Stephanie and Andy, Mike’s parents, arrived late on a Sunday night and we hit the ground running! We broke up their trip into a few days exploring the ancient city of Chiang Mai and a few days relaxing on the lazy beach of Ko Lanta island!
Chiang Mai
As we mentioned in our last post, we explored Chiang Mai for a few days by ourselves to get the lay of the land before Mike’s parents arrived! We saved the main attractions for our time with Andy and Stephanie, including a cooking class, temple tour, and a visit to an elephant sanctuary!
Cooking class with Asia Scenic
The four of us conquered at least six different Thai dishes during our cooking class. We each had a station with a wok and had the chance to cook up all of our favorites. The cashew chicken, tom yum soup, and fried spring rolls were scarfed down particularly fast.
Temple Tour with “Tom”
Tom was an absurdly impressive Buddhist Monk who lived in total silent isolation in a cave for six years and then in a temple on top of a mountain for four more years. He said he liked living in the cave the most, and acted like neither of the two were that big of a deal (in terms of difficulty). Then as he grew older, Tom decided to have a family and take people like us on temple tours. His days in isolation definitely left him with an urge to talk – and talk, he did!
First, we visited Doi Suthep, the famous temple on top of a mountain outside of the main city of Chiang Mai. Lots of folks visit super early to catch the sunrise but we decided to sleep in a bit and arrived around 9am. At the temple, we received a blessing from a monk and took in the views!
We learned a lot about Buddhism from Tom. Our main takeaways were that Buddhists strive to find happiness from within and to enjoy the present moment.
Thai Massages
A Thai massage is a very different kind of massage, involving lots of stretching and no oil or lotion. And in Thailand, it’s also a very cheap kind of massage. We paid as little as $5 for an hour-long foot massage and up to $20 for a full body massage at a fancier spa.
By the time Andy and Stephanie arrived, we were pros so we took them to one of our favorite places in Chiang Mai, Lila Spa. Lila employs women who were previously incarcerated, providing them with skill development and support. A good cause and a good massage – hard to beat!
Elephant Sanctuary!
Visiting an elephant sanctuary was on the top of our list, and since there’s an entire industry built around exploiting these animals, we were meticulous in selecting a sanctuary to visit.
A few people recommended Elephant Nature Park, which rescues elephants from the tourism and logging industries. Although saving the elephants and then creating a new tourist activity may seem contradictory, the Elephant Nature Park rescues elephants from owners who offer elephant riding and train the elephants to do circus tricks, as well as any injured elephants that are no longer wanted by other owners. The elephants receive the medical care, land, food, and socialization that they need to thrive, and tourists are allowed to observe.
Here are a few pictures so you can observe too!
Favorite food spots in Chiang Mai:
Kanjana – the best Thai food we had in Chiang Mai! Unfortunately, we didn’t find time to go back a second time! The veggie green curry, shrimp pad thai, pork laab, and papaya salad were spot on. This was where Andy and Stephanie enjoyed their first Thai meal!
Rustic & Blue – modern, western breakfast all day in the Nimman neighborhood with delicious cold brew and herbal lemonade. Elizabeth loves the smoothie bowl! This place is relatively expensive because it is trendy and highly instagrammable, but we decided the food was worth it!
Riverside Restaurant – a great location with live music every night! The food was nothing to write home about, but definitely a fun place for drinks!
Khao Soy Fueng Fah – a low-key spot recommended by our friend Angus; Khao soy (which we have seen spelled all sorts of different ways on the internet, pronounced “cow soy”) is actually a Muslim dish that is popular in Northern Thailand. This place serves up bowls of the stuff for around $2. The dish has a very hearty flavor. We’d say it is somewhat like an Asian pot roast with noodles?? We ate 2 bowls each!
Goodsouls Kitchen – the spot for a huge variety of vegan or vegetarian options in Chiang Mai! We went twice.
Ko Lanta
Down south, located off the west coast of Thailand in the Andaman Sea, there’s an island called Ko Lanta. We picked this island due to its reputation for being quieter than some of the other, more common Thai islands. A few very popular destinations in this region have over-tourism issues and a serious party scene. Knowing that wouldn’t be our vibe, we did some research and happily landed on Ko Lanta.
To get there, we were picked up in a van from the Krabi airport. We then drove about an hour to a short car-ferry ride, followed by another 30-minute drive. Our hotel arranged all of this and we stayed in the same van the whole journey (even as it drove us on and off of the ferry), so it was easier than it sounds!
We stayed at a brand new hotel called the Lazy Lodge. We scored an opening discount by contacting the owners directly via email, making us some of the first people to enjoy this beachfront haven. The risk of not having any reviews to verify our choice totally paid off with the brand new bungalows we walked into! The owners have another place on the island, Lazy Days bungalows, so they are pros at this point!
Scooters!
The gang rented scooters for a day and took them on a 20-30 min. ride down to Bamboo Bay and the National Park at the end of the island.
The island was the perfect place to take a spin on nice roads with little traffic or highway driving. No bumps or bruises!
Island-hopping for a day!
On the last day of our Heintzleman vacation, we took a boat ride to three mostly-deserted islands. We’d recommend a speedboat over a longtail boat for this day trip!
The highlight of our day was Emerald Cave on Ko Muk island. After swimming through the Emerald Cave for a few hundred feet, we ended up on a hidden beach surrounded by rock cliffs on all sides. It was like finding a beach inside of a volcano crater.
This is a popular tourist stop, so we were shocked that we were the only people inside the cave, just hanging out on the beach by ourselves. Once we packed up and started to swim back out, we realized we had barely beat the crowds! There were rows of people, all holding on to a rope, headed through the cave to the beach. It looked like a massive conga line of tourists coming to take over “our” beach! We couldn’t stop laughing at how lucky we’d gotten!
We stopped at two more islands throughout the day, Ko Kradan and Ko Ngai. These places seemed much more isolated than Ko Lanta and could be good options for a return trip to Thailand one day. We hadn’t heard of either of these spots until we arrived on Ko Lanta; they were much more secluded and quiet. If you’re looking for a Thai-island experience that takes you way off the beaten path, either of these places are worth considering!
Ko Muk (also spelled “Koh Mook”) – We only visited Emerald Cave, but there seem to be a few highly recommended hotels (this blog seems like a good resource).
Ko Kradan – We stopped for snorkeling and then had lunch on a secluded beach. From the secluded beach, there was a hiking trail that connected to a few hotels.
Ko Ngai – Here, we enjoyed a few Chang beers on the beach and took a long walk. The accommodations looked rustic, but the beach seemed much quieter than Koh Lanta.
Favorite food spots in Ko Lanta:
Pinto Restaurant – Authentic Thai in the Old Town of Ko Lanta.
Klong Khong Restaurant – Located right on the beach next door to Freedom Bar, which offered a nightly fire dancing performance during your meal, free of charge. The food was solid but don’t go here if you’re looking for a quiet place to have a conversation!
Lazy Lodge (“The Lodge” restaurant) – Great international options like a feta and olive wrap, but also authentic Thai. Right on our doorstep!