MY FIRST ASIAN TRIP

Last December I finally achieved one of my personals goals I had a long time on hold: travel to Asia.

The chosen destination was Thailand; many people advised me that it could be a good option for a first Asian experience as it is easy to travel around, friendly local people, good food, amazing beaches and packed with travelers.

And that’s exactly what I found 😊

Arriving in Bangkok could be a little bit strange. Bangkok is like a country within Thailand, it has its own way of living that sometimes is very different from other locations in Thailand. It’s chaotic and could lead to stress due to the huge amount of traffic and people going around.

But when you take a close look at Bangkok, you find street markets full of life, landscapes that leave you speechless and the most amazing and variety of international food that you have ever tasted.

One local friend joined me on my trip and took me to visit the Death Railway Bridge on the river kwai, an amazing one-day trip where you can hike for about 5 kilometers through a spectacular natural area to end up in the famous bridge over the river that the British soldiers made.

Another great area to visit is the Ayutthaya temples, not so far from Bangkok where you can find amazing centuries-old temples. This was my first contact with meditation in a Buddhist temple. I will always be grateful to my friend who taught me how to do it in the Buddhist way. I’m trying to keep it here back in Occident.

After some days in the Bangkok area, we went to the northern capital of the country: Chiang Mai

The city is surrounded by mountains and jungle and you can really feel that is not the chaotic and highspeed city it is Bangkok.

Chiang Mai is quiet, has plenty of cultural spaces, hundreds of well-preserved temples and an old city center full of history. Next to the city, the sacred mountain Doi Suthep it’s a must to visit. The Wat Phra That Doi Suthep temple is the main attraction. You will be amazed by the views from the top of the mountain.

One night we went to see the biggest street night market in Chiang Mai. Massive could be an exact word to describe it. I finished totally exhausted walking through the shops.

I wasn’t sure to make a day trip to see the elephants as I don’t want to be part of the aggressive, non-respectful tourism with the animals but after doing deep research we found one foundation that allowed us to go and see free elephants in the jungle, the trip in the van was really hard but totally worth it after all. We went for a walk with the elephants, swam in the river and fed them. An amazing experience I will never forget.

The last part of our trip was Ko Phangan Island. It wasn’t easy to get there from Chiang Mai but after 2 flights, a bus, a ferry, and a tuc tuc we finally arrived at our destination.

One of the reasons I chose Ko Phangan and no other island was because of the Full Moon Party. I’m not a party person anymore but I couldn’t miss the opportunity to go to one of the most famous parties in the world :p

However, the party was not the best part of our days in Ko Phangan, we did a trek in a huge jungle, we swam in infinite pools and sunbathed in the most amazing beach I’ve ever been.

No, the party was not the best part of the Island.

All the people that crossed our path during the trip were extremely friendly and offered their help in many ways. We had no problems at all and the feeling of being totally safe was always with us. Despite the mosquitos that can be a little bit annoying, especially on the islands, Thailand is a wonderful country, to begin with Asia and the Asian Culture, at least it was for me 😊

P.S. I will never be grateful enough to my friend Aui who traveled with me and made my trip to Thailand much easier and had to put up with me on my good and not so good days. THANK YOU!