December 2024 – January 2024

We continue to move eastward on our ATW travels. This leg of our journey we flew From Sri Lanka, across the Adaman Sea, to Bangkok, Thailand.

We had originally planned to spend five days re-exploring the city but things did not work out well with our Airbnb host. Their plan was to have us move every night and that wasn’t what we signed up to experience. We made some quick changes to our plans and away we go! These changes we were very happy with in the long run – Thank you Airbnb for the mess up!

Phetchaburi and Kaeng Krachan NP

Phetchaburi is located about three hours SW of Bangkok and you can take a bus or hire a taxi to get us to your lodge. While the taxi was more expensive ($50 as opposed to $10), we opted for the quicker/easier mode of transportation.

We stayed at Baan Maka Nature Lodge nestled at the edge of the Kaeng Krachan NP and home to black panthers, tigers, wild Asian elephants, sun bears and boobooks (cute little owls).

At Baan Maka, we were able to hire a local guide to take us on a night hike. The young man knew very little English but he was exceptional at spotting wildlife. We saw nightjars, owls, booboks, snakes, lizards and multiple varieties of birds sleeping. Did you know a birds feet lock onto the branches when they sleep so they don’t fall off? Yep, it’s true.

Our second day we were able to book a guide from the National Park and did a very long day of birding and animal watching. While we saw lots of birds and other animals, we only saw the tail of one Asian Elephant as they ran into the forest. Yes, this was still exciting because it is one of the few places in Thailand where you can see Asian Elephants in the wild.

We will let our pictures tell the story of our visit to this beautiful National Park.

Back in Bangkok

While we don’t really care for Bangkok, we actually had a good visit this time. Three cheers to Thailand for banning the burning of incense at buddhist temples across the country. This has made a major improvement in the air quality and the city isn’t in a perpetual fog anymore. They are also cleaning up the wiring on the telephone poles and this gives you a much nicer visual of the city – three cheers to fiber and WiFi.

Visiting the Chatucchak Weekend Market is a true flea market shopping experience. You can find everything here from food to handmade clothing and shoes to plastics and paper products. I was looking for dried mango slices and scored a couple pkgs immediately. Then it was off to look for a handled plastic carrying bag – scored again. Many items in this market were staples at Pier One – at a tenth of the price. There are over 25,000 stalls across 25 acres and you can meander for hours. Bonus, they have fixed the drainage and no more smell.

A repeat visit of Wat Pho and a river viewing was also on the agenda. We arrived at the temple just before the sun set, so we could miss the crowds, and then we grabbed a cocktail at Eat Site Story and had the perfect views at the end of the day.

Chiang Mai, Thailand

From Bangkok we flew to Chiang Mai instead of taking a six hour bus ride. Plus, Air Asia has some great affordable prices for their flights. Their planes are comfortable and they are timely and safe. Plus I love their nasi goreng meal that they serve.

We planned to stay for five days but ended up extending it to a sixth day. Sadly, not because we were having such a fantastic time but because I got the flu. Ugh! Thankfully, we were at a wonderful little boutique hotel that took good care of us. I’m not sure Jeff really had a good time by himself for five days.

However, the first day I was in great shape and we visited the Royal Park Rajapruek.

The Slow Boat to Luang Probang, Laos.

We thought we would arrange the Thailand to Laos border crossings on our own, but that seemed a bit overwhelming. So, we hired a company that arranged for a hotel stay in Chiang Rai, picked us up the following day and got us through customs and the border crossings. Then, we were escorted to the Mekong River where a boat awaited us for our two day journey.

The boat comfortably held all 30 of us and we settled in for our first day of motoring down the river. We made a couple of stops along the way to get out and streatch our legs. Lunch and snacks were provided on the boat. We met many who were traveling like us for 3-6 months exploring the world. (I guess we aren’t so crazy after all).

Around 5pm, we pulled over in the tiny town of Pakbeng for our overnight stay. You could pick your hotel from a list of options and we picked a treehouse that overlooked the river. It was lovely watching the sunset on the Mekong and watching other boats arrive.

Up early the next morning and back on the river for our final leg into Luang Prabang. It was a lovely, slow paced trip that we enjoyed and met several new travel friends.

We visited Luang Prabang several years ago but only had a one night stay. We are looking forward to spending several days here and then heading up to the capital city of Vientiane.