Thailand Archives · Page 2 of 2 · Bon Voyage on a Big Adventure!

October 9, 2018

Days 90 – 93: Chiang Mai, Thailand (Our Favorite, Our Favorite, Our Favorite)

So, of course, we loved Budapest and Korcula and Heraklion and Hoi An and the list goes on. But when I say we LOVED being in Chiang Mai, Thailand– we LOVED it. We stayed in the Nimman neighborhood, and it was just. so. hip.

I’m excited to write about it, and I hope you are excited to read. Come explore Chiang Mai with us!

Day 90: Travel from Luang Prabang, Laos to Chiang Mai, Thailand

At this point, we pretty much have airplane travel down, and this was an easy one direct flight trip. We took a tuk tuk from our AirBNB to the Luang Prabang airport, and then our host arranged for us to be picked up from the Chiang Mai airport when we arrived.

Our AirBNB in Chiang Mai was in a pretty new apartment complex that wasn’t that different from any apartment building we had lived in DC over the past ten years. There was a pool and a gym– perfect!

We are taking a new approach to travel days, especially in Thailand where we have pools everywhere we stay: Get to the AirBNB/hotel. Go to the pool. Relax. Make a plan for how to spend the next few days.

This plan was on point. First, I arrived in Chiang Mai having read all of the books we had with us, but in the apartment, there was a copy of Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood. A free, great book to read at pool? Hallelujah! Chiang Mai is already winning. Second, the pool was an infinity pool with spectacular views of the hills of Chiang Mai. Does it get better?

Reading at the pool. Does it get better?

Pool in Chiang Mai — Rich also “reading” at the pool.

The Nimman Neighborhood and Nimman Social

So our neighborhood is named Nimman for Nimmanhaemin Road which runs through the center of the area. In Nimman, you will find cafes, bars, and boutiques that all look like they jumped off the pages of Instagram’s top accounts. The food is delicious and healthy, the shops are adorable, and everything is right next to everything else.

For my American readers, you may be thinking, well, is Chiang Mai as hip as Brooklyn or as Twelve South in Nashville or Fishtown in Philly? IT IS HIPPER. Seriously. We thought Nimman might be like our favorite neighborhoods in America, and instead, we may have even liked it better.

The first night in Chiang Mai, Rich walked the seven minutes to dinner repeating, “I love Chiang Mai. I love Chiang Mai.” He was giddy.

We went to dinner at Nimman Social, a part indoor, part outdoor bar/cafe attached to a nearby hostel. We drank a beer and ate two noodle dishes and the most incredible french fries, sitting under white bistro lights, for less than $10. Can’t beat it.

Nimman Social in Chiang Mai — Enjoying dinner at Nimman Social.

Day 91: Umm, We Enjoyed Nimman Some More

If you are reading this thinking you want to travel to Chiang Mai for a few days, umm, this may not be the itinerary you want to follow. If you are traveling the world for a year, I highly recommend a day EXACTLY like this.

How we spent our day:

Slept in.
Worked out in the apartment gym.
Walked to breakfast at Overstand Coffee. Ate avocado toast.
Found a bookstore that didn’t sell any fiction in English. Were directed to a bookstore in the mall.
Walked to the wrong mall, explored it.
Found the right mall, the MAYA Lifestyle Shopping Center, which happened to be unbelievably fabulous. Bought two books and a dress at H&M (on sale!).
Went home and went to the pool.
Got ready and ate dinner at the mall food court.

Perhaps you are wondering about this mall food court eating. That’s because you are imagining an American mall food court. This food court had every kind of Thai street food prepared fresh in clean booths for cheap. Remember: In Southeast Asia, we are eating the majority of our meals out. Being able to grab quick, casual, delicious, inexpensive dinner may have been one of our favorite parts of staying in Chiang Mai.

The outside of the Maya Lifestyle Shopping Center.

The INSIDE of the Maya Shopping Center. All of the games of mall madness I played as a young girl led to this…

Umm, this is pad thai BAKED INTO AN EGG. Genius, mall food court, genius.

Day 92: Temple Time in Chiang Mai

Rich and I woke up, hit the gym, and then enjoyed a yummy bowl of cheap chocolate cereal in our apartment. We decided we should probably check out some of the famous temples of Chiang Mai.

Wat Phra Singh

We walked from Nimman to Old City to reach Wat Phra Singh. Wat Phra Singh was one large, beautiful temple, surrounded by several smaller temples. Every year, during the Buddhist Songkran festival, the statue of Buddha that is housed here is paraded through Chiang Mai.

Not unlike what we witnessed in Sicily with the statue of Mary arriving on a boat to celebrate the Assumption!

Rich outside of one of the temples at Wat Phra Singh

Wat Chedi Luang

I had a bit of beef with Wat Chedi Luang because my new H&M dress was deemed to be too short, and so in order to enter the area, I had to borrow a big piece of cloth to wrap around my waist. I will eat that I knew that my dress didn’t come quite down to my knees and that I did some risk analysis on whether I would be able to skate through on temple entry (also similar to Catholicism– figuring out how to pull your school uniform skirt down to pass skirt checks-ha!).

What I did not bank on was receiving the longest piece of cloth ever when my skirt didn’t pass inspection and having said cloth reach my ankles. I was tied up pretty tight which made walking, well, pretty miserable.

But the temple was huge and old and really stately. So it was probably worth it. We just didn’t stay too long.

One of the smaller temples at Wat Chedi Luang

Rich Gets a Haircut!

After we left the temple, we got lunch in Old Town. The restaurant had a good TripAdvisor rating, but didn’t hold a candle to the mall food court.

We then walked back to Nimman for Rich to get his haircut. He did a lot of research and landed on 56 Barber Shop. Rich has very thick, curly hair, and as any of his family members reading this can attest to, is very particular about his appearance (I type this hearing his voice in my head say, “Isn’t it worth it in order to look this good?”).

Chan at 56 Barber Shop did a phenomenal job. He played old school hip hop (read: Biggie, Eve, J-Lo) the whole time and took close to an hour to get everything perfect. This was a big haircut a few days before Rich turned the big 4-0, and Chan came through. It also further fueled our belief that Chiang Mai is A-MAI-ZING (get it?).

After! This almost-40 year old walked out feeling great!

Dinner at the Mall Food Court

We couldn’t resist.

food court dinner in chiang mai — Pad thai meets nachos in this mall food court crispy pad thai dish. This was Rich’s VERY FAVORITE dish in the past 30 days and cost less than $2.

Day 93: Work Day in Chiang Mai

But First, Coffee

As I mentioned (over and over), Nimman had a ton of cute cafes. We wanted to try Ristr8to, a coffee shop that had won international latte art competitions. Our plan was to get a coffee and work on blogging/planning from there. However, while they had great lattes, they did NOT have air conditioning. That dog won’t hunt.

Nothing says good morning like this guy…

We spent at least an hour trying to figure out where to go to work with aircon (as they say over here) and WiFi and finally landed on Healthy B Cafe. I finished our Siem Reap blog post while Rich booked all of our lodging for Australia. Productivity win!

Healthy B in Chiang Mai — We enjoyed working from Healthy B!

Pool Time

We headed back to our glorious apartment pool. I had already finished Born a Crime, and Rich needed to finish it so we could leave it behind in the apartment. We both really loved it. Trevor Noah is of course hilarious, and he is also raw and direct about real systemic and familial challenges he faced during his childhood in South Africa at the end of apartheid. If you enjoy a good memoir about perseverance and chasing the life you believe you can have, pick this one up.

There was another American couple at the pool while we were. The young man was on sabbatical for a year from his job in Baltimore and was traveling long-term like us, and his girlfriend had flown in from New York to meet him for a two week vacation. He was a fellow Teach For America alum (go figure), and it was pretty interesting to share thoughts on places we had visited and exchange reflections.

Dinner at the Food Court

I’m telling you: so cheap and so good. We had already eaten at real restaurants twice that day! Don’t knock it until you try it.

Final Thoughts on Chiang Mai

I re-read this post, and I’m not sure I am capturing well what we loved so much about Chiang Mai, and perhaps that is because what we loved so much is that Chiang Mai felt like home. The apartment building felt like our apartment building in DC, and the cafes felt like our favorite coffee shops in Philly. Nimman was super walkable– we didn’t need Google maps to get around. We went to the gym, we read great books by the pool, we drank coffee slowly, we liked every bite of food we ate.

See, when you go on vacation, you want to see new things and explore different ways of life. Visit the temples; eat the fancy food; go, go, go.

But after 90 days on the road, in ten different countries, the escape we needed was to pretend we were home. Beautiful Chiang Mai gave us that from the minute our plane landed. That sense of home made Chiang Mai one of our most favorite destinations of all.

100%, we will make it back to Chiang Mai again.

October 2, 2018

Our THIRD 30 Days Abroad: By the Numbers

I sit here in shock that we are ALREADY on our third 30 days post– meaning we have been gone for more than 90 days total! We had a lot of fun putting together our first and second thirty day review posts and hope you all will enjoy reading this one as much as we enjoy working together to crank it out.

Here goes!

Dates Included: August 25 – September 23, 2018

Countries Visited: 4 (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand)

Cities/Towns Visited: 10 (Hue, Hoi An, Ho Chi Minh City, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Vietvianne, Vang Vieng, Luang Prabang, Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai)

TRANSPORTATION

Number of Flights Taken: 10

Number of Buses Taken: 12

Number of Taxi/Uber Rides: 3

Number of Vans Taken: 3

Number of Tuk Tuk Rides: 5

LODGING

Number of AirBNB’s Slept In: 5

Number of Hotels Slept In: 5

FOOD

Percentage of Meals Eaten Out: 62% (50)

Percentage of Meals Eaten In: 7% (6)

Percentage of Meals Eaten in Airport Lounges: 5% (4)

Percentage of Meals Provided by Hotels or AirBNB’s: 26% (21)

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

So for the past sixty days, as our faithful readers are aware, despite Rich and Amanda spending countless hours together going to all of the same places, Rich amasses MILES more of steps than Amanda as tracked by their FitBits. BUT this thirty days, we had gyms! Amanda ran MILES on the treadmill while Rich lifted weights. Will it make a difference?

Rich

Total Distance: 329,684 steps (152.3 miles)
Average Daily Distance: 10,989 steps (5.08 miles)
Daily High: 28,060 steps (12.88 miles)
Daily Low: 3,342 steps (1.53 miles)

Amanda

Total Distance: 270,505 steps (121.2 miles)
Average Daily Distance: 9,017 steps (4.04 miles)
Daily High: 22,953 steps (10.03 miles)
Daily Low: 2,511 (1.1 miles)

So, nope, the running did not make a difference. Sorry trainer Meg and Aaptiv.

Our steps are WAY down from our last 30 days where we were averaging over 2,000 more steps a day. Europe is set up for walking as a mode of transportation in a way that Southeast Asia just isn’t. We are hoping to get this activity back up.

INTELLECTUAL ACTIVITY

I should really rename this category. #shade

Our reading was down a bit; we had more trouble finding books in English in Southeast Asia. We also had to pay for all of these except Trevor Noah’s Born A Crime. Rich and I had better luck in Europe with taking books that were left behind in AirBNBs and hotels (and usually leaving a few behind ourselves).

Rich

Books Read: 3 (Little Fires Everywhere, Commonwealth: A Novel, The Inferno)

Amanda

Books Read: 5 (Commonwealth: A Novel, The Inferno, Around the World in 80 Days, Crazy Rich Asians, Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood)

We found a HUGE bookstore in Ho Chi Minh City. It was great EXCEPT the books were not in alpha order by writer or title. Mind blowing. How were you supposed to find anything?!?

OVERALL COSTS AS PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL BUDGET

Flights: 28% (13% increase)

Other Transportation (Buses, Trains, Ferries, Taxis, Funiculars): 5% (3% decrease)

Lodging: 42% (2% decrease)

Food: 16% (3% decrease)

Sightseeing: 3% (2 % decrease)

Other (Books, Haircut, Laundry, Toiletries, Trips to H&M): 6% (4% decrease)

Rich getting his hair cut in Chiang Mai, Thailand

FAVORITES:

How do we choose?!?

Favorite Meal:

Rich: Crispy Pad Thai (from the MAYA shopping mall food court) in Chiang Mai, Thailand; Runner Up– Philly Cheesesteak at Vibe Cafe in Siem Reap, Cambodia
Amanda: The Spicy Pork Ragu Noodles at Nu Eatery in Hoi An, Vietnam; Runner Up–Red Curry with Tofu + Mango Sticky Rice at Happy Mango Thai Restaurant in Vang Vieng, Laos (We ate twice at both restaurants!)

Food court crispy pad thai– It cost less than $2! Imagine pad thai meets nachos.

Favorite AirBNB:

Rich: Cozy Stay in Nimman in Chiang Mai, Thailand ($33/night)
Amanda: Vuong’s Riverside Room with a View in Hoi An, Vietnam ($34/night)

Favorite Hotel:

Rich: Riverside Boutique Resort in Vang Vieng, Laos ($64/night)
Amanda: Riverside Boutique Resort in Vang Vieng, Laos ($64/night)

The view from our room at the beautiful Riverside Boutique Hotel

Favorite City/Town:

Rich: Chiang Mai, Thailand
Amanda: Chiang Mai, Thailand

Favorite Mode of Transportation:

Rich: Flying for $15 one way in Southeast Asian cities
Amanda: The van ride from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang. We started with one driver, and then midway through the ride, we got a new driver. We drove over the most treacherous roads. The second driver got out to pee on the side of the road three times. But the land was BEAUTIFUL. It reminded me of the rolling hills of North Georgia where my family is from, and for about four hours, I could just sit, stare out the window, and take it all in.

Favorite Beach/Pool:

Rich: The hotel pool at the Riverside Boutique Hotel in Vang Vieng, Laos
Amanda: Our hotel pool in Vietianne. While it wasn’t the most glamorous pool, inexplicably, for one day at the pool, there was a giant unicorn float when we arrived. Read more here about how that went for Rich.

unicorn float in Vientiane — So much love for the unicorn float

Favorite Book Read:

Rich: Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Amanda: Either Commonwealth: A Novel by Ann Patchett OR Born A Crime by Trevor Noah. Although Crazy Rich Asians was really fun too…#nerd

Least Favorite Moment:

Rich: We had a great night out in Siem Reap enjoying a delicious dinner and two amazing cocktails at Miss Wong Cocktail Bar. We had a nice walk home and then…tragedy struck. OK, not tragedy just an unfortunate accident. Our Airbnb in Siem Reap was a really cute little place that had big glass doors opening to a small lobby. First, let me start of by saying the large glass double doors had been open the entire two days we were staying there. Second, they were really really clean. I am starting to tell this story like Amanda. I will get to the point: I walked face first into the glass doors as if I were walking through an open door. My nose and mouth started gushing blood, followed by lots of cursing and a call home to my dad to ask if my nose was broken (it wasn’t). This “clean glass door” incident led to lots of ice, Neosporin, and Bio Oil to help my face heal. I am happy to report that two weeks later I am 90% of the way to being scar free.
Amanda: That’s a lot to follow. We took a van from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang, and in a strange turn of events, the driver dropped us off at a location that was NOT the bus station because “of the police.” We had a tuk tuk scheduled to pick us up at the bus stop, and since we had no idea how to communicate our new location, we decided to walk to the AirBNB. Little did we know, this walk, in the dark, involved crossing a VERY rickety pedestrian bridge over a river carrying all of our belongings. I’ll probably write more about this in my post on Luang Prabang, so for now, I will just admit to having a complete and total meltdown, just short of tears, in the middle of said bridge of death.

Did we mention that the day after the glass door incident was our visit to Angkor Wat?

Most Favorite Moments:

Rich: The four days exploring the Nimman neighborhood in Chiang Mai, Thailand, lounging by the pool in Vang Vieng overlooking the limestone mountains, and our day working at The Workshop Coffee in Ho Chi Minh City. Oh, also hiking a waterfall in Luang Prabang. We will blog about these soon!
Amanda: Visiting Angkor Wat . It was like being on another planet. I cannot believe such an incredible place exists. When we first entered Angkor Wat shortly after sunrise, most of the visitors were going straight, and we took a left. About 100 steps in, and we were all alone, in this huge section of the temple. It was amazing. I also loved bicycling to see temples in Chiang Rai and then coming “home” to the hotel to read at the pool. oh, AND I loved being at a lagoon in Vang Vieng when all of these middle school aged boys got out of school. Watching them jump out of trees and off bridges into the water was incredible. I ALMOST FORGOT THE CAT CAFE. OF COURSE, THE CAT CAFE.

DELTAS:

Looking back on the last thirty days, here are a few things we want to commit to doing moving forward.

Use the 7-11. Hear me out. In Europe, we stayed almost exclusively in AirBNB’s with kitchens, and going grocery shopping was a must-do in every new place. Here in Southeast Asia, it is actually cheaper to buy food out, especially from street vendors or mall food courts, than to cook. Still, there were many times that we were one or two snacks away from being a little less hangry if we planned ahead better. We did a good job with this in Chiang Mai, where the “Sev” (as Rich calls it) was on our street, and it made a big difference.
Do more research on the places we are visiting before we get there. I am going to admit that often I learn a ton about a historical place like Siem Reap when I blog about it after we have already visited. Several times, people who have vacationed in a place we are visiting have told us that we “HAVE” to get a guide to explore an area, but honestly, that’s just not financially practical on a trip as long as ours. Still, I want to commit to doing a better job at researching historical sites before rolling out the door so that we don’t miss anything while it is happening.
Schedule our time on a calendar. At our jobs, Rich and I were both super type-A schedulers with serious calendars. For better or worse, we have relaxed those tendencies. There are ways that not being so scheduled allows us to enjoy the moments we are in, but we also can see a pattern of not getting all of the things done that we wanted to do (i.e. blogging, planning, working out) because our “plan” for the day evolves the day of, often after an hour or two in the morning lost to playing on Insta or Twitter. We both love feeling productive so we want to try to start scheduling out the four or five days we will spend at a place on our calendars on the travel day when we arrive. We can let you know how it goes.

LOVES:

The confidence gained knowing that we are doing this. Rich and I have been gone for more than 90 days. We are traveling the world. We are not by any means perfect at it, but when we run into challenges, like glass doors (too soon?), we are able to keep on keeping on. Neither had us had ever been to Asia before and now we have both spent more than thirty days in Southeast Asia. When we first discussed traveling the world for a year, we weren’t quite sure it was possible. But we are doing it! That feels great.
All of the support from our friends and family at home. There are sweet friends who I had fallen out of touch with who because of this trip I am back in touch with as they reach out with kind messages, emails, and likes on pictures. We both feel like we have a whole big team of cheerleaders, rooting for and encouraging us on our way. And we have made new friends with other traveling couples through Instagram who provide us tips on places we are going next or even feature us on their blogs. THANK YOU for all of the support. It is awesome.
Spending time together. Still. Even when we melt down on bridges and are hangry. Having this time to travel, explore, learn, love, and process is an unbelievable gift, and we are having a blast.

September 18, 2018

Days 70 – 73: A Quick Detour to Chiang Rai, Thailand

As I shared in my last post, Rich and I had originally planned to travel from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to the beaches of Sihanoukville, Cambodia. However, when Rich wasn’t feeling well, we made the executive decision that a 13 hour bus ride was not in the cards for us. We decided to fly to Chiang Rai, Thailand for a few nights instead.

Let me tell you: this was a fabulous decision.

Day 70: Travel from Ho Chi Minh City to Chiang Rai, Thailand

Super easy. We took a flight from Ho Chi Ming City to Bangkok, and then flew from Bangkok to Chiang Rai. We flew into the Don Meung International Airport which, while the lesser of the two busy Bangkok international airports, still has six Priority Pass lounges.

on the way to Chiang Rai — Lounge life in Bangkok

The moral of the story being that we ate all of our meals for the day in airport lounges and only spent money on a cab once we reached Chiang Rai. Beautiful. (Also, beats a 13 hour bus ride).

Day 71: Calm and Lovely Chiang Rai

So we loved our time in Vietnam, but there is definitely an intensity about it: intense smells and loud noises, busy, crowded streets, and motorbikes everywhere.

Our most immediate impression of Chiang Rai was how much calmer and quieter it was.

Rich and I both worked in American high schools. Going from Vietnam to Chiang Rai was like chaperoning a high school dance for 3-4 hours and then stepping out into a quiet evening when the kids have all made their way home. The dance was a happy event, you are glad the school has dances, but it is also loud and sweaty and a bit hyped up. Oh how you appreciate the quiet night when it is over.

Wat Rong Seur Ten, The Blue Temple

Our lovely hotel provided bicycles to explore the town. Let me emphasize how much easier it was for me, a rather inexperienced bike rider, to ride on streets not filled with motorbikes. After breakfast, we enjoyed a leisurely bike ride to Wat Rong Seur Ten, commonly known as the Blue Temple.

biking in Chiang Rai — Biking in Chiang Rai was amazing, and I admittedly am not the best biker. I am also wearing this outfit.

The locals began construction on the temple in 2005 and concluded in 2016. It is beautiful. Rich felt like it was as magnificent as any cathedral in Europe, and it is hard to argue with him. The deep blues and golds are brilliant, and the statue of Buddha mesmerizing. A must see in Chiang Rai.

I’m not sure I had ever visited a Buddhist temple before, and I have since learned a few basic principles:

Knees and shoulders should be covered. Having a big scarf that fits in my purse has been clutch, even if I can’t ever quite figure out how to tie it right.
Your bottoms of your feet should not face the Buddha. It seems like most people sit on their feet while praying.
Don’t turn your back on the Buddha. I learned this one after we left. Rich and I both wanted pictures facing the camera with Buddha behind us, but it would have been more respectful to have a picture taken facing Buddha. Sorry.

amanda at blue temple in chiang rai — So I watched this young woman take this same shot, and she looked so glamorous taking it. When Rich and I looked at my version, we couldn’t stop laughing.

The amazing Buddha inside the Blue Temple

The exterior of the Blue Temple– it was pretty crowded, and that was BEFORE the tour bus pulled up just as we were leaving.

Wat Phra Kaew (More Temples)

From the Blue Temple, we biked over to Wat Phra Kaew. Wat means temple, so saying the Wat Phra Kaew temples is wrong (like saying St. Paul’s Cathedral Church). I’ll do my best to avoid the redundancy.

Wat Phra Kaew was an older complex with a series of temples as well as a museum. The space was green and quite serene, with hardly any tourists compared to the Blue Temple. I could understand how it would be an ideal place to pray and reflect, tucked away a bit from the more popular temples.

Apparently, tattoos of the Buddha, while popular, are super disrespectful. #themoreyouknow

sweaty in Chiang Rai — When you are wearing a scarf to be modest and show respect, but your husband thinks it is for him to wipe his gross, sweaty face on.

Time at the Pool

While Rich and I spent an inordinate amount of time at beaches in Europe (my mom called this year of travel our “beach trip”), Le Patta was the first spot we stayed with a pool.

Rich and I both had great books (Commonwealth by Ann Patchett for me and Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng for Rich), and spending a relaxing afternoon reading by the pool was just what the doctor ordered to cure Rich fully of his lingering sore throat.

pool in Chiang Rai — The pool at Le Patta

After one day in Chiang Rai, we felt fantastic.

Day 72: The White Temple

Gym Time!

I should also mention that our hotel had a gym. I haven’t talked much about our health journey over the past year, but when we even started talking about even thinking about doing this trip, it was over the holidays, and we were not in the best shape. We had moved cities and changed jobs, and the weight had just sort of crept up on us. How does that happen so easily once you turn 30?

When we committed to the trip, we also committed to getting in better shape. We ran a half marathon. I convinced Rich to try hot yoga, and we went 10 times (at 90 minutes a pop, that’s not nothing). Rich and I started making it to the gym before work and going for walks and runs after.

We knew we needed to be in better shape to face all of the physical challenges in our travels. Rich and I were also just so excited, and the idea of looking better in pictures got us to the gym on the days we didn’t want to go until we really did want to go every day.

And it all paid off! Since January, nine months ago, Rich has lost 40 pounds, and I have lost almost 20. We feel great. Which is the longest way of saying, we had a gym at our hotel in Chiang Rai, and we were glad.

Wat Rong Khun, The White Temple

Local Chiang Rai artist Chalermchai Kositpipat created the Wat Rong Khun as an artistic masterpiece to honor the Buddha. There is a small entry fee for foreigners, but Kositpipat has largely funded the project himself so that he can retain artistic license over his work. He started work on the temple in 1997, and it is not scheduled to be complete until 2070.

While photography is not allowed inside the temple, the exterior provides beautiful views in almost every direction. We had a great time wandering the grounds.

White Temple in Chiang Rai — The White Temple is pretty unbelievable

There is also a golden temple on the same site.

This was one of our favorite sites on our whole trip.

The scarf comes in handy again, this time making my skirt a bit longer.

Quick fun story about transportation: We took a bus to the White Temple (20 baht, ~$0.60/person), which while a bit eclectic in decoration, was a pretty normal city bus.

On the way back, however, the “bus” was basically a pickup truck with benches on the sides and a roof, and the bus also doubled as a package delivery service. Several times we stopped for the driver to grab boxes from local businesses which he then tucked under our feet. When the back got too full, the boxes were tied on top! Can’t make it up.

Chiang Rai bus — One of the packages that rode next to me on the “bus”

Day 73: We Say Goodbye to Chiang Rai at the Cat Cafe

Our hotel checkout time was noon, and our flight wasn’t until 4:45 PM, so natch I insisted that we pass the time at THE LOCAL CAT CAFE.

Quick backstory: My dear friend Tom had been insisting that he was going to open a pop up cat cafe in DC since we were in graduate school in 2009. Our friend group thought this was a hilarious but completely ridiculous and outlandish idea, and we made fun of ^^eow~ (get it? So clever.) for years.

Dear Tom, I’m sorry. You were right and totally ahead of the curve. The cat cafe was everything.

It was my first visit to a cat cafe, but it’s pretty straight forward: you order a coffee or some food, take off your shoes, and go sit on the floor in a room with at least 20 cats. You aren’t allowed to pick them up or grab them– they have to come to you– and you aren’t supposed to feed them human food. If you want to buy their love with food (which you will definitely want to do), you can buy a cat treat for about a dollar. Which Rich may have argued was a bit expensive since we only spent ~$0.60 on an actual bus ticket the day before. Love is buying the cat treat for your over excited wife anyway.

So we spent about two hours playing with cats and taking pictures of ourselves playing with cats. It was really fun, even if I did sneeze and have a runny nose for the next two days.

Rich: You didn’t tell me you were allergic to cats.

Amanda: I have never been in a room with twenty cats before!

He agreed to look at the camera but smiling was too much for grumpy cat.

Memorializing our time at the cat cafe

Rich’s best friend, named Skinny Cat by Rich, crawled up in his lap.

Love is my husband buying me the expensive cat treat so I can care for my kitty friends properly.

My new best friend. We watched this cat pretty viciously attack another cat to take food a fellow customer had given it. Also, why do I look creepier than the cat does.

I mean, Rich didn’t hate the cat cafe.

And then we headed to the airport. Next stop: Phnom Penh, Cambodia!