Beyond the expectations: the ‘famous’ north of Thailand

In one of my previous posts, I told you about how I started planning my route back to Belgium as soon as I arrived in Thailand. But since I had an entire month to discover Thailand, the country still had a lot of adventures in store for me. I first headed south to Koh Phi Phi and Koh Phangan, which you can read all about here. And although anyone would be sad to have to go back to noisy Bangkok after that, I was happy because I got to reunite with my travel boyfriend and get my Chinese visa. Now, the road lay open for over two weeks of travel in the best company I could wish for.

Ayutthaya vs. Sukothai

Two places boasting rich historic heritage, we visited both Ayutthaya and Sukothai one after the other. Both are absolutely worth a visit, but they definitely feel like different experiences. The main reason for that is the way the historical sites are laid out. Ayutthaya, a two hour bus ride away from Bangkok, has many sites scattered out all over the city and we needed a motorbike to reach them, but once we made it to the main site, we could explore it on foot. Sukothai’s historical site, on the other hand, is an area on its own that is detached from the current modern city, which we reached through another bus ride coming from Ayutthaya. It is very neatly arranged with pathways, lawns, ponds and little hedges – it almost feels like a park – and we explored it by bike.

Ayutthaya

Ayutthaya

Ayutthaya

Ayutthaya

Sukothai

Sukothai

Sukothai

Sukothai

Sukothai

We also met some interesting characters in both places. There was the long-haired local rockstar who animated the Street Lamp Café in Ayutthaya, next to our guesthouse, by playing covers of famous songs with his band. He even dedicated one to us, “the couple in the front row”. Mr. Lek was his name, or was it only his stage name? I guess we’ll never know.
Then there was the friendly although peculiar host at our guesthouse in Sukothai, whom we nicknamed “Mr. Wow”, after his favourite exclamation. His English was not very good, but he was not the slightest bit discouraged by that, judging by his enthusiastic and almost excessive use of Google Translate. But “wow” glued it all together. Even when we had accidentally locked ourselves out of our cabin/room, he arrived saying: “Wow! Ottomattic lock!” Fond memories.

Chiang Mai vs. Pai

All over Southeast Asia, the common refrain among backpackers would be about Chiang Mai and Pai being amazing places to visit. Since I was doing a different route than most other travelers, starting in Vietnam and ending in Thailand instead of the other way around (as far as Southeast Asia was concerned, at least), I would constantly keep meeting people who had already visited the north of Thailand, while I still was to discover it myself. By the time I got there, I had heard so many times how incredible both places were, that it was going to be tough to match those expectations.

Wat Phra Singh Temple, Chiang Mai

Truth be told, I liked both. But I was not crazy about them. I wasn’t too sure whether part of that was due to some travel fatigue, as decadent as that may sound. After five and a half months of travelling, I didn’t have as much energy as in the beginning of the trip to get up early in the morning and walk around town the entire day in order to discover every little corner of it.

Wat Phra Singh Temple, Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai, which took us several hours by bus to get to from Sukothai, had some pretty temples in store for us though, and we did go and check some of them out.

Wat Phra Singh Temple, Chiang Mai

Wat Phra Singh Temple, Chiang Mai

We also did a day trip which involved rescued elephants, a jungle trek, a waterfall and white water rafting. An incredible day really, although I felt slightly uncomfortable about the elephant activity not being an actual sanctuary. The Chiang Mai elephant sanctuary experiences were too expensive for my travel boyfriend who was on a tighter budget than I was, and this specific trip had been recommended by a friend. I asked and insisted to make sure it was not a place where the animals were really being mistreated. I was still skeptical once we got there, but the animals seemed to be treated with care. I asked a lot of questions about their living circumstances and the answers were rather reassuring. Part of the activity consisted in building awareness about the elephants’ wellbeing and the exploitation that sadly still takes place in a lot of so called elephant camps around Thailand and the rest of Southeast  Asia. So it may not have been an actual sanctuary, but for not being one, it was definitely a good step in the right direction.

Elephants about to go for a little swim

Waterfall in the jungle near Chiang Mai

Pai was an intense bus ride away from Chiang Mai, with many turns that were taken so quickly by the driver, that it was hard not to feel sick at the end of it.
Pai has that vibe of an old hippie paradise turned into a hipster backpacker’s haven. A very touristy place, it was still nice to hang out in, but it didn’t have that Southeast Asian feel that I had found in so many other cute little towns in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. This place belonged to the backpackers. And so I couldn’t adhere to the general mantra that Pai was the absolute place to be out there.

Sunset over Pai

We visited the Pai hot springs, which made for a nice swim in warm water, as well as a Chinese village nearby, the highlight there being an amazing Chinese dinner. There was the Pai canyon as well, which was a beautiful natural sight to visit. But the highlight was Pai’s night market, during which the town’s streets were lined with an endless number of stalls selling delicious street food.

Hot springs in Pai

Chinese village near Pai

Pai canyon

Pretty countryside around Pai

We spent some very careless days there, but with a huge goodbye looming over us. It was now early December. These were my last days in Southeast Asia before starting the long (and lonely) overland journey back to Belgium on my own.