Last spring Derik and I took a two month trip to Hawaii, the Philippines, and Thailand. It was an amazing two months, and I remarkably still have a lot of our trip to share with you! During our time in Thailand the violent protests in Bangkok were taking place, and we were a little bit hesitant to visit. Safety is always our number one concern, and it's always a bit iffy visiting a place you know nothing about while civil war/violence is happening down the street. Sala Arun Review We really wanted to visit Bangkok since it is such a central hub for Thailand, but knew we had to be smart about where we visited and how we got there. We did quite a bit of research and it seemed the area around the Grand Palace would be one of the safest ... Read More
Things to Do in Phuket
We traveled around Thailand for about 21 days, and in that time we spent two weeks in Phuket. We arrived not knowing what to go see, where to stay, and how to get around. Sometimes it's fun to figure it all out once you get there; after traveling for 1 1/2 months already, we were tired of planning. Doing things spur of the moment was the break we needed. Phuket is a ridiculously busy tourist destination. We arrived during some European holiday, and it was extra crowded. I wasn't a big fan of how 'touristy' it was, bumping into people as we were walking on the sidewalk, and vendors constantly chasing after us to buy something from them. However, it's an easy island to navigate, and after renting a scooter, we enjoyed the freedom we had ... Read More
Phuket Botanical Garden
I've never considered visiting a botanical garden even once in my life. I'm not sure why, I guess I thought they were something that old people or plant enthusiasts go visit. Boy I was wrong. The Phuket Botanical Garden showed me the magical wonders of all things…ground growing. We only had 30 minutes to visit while on a tour of Phuket, and Derik had to keep pulling me along and telling me to pick up the pace, or I would have never made it back on the bus in time. There were so many plants! Some were super cool like the mini banana tree and the weird honeycomb plant (see below…it's green and super weird), and some were just plain gorgeous like the water lilies and bonsai trees. I've never seen such a crazy collection of specimens in my ... Read More
Monkey Beach
Monkey Beach on Phi Phi Island, Thailand is quite the little escape from the norm. If you're not interested in monkeys (I don't know about you but they kind of creep me out), maybe the brilliant blue-green water or the white sandy beach will make you want to stick around for a few hours. Don't forget the gorgeous landscape of gigantic sheer islands jutting out of the ocean, filled with the greenest trees. Derik and I booked a snorkeling and sightseeing tour around Koh Phi Phi, and it turned out to be an all day thing. Unfortunately the snorkeling was the worst we've experienced in Asia (hardly any fish or coral life), and the boat we were on was overly crowded, but at least the views were pretty! On the tour, we were allotted about 40 ... Read More
James Bond Island
The cool thing about traveling is you get to see a ton of different places (duh), and some of those include places that were forever captured on film as part of a remote movie set. Thailand has been used in multiple movies, but one of it's most famous movie set locations was on Khao Phing Kan Island. I don't know if you're into old movies, but if you are, maybe you have seen the 1974 classic 'The Man with the Golden Gun.' I'll be honest here, I didn't watch the movie until AFTER I visited the island, but at least I saw it right? The movie brought so much fame to the island just a boat ride away from Phuket, that it is now lovingly called James Bond Island. (just in case you haven't seen the movie, here are a few screenshots from the ... Read More
Wat Chedi Luang, Chiang Mai
We spent a few days in Chiang Mai for a little R&R before heading back to Korea. Chiang Mai is a gorgeous place filled with tons of restaurants, outdoor activities, night markets, and breathtaking landscapes. The weather wasn't hot and stuffy like South Thailand, so we spent most of our time outside exploring the city by foot. As we were walking towards the city center, we came upon Wat Chedi Luang; temple ruins dating back to 1440. The temple, in it's glory days, was known as one of the highest in Chiang Mai, but was later then destroyed by a natural disaster (either an earthquake or cannon fire, the sign translation was unclear). TRAVEL TIPS: It was a fun little walk to the temple, and we enjoyed looking around the grounds for ... Read More
Sunday Night Market, Chiang Mai
As you now know, Derik and I spent a couple days in Chiang Mai over our two month trip. I'm so glad we decided to, because it turns out that Chiang Mai is one of my favorite places in all of Thailand. It's eccentric, quiet, artsy, and a lot less stressful than the crowded, busy island of Phuket. It was a great rest stop before the end of our journey (yes, if you haven't noticed I'm actually posting chronologically backwards , so sorry about that). We spent two days lazing around town, visiting temple ruins and eating yummy food. We also happened to be there when the weekend hit. The Sunday Night Market is the biggest, most famous market in Chiang Mai. Although our hotel was directly on the Night Bazaar street, (a smaller market open ... Read More
White Temple, Chiang Rai
We all love Pinterest. As a female with a severe case of wanderlust, Pinterest so graciously offers me travel boards, of which I use to daydream to my heart's content about the great World we have waiting in front of us. I pin places I would eventually (in my wildest dreams right?) like to see and photograph myself, and I never thought I'd be visiting one of these 'ultimate' locations within two years of having Pinterest. The moment I saw the White Temple (formally known as Wat Ron Khun, but foreigners like me can't remember names like that) on that random travel board, I just knew I had to get there someday. Did this place fall straight out of Narnia? I knew the temple was somewhere in Northern Thailand, a place I was not familiar with ... Read More
Grand Palace, Bangkok
The Grand Palace was built in 1792 to be the royal residence of the Thai King. It's built up of many different buildings, offices, and temples (including the famous Wat Phra Kaew or otherwise known as the Temple of the Emerald Buddha), spanning over 200,000 sq. meters. Derik and I had a brief two day trip through Bangkok, and after extensive research, decided that staying somewhere along the river would be the safest. We had been traveling during Bangkok's violent riot period in February, and were a bit hesitant to travel around the city. We settled on a tiny little B & B location literally right next to the Grand Palace. The area was filled with local markets, construction, and quaint restaurants. If we end up back in Bangkok someday, ... Read More