Back to the Roots - Bangkok, Thailand
Bangkok, Thailand
After an unforgettable first month of the big adventure, it was time for the next episode: landing in Bangkok and departing from Ho Chi Minh City, and thus traveling over land across the wonderful countries Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam during one month.
I arrived in Bangkok on a Saturday, which means this was the perfect opportunity to go to the world famous Chatuchak Market, only organized during weekends and considered as one of the biggest markets in the world. Here, you can find all kinds of local specialties, such as the typical delicious mangoes and of course some lovely fresh sea food.
I evidently had to try out some completely new things, such as squid eggs or all kinds of barbecue sticks with every possible kind of meat and vegetable you can imagine. It was a very nice way to get in touch with the local culture, not only from a gastronomical perspective but also as far as the free time spending of the Thai is concerned.
Since the market is located right next to one of the major public parks in the city, I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon in between the market and the park, enjoying the quietness and grabbing some street food whenever I felt hungry. What a holiday!
The following day, the plan was to go further and explore the city's most important temples, which are all located in the same area, in one day. The various possibilities to reach the temple area include taking a traditional boat across the Chao Phraya river, which is of course the one I opted for and which provides some sightseeing of the city as well as the temples before you hop off and continue exploring on foot.
The first stop was Wat Pho or the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, which is a complex of different small, beautiful temples and one main temple which is home to a gold-plated lying Buddha statue of 46 meters long and 15 meters high: quite impressive when you walk all the way around it!
After Wat Pho, I headed to the Grand Palace, which is located on a large domain consisting of different gardens, temples, and royal offices which are still operational at this point in time. After this rather short visit due to an upcoming storm, I decided to cross the river in the direction of Wat Arun or the Temple of Dawn, my personal favorite, which is one of Thailand's iconic temples and which has a very unique style. Unfortunately, the main temple was under maintenance at the time of my visit, which is of course an excellent excuse to go back later on.
Since I generally don't like spending too much time in capital cities in order to have more time to explore as many interesting regions as possible in every country, I decided to head for the north the following day. I took a night bus to Chiang Mai, which takes around 12 hours from Bangkok, and on the way I met a really friendly French couple, Lisa and John, who also wanted to go for some adventure in the region, so we decided to look for a multi-day trek through the jungle together.
We arrived early in the morning and agreed to stay in touch to discuss the trek after doing the check-ins and exploring the city itself first. As it was a beautiful day, I decided to go exploring on foot right after breakfast and saw the city's iconic canal, some charming markets and of course the mandatory Buddhist temples, Chedi Luang being pretty outstanding and by far my personal favorite.
Later on, I got a text message from my new partners in crime saying they had found a nice 3 day 2 night jungle trek which sounded really interesting and adventurous, so I didn't hesitate for a second, quickly arranged some practical things, and off it went the next morning!
On the first day, our group of adventurers consisted of 28 fun and enthusiastic people of all different nationalities, 18 of which decided to go for two days and one night and the other 10, including us 3, to spend another night in the mighty jungle. On the way there, we made a quick stop at the local butterfly farm, where some of the most exotic and colorful examples can be found.
Shortly after the lunch break, we arrived at some rice fields which, along with some rivers and waterfalls, we had to cross to make our way to the jungle, which would be the only thing we would see for the next few days. We were of course all excited about starting off this new adventure and made our way to our new home, of course following the guide armed with his machete.
The plan for the first night was to sleep in the village of the Palong Hilltribe, also known as the long neck people, which meant that we had to make our way up in the hills for a few hours before reaching our first destination. Given the tropical temperature, the steepness and the state of the "paths", this was quite an intense adventure, but we learned so much about correctly making our way across the jungle, about local fruit, such as the poisonous-looking but actually delicious rambutan that you can just pick from the trees and eat as a snack on the way, and about the wild animals around us.
Once we made our way to the Palong village, we were greeted by the local community and did all kinds of activities with them, such as sword fighting with the kids, washing the elephants of the village and thus also ourselves in the river, barbecuing around a campfire and even dancing with the local tribe! We had great fun, but as another day of intense trekking was awaiting us, we decided to go back to our bamboo hut, where an unexpected guest was ready to surprise us: a snake on one of our beds right as we wanted to go sleep. True adventure and back to the roots!
The next day, the plan was to continue the trek and climb all the way to the village of the Black Lahu, located in the mountains at an altitude of 1250 meters. It was a long, steep road and most of the 10 people left were getting slightly exhausted on the way, but we kept going and were rewarded with some breathtaking sights from the mountain tops and some amazing places we crossed along the way, such as a waterfall in the middle of the jungle with a built-in water slide, which also turned out to be the ideal lunch break spot.
Some time later and after thoroughly getting to know what jungle trekking means, we finally arrived at our stop for the second night, tired but really satisfied. Again, there was no electricity, only very cold water in the bamboo showers and kind of basic accommodation equipped with some mandatory mosquito nets, but we decided to make the best of it and spent an amazing afternoon and night all together. During the day, we celebrated the fact that we did it and enjoyed the sunshine on our rooftop terrace, as well as some well-deserved massages and drinks.
When the sun started to go down, we quickly gathered and headed back to the area around the village, where we made some improvised benches with bamboo, ready to observe one of the most wonderful sunsets we had ever seen.
After this unforgettable experience, it was time to light a campfire on the terrace and to enjoy a local dinner in the middle of nowhere under the star-filled sky. We toasted on the great adventure so far and on the fact that we could share this experience with such an amazing international group of travelers.
After a short night's rest, since the previous night had ended in some drinking games with Thai whiskey, which will not be discussed in more detail, we woke up to enjoy another delicious local breakfast and prepared ourselves to start the final descent back to the civilization. The descent was quite technical, we had to overcome a few obstacles and I also got some blisters on the way down. Nevertheless, nothing could stop us anymore and we kept going, crossed all obstacles with success and took a really refreshing dive in a waterfall along the way.
Before actually jumping in the back of a truck and going back to Chiang Mai, there was still time for two final adventures to conclude this epic trip: wild water rafting and bamboo rafting! We headed to the nearest starting point, put on our helmets and safety jackets and off it went, along the fast river with a few rocky waterfalls which were quite unpredictable as our boat guide's English was basically limited to "keep rowing". Nevertheless, it was so much fun to do both wild water rafting on the waterfalls as well as taking a bamboo raft along the more quiet part of the river and enjoy the sights before heading back to the city again. These three days in the jungle were truly unforgettable, I met some amazing people and I'm really glad that I decided to go for it.
For my last two days in the north of Thailand, I absolutely wanted to go to the Tiger Kingdom, one of only two places in the world where you can enter a cage with big tigers and hug them, and Chiang Rai, the ancient capital of the Mangrai Dynasty.
On the first day, I set my alarm as early as possible to arrive at the Tiger Kingdom right as it opened, since tigers are still big cats and tend to be quite lazy as soon as it gets hot during the day. Once you arrive at this place, you can choose between many exhibits with all different sizes of tigers that you want to play with and you get the opportunity to see all of them even if you opt for just one size. I evidently went for the biggest ones without hesitation and didn't regret my decision for a second.
The tigers, despite being nocturnal animals, were still pretty active and playful, so it was quite exciting to approach them for the first time. Luckily, there are always a few experienced trainers around and this is one of the only places in Thailand where you get clear and important safety instructions. I played around with them a bit and discovered that they also purr when they are happy, just like my cats at home. This was one of my personal highlights in Thailand and possibly of the entire trip, since I finally had the opportunity to see my favorite animals from so close by and actually touch them. An unforgettable experience!
Before heading back to Bangkok the following day to catch a bus connection to my next destination, Cambodia, I decided to do a final one-day trip to Chiang Rai, a small yet historically important city in the area. The main highlight in Chiang Rai is Wat Rong Khun, also known as the White Temple, which is one of the most beautiful buildings that I have ever seen. It's a privately owned, unique temple with an outstanding design and it is still being constructed and expanded at this point in time with an expected finish in 2070 only. It was a nice trip to conclude my wonderful adventures in Thailand and I'm already looking forward to the ones that are yet to come.
After Thailand, I will head to Siem Reap in Cambodia to meet my friend Laurie, who is currently volunteering as an English teacher in Phnom Penh. After spending a few days in Siem Reap together, I will accompany her back to Phnom Penh, from where I will head for Vietnam another few days later.
As always, thanks for reading and stay updated about my new adventures :-)