September 2015: Thailand (2 weeks)

Phuket ~

Goals: After a year of teaching in Korea with minimal breaks . . . relax and indulge.

 Sadly dirty/littered for such a touristy destination 

 First of many coconuts + curries!

Entrance to Shopping/Party/(Dirty) street: those with strong morals beware . . .

"Banana Nutella Roti" = Thai crepe . . . So ridiculously delicious. 

Lightly fried dough with egg and butter then topped with sweet and condensed milk straight from the can and filled with requested toppings.

The tandem workers weren't strapped to anything . . .

They just hang on to the ropes behind the paying customer . . . Adrenaline junkies apply!!

Island Tour

 "Private Island" . . . 

the small local community who live there served as hosts for our particular tour company

 Phi Phi Island ("Fee Fee" / "Pee Pee" depending who you ask)

 Fishermen still live in these caves and sell their "special" catch for expensive prices.

 can you spot the monkeys on "monkey beach"!?
Which I realize in my picture, just looks like "monkey rock". . .  ha!

 K's first snorkeling endeavor . . . a pro by the end of the trip!

To cheat, they gave us pieces of banana ~ the fish loved it!

(no filter)

CHIANG MAI

For people who live their lives in peaceful contemplation . . .

that shade of orange just seems so strange to me.

 Cheap Thai Taxi = "tuk tuk" aka souped up lawn mower . . . a cultural experience!

Elephant Sanctuary

 I'm not sure that the mud spa was good for our skin, 

but it was good for our souls.

More Temples . . .

Thai Cooking Class

No idea where all my Bangkok photos are? Perhaps nonexistent? 
Bangkok was cool/dirty/busy. picture: LOTS of motorbikes.

Other comments:

We really adored Thailand . . . especially the beaches/islands, however trekking north was worth it for the elephants.  We chose to do a "sanctuary" instead of riding the elephants because the more commercialized the animals are, the higher the risk of them being abused to keep them docile... These creatures are magnificent beasts and we would never want to contribute to their pain. 

(no matter how cool a picture of me on its back would be)

I encourage all people interested in visiting any attractions with animals to do a little research beforehand.

The food- -  WOW. . . so many yummy curries and noodle dishes - and so cheap!

I highly recommend doing your shopping in Thailand when traveling in South East Asia... We (wrongly) assumed Vietnam would offer similar shopping experiences, and we regretted not getting more in Thailand.

Lastly, if we ever go back, we will definitely spend more time island hopping and less time in one city.  

I recommend 2-3 days tops in one place, unless you know a local or have done extensive research beforehand/ have several day trips planned around that area.