January 21, 2018

I’m relaxing under a palm tree in Koh Samui right now. I’m incredibly behind on my blog, which is, wow, SUCH a surprise.

I’ll tell you about my first days in Chiang Mai.

When we first arrived off the sleeper train we were SO well rested. Finding a tuk tuk to our guesthouse was easy enough. As we were negotiating prices we ran into a couple from Decatur!

Off to our home for the next 4 nights! 

We stayed at the Santitham Guest House on Santitham Road. Would recommend. Two young boys seemed to be running the place. It was GORGEOUS. I’ve noticed that the Thai have a special talent for yard and garden design. This place was out of a home & garden decor magazine for real. Koi fish, fountains, foliage, statues, so precious. We had two separate rooms and we shared a bathroom. As soon as we got in we all took showers, but we couldn’t check in yet. While taking some time to rest we planned a rough outline of what the next few days would look like. Then we called a car to come Grab us. 

Which reminds me. All throughout Chiang Mai are signs posted about how Grab (Asian Uber) is illegal. They are scattered around at every tuk tuk hub. No one but the tuk tuk drivers respect these signs. We Grabbed almost everywhere during our stay. 

First on our list, much to everyone’s dismay, was a few wats. Temples are the main attraction in most cities we’ve been to... Most people get watted out in Thailand on a daily basis. 

Actually, first was food. Just looked back to my photos as a writing aid and remembered that we had a DELECTABLE breakfast at Goodsouls Kitchen. A completely vegan restaurant that was hardy and scrumptious!!! Trying to remember what we all got... I had a tofu scramble, Brooke had banana pancakes (of course), Olivia had a rice mushroom mix, and Kiana had some yummy potatoes. We really needed that meal. We went back there for lunch the next day!! Some of the best food we’ve had so far! (The best being the pad thai in Ayutthaya.)

NOW it’s wat time. Beautiful and grand! All of the temple grounds in Thailand are unmatched. I really enjoyed looking at some of them!

One in particular that I really enjoyed was Wat Chedi Luang. I asked Kiana to google the history of the place because it looked like a bomb had hit it. From memory, construction of the Wat was started in the 14th century by the current king in honor of his father. It took a long time to build, as it goes. Then, hundreds of years later, an earthquake hit and destroyed the top of it! That’s the gist. I am enamored by that type of story, so I was in a great mood about this Wat.

(Notable for later, this is where Olivia and I had a laugh attack about how I’d consumed triple the serving size of these Iron Man energy chews. It’s not funny, but we were sore from the delirious laughter.)

Later on this first day in Chiang Mai we all got massages. I opted for a plain ole foot massage. It was my first ever massage. I have a lot of feelings about this thing that I’m gonna skip, but just to satisfy your curiosity I will say that I did not like it, Sam I Am. Everyone else was enveloped in joy following their massage. 

THEN we ate a a wonderful restaurant called Cooking Love. Highly recommend!

Lastly for this day, the night bazaar. Oh so wonderful. Especially the band!! The band was headed by a woman and boy who alternated songs. They were VERY TALENTED. Olivia and I jammed out!

Then sleep.