Thailand: Thai Beaches!

It's almost been 3 weeks since we got back from this amazing country! I am still dreaming of these beautiful beaches, the perfect soft sand, green and blue water, sunsets, fruit juice...just paradise. If we ever go to Thailand again we are going to explore the beaches even more! (Note: all pics are taken with phone or go-pro. And sorry not sorry for all the food pics)

 ^^Papaya salad! Definitely a favorite

 ^^cool restaurant in the middle of the jungle

We had the funnest adventure on our first day in Krabi. We took a long-tail boat to Railay beach and then walked about 15 minutes over to Phra Nang later in the day. We also took a "walk" through the jungle to find Tonsai beach. Funny enough, it turned out to be a 40 minute strenuous hike through the jungle that led us to this beach that we could have walked to in 5 minutes. Oh well, it was a neat adventure, and cool to see the real Thailand! 

On our walk to Phra Nang, there were a bunch of cool caves and families of wild monkeys! Both beaches had beautiful cliffs that are so picturesque. We swam and laid out and hiked the entire day...and got the worst sunburns of our lives. We're stupid and didn't put on sunscreen in the first 4 hours. Whoops. We got some pretty cool tan lines and peeling skin.

 ^^breakfast egg sandwich and Thai pancake

 ^^mango waffle

 ^^oysters in lemon and ginger sauce on our first night

 ^^no meal went without fresh fruit juice or smoothie

^^Beef panaeng curry

Food is always one of the highlights for any trip. Thailand has flavors that you would never find anywhere else and I loved everything. And I really, really miss the fresh mangoes. Oh man, they were amazing.

We went on a sketchy 30-min drive to a random place to go kayaking. Did I mention these people are the craziest drivers in the world? The kayaking was a lot of fun, and there were more monkeys in these parts. They're everywhere here! We took a little break on a sand beach and there were thousands of little crabs there. So cool.

This was another highlight. Going to a muy thai fight! These people worship this sport. It's like regular boxing, but they have cool rituals that they do a the beginning of each match. It was so fun to watch the locals cheer and bet on who they wanted to win. It was in a super old, dinky stadium with no A.C., but totally worth it!

 ^^our lunch buffet. So good.

^^where Leonardo DiCaprio jumped into in the movie "The Beach"

We took a 7-Island tour, including the Phi-Phi islands and they did not disappoint! Obviously from these pictures (which, again, are phone-quality and not edited) the water is perfect! I could stare at it every day. Our favorite beach of the whole trip was Maya Bay. It was crowded with tourists, but hardly anyone was in the water so we took full advantage of that. At the end of the tour we went snorkeling which was so much fun! Beautiful fish and coral reefs. It was such a dream.

The sunsets here were gorgeous. It was great to just walk along the beach when the sun was going down and then have a great meal after. That plate of food up above was probably the best thing I ate here. I've probably said that already, but it was dang good. The last picture is us in a tuk-tuk. They are the best invention of transportation. 

I can't believe I fulfilled a bucket-list dream of going to Thailand. We did everything we wanted to here and it was such a blast. If you're thinking of going, just go! It is so worth it and one of the best trips we have ever been on! We hope to be back!!

xoxo,

kay

Thailand: Bangkok

I have wanted to go to Thailand probably since I was in high school. Not really sure why, but it always seemed like the ultimate place to travel to. This place was not like anywhere else, that's for sure. 

As for Bangkok, it is dirty, smelly, has heavy traffic, crazy (and I mean CRAZY) drivers, heat and humidity, the best fresh fruit, kindest people, cheap massages...the list goes on and on. Here's some (lots) of pics from when we were in Bangkok!!

We had a half day before setting off the Krabi so we went to the Grand Palace and Wat Pho. The pictures above are the grand palace. I sort of have mixed feelings about this place. The structures are amazing and I love the intricate details of the buildings. However, I would say skip it if you are choosing between this and Wat Pho. First off, it was hotter than ever that day (that didn't help), and there were mass amounts of people. I mean, you could barely walk anywhere it was so crowded. Plus, it's more expensive to get in to the Grand Palace than other temples. It is good to do something once and I'm glad we got to see these buildings, but I wouldn't fight crowds to go again.

These are all from Wat Pho. This is where the reclining Buddha is, and it's HUGE. You couldn't even get a picture of the whole thing. This place was just as cool (if not cooler) in structure as the Grand Palace, only cost about $5 vs. $20, and there were almost NO people. This must be a hidden secret or something. But we loved this place! 

 

^^Alex found his Japanese name!

We had an extra day in Bangkok before we flew back to Tokyo so we went to the Chatuchak weekend market (the largest outdoor market in the world) and Lumpini Park. The Chatuchak market was incredible. It is HUGE. You could spend all day there. Also, the thing about Thailand is you should never buy anything at the advertised price. Thai people love bargaining with you. I got brand new Adidas for $13 and Alex got 3 nice shirts for about $15. Make some space in your suit case if you come here because you're going to want to buy everything since it's so cheap. Lumpini Park is kind of like the "Central Park" of Bangkok, except there are huge lizards walking around everywhere. At first they were kind of scary, then we got brave and went closer to them. This park had it's own charm and was fun to walk around.

So much good street food and just food in general! Curries, crepes, coconut ice cream (I didn't eat it because I'm still on no-sweets! Super sad), and allll the fruit juice! Seriously, fresh fruit and fruit juice was a highlight of the trip. SO good. We miss that stuff. I do have to say, pad thai here was not the same as in America. Not as much flavor and not as good. Probably the only thing I didn't like.

We went to a rooftop bar one night in Bangkok. Apparently they filmed part of the Hangover 2 there. This was a great place to see the city skyline and just relax a little. We are total moochers though and didn't get a drink or anything since they were so expensive. It's a free ride up to the very top, so we just went up, walked around for 20 minutes and left. Bangkok is amazing from that high up.

 ^^our room in Bangkok

 ^^so many motorbikes everywhere!

I'm sorry, but please look closely at what was prohibited in our van on the way to the airport. So funny. Seriously, there are so many strange things in this country, including all the Ronald McDonald's with their hands in prayer form. We stayed on Khaosan road (a mini Vegas/tourist strip). It was a good place to stay for cheap, and was close to the Grand Palace/Wat Pho, plus all of the taxi drivers knew where it was. There are a lot of street vendors, shops, and massages and spas. We did a fish spa that I highly recommend. Funniest experience of my life. Alex's face (above) says it all. We were giggling for like 10 minutes because it felt so freaking weird! It was crazy. We also got cheap thai massages. They do a normal massage and then they stretch you in ways I didn't know were possible. Quite the experience. 

We had so much fun in Bangkok and it is great to just immerse yourself in another culture. We were total tourists, obviously, but we tried to do everything here that we could to experience this crazy city. We only had a few days here but we used our time well and were able to see a lot.

One more post of Thailand coming soon!

xoxo,

kay