Debbie & Judy's Thailand Adventure

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Debbie & Judy's Thailand Adventure

Our Thailand Trip with Corey, September 2023

30/11/2023

Day 9 Phatthalung Cave Videos
(more in comments) Judy Shupe

11/11/2023

Day 9 Evening in Phatthalung

In the afternoon, we went to a very large cave temple complex to explore. A maeshee (lady monk) showed us around for a while, and we got to witness a group's prayer time inside the temple. She talked a lot to us, but only in Thai. It was an enormous cave with many places to explore. We also went to a few other smaller caves that day, and ended the night with another festival night market! Judy Shupe

02/11/2023

Day 9 Morning Cave and Garden Videos
(more in comments)

29/10/2023

Day 9 Exploring Phatthalung in the Morning

The day started normally, with Corey trying to take us to unique places. We were in an area Corey had been before and he wanted to check and see if there was still a skull (possibly a monk's) on a plate nearby a small cave. It was gone, but we got to see an abandoned mining operation with a emerald green lake, and an abandoned market, now used for cows. We went to a nearby temple that had a cave, and found some of the largest elephant ear plants we have seen. After that, we went to another cave that was half abandoned, and the main sections were used for shrines. We continued on and found a garden attraction to view, and then we went to a prison complex to have some refreshing drinks. It was not an ordinary prison, as this one is used for cops and government officials who broke the law. There are no fences or ankle bracelets, but they are trusted not to leave. Also, they had a very large fruit garden, where the inmates are gardeners, builders, and landscapers. Corey says if he ever gets arrested in Thailand, he hopes to go some place like this 😂. They even gave us free fruits.

29/10/2023

Day 8
More Tham Le Khao Kob Cave Boat Trip Videos
(see comments for more videos)

20/10/2023

Day 8 Tham Le Khao Kob Cave Boat Trip Video!
Here is an uncomfortably exciting experience as we got pulled and pushed between the water and the ceiling through tight gaps! It starts off "easy" and leisurely...

What are your thoughts on this?

19/10/2023

Day 8 Tham Le Khao Kob Cave Boat Trip

This was definitely an extremely unique experience that you're going to want to see the videos for. It starts off simple enough. The three of us were on a tiny blue fiberglass boat and we had one guide on the front and one on the back. They paddled us down a canal which led into the cave. The cruise was pretty interesting and we admired the cave walls and stalactites hanging from the ceiling. After a few minutes, they had us hop off the boat while still inside the cave, and they let us walk through the narrow tunnels to look at all of the underground formations. We got on and off the boat at several places, and there was even a cave section we saw with gifts and decorations for the spirits. We got back in the boat, and the guides, who did not speak alot of English, and had not said much to us at all, told us something like, "normally don't go this way, but we go now". He gestured to us to lay down in the boat, then they also pushed our knees flat. The men paddled us to what looked like a dead end, and then put their paddles down as they got low in the boat...

Video in the next post.
(more photos in the future too)

Debbie Chenault Akers Judy Shupe

11/10/2023

Day 8 Videos Thale Noi and Cultural Center
More videos in comments

11/10/2023

Day 8 Morning Thale Noi Lake, Cultural Center, & a small mountain cave

In this morning, we took a skinny wooden motorboat on Thale Noi's Lotus Lake in Phatthalung. It was about $15 per boat for a 1 hour tour of the thousands of lotus flowers and we also got to see some water buffalo. Our captain must have lost track of time, as it was closer to two hours. Next, we went to a local cultural center over rice fields that shows you a bit of how local life is for many Thai people, and we took our turns de-husking rice. After that, we stopped at a small cave that was at the top of a long staircase leading inside a mountain. We met a monk, who brought us inside of his home and talked with us for 15 minutes, and said he had lived in that cave for 13 years! He said he has had a very peaceful and happy life.

04/10/2023

Day 7 Hat Yai Floating Market videos
More in comments.

01/10/2023

Day 7 Evening Night Markets

Corey told us there always seems to be a festival going on in Thailand, and it definitely seemed like it! First, we went to a temple/floating market. Here they had dozens of boats on the river selling food and drinks. We ate some fried potato spirals, quail eggs, pomelo fruit, and several other things. We bought Thai milk tea for less than $1 which included keeping the ceramic jugs they came in! Since the boats did not have running water, we had to wonder how they were washing their hands, cooking utensils, and dishes 😂. This market also put on a few shows, including traditional cultural Thai dancers and music, and also Malaysian performances because there are many Malaysian tourists since we are near the boarder. This market had over 100 shops too, where Debbie bought her 15th pair of elephant pants for souvenirs 😂. At this night market, there was also a local celebrity who Corey has seen many times at night markets across Hat Yai and he was happy to take photos with us and dance.

We were about to end the night, but remember there was another giant street market open about 13 minutes away. We were heading there, but on the way, we found ANOTHER festival, that was more like a bug carnival. We stopped and explored and ate some more, then made it to the 3rd market of the night and walked around for an hour there. More food and souvenirs..

27/09/2023

Day 7 Hat Yai videos

We got to meet Corey's dog "Coffee" who was very excited to see Corey again.

27/09/2023

Day 7 Heading down to Hat Yai

We were in the north of Thailand in Chiang Mai, and needed to connect to a flight in Bangkok that would take us to southern Thailand to Hat Yai. Since Judy and Debbie would be making their return trip back to USA without Corey, it was a good time to test their navigating skills. After 6 minutes of studying the screen, they made it all the way to the connecting gate! We wanted some snacks from the airport vending machine, and this one had a worker who took our order, selected our order on the machine, put the money in the machine, and then reached down to hand us the snacks when they fell. Do you tip at vending machines? 🤔🤣

We landed in Hat Yai, and went to a veryyy local morning market.

25/09/2023

DAY 7 Morning Temple Videos
More in the comments

24/09/2023

Day 7 Chiang Mai Temples + Massage

We ate a great breakfast at the hotel, and then headed into the city center to walk around and see some temples. Some temples were painted gold on the outside, fully decorated in carvings and colors, and other temples were fully painted on the inside, describing Buddhist stories. The monks in these photos are fake, but looked so real! The morning was ended with a last minute massage before we caught are flights to head to the south.

24/09/2023

Day 6+ Evening

In the evening, we went shopping at a local night market and also had some food and entertainment.

19/09/2023

Day 6 Ziplining in Chiang Mai

Making our way back down the mountain, we spotted a high ropes course in the tree lines. Deciding we were brave enough, we pulled in and quickly got geared up! Our briefing on what to do and what to expect did not start until we made it to the first platform, and it was basically "don't touch anything" and "jump when you are ready".

It was lots of fun and just a reminder to travel with a young adventurous spirit. We took a real train ride back to the initial station. (more photos/videos in the comments)

19/09/2023

Day 6 Morning Videos
More in the comments

19/09/2023

Day 6 Morning Exploring Chiang Mai

Heading out in the morning, we first stopped at a small bee farm where they made honey and other products from bees. A worker showed us the hives, and pulled out the sections of a bee box and gave them to us to hold and show us how the bees were working. There are so many different products made from the bee's honey, wax, and pollen. Next we headed down the road to an orchid and butterfly garden and got inside a greenhouse filled with flowers and various types of butterflies. The hanging orchid gardens also had many beautiful flowers. After that, we stopped at Elephant Poop**paper park, and learned how many products could be made from animal p**p. Thousands. Walking through the exhibits showed us how the p**p was cleaned and separated, and we were able to turn balls of poo into paper.

We continued on our way up the mountains, and stopped at an elephant stand just to have another experience with them. Unfortunately they were not kept in a comfortable place for them, but it was amazing to get close to these giants. When we got to close to the top of the mountains, there were many orchards, which the owners were happy to let us explore.

15/09/2023

Day 5+ Hmong Village Videos
More in comments.

15/09/2023

Day 5+ Chiang Mai Hmong Hill Tribe

After the temple, we headed up the mountain to visit a Hmong people Hill Tribe, and got to experience their way of life a little. The people encouraged us to dress in their tradition outfits to give us a more memorable souvenir.

12/09/2023

Day 5+ Chiang Mai Temple
Watphrathatdoisuthep Thailand
We found this temple in the mountains of China Mai, and instead of walking to the top, they offered a lift services, which we were glad to take. The temple was beautiful, and the views were amazing!

12/09/2023

Day 5 Chiang Mai

The first thing we wanted to do was get cleaned up and drop our bags off. We booked our next two nights at the Lotuspangsuankaew Hotel for just $17/room. It had excellent rooms, a grand lobby, a huge rooftop pool, and a very nice breakfast buffet for only $6! We rented a car for $25 and headed out to explore. Our first stop was a small temple in the jungle.

12/09/2023

Day 4+ Getting to Chiang Mai

We were not quite sure of what are next plans were, but after the gardens, we decided to head north to Chiang Mai. We were about 2.5 hours from the nearest airport, so we were not sure if we could make it there on time to catch a flight, but this was how our crazy journey went to get there....

We took a 40 minute Grab ride from the gardens to the bus station... Missed the 3pm bus to Bangkok by 3 minutes. We had to wait until the 4pm bus. After about 2 hours, we hit the Bangkok traffic, and it crawled across the busy roads for the next hour. Our plan was to catch an overnight sleeper train (13 hours) to get to Chiang Mai. There was too much traffic on the roads, so we had to get off the bus and walk to the underground subway station. We rode this for about 30 minutes (standing in the crowded isles with all of our luggage) and needed to completely leave this subway station and walk to a different subway terminal that would get us close enough to the train station. When we arrived, we found out the sleeper train had run out of beds, and they only had 3rd class seats (wooden seats) left for the 13 hour ride. We were exhausted already and didn't think we could handle a sleepless night sitting up on a train, so we took a taxi to a bus terminal and we were able to get some nice seats on a "golden class" bus for $27 for the 10 hour ride. The seats each had tvs, electronic recliners with built in massages, charging ports, and the bus even had a stewardess. We were able to sleep comfortably for most of the ride, and we were ready for our next day of adventures. The photo below was before we found out we were in for a veryyyy long night.

12/09/2023

Day 4+ Nong Nooch Gardens Videos
More in the comments!

12/09/2023

Day 4+ Nong Nooch Tropical Gardens

12/09/2023

Day 4 at Nongnooch Garden Pattaya

This place is one of the most amazing botanical gardens in the world. It has over 600 acres of manicured gardens, plants, trees, nurseries and decorations, and over 2,000 workers take care of it. We spent over 4 hours here and quickly only saw about 25% of it. It was an unbelievable place, and we would have to share hours and hours of videos to show you how enormous and incredible it was, and they are continuing to expand it.

12/09/2023

Day 3+ Evening in Pattaya Beach Town

After we left Wat Arun, we packed up and took a two hour bus ride towards Pattaya, where we planned to go to a giant garden. Realizing it would close soon after we arrived, we decided to spend the night in Pattaya, and let's just say it's one of the craziest parts of Thailand if you want a wild crazy party night. The streets were interesting and festive and alive, but maybe too alive. I'll just post this picture of an alligator food truck and you will have to look up what a katoey is on your on time...

09/09/2023

Day 3+ Wat Arun Photos

09/09/2023

Day 3- Bangkok's Wat Arun

We began our 3rd day in Thailand with a Grab car to the rivers edge, where we boarded a ferry to take us across to Wat Arun. This is an incredibly beautiful and tall temple that was built some time in the 17th century.

09/09/2023

Day 2+ Mae Klong Railway Market

09/09/2023

Day2+ our Tuk tuk took us to Mae Klong Railway Market. This market was built in 1905 and has an active train track running through the narrow streets, which is full of vendors that use the tracks to sell their goods. When the vendors hear the sound of the train horn coming, they quickly clear the tracks, and retract their awnings. As soon as the train passes, they are immediately back in business.

Since there was no Grab Car service available in this town, we asked around to see how to get back to Bangkok. We walked to the river and hopped on a 15 cent ferry boat just to see where it would go. It only took us to the other side... We explored a local temple, and snacked on local fruits like mangosteen, rambutan, and snakefruit before finding a mini van bus stop that let us board for $3 each for the 1.5 hour drive back. We shopped at the local night market before heading back to bed.

More videos in the comments.

09/09/2023

Day 2+
After our trip on the canal, our kind driver had decided to charge us double the price to get to our next destination. We opted out and decided to find out own path. We negotiated pricing on a 20 minute drive by TUK TUK to our next stop, and held on.

More in the comments.

09/09/2023

Day 2+ Videos of the Floating Market
More videos in the comments!

09/09/2023

Day 2+ photos of the Floating Market

09/09/2023

Day 2 in Thailand - Exploring Bangkok and more.

We woke up early to begin our adventures and headed west to Damnoen Saduak Floating Market - ตลาดน้ำ ดำเนินสะดวก. We took a 1.5 hour Grab ride to this floating market, where you take a boat through the canals to different vendors to see how traditional floating markets worked. It's a bit too touristy now, and the prices were targeted higher for tourists, but it was still a good insight.

The three of us (Debbie, Judy, and Corey) hopped in a small canoe that was powered by a 74 year old lady. She was still going strong! We enjoyed fresh homemade coconut ice cream in a coconut, admired all of the handicraft goods, and tried not to get capsized by the larger boats. We were reminded many times to keep our hands in the boat, or we would lose them!

09/09/2023

Flight + Day 1 Evening Arrival in Thailand

Our flight from Washington DC to Doha, Qatar was 13 hours, then out next flight was 7 hours to Bangkok, Thailand. Great meals, snacks, and a comfortable flight. We got off the plane and took a 30 minute Grab ride (like an Uber) to our place, which only costs about $7. Minutes after getting out, we realized one of our phones was left behind. We took a 4 hour adventure through night markets, 7/11s, more Grab rides, and ended up at a police station where our phone was returned! We got some much needed rest as our bodies adjust to the time change, 13 Hours ahead of EST.

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Videos

Day 9 Phatthalung Cave Videos (more in comments) Judy Shupe

Day 9 Morning Cave and Garden Videos (more in comments)

Day 8 More Tham Le Khao Kob Cave Boat Trip Videos (see comments for more videos)

Day 8 Tham Le Khao Kob Cave Boat Trip Video! Here is an uncomfortably exciting experience as we got pulled and pushed between the water and the ceiling through tight gaps! It starts off "easy" and leisurely... What are your thoughts on this?