We spent the first couple days in Bangkok. One fun thing we did there was visit a "floating market", a market in which locals sell their goods/produce from long, shallow boats they "float" along the canals of the city. Though it was pretty touristy, it was still neat to see. We bought some delicious mango along our way...YUM!
Getting around Bangkok wasn't easy. Many of the taxi drivers are farmers who come in from the country side, temporarily, and therefore don't really know where they are going. The language barrier didn't help matters either! We did have fun riding in a couple tuk-tuks, three wheeled, motor-cycle like carts.
We also visited the quite impressive Grand Palace. Thailand's king no longer lives there, but it remains an exquisite work of art and craftsmanship. The figure behind Tyler in the picture below is believed to guard against evil spirits.
We flew up north to Chiang Mai on New Year's Eve. We hired an English-speaking guide for the four days we were there: a great decision! Nooy, our guide, took us to some incredible places and gave us great insight to Thai culture and tradition. 
When we visited local markets Nooy walked us through, telling us what they used to cook different Thai dishes and encouraged vendors to let us try numerous types of local fruit.
She also took us to some of the best local restaurants and ordered us all sorts of yummy food. It sure was nice not to struggle to decipher the menu!
We visited a couple Buddhist temples where Nooy explained the traditions and customs going on around us. It is very common for Buddhists to visit the temple on New Year's Day to offer gifts to the monks and to ask for blessing over the coming year.
One of the highlights of our time up in Chiang Mai was visiting an elephant farm. The elephants put on a show in which they played soccer, did some dancing and even painted pictures! Afterwards we could feed them bananas and they gave us hugs with their trunks.
Many people call Thailand a shopper's paradise--Chiang Mai was no exception. They have an amazing, and HUGE, night market. We spent a couple hours each night exploring it and still didn't see it all! 
The last day we were in Chiang Mai we rode an elephant through the woods, took a bamboo raft down a river and then hiked though a national park to a couple different waterfalls. The trail ended at a hill tribe village that made its own coffee...Tyler liked it so much he bought some to take home!
We ended the trip by spending a couple days at a beautiful resort on the beach about an hour north of Phuket. Damage from the tsunami a couple years ago was no longer evident. We really enjoyed just chillin' by the pool/beach and reading our books.
If you ever have the chance to visit Thailand...take it. This was one of the best trips we've ever had!
Getting around Bangkok wasn't easy. Many of the taxi drivers are farmers who come in from the country side, temporarily, and therefore don't really know where they are going. The language barrier didn't help matters either! We did have fun riding in a couple tuk-tuks, three wheeled, motor-cycle like carts.We also visited the quite impressive Grand Palace. Thailand's king no longer lives there, but it remains an exquisite work of art and craftsmanship. The figure behind Tyler in the picture below is believed to guard against evil spirits.We flew up north to Chiang Mai on New Year's Eve. We hired an English-speaking guide for the four days we were there: a great decision! Nooy, our guide, took us to some incredible places and gave us great insight to Thai culture and tradition. 
When we visited local markets Nooy walked us through, telling us what they used to cook different Thai dishes and encouraged vendors to let us try numerous types of local fruit. 
She also took us to some of the best local restaurants and ordered us all sorts of yummy food. It sure was nice not to struggle to decipher the menu!We visited a couple Buddhist temples where Nooy explained the traditions and customs going on around us. It is very common for Buddhists to visit the temple on New Year's Day to offer gifts to the monks and to ask for blessing over the coming year. One of the highlights of our time up in Chiang Mai was visiting an elephant farm. The elephants put on a show in which they played soccer, did some dancing and even painted pictures! Afterwards we could feed them bananas and they gave us hugs with their trunks.
Many people call Thailand a shopper's paradise--Chiang Mai was no exception. They have an amazing, and HUGE, night market. We spent a couple hours each night exploring it and still didn't see it all! The last day we were in Chiang Mai we rode an elephant through the woods, took a bamboo raft down a river and then hiked though a national park to a couple different waterfalls. The trail ended at a hill tribe village that made its own coffee...Tyler liked it so much he bought some to take home!We ended the trip by spending a couple days at a beautiful resort on the beach about an hour north of Phuket. Damage from the tsunami a couple years ago was no longer evident. We really enjoyed just chillin' by the pool/beach and reading our books. If you ever have the chance to visit Thailand...take it. This was one of the best trips we've ever had!
1 comment:
hey guys, nice post Dana... question: if that thing's supposed to keep out evil spirits etc how come Tyler got in there?! No wonder I don't believe in that superstitious stuff...
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