Six Months in Chiang Mai: Loving Life

Half a year in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Wow, time has flown. It’s hard to put into words how this past month of my life has been, just that it has been so so good.

My mom visited from the United States and stayed for three weeks. I had a long holiday in between school semesters, so we did an epic tour of Thailand. This is a trip that I will never ever forget, and one that I have still not fully processed.

We did the north first: Chiang Mai, then an hour and a half north to the town nestled in mountains, Chiang Dao.

We then took a flight all the way down south to Koh Samui, and finished in Phuket.

This was my mom’s first time in Asia, and a few things stood out to her about Thailand. 1) The food. She couldn’t stop raving about the food. Her stand outs were green curry, stir fried basil, and pad thai. 2) The people. The kindness of the people. The genuine goodwill that pours out of every Thai person. The incredible service, the constant smiling, the laughs. 3) The natural beauty. The natrual beauty of the landscapes, and the diversity of landscapes in one country. The deep jungle, the lush, green mountains, the aqua ocean. 4) The massages. We must have gotten 10+ massages and that’s no exaggeration! Foot massages, oil massages, Thai massages (where my mom thought she was going to pass out from the intensity lol), hot stone massages, scrubs, facials, baths. We pampered oursevles TO THE MAX!

I know how easy it is to fall in love with Thailand, and it was such a gift to watch my mom fall in love with it too!

Standouts From Our Tour Of Thailand:

Chiang Mai

We did a cooking class in Chiang Mai and my mom loved learning about the Thai style cooking, ingredients, and how to prepare the food. It was a blast! I think it made her eager to prepare Thai food at home! Food is an incredible bridge to learn about a new culture and bring what you have learned back to your native home.

We stayed in a gorgeous Lanna-style hotel in the heart of the Chiang Mai old city. It was perfect!

Funny story: We went out for a few drinks one night on the ‘Big Buddha’ holiday. Apparentely you cannot be seen with the beer logo on this Buddhist holiday, so our waitress came out first with big mugs, then later a tea kettle filled with beer! She was being funny and we couldn’t stop laughing. That’s Thailand for you!

Chiang Dao

The standout from Chiang Dao was a legendary jungle hike deep in the dense forests of the Pha Daeng National Park. We drove up a literal cliff to an extremely remote village to begin the trek. Accompying us was an English guide and a Thai guide (who was equipped with flip flops slides and a machete). Quite the combination lol! We hiked through the mountain, the Thai guide Earth hacking things with his machete as we went.

Hilarious side note: when we first met our Thai guide he introduced himself as Earth. My mom was trying so hard to hear what he said (but failed), so she stuck her hand out with enthusiam and said ‘nice to meet you, flip flop!’ I could not stop laughing it was so freaking funny. Her intense enthusiam, Earth’s general confusion, the fact that he was wearing actual flip flops in the dense jungle makes this story what it is. I’m not sure how you confuse Earth with flip flop, but it is a story that I’ll always remember! Earth is a common Thai nickname (some of my students have the same name) so I understood what he said, while my mom was just plain confused.

We stayed in a gorgeous homestay on a farm. My mom was a little thrown off at first because she isn’t used to being so remote, but she eventually grew to love the area for its peacefulness and beauty. This is one of my favorite places I’ve ever stayed. It is like you are touching the mountains, and the lush greenery (after an intense rainy season) surrounded by the cliffs was stunning. I taught my mom how to ride a motorbike here, and she loved it!

Koh Samui

Our resort in Koh Samui was BEAUTIFUL. I mean absolutely gorgeous. The photo below explains what I mean.

Last minute we decided to do a day trip to the Ang Thong National Park, and by god it was the best decision of the whole trip! The panoramic viewpoint was beyond words. Truly the most beautiful sight my eyes have seen. EVER. The water was so blue it looked fake, and the islands surrounding the water, untouched by human intervention, was magical. The tour was so fun! The guides were hilarious, the views insane, and I love chilling on a speedboat.

Phuket

The last stop, Phuket, started off rocky. We came at the tail end of a huge monsoon, so the rain was intense. We waited it out and ran to the sun when it peaked out occassionally, but the last few days were stellar weather. The resort here was also so so so beyond beautiful, right on the gorgeous Nai Harn beach. Our hotel was built into the side of the mountain!

We did a Phi Phi island boat trip and the snorkeling was top notch. We spent over an hour getting lost in the colorful, underwater world of fish, sea snakes, and coral. It was an immersive and surreal experience, and one that we will never forget! Such beautiful creatues live underwater, and it was so fun to feel like a kid again amongst the fish and coral. The beaches here were also so beyond beautiful, and another highlight from the tour was boat jumping into an emerald lagoon!

There were a million other tiny moments not mentioned, but these highlights were pretty incredible. I still smile so hard thinking about the times we had.

Saying goodbye at the airport after this trip of a lifetime was rough. I couldn’t stop crying haha. We made hundreds of memories, and had thousands of laughs. We ate so good, and lived in luxury. I feel so grateful to have someone in my life travel for 30+ hours just to see me! I love you so much mom!!

Come to Thailand and you’ll see its magic. Thank you for reading about my epic sixth month in Thailand, I love and miss you all SO MUCH!!

xx Gracie