Author: jodecook

The last couple of days in Chiang Mai were spent in town navigating the night markets and the non-existent sidewalks. The days are cooler but the air is getting worse. In the Thailand countryside, farmers burn their crops every year, typically at the end of February. Not sure why it’s started earlier this year, but…

One of the things on my bucket list, while in Chiang Mai, was to see an elephant sanctuary. So, I booked a tour about an hour out of town to go into the Doi Inthanon National Park where the sanctuary is located. We started off by stopping at the Maewang River and hopping on a…

The Black House, also known as Baan Dam Museum, is a unique art museum in Chiang Rai, Thailand, created by artist Thawan Duchanee, a former student of the artist who built the white Temple. It features over 40 buildings made primarily of black wood, showcasing a mix of traditional and contemporary architecture, along with various…

I spent 7am to 7:30pm on a tour from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai to see some of the items on my list. The ride was about 3 1/2 hours each way so it was a very long day, and a bus ride down the curving highways that would leave anyone with motion sickness in…

Because I wanted to create experiences in my travel, I decided that rather than flying to Chiang Mai (northern Thailand), I would take the overnight train. It would take about 11 hours, but I knew I would be able to see the countryside and really enjoy riding on trains, or so I thought! My first…

I leave on an overnight train to Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand, later this afternoon. The last few days have been wonderful. So much to see…so little time, especially when the hot weather does a number on me and I have to slow down my roll at bit. I visited the Jim Thompson house. He…

So, back at it again after getting some much needed rest. This time I booked a boat tour on the canal. Wasn’t interested in repeating yesterday’s debacle at the floating market. This would get me on a boat AND to the floating market. The canal ride was about 2 hours. The Chao Phraya River feeds…

Day 4 started out great. I decided to go to the floating market, maybe do a canal boat ride. I ended up getting lost in the maze of streets that went from the main road to the canal. A very helpful young construction worker helped me find where I needed to be (The Thai people…

So, day 3 in Bangkok, and I decided to spend the day taking a hop-on-hop-off river boat along the Chao Phraya River that runs through Bangkok, and finishing the day off with a dinner cruise on that same river. It was a long day. At one stop, I visited a flower market, and had lunch…