Wow this trip was been incredible so far. The first night we arrived in Bangkok we checked in to the Shanti Lodge and stayed 2 nights as tourists. We took a river taxi to the Grand Palace where we walked all around the elaborate, ornate temples. The public markets have such pungent aromas that it makes me nauseous, but it's very fun to see how they live their lives. Anyways, after 2 nights in Bangkok we took a train about three hours east to a tiny village where we stayed for 3 nights in a Bungalow. Wan Pen fed us every meal and they were delicious to say the least. On the second day we hiked for about a mile up a little mountain until we reached these awesome limestone caves. They were like nowhere I have ever been before, and they were absolutely beautiful. Our tour guide had a little lantern and led us through the tiny opening into a massive area that was about 200 ft high. The quartz shown like diamonds and the rock formations looked like they were melting into crazy designs. The ceiling was covered in bats and one of them flew down and landed on a guys foot, it was pretty funny. We also saw a huge black and white snake slither by, as well as gigantic spiders...all I can say is yikes. When we walked back to the village Pad Thai was prepared for us, individually wrapped in banana leaves. We took our lunch to Erawan National Park where we hung out at the waterfalls. The falls had seven levels and we made it all the way to the top, swimming of and on the entire way. My favorite part were the natural water slides, consisting of enormous, smooth boulders that we would climb up and slide down! The vegetation and foliage was so lush, and the water so blue and warm. Today it was 90 degrees, no big deal :)
Tonight we are taking a 14 hour long train ride up to Chang Mai, where we will post up for about a week. I can't wait to visit the Chang Mai night market, it is famous for being an economy inside of an economy and a culture within a culture. A lot of illegal things go on and it looks ridiculous and intriguing. Ok well my time is up but I will update again soon. Cheers my friends!
Love from Thailand!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
WOW! Amazing trip so far! Almost as amazing is the fact that I have navigated my way to being able to sign in and post on your blog. I will be following you now, so keep up the good writing and for God's sake be CAREFUL ! xo Pops
ReplyDeleteListen to old Pops! Sounds like you are having fun so far, and being careful as well, I would like a big bowl of Pad Thai right now. Instead it's 2am and I'm about to hop into bed. I traveled in Istanbul with a engineer from Boston named Jason. He's been living in Chang Mai for a couple of years, he has a house and cooks a lot. If you see him tell him Cole says whats up...Keep posting. xx
ReplyDeleteSophie... Shouldn't you be checkin in about now? :)
ReplyDeletePad Thai sounds AMAZING right about now...How were the natural water slides? I slid down a few of those in the Dominican Republic and got the worst burns on my arms and legs, ever! They were super steep and I think I tumbled more than slid down them...humpty dumpty style. Still have a scar on my arm to remind me. Hope your slides went more smoothly...no pun intended :)
ReplyDelete