buy tickets. There's a pretty long wait (and we didn't even go during busy season), so we ate lunch after we got our timed tickets. When you purchase your tickets, you have several different options. You pay based on the size of tiger you want to encounter and how many encounters you want. Bigger cats were cheaper and had shorter wait times, but the thought of coming face to face with a giant tiger (no matter how calm), scared me just a little too much. We signed up for the baby tigers only.

When our time came, we changed our shoes into the special slippers they gave us, and then proceeded to wait in line for a good 20-30 minutes. They had very strict procedures and rules for visiting. Each tiger had a trainer and guard watching the people and the cats at all times. The baby tigers were very playful, and the trainers had ample toys for them to play with but didn't let us play with the tigers at all. I didn't mind. Haha. We could pet them, but had very specific instructions on how to approach them, and what parts of the cats we couldn't touch (their paws, for example).

Tiger Kingdom - Chiang Mai, Thailand

Baby Tigers - Chiang Mai, Thailand

They had 3-4 different baby tigers in the area where we were, and each tiger had people visiting it. We spent maybe 5-10 minutes with a tiger before shuffling to the next one. Each tiger was very friendly and not even remotely phased by the strangers who approached it or petted it. When one of them got playful, we backed up a little bit and the trainers would come in with a toy. For the most part, however, the tigers just bathed or rolled around in the heat. The young cats definitely seemed alert to us which helped alleviate my fears about drugging. They really didn't appear all that different from my cats at home except their fur was not soft, and their claws (even as babies) could have done some serious damage.

On our way back to the hotel, Jay asked us if he could drop us off at a big souvenir shop. Apparently, when he does that, they give him fuel vouchers in exchange for the potential business. Honestly, we didn't mind. I enjoy souvenir shopping and the place was absolutely enormous. Inside, the displays were nice and the building was cool. Unfortunately, the prices were pretty high (trying to take advantage of wealthy tourists). I did find some things that I would have liked, but the cashier lines were too long for my patience. Apparently a few tour busses with Chinese tourists arrived around the same time as us, and they aren't shy about buying trinkets and souvenirs. Jay assured us that we didn't have to buy anything, so after about 15 minutes, we met up with him and continued back toward Chiang Mai.

We settled our bill with him when he dropped us off at U Chiang Mai. We took advantage of the hot afternoon and swam in the hotel pool before eating another dinner at the air conditioned restaurant attached to our hotel. Our two days in Chiang Mai worked out better than I could have possibly planned. Tomorrow, we would head back to Bangkok for a day before heading further east to Cambodia and the world wonder, Angkor Wat.

Thanks for reading!

- Foxy the Traveler

Chiang Mai, Thailand - Day 1

After spending two horrifically hot days in Bangkok, I was seriously worried about our 2 days planned in Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is in the northern part of Thailand that is very popular for its history and tourism. Most people venture out of Bangkok to experience more authentic Thai culture. Prior to the trip, we planned on doing a lot of hiking in Chiang Mai based on the location of our hotel and the proximity of many surrounding Wats (temples). But our two days in Bangkok made us realize that there was simply no way we could spend hours in the oppressive heat hiking in the forest/jungle trying to find ancient temples. We had to come up with another game plan. Changing plans like that on the fly make me very nervous. I already felt like I was in another world, and the thought of deviating from our itinerary made me incredibly anxious. (Hence my timid traveler moniker.)

Ahead of time, I read several reviews about tour guides in Chiang Mai. They said that often times a taxi driver who picks you up for the airport will have other services available. This is the sort of thing that I would have totally planned ahead of time rather than hoping to encounter a friendly, english-speaking, non-scamming taxi driver. I would have contacted some sort of tour company and arranged for a driver with the details all worked out ahead of time. Going into the day without concrete plans is not something I do lightly, but our two days in Bangkok were unbearable and Chiang Mai would only be hotter.

We boarded our Air Asia flight around 10:30AM. The flight was just over an hour, and we paid around $135.00 for BOTH of our tickets. We landed right around lunchtime at the small, regional Chiang Mai airport. Following the advice of many a tourist before us, we found the taxi stand and greeted the friendly driver who was next in line. At this taxi stand, you paid a flat rate for anywhere inside the city itself, and you paid it directly to the guy at the taxi stand rather than pay the driver (similar to Bangkok). Our driver was a young fellow who spoke very good English. He chatted to us about our stay in Chiang Mai and asked us about our plans. We told him that we planned on seeing some of the historic temples today, and then to see the palace and the temple at the top of the big staircase the following day. He told us that if we drove, we could easily see all of those things in a single afternoon, and then have an entire free day for some more adventurous things like going to an elephant sanctuary and the tiger kingdom. He said that he would be happy to offer us his tour services and pointed us to a binder in the back seat pocket with the different "excursions" we could consider. Truth - my heart started racing, I was on the verge of tears, and at that moment, I just wanted to be back in the United States in my nice, safe, American suburban neighborhood where the only connection I had with the Thai people was my takeout place.

But, my ever trusty husband kicked in as negotiator. He seemed to think that this guy seemed ok. They agreed on 2000 Baht for both days which only came to about $60. For two days worth of transportation (and based on what we read online) we knew this was a fair price. After my blood pressure settled down a bit, I actually got pretty excited.

Jay (our driver) dropped us off at our hotel, gave us time to settle in a bit, and then picked us up an hour later. He told us not to pay him until the end, so we knew that we really had nothing to lose by not trusting him. We weren't out any money, and if he didn't come back, we weren't any worse off than we were at the start of the day. About an hour later, Jay came back, and, true to his word, we spent the rest of the afternoon driving around to the various temples on our list.

We started with Doi Suthep and the windy road up the big hill with the massive steps. I can't even imagine how we would have done this without a driver. I had done some research about the red group taxi-type vans that you could take which were really cheap, but you had to wait until one was full before it would leave. That could sometimes take 30 mins or so, which just wasn't worth it for us. The walk up to the top of the stairs was painful enough. When we got back down, we treated ourselves to some fresh coconut juice and freshly sliced mango.

Stairs up to Doi Suthep - Chiang Mai, Thailand

Doi Suthep - Chiang Mai, Thailand

Fresh Coconut Juice

Here are some photos of the other temples we visited in Chiang Mai proper. I imagine on a nice spring day, it would have been lovely to walk to each of these. The hotel we stayed at even had bikes you could use to explore the city. In the summertime, however, we were grateful for a car and driver. Jay also knew quite a lot about the temples we visited and escorted us around the grounds.

Still can't figure out what this sign means. Haha!

After getting our fill of Thai temples, Jay dropped us off at the hotel for the evening. We started walking around town to find a place for dinner but everything was open air. I know what you must be thinking..."it cools down in the evening." Yes, yes it does. Since the high on this sunny day was a balmy 104 degrees, it did, in fact, cool down to about 95 or so by 6 or 7pm. That didn't mean we wanted to be outside. We must have walked around the town for nearly an hour. Frustrated, sweaty, and hungry, we bought some super cheap flip flops (that we would need for the next day), and wound up back at our hotel for dinner. Although their "lobby" was open air, they had a little restaurant next door that had a glass enclosure with functioning air conditioning. For the first time the whole trip so far, we had our first truly Thai dinner.

Yellow Curry with Soft-shell Crab

U Chiang Mai Hotel - Thailand

U Chiang Mai Hotel - Thailand

Our hotel for two nights was called U Chiang Mai. You can read my Trip Advisor Review if you would like some specifics. It was all in all a very decent hotel, clean and spacious enough. For $125/night including a full breakfast, perhaps I judged this hotel a little unfairly. But both mornings we needed breakfast by a certain time, and it came late. The lighting in the bathroom was so dark, it was nearly impossible to see very much. Still, the location was great, and I would recommend this hotel to anyone looking for something in the area.

I was actually very happy this first night in Chiang Mai. In just one afternoon, we saw everything that I had planned for us to see during our entire stay here. Now we had a full day for all sorts of untold adventures. I hope you'll join me for my next blog featuring tigers and elephants! No lie! :)

Thanks for reading!

- Foxy the Traveler