Week 6 – Thailand (Part 1)

Bangkok – Chiang Mai

Well folks, it’s official. I am now on my own, por mi cuenta, da solo, you get the idea. I’ve just waved lovely Emily off into her taxi and I am now sitting in a coffee shop in the old town of Chiang Mai while I wait to check into my hostel later. I was planning on heading off for my trip to the monastery this morning, but I decided that perhaps I should socialise for a few days as I begin this next part on my own, as opposed to heading off to the mountains for five days of complete silence and introspection. We’ll circle back on the monastery trip, but for now I am feeling both excited and incredibly nervous about being on my own. It’s the social part that makes me more nervous. Not very often in life do you walk over to a group of people you’ve never met before and ask if you can hang out (I would also never phrase it like that), but hey, it’s all part of the experience I suppose. Anyway, Thailand. 

Side note, I received some (unsolicited) feedback on the length of my last blog post, so I’m planning to make this one a little shorter for the haters. 

I arrived in Bangkok at 4:15am just over a week ago and was amazingly back at Emily’s in a taxi for a stunning 5am. I know how overjoyed she was to get up at that time, big love Em. I haven’t seen Em in nearly a year so we sat and drank coffee in her back garden, caught up and watched the sun come up. We also got torn apart by mosquitoes which was cute. After a well needed nap we went for a lovely little smashed avocado brunch (she knows me too well) at a lush spot called Yellow Lane. Judge me all you like, sometimes you just need some sourdough. It was in an area called ‘Ari’ which I completely fell in love with, very vibey, and I even managed to get my first proper take away coffee!!!!!!!! Em treated me to my first Thai foot massage and holy HELL it was amazing. We spent the evening on the sofa with dinner cooked for me and watched a film. It felt great to have the comforts of home, including Em doing all my washing for me, God love her. 

The plan for the first few days in Bangkok was to get my life together, so the next day we went to Central Mall which is effectively Westfield on crack and ten times chicer. Safe to say I went a little bit over the top, not sure I needed the 100% linen trousers but they fit my body so well and I’d convinced myself I really needed them. Plus, I’d massacred my other ones. Thailand love a Boots so I was straight in there to stock up on La Roche Posay and you’ll all be so relieved to know that the Effaclar cleanser is doing wonders for my skin!!!! Hip hip hooray. To celebrate a successful day of shopping, we went to this lush rooftop bar called Palate and watched the sun go down with a Chang beer and a Pad Thai. The first of many on this trip. A good day all round I’d say, finished off in bed with a couple episodes of Drive To Survive swooning over Toto Wolff. Hubba hubba.

For our final day in the city, Em and I hopped on a boat over to somewhere called Bang Kachao, or the Green Lung. It’s called this because of the lack of development in this little area and the parks. I will say, as lovely as it was, not entirely sure how it got that nickname, it’s not particularly green, more like a light brown kind of lung. Probably similar to the colour of mine at the moment actually. We did find a lovely park at the end, but I guess in comparison to the hustle and bustle of the city, it’s pretty green. We cycled for a good few miles, getting our sweat on and taking it all in. This morning reminded me why I don’t cycle, seriously hard work. Got back in the afternoon for a £5 gel pedicure which was fab. I wrote in my journal that “She went to town on my feet and actually looked a little traumatised tbh”. Em cooked a lovely hot salad for dinner and we watched Chef’s Table. It really moved me and I spent the majority of each episode with a lump in my throat, incredible how food can be so kind of poetic to people. Made me feel very uncultured and reflect deeply on my avocado addiction. 

The next morning we were up and at em for our flight to Chiang Mai. After a speedy one hour journey, we arrived at lunch time to our lush hotel called Mammoth Boutique in the old town. We spent the afternoon mooching about and obsessing over how amazing this place was. It’s a really lovely mix of modern and old, and just has the lushest feel to it. We found this kind of arty village called Kalm, which had a gallery, cafe, shop, that kind of thing. The whole idea of the palace was around how crucial it is to preserve the memories of a building/home, and that was their main focus when they redesigned the space that has been around for hundreds of years. It was fascinating, and moving that the architect had spent years working with the previous owners to ensure the memories and history live on in the redesign. In an area with so much history, and with so much modernisation happening, preserving culture seems to be very important here. Anyway, that evening we went to a low key spot called Kat’s Kitchen, stuffed our faces with spring rolls and Singha beer and then had a lil cocktail at sunset down the road. We wandered outside of the old town to the Night Bazaar, which was SUCH a vibe, and I tried my first mango sticky rice which made me feel things I haven’t felt in a while. Could literally eat that every single day. Really felt like we’d got to see a lot that day, mooching around a new area without an agenda is my favourite way to see a place. Preferably with an iced latte. Kidding???!

The next day we went to the most amazing yoga class at somewhere called Wild Rose, which was down one of the back roads and in this amazing wooden shack. We both absolutely loved the class, very slow but sweaty and the teacher even helped me (like, did it for me) get into a headstand. I was feeling very chuffed with myself. Another day of mooching and eating and then that evening I tried my first Khao Soi Curry at ‘It’s Good Kitchen’ which was absolutely unreal (shoutout to Daryl for the recommendation). It’s quite a famous dish in northern Thailand and is basically this joyous coconutty soup filled with noodles, veg, chicken (or not) and these amazing crispy fried noodles. Despite feeling unbelievably full, we mooched down to this amazing little jazz bar called The North Gate Jazz Co-Op at the edge of the old town and perched on stalls outside to watch these four men (quartet?) serenade the crowd. It was incredible, they were amazing and the pavements were filled with people watching and having a great time. One of those kind of pinch me moments, gratitude baby!!! Managed to spend way too much money at this place as the margaritas were too good to resist. Must.only.drink.beer. A really lush evening shamelessly topped off by a big mac, which I will say was so much better than big macs at home, like ten times better. My days really seem to revolve around food a lot of the time, and I find it easier to remember what I’ve done if I know where I’ve eaten. I mean, food is life. 

Feeling a little groggy the next day, Em and I went for a lovely walk around the local park with a coffee. I spent the afternoon temple-hopping, there are so many in Chiang Mai, and I loved seeing all the different types of buildings. It really makes me ponder on tourism in places like this, where religion is incredibly important. There are hundreds of people (including myself) walking around these places of worship while people are praying. It feels kind of weird. A particular favourite of mine was Wat Chedi Luang, although slightly spoiled by the sign outside one of the pillars that said:

 “Women are prohibited to enter because they menstruate. It is believed that it humiliates and ruins the sanctity of the city pillar. Besides, men who dress inappropriately are not allowed to walk in.” 

It made me laugh and feel disappointed, but in a way I get it, who wants a room of hysterical women smearing blood over the walls?

That night we went for a beer and some food at a place I cannot remember the name of, but my main takeaway from the evening was that on the way to dinner, a drunk guy (I think British, obv) bellowed out the back of a songthaew ‘GINGER!!!!’ as we walked past. Humbling. Important not to get too confident with red hair I always find. 

On our final day together yesterday, Em and I went on a hike (we actually thought it was a flat kind of meander-type walk… wrong) up to somewhere called Wat Pha Lat (translates to ‘Monastery at the sloping rock’) which was truly breathtaking. It’s a forest temple set right up in the hills of Doi Suthep National Park and is just like nothing I’ve seen before, incredible. One of the most serene places I’ve ever visited and definitely one to remember. They also hold silent meditation retreats here, so as you can imagine this really got my cogs turning!!! 

That afternoon we went for a massage in one of the local temple’s grounds, it was this hall full of like 20 beds and no partitions, with people being thrown around like pretzels and lots of people were having their backs hammered with these wooden things, must remember to research what this is, it seemed pretty popular. It was bloody brilliant and she really stretched me out, although I was feeling a little left out from the hammering 😦 We spent our final evening at It’s Good Kitchen, shoving noodles in our face and reflecting on what’s been the loveliest week together after such a long time apart. 

As Emily’s gone and I’m now on my own (what the fuck), I’m feeling pretty proud of myself. I’m very curious as to how I’m going to feel after some time on my own, hopefully quite empowered. It’s kind of mad to think that I’ll be navigating the days completely on my own, I mean I know I’ll meet people (?) but deciding each day what I want to do depending on how I feel is pretty fun! Stay alert for any potential teary facetimes, folks. 

For now I will sign off as I finish my lemon iced tea. It’s nearly time to check in at the hostel, so I am just going to practise my best one-liners before I head there. I really want to be prepared. JOKING.

Until next time,

Lily xxx