Northern Thailand 2023

October 14th started with a long journey beginning at the Boise International Airport and would end in Chiang Mai Thaland 26 hours later. Susan, our WWE (Wild Women Expeditions guide) met Ann, Krista, and I at the airport and brought us to our accomodations. We had a suite reserved for the night and were looking forward to stretching out after sitting up for so long. The 13 hour time difference was sure being felt by this time.

Rachamankha Boutique Hotel turned out to be a gem! We had wonderful accomodations in that huge suite for Ann, Krista, and myself. It was definitely spendy and we could see why. Day 1 of our WWE adventure wouldn't begin until just after 4PM, so the 3 of us set about town after a nice sit down breakfast with amazing Thai coffee and the best gluten free bread that I have ever tasted. We explored the Budhist temple near our hotel then set around old town a little and stumbled on another temple to tour. We had Pad Thai shrimp for lunch for uner 40 thai Baht! It was so good too! We did have to check out of our suite and into our double occupancy rooms with twin beds. Not as luxurious but they were pretty darn nice still!

We met up with our group of ladies that included our guide Susan, 2 mother/daughter duos: Becky and Debbie and Madison and Shellee, Adanay, Alex, Kelly, and the 3 of use (Ann, Krista, and Mary). We had an 11th gal who didn't make it to our group as it turned out she was in a hospital in Nepal. After introductions and our guide getting aquainted with our dietary observations, we made a plan on meeting up for loading our vans to go to dinner. We had an amazing dinner out where we all selected our own meals. Mine was a salmon curry that again was fantastic! Day 2 involved a juggle of our itinerary as the last big day together was overfull, so we pulled the hike to the temple forward to this am. It had rained recently so we decided to hike up to the temple and carpool down afterward. This turned out to be a great decision as the mud was slippery. We gathered around in the temple with lotus flowers and folded the outer petals for an offering. It was so peaceful walking around the grounds and visiting the varied Buddhas on the grounds.

We then had lunch at an amazing restaurant that had a waterfall feature and flowers like none I had ever seen before. Lunch was family style with numerous dishes served to our table. Luckily 3 of us were pescaterian making for numerous tofu and fish/seafood options. I was the only one GF/DF on the trip, though this didn't affect too many of my choices. After lunch and sufficient digestion time, we were off to our massages. This was quite pampering with a shower, a steam, a thai massage, followed by an oil massage and another shower. Holy moly was it great! We later went to a cooking class where we began by painting some little clay statues. Cooking class then involved learning to prepare a coconut milk based soup, shrimp pad thai, and spring rolls (or in my case summer rolls to be GF). Due to the long duration of watching the meal prep, then preparing it, then repeating for 2 more courses, our food was largely cooled off by the time we were able to eat it.

The entertainment then proceeded to dancing. Most of us were pretty tired by this point, but the dancers and their dances were beautiful. About 1/2 of the gals got up to learn the dancing at the end of the night. By the time we returned to Rachamankha, we were pooped and that bed felt great. Day 3 was to be to the sticky waterfalls, but there had been a storm this year that damaged them resulting in a different hike at a National Park to a waterfall.

After our hike, we loaded our vans to get to Mae Ngat Lake Reservoir where we loaded aboard 2 narrow hull tail boats. We had time once we arrived at the floating restaurant to relax or boat and to have a nice lunch and some toddies. Lunch again was family style with more great options to try. Kelly and I did a great little kayaking in the area and visited and just relaxed on the water.

Our sleeping location was a new one, the Sibsan Resort & Spa Maetaeng. It was a magical location with small cottages around. There was elephant tourism in the area that is not the more humane variety; the ones we saw were giving rides to a couple people. Sadly, one elephant had a giant bow on its head. A bit hard to see. I got some laundry done and hung, I have no recollection of dinner but I loved every meal. Day 4 involved an afternoon hike (or going to the coffee shop if electing not to hike). I started the day with a latte from the neighboring resort, breakfast, then packed up and got ready for the hike. Susan recommended long sleeves and pants due to the grasses. I wore my thin wool leggings from wool& and my tank covered by my thin smartwool hoodie. In the heat it was hot, but tolerable.

The hike was challenging and proved to be a good workout. I initially attempted to avoid the mud and the stream but finally gave up and started walking in the stream. My solomon trail runners ended up being the perfect shoes for this adventure! Great nubby traction and an almost amphibeous fabric that immediately cooled me without holding my feet saturated. Luckily, my darn tough anklets did well with being wet too. After finishing our hike we walked down the road to a spa fed by a natural mineral spring. The sulfer smell is strong, but still very enjoyable. Due to some of the ladies electing to go to the coffee shop and not yet being at the hotspring, we were without our bathing suites. Realizing we were in our mountain bikinis we decided to remove layers and relax in the tub. We headed to our hotel were we had less than expected accomodations. Despite the area having cottages with twin beds, we were provided with a full bed and another mattress on the floor. Due to one of the ladies not having made it to the trip, there was a not yet canceled cottage available resulting in me getting a room to myself for the night. I don't recall our dinner accomodations for the night, but again, I have enjoyed every dinner in Thailand. Day 5 involved waking up at 0430 due to ongoing and repeated bells and howling dogs out my window. It turns out this was a call to prayer. We had selected our breakfasts at time of arrival, and I had selected rice porridge and soft boiled eggs. What I received is not at all what I expected. I ate as much as I could but I really did not enjoy it. Our day then proceeded with a fair amount of van time to head towards the Chiange Rai. We had a tour in a small hilltribe Akha community, assisted with making chili paste, cooking up bamboo worms, and having another great lunch. The worms weren't even bad. We then did a little craft that involved stringing up seeds and beeds for a bracelet. I am pretty happy with how mine turned out and it's a great little souvenier.

The community is starting to get some mud houses, but is largely bamboo houses. These need to be reconstructed every 4 years! Pretty amazing the work that goes into shelter. We then loaded up the vans to go to our ecolodge that would be our sleep location for the next 2 nights. The room again had a couple bed set ups that were not equivalent, but the bed was a king and large enough to share to prevent one of us from having to sleep on the sofa. The views from our balcony were amazing and the pool was incredible! Following a dip in the pool, we had dinner and again I loved it!

Day 6 is a "free day" with a yoga session option and do what you wish for the rest. My day included a nice breakfast, the lengthy yoga class (90-120 min), then a head and shoulders massage followed by another dip in the pool and a great dinner. Day 7 involved a long van ride to get to Wat Rung Kuhn (the White Temple). This is more of a tourist location than one of worship. The ordination hall is very small and there wasn't much time to spend there due to the number of visitors. There were paintings on the interior of the hall that were unique as our guide said it is to last 1000 years and to display cultural things going on in this timeframe - this included paintings of pop culture from our generation (Neo, Michael Jackson, Saw character, and many more as well as a depiction of the twin towers in flames).

Our next destination required more van time to reach the prior tobacco plantation. The rooms had been converted from the tobacco drying buildings and were very unique. The tub was a bit challenging as there was no shower curtain to keep from getting the floor all wet. The grounds were beautiful and we had some time. Krista and I walked around the grounds giving ourselves a pre-tour tour and doing mini-photo shoots. We then joined our group for the official tour and later dinner on the grounds.

Day 8 we had to have our bags ready for the homestay with the Keren hilltribe; but first, we were bound for the Chiang Chill Elephant Sanctuary. It was a short hike from the van for an amazing experience. We were able to witness the 4 female elephants in a natural setting with their mahouts (handlers) alongside them caring for them. We assisted in their prep of bananas, sugar cane, and supplements.

After our elephant fix, we then met up with a couple high clearance 4x4 vehicles for transport up to the Keren Hill tribe. We were able to settle into our homestay accomodations that included a thin firm mattress (surprisingly comfortable), pillow, and mosquito net. There were flush toilets and plumbing with PVC piping for a shower - that felt simply wonderful though it was cold. Our guide for this section proved to be an excellent cook preparing far more food than a group our size could devour. We had so much fruit it was amazing. After dinner, there was a camp fire and freshly roasted chestnuts to enjoy. Then we got out our head lamps and headed back to the sleeping quarters for the night. Day 9 involved what could have been the biggest breakfast ever. More fruit, Thai egg scramble, toast and pancakes (none GF though) and jam. After filling our bellies, we packed up for our hike down from the accomodations back to our vans. There was a choice to ride down the hill in the 4x4 truck or to hike, I again chose to hike.

We spent approx 3 hours hiking down a beautiful trail and had a rest location that was so incredible - elephants! This was a tourist location that had other tourists assisting to bathe the elephants in the river. It was somewhat enviable in the aspect of how close they could be, but at the same time it was sad cause those 4 elephants were bombarded by people splashing and touching them.

After our hike down, we were briefly in our vans to bring us to our rafts for our next adventure of the day. Again there was a choice as to whether or not participate in this portion of the day. There were 6 of us that chose to raft. The water was fast from the recent rain and it was fun!

After the raft, we were to do a craft thing, but elected a few days prior to change the plan to another spa afternoon. I was able to get an hour long foot massage! We then returned to Rachamankha for a couple nights with our group (plus an additional for the 4 of us flying out a day after). We had some time to shower/relax and prep for going to the night market. We ordered our food, pad thai for many of us, at the night market. After a long day and a ton of shopping, we caught our van back to the hotel. Day 10 after our breakfast at the hotel we headed to Ban Pong Huai Lan for cultural immersion. We visited a fishery first, then on to a textile location where we learned how cotton is taken and processed. We got hands on with getting the seed out of the cotton in a little machine, then fluffing it and winding it and later spinning it into thread. We then got to trial the loom for making fabric. Pretty amazing all the work that these ladies do. One woman was wearing a sarong/skirt that was in excellent shape and she reported it was 30 years old.

After the textiles we visted a garden that was so increadible and tended by an agile 79 year old woman. Then, we had lunch with the ladies in the area, learned how to weave palms into duck and fish shapes for a decoration, made a ceremonial dessert. Pretty amazing the work that goes into all of the steps. I got pretty good at shredding the coconut meat for the dessert. We later went to dinner at a wonderful restaurant - we had ordered our individual dinners a couple nights prior. The owner greated us as we entered the propery and was such a gracious host. I couldn't have been happier with my dinner selection. It was by far the best dinner of my life. The owner was pleased to hear this. Our service was perfected to the finest detail. Day 11 we had to check out of our WWE room and transfer to our suite - this time Alex joined Ann, Krista and me. We relaxed with a lot of pool time. Most of the other WWE ladies flew out today though at varied times. We decided on dinner at Mai Sky Bar - though it wasn't open due to bad weather so we went to the restaurant at that same location on the 21st floor Melia (instead of the deck of the 22nd). The wait staff was fantastic with understanding their menu for my food sensitivies.

Our last day in Thailand was relaxed though I was able to get another temple viewing in and more shopping done. I met Susan along with Ann at the coffee shop and we proceeded to do some shopping en route to the Chedi Luang temple. It is crazy what beautiful clothing and silver jewelry you can find that is surprisingly affordable for USD conversion. Susan was like my own private tour guide at the temple and I couldn't have asked for better.

After returning to the hotel, I hung out at the pool until our scheduled massage (same location as the recent foot massage). Ann and I went together and had a 60 min scrub followed by a 60 min oil massage - this allowed us good access to a shower prior to flying out late that night. After the massage, we met Krista back at the hotel for dinner then transport to the airport to begin the 36 hour travel back to Boise.