Coconuts & elephants were the two things I was looking forward to most for my visit to Thailand but it gave me so much more than I expected. It was the most adventurous trip I've ever taken; swimming in the ocean, playing with elephants, hiking up hills to see temples, boat rides, train rides, and lots of other things. I had so much fun and was slightly depressed when I came back to wake up in my own bed having to make my own breakfast, no longer taking tuk tuks to get around town. I've adjusted but I can't wait to go back.
Day 1-2 - We left LA on a Wednesday morning and arrived in Phuket Friday at 1AM.
Day 3- We woke up in our Phuket hotel by the airport,
Chill House, took a taxi to the pier, boat taxi to Koh Yao Yai Island, and then a tuk tuk to THE MOST MAGICAL PLACE ON EARTH,
Santhiya Koh Yao Yai.When I say most magical place on earth, I mean it. There's not many places I've visited that I feel I want to go back to soon but Santhiya is one of those places. I want to bring all my friends and family to this wonderful place where the food is delicious, people are nice and there's countless adventures to take part in.
As soon as we entered Santhiya, we were transported to a different world. Our bags were taken from us, greeted with a refreshing drink and cold towel. After 24+ hours of travel this gave us our life back. We arrived a bit early for our check in so we got massages, had a delicious lunch, chilled on the private beach until our room was ready. The room was crazy amazing. I wasn't ready. I really wasn't ready for the entire experience. We had a spa tub on the balcony and view of the ocean. That evening we had a beach front buffet dinner, and took ourselves to bed.
Day 4- Excursion day! We took a 45 minute boat ride out to other islands, Natalie and I were the only non- romantic non-heterosexual couple on the boat, apparently Santhiya is for honeymooners. We went snorkeling, saw monkeys- those monkeys don't play. They will take things right out of your hands, drink your water and throw the empty bottle at you. It was pretty funny to watch. One of them even walked right up to me.
We were pretty tuckered out from our excursion day so when we got back, we had some chill time at the pool, with papaya salad, and fresh juices. In the evening we had a dimly lit romantic set dinner at one of the restaurants. I like doing set menus sometimes as it lets me try dishes I wouldn't know to try. Yum!
Day 5- Our last full day at Santhiya, we took a Thai kick boxing class in the morning. I thought I would do terribly but it wasn't as bad as I thought. I kept it together. Looking back at the videos makes me laugh because I am so tiny and non-intimidating I couldn't really physically fight anyone.
After kick boxing class, we had a lovely breakfast overlooking the water and other islands. The views were unreal. There are places when you look at photos and you get there and it doesn't live up to photos. This is the opposite of true for our time at Santhiya. Words, photos can't describe. You just have to go, experience it! We treated ourselves to the most amazing spa treatment ever-steam, scrub, massage, facial and lunch. And it only cost us $100. It was the most amazing spa experience ever, it even started raining during our massage, which was was pretty cool.
Day 6- It was time to leave Santhiya...we took a taxi to the pier, a private boat to the main island, taxi to the airport, and flew to Bangkok that afternoon. We had a bit of a mishap as we took a bus to the main train station which took us back through the airport to get to our next city Ayutthaya. Oops! We arrived at our gorgeous hotel
Sala Ayutthaya around 9PM.
Day 7- We took a tuk tuk tour around Ayutthaya, visited a floating market. The city of Ayutthaya is based around a river, so naturally we took a boat tour around the city, visiting various temples and ruins. We had some noodles and coconuts on the side of a road, which was my favorite meal of my entire time in Thailand. It was a no fuss meal, made fresh and delicious.
We stumbled upon a Buddhist ceremony at one of the temples. People donated for golden fabric which was then draped over the large golden Buddha. Prayers were said and a monk blessed us with holy water. It's serendipitous experiences like that which make traveling to other countries and experiencing different cultures so special and memorable.
Day 8- After a riverfront view breakfast, we were on our way to our last city, Chiang Mai. We stayed in the old city at
Hotel Makkachiva which is fairly new, the staff is nice but were not as experienced or as knowledgeable as our previous accommodations and there were lots of bugs! I didn't like that.
Natalie and I took a walk around the city ate some food from a Thai woman who had her dishes out on large metal trays. She put it in little plastic bags and we ate out of the bags with little spoons. This is one of my favorite things of traveling, eating street food. It feels like your eating the city, all the flavors, textures, even sounds, personified into a meal.
Later in the evening, we headed to the night market. There's heaps and heaps of things to buy. Mostly junk to me but there were some cool hand made things in between and of course massages.
Day 9-Cooking class!
Baan Thai Cooking School picked us up from our hotel, took us to the market to learn about ingredients, then to cooking class! The school is run by young women who were in college or recently graduated. They all spoke English and could cook! I made pad thai (which was bomb), tom kha, khao soi, and fish cakes.
After class, we visited the oldest market of Chiang Mai and more massages. That night we went to a traditional Thai dinner and show compliments of a friend from home. It was interesting to see traditional music and dancing while eating endless Thai food. We drank lots of roselle.
Day 10-
Wat Phra That Doi Suthep sits atop a hill, which you have to drive up really far. Art, our new friend and tour guide, who owns a travel agency
Lanna Tours & Travel, drove us up the hill. He says it reminds him of going up Griffith Park but much higher. On our way down we stopped by a few smaller temples and the
Bhubing Palace.
That evening, I walked around the neighborhood, ate so many foods on the street. I had hearts on a stick, noodles and soup from plastic bags, coconut sweet treats, mangoes, even sushi, everything I saw...
Day 11- ELEPHANT DAY! I couldn't leave Thailand without seeing some elephants. I visited
Chiang Mai Elephant Sanctuary, they have just 3 elephants there which looked to me as the elephants live amongst the family that owns and operates the sanctuary. The elephants were very sweet and calm the entire time. They loved splashing around in the water and eating all the treats. They eat alot! I was happy to see, touch, and play with all of them.
After I got dropped back off to my hotel, I scurried to my next hotel,
At Niman- this place was totally my vibe, I could stay for days. After checking in, I hurried to my first aerial yoga class at
Satva Yoga which was a lot of fun. I love being upside down.
After yoga, I walked to the local mall, mostly American brand stores-Levis, Gap, Adidas, even Dungarees! After the mall, I found a night food market; I ate meats on a stick and a bowl of noodles.
I think I got home around 9pm, it was dark out. I chilled in the hotel, ate some more snacks and drank some Chang.
Day 12-When I visit places I like staying where locals stay, going to places locals go, doing regular things. After a nice breakfast, I got my nails done in the morning. It cost me $40 to get a pedicure and gel manicure with custom design. That's unheard of in the U.S. The young ladies there were cute friendly and very good at their craft. Big ups to
Rainbow Nails for getting my nails on point. I held on to my manicure for 2 weeks.
Art picked me up to look for some gold jewelry but most shops are closed on Sunday except for the outside markets and mall. I ventured around the market, eating snacks and other yummies just taking in the city. I went home to rest for a bit and went out again around 9PM. It was my last night and I certainly had to eat more street food before I departed.
Day 13- I took yoga in the morning, ate some pad thai and headed to the airport. 5 hours to China, another 15 to the states and I was home by Monday evening.
If any of you want to take a fun vacation, I highly recommend Thailand and certainly Santhiya. I'm grateful to see different places and people all around the world and enjoy sharing it with you. Until the next adventure...
Love,
V
