Greetings From Thailand: Introduction
Your girl has finally left the country! I have traveled to almost all 50 states in my short 25 years but I had never widen my travels outside the United States until recently. And now I've taken two international trips in just two years.
In January of 2017, I took my first trip overseas —to Thailand. I can't fit the whole trip into one blog post, so I'm gonna break it down… now ya'll, one hop this time! (Sorry, I had to.) I'm thinking a post for drooling over the food, a post for oogling the architecture, and a post about my experience visiting the Karen tribes and the Elephant Rescue Park. But first I'm going to start with this post as an initial introduction to the whole trip.
Get ready for this... My mom's best friend's daughter (yeah, I know) was going to Thailand for three weeks to study Thai Massage. My mom's best friend was going with her because, well, why not? But she didn't want to be alone when her daughter was in class, so she invited my mom to go along too. I, being the wanderlust filled millennial I am, wanted to go too. So I suggested making it a mother daughter trip by adding my sister and I into the mix. My generous parents went along with that idea (I know, I was shocked too) and boom! We were all going to Thailand!
For those who wonder about logistics: I flew into Palm Beach International from Austin. Then the whole group of us flew from PBI to JFK in New York. Next we had a fifteen hour flight from New York to China. Lastly, we had a short two and half hour flight into Chiang Mai, Thailand. We flew Economy on China Southern, and it was great! They had a ton of movies to choose from, and served food every couple of hours if not more.
After all the flight switching (and almost missing one of them) we had arrived! We immediately dove into the culture of the city, visiting one of the night markets first thing. We were all very hungry and ready to start enjoying Thai food. (I really do need a whole post just on food.) We had street food— the best satay I had the whole trip— and our first taste of Chang beer. I'd say we were off to a great start.
In Thailand they use Baht as currency. When we were there, the exchange rate was $0.35 to the dollar. Which meant every time we bought something we were like "WOW! That's a low price!" (Please tell me you remember that?) It's funny though because when purchasing in Baht it seems like a lot of money because they use hundreds and thousands like we use tens and twenties. So if you're buying a drink for 100 Baht that's only about $3. Or a jacket for 1000 baht is only 28 U.S. dollars. That took a little getting use to.
Another thing that took getting use to was not flushing my toilet paper. Apparently it's very bad for the water system over in Thailand if, say, everyone there flushed their t.p. all day every day. So, as an alternative, they provide waste bins in every bathroom so you can toss instead of flush. Some places didn't even supply toilet paper at all. This was my least favorite part about Thailand.
Getting around Chiang Mai was pretty easy. It seemed like no matter where you were you could always catch a songthaew, or a red truck. A red truck is basically a pick up truck with roof and bench seating in the bed of the truck. It's also referred to as a mini bus. As a farang, or foreigner, most of the time you're charged double the amount for everything. So you learn to haggle real quick. We were told not to pay more than 20 baht per person for the songthaews. But if we got a Tuk Tuk, a three-wheeled motorized vehicle used as a taxi, we'd pay more because it carries less people. Also there are scooters, or mopeds, or vespas, or whatever you call them, weaving in and out traffic everywhere you drive. Unfortunately, I didn't get to ride one but you can bet that'll be on my to-do list for my next visit. I really enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the transportation over there, which I'm now learning seems to be a common theme in foreign countries.
From street markets, temple tours, and river boats to restaurants, shopping, and typical tourist activities, there was plenty to do in Chiang Mai. My cousin, Amanda, even made the trip from Vietnam to join in on the fun for a few days.
We stayed in Chiang Mai for the duration of our trip, only venturing as far as Chiang Rai to see the White Temple and Black House. In the future, I'd love to travel back to Thailand to see more of the country, like the buzz of Bangkok and the coasts of Phuket.
I'm still in disbelief that I was lucky enough to experience such a once-in-a-life-time trip. I am forever grateful to my mom for allowing me to crash her girls trip and to both of my parents for their extreme generosity. (If you're reading this - Thanks Mom & Dad!)
For all the juicy (sometimes literally) details on this epic trip, check out the rest of the "Greetings From Thailand" blog series here.
