After traveling to Tokyo Japan for 4 days we headed to the longer part of our trip in THAILAND!! I traveled to Thailand with Limericki and my friends Delaina and Chanelle a year previous to this and the whole time I was there I couldn’t stop dreaming about bringing Tyler here one day! I was also so sick the first time I went so I knew I had to go back when I was fully healthy. So when we found these Tokyo/Thailand plane tickets we JUMPED at the chance to check off both bucket list destinations and I’m so happy we did.
BANGKOK
We started off our trip in BANGKOK!! The capitol city of Thailand! We never went to Bangkok on my first Thailand trip so this was new territory for us and boy was it an adventure. There’s no place like Bangkok. It is chaotic, colorful, vibrant and filled with smells (both incredible and horrible). There are people everywhere flying by on scooters, taxis and tuk tuks (little open aired taxi like vehicles that are freaking fun and scary at the same time). Locals and tourists alike flood the streets passing vendors selling the best street food and other market goods while others head to work or to visit the many temples that will seriously blow your mind with their intricate beauty. And above all the humidity and the heat of the city is so thick that you’ll stop and wonder how it’s possible a place can feel this hot and wet. You knew it was going to be this hot, you prepared for it to be this hot, but you were NOT. READY. for it to be this sticky hot ha ha ha!
The best advice I was given about Bangkok was to go and see The Grand Palace and The Reclining Buddha right in the morning as soon as it opens to the public. Best. Decision. EVER! We basically had the entire grounds of the The Grand Palace to ourselves! I was able to get so many photos without people in the background and it was like a dream walking around hand in hand with Tyler gawking at all the buildings. You have to see these temples and structures to really grasp the tiny details, color and overall awe-inspiring design. It blew us away! They also had a textile museum and Tyler and I found ourselves getting dressed up by the cute Thai ladies in traditional clothing ha ha!! (info about the property) The Grand Palace is a complex of buildings at the heart of Bangkok. The palace has been the official residence of the Kings of Siam since 1782.
After the Grand Palace we headed over to see Wat Pho or otherwise known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. It is a giant temple that houses the longest golden buddha you will ever see. This thing is MASSIVE! It reaches from the ceiling to the floor and stretches the length of the entire temple.
After visiting Wat Pho we headed across the river on a boat to see Wat Arun (Or the Temple of Dawn) this temple was my FAVE! The colors are unreal and you’re able to walk up the steps of the temple quite a bit. It was seriously so old and stunning! I still can’t believe places and things like this exist. After visiting Wat Arun we walked around some of the side streets off of the main path and stumbled upon a little stand inside someones house that was selling crispy basil pork with egg and rice and it was the best!! It was one of the top meals we had on the entire trip and it was dirt cheap and hidden in an alleyway. So yummy!
The next day we were able to drive out to one of the floating markets! We took a boat through all of the floating stalls and it was kind of madness. So many little boats jamming together, trying to fit through little canals. Our guide pulled the boat over to a yummy pad thai stall where we ate the yummiest pad thai in our boat as well as some fresh coconut ice cream! We also accidentally bought two full bags of rambutan (I meant to get 2 individual rambutans and they thought I said two full bags ha ha ha) so we gave one to our boat driver and took the other one back to our hotel to eat later that night with some mango sticky rice! When you’re in Thailand eat allllllllll the mango and sticky rice. It’s a dream come true!
Phuket+The Elephant Sanctuary
After a couple amazing days in Bangkok we hopped on a plane and flew down south to the islands. Before heading to the Phi Phi Islands we spent the morning at the Phuket Elephant Retirement Center. This was one of the highlights from my last trip and I knew I had to experience it with Tyler! Except this time we happened to be at the sanctuary the same day as Songkran!! Which is the Thai New Year’s celebration!! It’s also known as the biggest water fight in the world because people literally walk around spraying and dumping water on each other! They also put colored paste on their skin which Tyler and I were able to do to each other and the baby elephant pinky! We crushed up flowers into paste and painted it on each others arms and faces. We had a big water fight at the sanctuary and the elephants even got involved with spraying me with some SERIOUS water! You can see in the video ha ha ha it was intense! We were able to feed the elephants, give one a mud bath, a water bath and then walk around with them. We even crushed up some herbs to give a massage to one of the pregnant elephants. Our guide was incredible and gave us so much information about the elephants and which ones had experienced past trauma which was so sad! After hanging out with the elephants they cooked us the most incredible meal we have EVER had! We seriously still dream and crave this home cooked meal all the time. We helped make the pad thai but everything else they cooked for us and it was a dream. So. yummy.
The Phi Phi Islands
The Phi Phi Islands was Tyler’s favorite part of our Thailand trip! You just can’t beat the bright turquoise water, white sandy beaches and the vibe of the island. When I came here last year it was loud and the nightlife was crazy like a giant party. But this time around it was a GHOST TOWN. And honestly it was paradise ha ha! We felt like we had the island to ourselves as we drank fresh fruit smoothies on the beach and swam in the water that felt like a warm bath!
The next day we took a tour on a longboat to Pileh Lagoon which is one of my personal favorite places on the planet! The water is crystal clear and is the most vibrant turquoise color! We went in the morning and had the lagoon to ourselves! There was one other boat as we swam in the lagoon, snorkeled and jumped off the boat into the warm water! After the lagoon we went to some more snorkeling spots and then headed to monkey beach to hang out with the monkeys! It was such a fun day! We ended the day by walking around the island, checking out the shops and watching one of the prettiest sunsets we’ve ever seen. One of my favorite things about Thailand are both the sunrises and sunsets. They both light up the sky with pinks and purples. It’s a sight to see!
Krabi
After the Phi Phi islands we took a ferry over to Krabi! I had never been to Krabi either so the next few days were an awesome adventure! We stayed at a hotel in Ao Nang which is super close to the famous Railay Beach. We loved walking around Ao Nang and did most of our shopping there. We drank so many fruit smoothies on this trip as well as one of my favorite drinks in the whole world, coco yen! Which is like an iced hot chocolate! It’s the BEST! On our second day we took a tour to some waterfall hot springs! They were SO hot but fun to play around in! After that we checked out the emerald pool (which looks cool in photos but it was pretty gross. Think of a giant community pool that doesn’t get cleaned but is a cool emerald color) and the blue pool which is too hot to swim in but is super pretty.
After visiting the pools we headed to the main event. THE TIGER CAVE TEMPLE. Oh. My. Gosh. I had done research, I had tried to prepare us for this hike, but it was SO much harder than I had anticipated! It was 1,237 steps STRAIGHT up the mountain! Some of the steps got so steep we were on our hands and knees climbing as if we were heading up a Mayan freaking temple. We were the only ones in our group that made it to the very top. The rest turned around halfway! I’m SO happy we made it to the top! It was so beautiful and even though we were dripping in sweat I was proud of us for accomplishing something so hard and worthwhile! The view from the top was gorgeous and the Buddha was huge! I’ll never forget how hot it was climbing those stairs at NOON in the blinding sun, but I’ll also never forget the feeling of making it to the top and taking in the views after accomplishing something so difficult!
The next day we spent hanging out at Railay Beach! We took a longboat from Ao Nang over to Railay and then took a swim in the ocean! We walked around both sides of the beach, ate some Roti (thai pancake) and relaxed in the shade. We decided to go kayaking and it was a blast! We found this little cave and as we were kayaking into it the tide must have come in and a huge wave filled the cave up quickly and then all of a sudden PUSHED us out of the cave! We round the wave down and out and it was so flipping scary but a blast! We turned around and paddled back to see if it would happen again but after three times we decided we had just gotten super good timing with the first wave ha ha!
On our last time before we started the long journey home we went on a 4 island tour! We zoomed around on a speedboat to multiple little islands and lagoons. We laughed our heads off because the tour was mid-day and we didn’t want to get sunburned so we took turns hiding under the blanket. Tyler had gotten sunburned pretty badly the day previous so he took advantage of all the towels ha ha!! We swam in the water for the last time and had one last smoothie before heading back to our hotel and then starting the long trek home the next day. We will remember this trip for the rest of our lives! I’m so grateful we were able to go and have these memories. Thailand holds such a special place in my heart. It’s the first place I really traveled to and where I caught the travel bug. I love it so much and I’m always wanting to go back.
