My friends arrived in middle of February and I had prepared quite a few things for their stay. After a jet lag day in Bangkok we left for Koh Samed, a small Island just a few hours south of Bangkok.
My friends loved the beach and the heat in strong contrast to the snow and cold they experienced just two days before back in Switzerland. We spent the days and evenings at the beach, watched a fire-show, ate great seafood and just had a good time.
After two days we returned to Bangkok and left two days later for Chiang Mai.
The travel was quite comfortable as we took the overnight sleeper train instead of a bus. The ride not only was comfortable but also a lot of fun as there was a big party going on in the restaurant wagon.
The weather in Chiang Mai was amazing and it was beautiful there. The lush green of the nature and relaxed atmosphere in the mountain setting, just has something special to it. We stayed at a nice place (Thapae Garden) in a very quiet area near the inner ring but also not far from the night bazaar area. Our first day we spent walking around, eating and in the evening visiting the bazaar.
Unfortunately the bazaar sells exactly the same things like every other market in Thailand, just mass produced souvenirs for the hordes of tourists. But there could be quite some good deals to be made if you know where and haggle well.
On our second day we went to the Tiger Kingdom, which is great as the Tigers aren't drugged like in other Tiger parks, so they actually walk around, are awake and you can even play with their pups!
After the Tigers it was time for the elephants. There we saw a nice show with elephants doing tricks and painting pictures. It was nice but as I am not very interested in elephants, I wasn't as excited as for my friends. The next day we visited the silk village, a producer of fine grade silk where you actually could learn how they make silk, and of course also to buy some. In compare with Europe the silk-ware there is very cheap and you should visit it if you want some nice presents for your mum or girlfriend.
After that we ate lunch at a very delicious little place, I think it was named "Tamarind.. something" and after a quick chat with the owners we went on to visit a waterfall where we spent the rest of our day, bathing in the sun and the ice cold water.
Our last half day we just did some sightseeing at the temples before we took the train back to Bangkok. The last days I left my friends on their own in Bangkok and recommended them to party a little at the RCA (a famous party district). It was very hard for me to leave my life in Thailand behind me, for one as I failed my goal to start a new life abroad, but also because of the friends I made and the amazing times I had there. Plus its less than exciting to get back to a country where eight months of the year are in the -15 to +15 degree temperature range if you have lived in the endless summer of Asia for over a year.
Updates now will be less frequent, just if I got the time to travel I guess! Thanks for reading my blog!
