Northern Thailand

First stop in Northern Thailand is Chiang Mai, the former capital of the Lanna Empire. It's known as a city full of Wats and for some great walking markets. It's also a great place to organize trips into the highlands for trekking and visiting the Thai Hill Tribes. I arrived early in the morning from the night train and fortunately my hotel let me check in early for a much needed shower. I then head out to explore the many Wats (temples) in town. That night, my awesome Med Hat dive buddy Cindy and we planned a day exploring the highlands by scooter (really the only way to ride in South East Asia). We did the 100km Samoeng Loop, north West of Chiang Mai. We saw waterfalls, temples, detoured through Hmong villages, stopped at a Botanical gardens and got soaked in the rain. But it was an awesome day, and a wonderful way to see the countryside.

Stupa at the Oldest Wat in Chiang Mai

Sunday night market in Chiang Mai. I spent 2 hours roaming the streets, shopping, eating and listerning to a ton of music.

Beautiful scenery on the Samoeng Loop

Driving down a secondary road through farmland and Hmong villages

At the crossroads

Viewpoint near Samoeng

Taking a break along the Samoeng Loop

Orchids!

Cindy at the Botanical Gardens

The next day we decided we really couldn't get enough of the scooters and the independence of seeing the countryside. We drove up the mountain near town towards Wat Suthep, famous for.... It was the same story as the previous day, saw some Wats, great viewpoints, ruins and then got absolutely dumped rain on. Haha! At least we were getting used to riding in the rain!

Wat Suthep - a famous Wat near Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai from a little rest stop

Buddha - an emaciated image from a beautiful forest Wat

Forest Wat - Umong

Onward to the next destination, Chiang Rai. I decided to do a few day trips from this area. First, I booked a daytrip to the "Golden Triangle", the area around the Mekong River that forms the border of Thailand, Burma and Laos. It has a history as a famous trading center, but more recently as a hotbed for opium production. Governments in all countries have cracked down on the opium trade in this area (Afganistan is now the world leader in illegal opium trade), but there are still pockets in this area growing opium and it is still used by some hill tribe villagers.

Burma!!!

Black House - designed by a famous Thai artist

Crossing the Burmese border

Hill Tribe Village

The next day, I was joined by Cindy for a day trek to a Lisu and Akha Hill Tribe village. 14km up and down a mountain didn't sound that bad, but I should have been ready for all that humidity. Besides sweating more than I could drink, it was a great hike! Plus, we got some rain and a waterfall swim to cool us down. Our guide Praseet, is a hill tribe member himself (Karen), and we was a wealth of knowledge about the local people, customs, things around us in the nature. He was even kind enough to share some stories about growing up in the mountains. We had a wonderful day!

Hiking to the Hill Tribe Village

Amazing Northern Thailand countryside

Trooper - the baby owl we rescued from the village

I'm now in Laos and completely loving it here. The beauty, bounty and history of the Mekong River is amazing and I sometimes feel like I've been transported back in time 100 years....but more on Laos in my next post.

Bangkok and the rest of my time in Southern Thailand

After my awesome 4 day adventure with Khao Lak Adventures, I headed south to see more of the beautiful beaches of Thailand and to do even more diving.

First stop was Ko Phi Phi. Known as one of the most beautiful (but also heavily touristed islands) of Thailand, it has become even more famous in recent years as the location of the movie "The Beach". All the guesthouses, shops and tourists are on Phi Phi Don, the larger island. Daytrips go to Phi Phi Le, the once secluded gorgeous white sand beach surrounded by towering mountain islands made famous from the movie. I had a horrible time getting there as the ocean was rough and so many people were seasick on the boat (thank you Scott MacLean for your Zofran prescription, it has made my days on the water so much more enjopyable!!), and the island was PACKED and really not my scene. But I thought, it's going to be worth it for this gorgeous island...and then it rained. All the daytrips were cancelled. I did decide to brave the rain for a while and hike to the lookout. It poured the entire time!!! Anyway, I didn't trust the weather, so I left. I must be one of the only people to go to Phi Phi island and not see Phi Phi Le...next time!

Before the storm - Phi Phi Don beach

Being soaking wet and not seeing getting to go on my daytrip....haha

Sunet from Klong Nin Beach - Ko Lanta

The frog that lived in my outdoor bathroom. We had a uneasy relationship.

Next stop was Ko Lanta. Beaches, diving and sunsets awaited! To be honest, I actually didn't spend any time on the beach, diving took up for entire days there. I enjoyed all 3 days I dove. Great variety of fish and beautiful soft coral. As well, it was different than the Similan Islands, so it didn't feel repetitive at all. I did get to enjoy some amazing food and sunsets with my friends Emma and Anna, who I had met in Vietnam.

Another sunset - they were all so beautiful and unique

Anna and Emma. My lovely British traveling buddies!

On the way back to Bangkok. I had a few hours in Krabi town. I went on a quick city tour and then decided to actually get some exercise and climb 1237 steps (600m) up to Tiger temple. I kept telling myself that I was just getting in shape for Calgary's hiking season. But I will NEVER go hiking in 35 degree weather and a million percent humidity in Calgary. It was pretty tough and I soaked through my clothing, but the view and the hilarious monkeys along the way made it worth it.

Monkeys playing on the steps

View of Krabi town and the ocean from Tiger Temple

Steps!! At least the scenery  was amazing!

Taking a Tuk Tuk through the streets of Bangkok

Then it was off to the big city, Bangkok! I hit up the major attractions and even sampled the night life (well, some of it). I was lucky to meet up with Bjorn and Matthew on the bus ride from Ko Lanta to Krabi, who were my travel buddies in Bangkok. We hit up the main temples, lounged in their hotel pool (lucky me!) and spent a fun night on Khao San Road - although when I left to have drinks with another friend, I missed the Ping Pong show. For those of you who've been to Thailand, you know what this is. Or like me, if you've seen "Priscilla Queen of the Desert", you have an idea of what's involved...haha. Maybe, next time I'm here I'll get the full experience :) We also spent a morning doing the "Follow Me" bike tour through the alleyways of Bangkok. It was an awesome way to see another side of Bangkok.

Wat Pho

Famous reclining Buddha at Wat Pho - 15m high, 43m long covered in gold leaf. Quite the sight to see!

Wat Arun - temple of the Dawn and symbol of  Bangkok

Inside the Grand Palace - home of the sacred Emerald Buddha. No pictures were allowed, so I only got pics in the temple complex.

Grand Palace

Bjorn haggling on Khao San Road

Bike tour through the alleyways of Bangkok

The bike tour group!

View made famous in Hangover 2 - it was actually closed, so we weren't allowed on the patio. Plus, we were disgusting from biking all morning and there's no way we would have passed the dress code.

I'll leave you with more diving shots. No more Manta Rays! But I was getting more steady with the camera. I also have to blame the Khoa Lak guys for making me snaphappy for nudibranchs....I mean, they are pretty much slugs! But so colourful!

Moray Eel

Location of diving for 2 days - Ko Haa islands.

Nudibranchs

NEMO! Also....I'm a pretty stellar photographer...haha

Giant Clam

Super cool Harlequin Shrimp

Awesome colourful soft coral. Too bad the colour isn't coming through as well as it did in real life.

Inside a cave 

Onward to Chiang Mai on the night train! Super healthy dinner of chips and orange juice.

Khao Lak and diving the Similan Islands

It was bittersweet leaving Vietnam. I had a bunch of great adventures, made new friends and left things unseen...but, it was time to hit up the beaches of Thailand!

Before I left Calgary, I found out that Tyson and his friend Laura were staying at Khao Lak JW Marriott for a week before my dive trip. The timing was perfect, and I spent a luxurious 3 days at the resort before doing the dive trip. This was quite the resort, definitely a step up from my Vietnamese guesthouses. You really can't beat a room that walks out onto the pool, and a beautiful stretch of sand. We had a great few days of eating, drinking and in my case, getting a little too much sun!

It was the time for my 4 day, 4 night liveaboard dive trip to the Similan Islands. I met the group that night, was taken to the boat, met my roomie Bettina and settled in as it was early mornings for diving! I had a great trip, 14 dives in 4 days including some wrecks. Unfortunately, our schedule was changed due to weather and we weren't able to go further north to Silan islands and the famous Richelieu Rock...I'll be back to see those sights someday.

The highlight was definitely seeing a Manta Ray, one of the sea creatures that I have been waiting to see. Our group was the only ones to see it during the trip. We were sitting at our 5 minute safety stop and Koen, our divemaster gave us the ok to surface. I had been looking at a large group of fish as they suddenly parted, and a faint white line was visible. As everyone started to ascend, I sat there and kept on starring at the white line and finally made out a Manta Ray. I frantically signalled Koen who went to the surface to let the rest of the group know...I have to admit I completely lost track of my buoyancy but got a few pictures. It was spectacular watching it swim below us, absolutely one of the most spectacular diving moments I've had!!! Great staff and fellow divers made the trip! I highly recommend Khoa Lak scuba adventures and a liveaboard to those diving off of Thailand.

Enjoy a selection of the many pictures from my dives. And thanks to Alex and Vincent for lending me their camera to capture all of this!


Sunset at the resort

JW Marriott Resort - pure luxury

Beach at Khao Lak

Enjoying drinks at "Our Bar" on the beach

 

Sunset from the Manta 3

View of Princess beach from the boat

Moray Eel...these guys are cool! We saw one hunting at night -
when they come out of their holes



Loved the feeling of diving in an aquarium

MANTA....Amazing moment! Can't wait to see my next one

My dive buddy, Cindy

Sea moths....the sit on the bottom of the ocean floor and slowly move along. Takes a keen eye to see one.

So many fish!!!

Manta Queen 3 - after surfacing from a dive

ME!

Chasing a fish...not really sure what I'm doing here.

Love this one of me!

Our divemasters drew us awesome pictures of the dive sites before each dive

My divemaster for the trip, Koen. He was a ton of fun!



CLOWN FISH....aka, Nemo. These guys were adorable

Green turtle, who swam around our boat after one of the dives

Amazing Gregorian sea fans with sea stars on top

Love the sea fans! They were incredible

My dive buddy, Cindy

Lion fish. Beautiful, but deadly

Posing for pictures at the safety stop