Thailand - ราชอาณาจักรไทย Part 1

Sa-wat-dee Kah!!! This is an account of the wonderfully crazy and spontaneous adventure my dear roommate, Kelsey, and I embarked on in Thailand!

Hellooooo from Thailand! It took me forever to master the greeting (Sa-wat-dee Kah). Kelsey and I even spent one night watching video tutorials on speaking the Thai language. Heh, we still sucked. :p But it's okay because Thai people are so forgiving towards us nubs.
With my last exam swept under the rug, I hurried back to my apartment to say my last goodbyes :'( to my remaining roommates Sarah and Jore. I was planning to catch the A10 bus however, I missed it by a couple minutes...-_- But I think living in Hong Kong these past few months has trained me to be quick on my feet with catching buses so I was able to hop onto a minibus towards the Airport Express. Minibuses are no longer intimidating! Yay! I think I've upped my Hong Konger level. ✌ & I made it to my gate with time to spare...meaning time to FaceTime my parents. If they had it their way...they'd FaceTime me at least 3 times a day. Sigh.

Hong Kong Airport is so nice. I've been here more than half a dozen times and I still take touristy photos of it. 

Cottage Cheese looking clouds. 

I flew Hong Kong Express, an HK budget airline. The seat design was pretty sweet. The fare is affordable since I wasn't checking in luggage and there weren't complimentary food/drink. I would recommend it to anyone flying out of HK to neighboring countries that HK Express flies to.

I think the night view of Chiang Mai, Thailand came to me as a shock. Every international city I've flown into at night is usually lit up to the point it was blinding, but Chiang Mai's city lights were like trying to find stars in LA. I was very excited to experience a city with minimal light pollution. It's interesting to think of all those dark areas as pure nature, untouched by man. I hope it doesn't change too much in the future. It's nice to see the stars at night.

Look at me...all prepared with my hostel's address in Thai.

So finding a taxi at night wasn't as nerve-wrecking as I had thought. Chiang Mai's airport was pretty efficient with assigning people with taxis and a fixed price so customers knew they weren't going to get cheated. My taxi driver was pretty awesome. With his broken English, he told me about all the delish spicy food in Thailand and that I should go to a book store to buy a cookbook. He says he recommends it to all the tourists he drives. Lol we ended up getting lost even with my Thai address, luckily the locals around the area were really nice and helpful and help point us in the right direction.


I stayed at the hostel Thailand WOW (that my friend Garrett recommended). It's so funny...every time Kelsey and I tell our drivers where we are staying, they repeat with much enthusiasm "Thailand WOOOOOW!!!!!" I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend this hostel. The service is genuine and they work really hard to help accommodate all your requests. It really made the whole experience of booking tours and activities very efficient and hassle-free. Their English was great and the staff were very patient, especially when having to repeat information to us. I'll write a more complete review of the hostel in a separate post.
So of course the first thing after arriving in a new country is to EAT! Kelsey and I decided to walk around the Old City and check out their night market. Prior to coming to Thailand, I got lots of mixed advice about the safety of walking at night in East Asian countries, but I can say after traveling this winter break, it is safe. Just be smart! I'll also write another post regarding the pros and cons of traveling alone and advice if you do travel alone.

Chiang Mai Old City's Bustling Night Market

So many different kinds of food. You just choose and they scoop. 

OMG...and I thought Hong Kong had cheap street eats...but Chiang Mai ftw. 1 USD = 0.03 BHT 

So many types of dessert! 

Prepackaged meals. WAAAHH...I wish I could have this back home and just grab and go for breakfast, lunch, and dinner...and midnight snacks! 

FRESH FRUITS everywhere~! And they have their own spin off of the usual boba milk tea toppings. I wish I had more of this when I was in Thailand.

We walked around for a good hour just drooling at everything before we decided to eat at an open-air food stall. It reminds me so much of the HK 大牌檔 (Dai Pai Dong)...ugh I'm going to miss HK. :'(

While waiting for our food to be prepared, I got us a coconut. ^^ I love coconut juice and I'm the master at spooning out coconut meat. I'm always jealous of the coconut cutter's knife skills...and then I think of the time I was so desperate to open a free coconut I got from Mesa Commons...that I spent 2 hours throwing it on the ground just to get a sip of the juice. 

Of course the first thing us Americans would order is the commercialized dish: Pad Thai...but it's so bomb, there's no way we couldn't order it. They gave us an overwhelming amount of raw bean sprouts and green onions...hahah but it was still tasty! Noodles were very chewy and flavour was there, just a bit more subtle than robust ('twas good...but in a later post I will show you the best Pad Thai I've ever had in my life).

This is Kao Soi. Kelsey's boyfriend recommended this dish. It had a pleasant flavor: sweet from the coconut milk, but spicy from the chili/curry soup base. I think they use egg noodles judging by the color and it was topped with fried egg noodles for a surprising crunch amid the usually chewy noodle texture. The sad part was that the broth was a little bit short of warm...probably since we ordered towards closing time. I think this dish needs to be served extra hot. It's like a comfort food. 

And yes, the ultimate dessert! Mango sticky rice!!!!!!!!!! But Kelsey and I got excited way too fast. :( The sticky rice wasn't warm and the mango was more sour than sweet. BOOOO. But that just means we have reason to buy it until we find the perfect one! ^^ 

A tip when perusing street markets...if there's something you really want to try just buy it! It might run out the next time you come around...Kelsey and I wanted to get this other sticky rice dessert but we couldn't find it at the end of the night. So next time no regrets about spontaneous purchasing, even if it doesn't end up being yummy because the thing about travelling is just trying new things for the heck of it.

This is a map of the Old City. The hostel we stayed at was right inside the walls and because it was pretty small, getting around was super quick and easy especially if you take a tuk tuk, which is a motorcycle taxi/auto rickshaw.  Prices are negotiable and affordable.

I would definitely recommend anyone travelling to always familiarize yourself with the map of the area...saves a lot of time. Kelsey and I ended up walking back to our place super super super super late at night. It wasn't freaky or anything, I felt pretty safe but it sucks when you don't know where you are and it's freaking dark and you're walking down unfamiliar back alleys...as I mentioned earlier, Chiang Mai doesn't have a lot of night lights.

I forgot where in Thailand I saw the MV for this song...but it's pretty entertaining:



Next post: Elephant Trekking and Northern Thailand's Lanna Cultural Show in Thailand - ราชอาณาจักรไทย Part 2.