you could not have anticipated the beauty and majestic-ness of these gigantic creatures.
literally have no words to describe the magnitude of these beings. they are meant to be out in wide open areas, eat 200-300 kg of food and 100-200 litres of water necessary for it’s daily nourishment. any other environment is not conducive to their lifestyles.
what you may not know is that they are not meant for riding. period. the reality is that they have been tortured, beaten and abused so they can "learn" to behave for the rider and for people's entertainment. these poor creatures are literally suffering mental illnesses, exhaustion, hunger and dehydration.
the tourist practices have literally landed elephants as an endangered species.
@mollyvelasco // this elephant has been known to recognize shitty humans and won't let them pet her. apparently i passed the test since she let me pet her
this was such an extraordinary way of learning the thai culture. whenever you visit a place, i strongly recommend doing a cooking class at the place you're visiting. honestly, what i cooked was probably the best version of the dish i've ever tasted. which sounds kind of dumb because it questions whether the authenticity of the dish since a local didn't actually make it, and in my opinion, it somewhat counts as local cuisine, right? 😉
comment below on whether you think this still counts as local cuisine or what you'd pick for your meal!
@brittnissx3 // picking your menu items
@bearahlee // all the variations of rice at the market
@bearahlee // mangos!
@brittnissx3 // you can make mango sticky rice at home!
@bearahlee // all the bikes at the market
@brittnissx3 // the set up
@brittnissx3 // the set up
@bearahlee // the garden
@bearahlee // flower with natural dying properties
@brittnissx3 // mise en place for holy basil chicken
you can literally spend weeks in chiang mai and never get to see every space. we visited so many places within three days here and on our last day we visited as many temples as we good and then some local places. we visited 3 temples, 2 coffee shops and 1 afternoon tea stop at a resort.
i wish i had spent more time visiting local coffee shops as that was recommended by a friend. so when planning your visit, look ahead of time of the places you want to visit and map them out to optimize your visit plan. see below of some of the wonderful places we saw.
@molly_velasco // wat phrathat doi suthep
@brittnissx3 // wat phrathat doi suthep
@brittnissx3
@brittnissx3 // wat duang dee
@brittnissx3 // wat chiang man
@brittnissx3 // afternoon tea at anatara chiang mai resort
@brittnissx3 // afternoon tea at anatara chiang mai resort
@brittnissx3 // anatara chiang mai resort
@brittnissx3 // night market
@brittnissx3 // thai tea at free bird cafe
@brittnissx3 // coconut creamy kao soi at free bird cafe
we stayed at serenity resort and hotel on phuket. up until this point i've never experienced such a beautiful location and villa (that's not much to say since i haven't stayed in many villas and i still think this one is stunning)
we attempted to go to the beach as soon as we arrived and unfortunately it was low tide so going to the beach here wasn't an option. we ended up eating lunch at the resort. compared to what we were eating in chiang mai, this place was by that definition on the "pricier" side, although still affordable according to american prices.
side note - gratuity is included in the bill already for those pinching extra pennies
@brittnissx3 // lemon drop cocktail at serenity villas
DO NOT USE THE TAXI SERVICES PROVIDED BY THE RESORT.
literal rip off. the only time i've ever felt scammed. we asked their taxi drivers to take us to the beach (which was probably about 2 miles south of the resort we stayed at). he literally didn't even take us to the pier/actual area and told us to go walk. uhm what? i remember paying a ridiculous price for the drive that wasn't even equivalent to the distance. i think it was like 20 bucks to go 2 miles. literally what the fuck.
we ended up grabbing another cab to go to nai harn beach. so glad we picked up and decided to go here. the area was kind of enclosed so the waves weren't super aggressive and we were able to sit on the beach with as many coconuts as we could consume.
@brittnissx3 // sunset nai harn beach
@brittnissx3 // sunset nai harn beach
@brittnissx3 // sunset nai harn beach
walking up for sunrise was totally worth it. so much tranquility when the sun is rising. the time difference totally helped and allowed us to get up so early.
@brittnissx3 // sunrise at the villa from the room at serenity villas
@brittnissx3 // sunrise at the villa at serenity villas
@brittnissx3 // sunrise at the villa
@molly_velasco // pool in the villa
take in the moment. the earth is beautiful
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Where I stayed: Phi Phi Phu Chalet https://goo.gl/1eCtyM
just like most islands, people here are on island time. we were told that getting from phuket to koh phi phi would be a boat ride about half an hour long; and sure enough, it was an two hours later. whatever the tour people tell you, at a minimum add on another 30-45 minutes to consider from getting to point a to point b. i did not anticipate how miserable this boat ride would be.
first, you hand off your bag where they pile everyone else's bag onto - it has never been so imperative to put distinguishing on your bag otherwise it will take you forever to find it. secondly, there's not enough shade on the boat, people are literally laying on the deck in the baking sun. i was fortunate to pick a spot ride in the shade and i can definitely tell you that i would not want to be sitting anywhere near the unshaded area. all that to say - bring sunscreen and a wide brim hat. also if you're traveling in the middle of the day, it would be wise to bring food and snacks.
@brittnissx3 // boat ride to koh phi phi
we knew we had finally arrived nearby when we saw other islands. everyone had finally gotten up to walk around to see us arriving to the port.
@brittnissx3 // arriving to koh phi phi
@bearahlee // port at koh phi phi
once you arrive to koh phi phi you will have to pay an entry fee (the real name of the fee is escaping me and i will update this if i remember!) and from what i recall it was equivalent to $10 usd. from there, water taxis are waiting for you to take you to your chalets. our chalet ended up being at the northeast part of the island so it took us about 15 minutes to get from our port to our chalet. it was low tide so they had to stop the water taxi aways from the beach and we unloaded from there.
the location was so surreal and the water so clear. these pictures will not do this place justice.
@bearahlee // walking to the beach
@bearahlee // walking from the beach to the chalet
@brittnissx3 // sunset at dinner
there were local places to eat and it was one of those things where we were pretty baked from the boat ride that we didn't want to trek to find local locations to eat. i also stupidly thought that i wasn't going to get bit to find that the mosquitoes loved my feet. always keep your bug spray no kids.
the only way to get around the island is water taxis. or at least to see everything the most efficiently is getting around by water taxis. we ended up buying the tour through the chalet. it cost approximately $60.50 usd per person which came with lunch and our fare around the island and guaranteeing we'd make it back on time for our ferry to krabi. i think it's worth it - there may be other options that are cheaper so ensure to do your research.
@brittnissx3 // map of locations
we stopped at bamboo island, phak nam bay, pileh lagoon, loh samah bay and maya bay. we did drive by monkey beach and viking cave. the poor monkey appears to be stranded alone and feels in humane to leave it there for tourist viewing.
otherwise, all of the locations are so breathtaking. i have to say that visiting these places should be on a bucket list. the photos and videos can only capture so much of this beauty.
@brittnissx3 // dining area with complimentary breakfast
