12.31.2015 Chiang Mai to Phuket

Today is New Year's Eve. It was also our last day in Chiang Mai. My back was doing ok. A lot better than what I expected. 

Our flight out of Chiang Mai to Phuket was at 1:00pm. We had lunch at our local hotel. I had fried rice, stir fried fish, Chinese noodles, and a shrimp rice porridge soup that was delicious. The rice porridge soup reminded me of what my mom would make for my brother and I when we were sick. Katie had her usual fruits, yogurt, and cereal. 

After breakfast we walked down to the local laundry shop to pick up our clothes. It was a short 4 block walk. The lady that worked there was so sweet. She did my laundry for 56 bhats. Katie got hers done for 63 bhats. This was 70% of our clothes. The total ended up being $3.27. We tipped her well. It is crazy how hard people work here for such little money. Just makes me appreciate what we have at home.

In Phuket we stayed at The Dream. It is amazing there. The hotel was just as good as any resort you would find in the states. A roof top infinity pool, spa, restaurant, bar, shops, private beach...the list goes on. The service here is top notch. It's a fairly new hotel. Just 1 month old. So far I can say Im loving it!  

Since it was New Years Eve our hotel threw a big party by the beach. Everyone that didn't stay at the hotel had to buy tickets just to get into this big event. We had "Vip" service. I believed it. Everyone was required to bring cash. We didn't know. Once we mentioned Dream we had people taking our orders. They didn't serve food after 12pm except for fries. At 1 we were getting ready to leave. They asked us why? We said we were hungry and needed to get real food. The man escorted us to a waitress and told them to make us whatever we wanted. They made us feel like royalty (VIP). Hopefully they keep it up for all the guest staying with them throughout the year. I highly recommend staying here if you visit Phuket. 

There was a lot of dancing and drinking to be done at this party. We had great food. Awesome entertainment. Katie's favorite was the lantern lighting (Khom) that they were doing at the beach. In Thailand people release lanterns into the night sky. It is suppose to ward off bad luck and bring good luck your way. The scene was amazing. Katie described it as being magical. It was definitely the best New Years we ever had!

12.30.2016 Chiang mai Thailand

I woke up inside a van that was headed towards Mae Taeng District. We started our day at 7am this morning after not sleeping the night before until 2:00am. I was exhausted from the night before. 

Today we will be spending time with the elephants at Ran-Tong Elephant Rescue Center. 

At the elephant rescue center we got to play with the baby elephants....

.....we made food for them.....

.....made them vitamins....

......fed them....

......had lunch made for us (Khao Soi)....

......gave them a mud bath....

......bathe them....

......gave them a mineral spa treatment....

......and finally said goodbye to them. 

We met some pretty cool people on this trip. It was a great experience!

By now my back was hurting again. It hasn't been like this since leaving the states. When we got back to our room and I immediately took a bath. 

For dinner we ordered room service. We ordered 4 plates (they are small) to share. Katie got a beer for herself. I traded my beer for a delicious Flexeril. I went to sleep at 11 while Katie stayed up looking for a place for us to stay in Phuket for the next day.... New Years Eve.

(See my previous post if you missed it. It was posted very late PST)

12/29/2015 Chiang Mai Thailand

Today we woke up and had breakfast. We got ready for a long day. By 9 we were off to see the Tigers.

....stopped of at the PooPooPaper Park. This is a place where they used Elephant Poo to make eco friendly paper. 

.....we also stopped at a few of the villages on the outskirts of Chiang Mai. 

.....and finished our trip at Monthathan Waterfall Thailand. 

(Yes I packed a tri-pod)

By now it was 5:30pm. We were both hungry. Not hungry enough for a full dinner though. At a local food stand we purchased some grilled pork belly for 50bhat ($1.38). The flavor was out of this world. We showered and rested a bit before going out to get our much needed couples massage. 2 hours later, we were at the night market once again. 

At the night market I purchased a few shirts and Katie bought a pair of flip flops. We sat and listened to a local musician perform to a crowd full of people. Music from Nirvana, Radiohead, and such were played. I grabbed us a few beers while we ate freshly grilled squid & clams. It was amazing. So fresh you can definitely taste it!