Thailand - Worth the Flight!

Contributed by Trish Gau, The Hive Overland Park

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Last fall my youngest spent the Semester at Sea (look it up - it's amazing. . .and they take adults!) We went to Thailand at the end of the semester to pick her up and despite the 25+ hours it took to get there, it was definitely worth the flight.

My husband, oldest daughter, her boyfriend and I started the trip in the northern city of Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is known for its historic Old City with ancient walls, hundreds of Buddhist temples, vibrant festivals and natural attractions like mountains, waterfalls, and the opportunity for hill tribe treks.

We started off our first morning with a fun bike tour, visiting some of the major temples and learning a lot about the buddhist religion. Our guide had spent some time as a monk - which is actually encouraged for all males in Thailand and is a cultural rite of passage. In the evening we were picked up for a Thai cooking class that was amazing. Our teacher, Pornpun Pea, was delightful and showed us how to make some excellent dishes.

Northern Thailand is home to many elephant sanctuaries so the next morning we went to an ethical sanctuary that provides a safe place for former working elephants to live out their lives. Seeing these beautiful creatures and their caretakers was a special experience. The caretakers, called mahouts, are responsible for the daily care, health, training, and transportation of elephants, often forming deep, lifelong bonds with their assigned animals.

Before leaving Chiang Mai the next day, we got a ride up to the beautiful Wat Phra That Doi Suthep temple. Definitely one of the most picturesque temples that we visited.

That afternoon we took a 2 hour flight south to Krabi to relax on the beaches of the Andaman Sea. Many tourists are familiar with the island of Phuket, but there are many other islands and coastal towns to explore in Thailand. Our resort was beautiful and it was very close to a great hiking trail, Dragon Crest Mountain, also known as the Khao Ngon Nak viewpoint trail.

We got up early on our first day there and were the first people on the trail. This was good from a nature viewing perspective - we saw a family of stump-tailed macaques up close- but bad from a walking through spider webs perspective (Emma lost count around 40)! This was a very difficult straight up the mountain hike, but the views from the top were awe-inspiring and one of the highlights of the trip.

Another fun thing to do in this part of Thailand is to take a ride in a traditional long tail boat. We embarked right from our hotel's beach and travelled to Hong Island and Lagoon, Loa Lading and Pak Bia Island. The scenery was gorgeous and we saw some of the places pictured in Leonardo DiCaprio's 2000 film, The Beach.

Our next stop was Bangkok to finally meet the World Odyssey ship for Katelyn's disembarkation. Bangkok is a fast moving full-of-life city. We started by enjoying a Nighttime Temples, Markets and Food Tuk-Tuk Tour. The food was delicious and riding the tuk-tuks around Bangkok was a blast. We saw China Town, the Giant Swing, the Grand Palace, tasted delicious food and were wowed by the vast and colorful 24 hour Flower Market.

The next day we traded Owen for Katelyn and headed north on a boat up the Chao Phraya River. The view of Bangkok by boat is not to be missed! We visited the Summer Palace, made some traditional Thai desserts, saw the historic city of Ayutthaya, gave alms to Buddhist monks and learned so much from our fabulous guides and crew. Truly a once in a lifetime experience.

When we returned we headed a few hours north to Khao Yai National Park in hopes of spotting some elephants in the wild. We scheduled the fabulous Mr. Yong to guide us through Khao Yai but the closest we got to the elephants was a giant footprint and the slight stench of elephants that had just passed through the area. We did see plenty of macaques, gibbon, hornbill and monitor lizards to name a few of the native animals. A trip to Thailand wouldn't be complete without a Thai massage, which Emma and I enjoyed in the comfort of our hotel room, and of course, eating some fried insects at a night market. There are so many wonderful places to visit in Thailand and we only hit a few - I can't wait to make the trip again to see more of this beautiful country.

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