Thailand - Take our Trip!
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Thailand is known as “the land of smiles,” and deservedly so. Enter any establishment and you’ll be greeted with a friendly “Sawadee ka!”
After decades of tourists flocking to Phuket and Chiangmai, the country is well equipped to handle their foreign visitors - from gorgeous hotels, numerous tour companies, and a good grasp of the English language, Thailand makes it pretty easy for us to soak up the culture without having to work too hard. Not that I’m opposed to working hard! It just adds the ‘vacation’ element to what otherwise would be a purely cultural experience.
We wanted a mix of Bangkok’s thriving metropolis, the famed mountainous region in the north and the magical hidden beaches in the south, so our 16 day itinerary (three of those end up being travel days) spanned Bangkok, Chiangmai and Krabi. Since the majority of our friends have asked for our exact itinerary, I’m going to write this post in that format, or what I like to call “Trip Notes,” with additional information about the feel of the locations and background info.
Temple in Chiangmai
Best time to visit:
Thailand has three seasons:
Wet (May - October)
Cool (November - February)
Hot (March - May)
If you want to include Chiangmai in your itinerary (and you do!!!), then don’t plan the trip for March & April, which is their ‘burn season’ (farm fields, but a bunch of other stuff, too). The air quality really suffers.
We opted for a winter break trip during the “cool” season (temps in the 80s) and not as much rain. And while I enjoy higher temps, if that was “cool” then my kids definitely could not have handled hot.
Time Change:
12 hours earlier than EST
Trip Duration
We budgeted 16 days for the trip because of the considerable chunk of time it takes to get there and back.
The on-ground break down was the following:
Bangkok: 2 days
Chiangmai: 5 days
Krabi: 7 days
**If we changed anything, I would add one more day in Bangkok, and I could have given up a Krabi day for another day in Chiangmai.
Getting There/Around
Flights
If you can get a flight with a forced overnight in Korea, do it! It really helps you adjust to the new time zone. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt Incheon (just a short drive outside of the airport). There are two hotels in the airport, but you need to book those WAY in advance. The flight from Korea to Bangkok is about 6 hours.
Sooo happy to be off that 14 hr flight with a comfy bed and a belly full of bibimbap (Seoul, Korea)
Let’s jump into the good stuff! I’ll take our trip in chronological order, starting with…
Bangkok
Ground Transportation
Don’t rent a car. Like most big cities, your public transportation options are plentiful:
-Hotel shuttles: we stayed at a Marriott property and we pre-arranged for their van to pick us up at the airport for a minimal cost
-Tuk-tuks: moped meets taxi! This was our favorite way to get around within the city (designed for quick jaunts of 1-2 miles).
-Taxis: plentiful, just make sure that the meter is running or pre-discuss the fee. There is an extra cost for traveling on the expressway (like a toll).
-Subways: we were in town so briefly that we never ended up using their public transportation system, but I’ve heard great things!
-Grab: their version of Uber or Lift. Download the app ahead of time. It’s also used for meal delivery.
Tuk-tuk was our favorite mode of transportation in Thailand!
Accommodations:
For stays of two nights or less, we opt for hotels. We have status with Marriott, which means that we can check in at any time and also have access to their lounge floor - which was AMAZING! Larger hotels will also offer shuttles to and from the airport - a welcomed perk when you’re delirious after a long flight.
Bangkok Marriott Hotel The Surawongse
Rooftop pool w/bar
Rooftop bar (make reservations a few days ahead)
M Lounge (for Platinum members and above) with an amazing FREE breakfast
Breakfast at lobby level (paid)
Shuttle to and from airport
Great customer service
Roof top pool at our Marriott Hotel in Bangkok
Our Itinerary
Day 1: Afternoon arrival from Korea
Explore the hotel, have a drink on the rooftop bar, swim in the pool and get acclimated.
**Traveler tip: Pack an extra set of clothes in your carry-on in case your bags are delayed. And a swimsuit if you can fit it!
Day 2: Explore Bangkok
Chatuchak Weekend Market: opens at 9 am on Saturdays & Sundays. It gets busier and hotter throughout the day, so it’s best to start your exploring early. It is one of THE largest markets in the world and super fun to explore the narrow passageways between shops. If you’ve only got a couple days in Bangkok, plan it over a weekend so that you can check out this market.
There are rows and rows of stalls selling a variety of items in the Chatuchak Market in Bangkok.
ICONSIAM: a luxury mall. Contrary to our dying mall culture in the United States, Thai malls are thriving. One major reason is that it’s a great way to escape the heat. I’m not a big shopper, but you 100% should visit this mall, and specifically the floating market food court on the first floor. It is mind-blowingly impressive!
View from our boat tour. Later we took a tuk-tuk back, and I'm so glad that we did!
Tuk-tuk tour around Bangkok and Dinner in Chinatown: 4 hour evening tour. We booked this Airbnb Experience and I’m so glad we did. For starters, it got us out on the river, which is an incredible way to see Bangkok. Secondly, Bangkok is HUGE and we didn’t have to give any thought to navigation because the guide took care of it all.
Our guide took us to a Michelin rated food cart for chicken satay - best we’ve ever had!
At night the temples are closed, but the outsides are beautifully lit and there are thousands of temples, so if you want to go inside some, you’ll definitely get your chance at some point.
Evening cruise as part of our night market tour - LOVED getting out on the river in Bangkok!
Night time touring is also a great way to escape the heat. Chinatown in Bangkok is one of the oldest Chinatowns in the world and it was great to have a local guide help us navigate the food options. She even helped my nine-year-old fulfill his wish of trying scorpion on a stick!
“Crunchy”
This was our only full day in Bangkok and we definitely could have used one more - especially if we had really wanted to get inside the Temple of the Emerald Buddha or Wat Arun, two of Bangkok’s famous temples.
Day 3: Pack up and fly to Chiangmai (Sunday)
Hotel shuttle to the airport for an afternoon flight
Bangkok Airways to Chiangmai. Great flight experience and they didn’t charge us for extra weight (not sure if we got lucky, or if that’s the norm).
CHIANGMAI, THAILAND
Wat Phra Singh
Ground transportation in Chiangmai
Check with your Airbnb or hotel to see if they provide transportation to and from the airport, which is located 15 minutes outside of the center of Chiangmai. Our Airbnb arranged our transportation.
Tuk-tuk: again, great for quick jaunts and reasonably priced! One or two miles worked out to be about $3 and some were large enough for all four of us to fit (with one small seat next to the driver).
Songthaew: the ubiquitous red trucks all over Chiangmai! It’s kind of like a group taxi and very reasonably priced. While they typically don’t take you to an exact location, find a temple or popular tourist destination close by where they can drop you and just walk the few remaining blocks to your final destination. The average cost is about 100 baht per person (about $3).
***Traveler Tip: Thai drivers typically do NOT read English. Look up the address on Google Maps, and then click the microphone next to the desired location. Not only will it spell it in Thai to show your driver, but it will also speak it in Thai!
On Google Maps, make your destination full screen and then that microphone will appear. Click on it to hear the name of your location in the local language.
Transportation for Excursions:
Check with your elephant sanctuary experience or cooking class adventure because most of these include transportation to and from your hotel or Airbnb in their cost.
Day 3 continued: Arrive in Chiang Mai
The airbnb driver picked us up for a 2 pm check in, and the owner of the house met us and gave us a tutorial on everything. We highly recommend this Airbnb and its location.
Late night snack on the terrace of our Airbnb.
After settling in, we headed out to dinner followed by a stroll through the Sunday Market, which is an absolute MUST DO!
This temple courtyard (right off the Main Street of the Sunday Market) was lined with street food vendors.
The Sunday market does get insanely busy (like elbow to elbow), so head there as close to 5 pm as possible and expect a few vendors to still be setting up. My son and I returned later when it was packed and the crowds didn’t bother us, but it was a little claustrophobic for other family members. We actually LOVED it and he even got his portrait drawn in charcoal by an incredibly talented street artist.
We were so impressed with this street artist!
Day 4: Explore/Night Food Tour
I like to leave the first day open to get our bearings and explore our “neighborhood” on foot. Chiangmai is an incredibly walkable city, so leave yourself plenty of time to wander.
We had read that the best khao soi (a regional noodle dish) was at a small, out-of-the-way restaurant called Khao Soy Maesai not far from the Nimman district. The line out the door confirmed the rumor. This one bowl of noodle soup might be the best thing I ate in Thailand.
Khao Soi - quite possibly my favorite food of the trip. And you can only find it in Chiangmai!
We try to book street food tours early on in our trips, so that when we’re introduced to a delicious foodie treat there is still time to go back and get more! We had a great experience with Aei through Withlocals on our night market food tour.
Our street-food tour in Chiangmai. Our guide, Aei, got us quite the sampling of food to try and it was amazing! This was one of many stops.
A variety of chili sauces with fresh and green mango.
Sausages
If you don’t take a food market tour in Chiangmai, here are some of the more popular ones to check out on your own:
Chang Phuak Gate Night Market - just north of the old city, very popular with locals and home to the “cowboy hat lady” who Anthony Bourdin featured in his No Reservations episodes.
Warorot Market (Chinese market) - you’ll find some interesting bites to eat here! Our guide “treated” us to bird’s nest soup, a Chinese delicacy (the boiled nest of a swallow, which is a bird that uses spit to seal its nest together).
I laugh every time I see this photo! I tasted it and honestly it wasn’t bad!!
Ploen Ruedee Night Market - this is 100% where you will find all of the tourists. Normally I would never send you to a place like this, but if you’ve gotten food poisoning and you need something to eat that doesn’t remind you of how you got sick, this would be the place to go. Also, I found THE best vegan ice cream of my life here, and they even had a khao soi flavor!!
Day 5: Elephant Sanctuary Day!
My nine-year-old with his new buddy.
9 am pick up and 1.5 hr drive to Into the Wild (transportation included)
Jungle hike with the elephants
Lunch and elephant feeding
Medicine ball preparation and feeding
Mud massage followed by an elephant bath
Return around 5 pm
**Our experience worked out to be $65 per adult and $45 for 9 and younger
Banana snacks!
The Elephant Nature Park is very well-known in the area, but you only observe the elephants from a distance. We felt that our Into the Wild tour was an ethical program that did allow you more of a hands-on experience. The elephants are free to roam (no fences on the property), and they are not prodded or pushed by the staff.
Our driver used to work on the property and helped care for a baby elephant there - who is now a teenager - and that elephant would not leave his side the entire time we visited. It was clear that there was a lot of love and respect for the elephants.
Our guide/driver and his “daughter”
Elephant bath!
Day 6: Bamboo Rafting/ Secret Waterfalls
Originally, we had left this day open, but after seeing this excursion the kids were totally up for another full-day activity. The bamboo rafting was listed in my kids top 3 at the end of the trip. *If I’m being honest, though, it’s because they laughed hysterically watching their aunt and uncle crash into rocks and trees with their raft.
Bamboo rafting
We booked the tour through Airbnb Experiences. And while I do recommend bamboo rafting, our guide (who was American) I would not recommend. Just a personal opinion.
You could piece this trip together yourself by hiring a driver for the day, or find a tour through another company. Here are the waterfall areas we visited:
Maewang Waterfall: you cross a rickety bamboo bridge to get to the swimming side of the falls. It’s not deep, so don’t dive! You can jump in and then try running up towards the waterfall to see how close you can get before the current pushes you back.
That water comes from the mountains, so it’s a little chilly!
Mae Sapok: you don’t really swim here, but you can climb up behind the waterfall; and if you do, there’s a surprise waiting there for you!
A fun place to explore and take a “shower.”
Day 7: Morning Cooking Class/Afternoon Open
-8:30 am pick up for Thai Farm Cooking School
- stop for market tour enroute
- tour the farm and learn about ingredients we will be using
- cooking class (each person makes 4 dishes)
* children 10 and under can share a station with an adult
Thai Farm Cooking School
This program was phenomenal from start to finish. I am still amazed at how seemingly effortless the instructor was able to lead 10 people through numerous recipes with incredible ease. Each “chef” could pick a soup, one of five curries, spring rolls or phad thai, and a dessert.
My oldest son, who was 11 at the time, said that this activity was in his top three for the whole Thailand trip.
Whitman sautéing his veggies for his spring rolls.
***Cultural insight: In the United States, if it’s in the pot or the bowl, then you eat it (aside from maybe a rogue bay leaf). In Thailand, many inedible items are added to soups to flavor the broth. Lemongrass, golangal, and chili peppers are meant to be pushed to the side or eaten around but not consumed.
Lemongrass, numeric, ginger and galangal used in our soups and curries.
Day 8: Chiangmai to Krabi + 4 Islands Boat Tour
We flew Air Asia to Krabi and had another great experience! They didn’t make us pay extra for our slightly heavy bags.
Krabi, Thailand
The airport is in Krabi, but the popular tourist destination is Ao Nang, which sits along the water (and is in Krabi province). Ao Nang has one long stretch, hugging the coast, of restaurants and shops that goes on for a couple miles. It’s a fun place to explore, shop, eat at the night market, and catch a longtail boat to the nearby islands.
Longboats lined up in Ao Nang (like water taxis)
Our Airbnb was about two miles north of Ao Nang down a quiet side street.
We could walk to the main street in about five minutes, and it honestly felt like real Thailand. No sidewalks, mom and pop restaurants, a 7/11 (ubiquitous in Asia) and a night market on Wednesdays that even I was a little squeamish about. Horseshoe crabs on the menu?! I didn’t think anyone ate those!
I’ll eat most things…but not horseshoe crab.
Accommodation Perk!
We absolutely loved our Airbnb experience - mostly because of the house manager, Poo! Having a local who could make the calls and set up appointments for us in Thai was a HUGE advantage. The house was not cheap, but she made the extra cost worthwhile. From booking us boat tours to making us breakfast, to even helping me procure a special surprise birthday cake for my husband, Poo was a HUGE help!
Gai and Poo were such a big help to us! This was taken in the courtyard of our Airbnb.
Transportation in and out of Ao Nang between 9 am and 8 pm (her husband Gai drove us). We could easily catch a tuk-tuk home if we were out past 8 pm.
Airbnbs are much more full-service here in Thailand than anything I’ve experienced in the United States. Well, the good Airbnbs anyway!
**Traveler tip: I never book an Airbnb with a rating that is less than 4.8 out of 5. And even then, I ALWAYS read through the reviews before booking.
If you’re looking at hotels and want to be near the action, try to book as close to Ao Nang and the beach as possible.
Did I mention that Poo helped us schedule massages at the Airbnb?
Day 8 Continued…
Because our flight landed at 9 am and we couldn’t check into our Airbnb until 3 pm, Poo recommended that we take a boat tour for the day. She assisted us in booking the Four Islands Tour with Chanpailin.
So many unique nooks and crannies to explore in the Andaman Sea!
All of the boats we booked were private excursions. I’m sure you can save a lot of money by doing the group tours, but because we could split the cost between two families, the flexibility and enjoyment of having our own boat outweighed the additional cost.
Speaking of cost…while most things in Thailand are significantly cheaper than in the United States, Thais are quickly realizing how much they can charge tourists for excursions and tours. We paid around $500 total for our full day boat tour, which came with a driver and an assistant.
“O” and “N” were incredibly competent with navigating the limestone karst formations, coral below, low and high tide and even a pretty intense pop up storm. And while their English was limited, we could always understand the name of the island and what the intention was: “to snorkel, “take picture” or “good swimming.” And because it was a private tour, we could decide how long we wanted to stay and explore at each island.
Unique topography on our Four Island Tour
The Four Island Tour included:
Chicken Island: sail around and snorkel in the water nearby
Poda Island: a bigger island with a partitioned off snorkeling area. You can buy food here, but expect to take your trash back to the boat with you.
Talay Weak: a three-pronged sand bar with a small bar/snack area
Railay Beach: the boat drops you at Railay and you walk to Phra Nang Cave beach (only accessible on foot), which is pure magic!
Phra Nang Cave Beach (only accessed by foot from Railay Beach)
**Traveler Tip: the boat DID provide snorkel gear, but my kids are weird about snorkel stuff, so I brought their own goggles and they used them A LOT. We also packed a mesh beach bag and a soft-sided cooler for drinks because we knew that we’d have a lot of beach time. Thankfully, our Airbnb provided us with beach towels for our boat days.
Longboats shuttling people back and forth from Ao Nang to Railay Beach
Day 9: Open day and NYE
I figured that by this point in the trip, some people would be wanting down time (I’m not one of those people), so we had a completely open morning to let the kids (and men) hang out, veg, and play in the pool.
Around 4pm, Poo arranged for a driver to take us 30 minutes away to downtown Krabi to check out their Saturday market. It wasn’t huge, but it was a decent size and there was a stage with local talent to entertain you while you ate.
NYE at the Krabi Market (about 25 minutes from Ao Nang)
One good thing and one bad thing came out of that evening jaunt. The good thing was that my sister discovered this barista vending machine that made about 50 different drinks and did a hell of a job!
My sister and her new love!
The bad thing is that my sister took a gamble on sushi at the night market on an 85 degree day. It caught up with her at about 5 am.
***Traveler tip: Avoid sushi on super hot days! Or, just be extra cautious and avoid it all together at outdoor markets. My brother-in-law and husband also had some minor stomach upset for a few hours (on a different day), but the boys and I were completely fine the entire time. And my youngest ate some pretty crazy things!
That evening was New Year’s Eve and we were told that there were fireworks on Ao Nang beach. They didn’t mention that people were also selling lanterns that you could set off into the night sky! We celebrated 2023 twelve hours earlier, and then toasted our Michigan friends at noon the next day when their time zone hit midnight.
My niece sending her lantern off on NYE (Ao Nang Beach)
Day 10: Return to Phra Nang Cave Beach & Sunset Cruise in Hong Islands
Gai, or driver, dropped us off in Ao Nang near the ticketing kiosk to purchase longtail boat tickets to Railay. The cost was 100 bht per person for one-way, and you purchase round trip ahead of time (and keep the stub to get the ride back). No need to make reservations in advance. These longtails are like water taxis, and when they get enough people on board, they start the trip.
This driver dropped us off at East Railay Beach (due to low tide at West Railay) and so we had to walk to the west beach, and then take the incredibly magical walk again to Phra Nang Cave Beach.
Exploring caves on the walk from Railay Beach to Phra Nang Cave Beach. That’s my oldest son with a flashlight.
The snorkeling at this beach is nothing remarkable, but the views, sand, and numerous caves to explore make it a must-see when in Railay. Oh! And Railay and Phra Nang Cave Beach have rock climbing, so look into that ahead of time if you’re a climber.
A couple days into our Krabi portion of the trip, it occurred to me that the gorgeous island scenery would be just stunning at sunset. We spoke with Poo and added a last-minute sunset cruise to the itinerary with the Chanpailin company on their “luxury longtail” boat. It was definitely a night to remember!
My husband brought along his portable speaker, we cruised around majestic limestone pinnacles, hopped on and off islands and then cruised back after the sun had set. The whole excursion was about three hours and was one of my favorite nights of the trip.
We rented a private longboat for our sunset tour around the Hong Islands.
***Longtail or speedboat?
You can’t go to Krabi and NOT take a longtail boat. They are iconic and perfect for short treks to nearby islands. They are also slower than power boats and the motors can be loud. We loved our longtail boat for our evening cruise, but the power boat was great for getting us to the islands faster on our day trips.
We were very happy with Chanpailin and used them for four different tours. Our Airbnb house manager arranged everything for us.
Day 11: Hong Islands
The Hong Islands are probably my favorite cluster of islands to visit in the Andaman sea. That said, because we saw them the night before on our sunset cruise, it did take a little wind out of our sails to go back the next day. Everything was a repeat, but I was happy for more time to explore them!
The Hong Island Tour included:
Koh Lao Lading: a must-see hidden tiny beach with a small snorkeling area, tree swing, log tables and a tiny snack bar. A favorite with many in our group.
Hong Island: the main island in the chain with an emerald-colored lagoon, and steps up to a viewpoint of the island chain. **there is a hefty National Park fee here of 400 bht per adult and 200 bht per child
Pak Bia Islands: a sandy isthmus stretched into the sea with a small snorkel area and a few amenities. When we were there at sunset the night before it was almost empty and we absolutely loved it. During the day tour, it was difficult for our boat to find a docking spot and we had to walk across some rocks from the far end of the island to get there.
Koh Lao Lading Island
Hong Island (the big one)
Pak Bia Island
Snorkel spot: I do not remember the name of this location, but there is a partitioned off area next to a rocky outcropping (no beach) that we stopped by on our way back to the mainland and the snorkeling was spectacular. We saw a huge mosaic jellyfish (like the size of a beach ball) and a ton of reef fish. Just ask your guide to take you to great snorkeling!
This is the mosaic jellyfish we saw!!
Day 12: Massages and Relax Day
Because our boat days usually run from 8 am to 4/5 pm, I tried to schedule every other day as a ‘down day.’ And because this was my husband’s birthday and he likes to relax on vacation (so weird!!), we booked massages for everyone in the morning at our Airbnb.
For an hour-long full body coconut oil massage (600 bht) followed by a 30 minute foot scrub (300 bht), we paid about $25 total per person.
Massages at our Airbnb
That afternoon we did some shopping in Ao Nang and stumbled upon Reeve, a restaurant with an amazing rooftop view. At 8 pm they provided their own “fire show” on the beach, and it was pretty impressive!
Fire Show at Reeve restaurant in Ao Nang
Day 13: Phi Phi Islands
I originally was going to skip these islands because I heard that they are pretty overrun with tourists, and we were visiting during peak tourist season. My sister, however, wanted to visit Maya Bay (made famous by the Leonardo DiCaprio movie, The Beach) and had read that they are the most gorgeous islands in the area.
They ARE gorgeous, but the secret is definitely out! Am I glad I went? Probably… but honestly I could skip Maya Bay, which is a total zoo of tourists.
Long line to wait for your boat leaving Maya Bay.
The beach is gorgeous, but after the movie was released tourists flocked to Maya in huge numbers. Now there is a boardwalk the entire stretch from dock to beach, and you’re only allowed to step into the water briefly to get your instagram pic. No swimming is permitted to allow for the coral in that area to regrow. So good on them for putting ecosystem above tourism! Also, there is another National Park fee there, which makes sense because they have a lot of decking to maintain!
Maya Beach
Phi Phi Island tours include:
Maya Beach (“The Beach”): see above
Phi Phi Don: A very large island with hotels and restaurants. We did some shopping here and had lunch. Many people make this their “home” island for vacation.
Monkey Island: we had just viewed monkeys (from the boat) in a lagoon, so we opted to skip this stop and spend more time on Bamboo Island. It was a sandy beach area, but nothing “wow” from what we could see.
Bamboo Island: big sandy beach and incredible snorkeling here just steps from the shore. I saw a black & white sea snake, black-tipped reef shark (in the deeper water) and so many colorful reef fish!
Bamboo Island - the only time it rained on our whole trip!
***Traveler tip: Pack reef-friendly sunscreen with you (it will be labeled on the product). There were no signs posted about requiring it, so I’m guessing many tourists are contributing to the destruction of the coral reefs there with their Banana Boat sunscreen. We also saw tourists actually standing on the coral, which is just infuriating.
Day 14: Chill time & pack up for trip home
Fortunately, our Airbnb had a “buy 6 nights get the 7th night free” deal, so we booked the extra night so that we didn’t have to rush to check out in the morning (we only slept there 6 nights).
After a leisurely breakfast and a morning spent trying to cram all of our new purchases into our luggage, we had a driver take us to the Krabi airport. This inner-country flight was on Viet Jet, and although it was the most budget of all the Thai airlines we took, we had no issues and only a 30 minute delay. We did, however, give ourselves plenty of wiggle-room in the Bangkok airport just in case something came up. We arrived around 6 pm and our Korea air flight did not depart until almost midnight.
Traveler Tip: We threw in an extra light-weight duffle bag when we packed for Thailand because we knew that souvenirs were cheap. We fully stuffed that bag with sandals and elephant pants!
Can’t leave Thailand without some comfy elephant pants!
Our journey home, including a couple of five hour layovers, was a total of 35 hours door to door. Fortunately, the kids were total troopers!
If your home is on eastern standard time, plan on struggling to keep awake until 7 pm and then waking up alert and ready to go at 3 am for at least a couple of days. Fortunately, we flew home on a Friday (the longest Friday of our lives because you’re traveling against time) and had the weekend to recover from the jet lag.
In summary…
Thailand is a true feast for the senses and offers a multitude of experiences.
In Bangkok, the golden domes of ancient temples are interspersed with modern high rises, and the souk-like Chatuchak market is as delightful for its winding, cobbled passageways as the ultra-modern ICONSIAM shopping mall is for its glitz and high-end glamor.
Chiangmai, often called “the cultural center” of Thailand, had some of the best food we ate on the trip, including the regional noodle dish known as ‘khao soi.’ From bamboo rafting, exploring hidden waterfalls, jungle treks with elephants, and the delightful variety of night markets, Chiangmai is the region I most long to return to.
And with every trip we plan, we save the R & R location for last. With its magical karst topography, sparkling warm waters, excellent snorkeling and white sand beaches, Krabi provided the ‘vacation’ feel away from the hustle and bustle of the larger cities. After over two weeks on the road, I left feeling sun-soaked and morally bolstered to face three months of a Michigan winter.