Thailand Travel Stories:
A journey through golden temples, tropical islands, street food, longtail boats, and moments that reminded us why we keep choosing adventure.
Landing in Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai almost changed the whole trip before it even began. Sanaz arrived with a back injury so bad we thought we might have to abandon our backpacking plans and head straight for a beach to recover. Then, right across from our hotel, she met a Thai massage therapist named Duk — and somehow, in three days, she had her moving again. With the trip back on, we climbed into a tuk-tuk and began exploring Chiang Mai’s temples, history, and culture.
Small Gifts, Big Moments
Every country we travel to, we try to bring something small for the local children — not as anything grand, just a simple gesture of kindness. Sometimes it’s a child we meet on the street, sometimes an orphanage, and in Thailand, even a temple where children sat quietly listening to a head monk. These little moments always stay with us — a reminder that travel is not only about the places we see, but the small human connections we carry with us.
Chiang Rai - Land of Temples
Chiang Rai felt like a place where imagination had been built into stone, glass, gold, and silence. Everywhere we went, another temple appeared — larger, stranger, more beautiful, and more detailed than the last. It wasn’t just the scale that stayed with us, but the feeling of standing inside something people had created with devotion, patience, and wonder.
Bangkok threw us straight into the deep end — night markets, neon, scorpions on sticks, and our very first Michelin-starred meal at Jay Fai, where world-famous street food is cooked over fire in the middle of the city. It was chaotic, unforgettable, and exactly the kind of travel moment we came for.
Bangkok — Street Food, Night Markets & Michelin Stars
A Market on the Water
Damnoen Saduak Floating Market felt like stepping into another rhythm of life — wooden shops balanced along the canals, vendors calling from the edges, and us drifting through it all by paddle boat as Bangkok disappeared behind us for the day.
The Market That Vanishes in Seconds
Maeklong Railway Market was one of those places that felt impossible even while we were standing inside it. One moment the tracks were packed with vendors, baskets, awnings, food, tourists, and daily life. Then the warning came — a horn, a signal, a shift in the crowd — and within seconds the entire market folded itself away. Awnings pulled back to within inches, people stepped aside, and the train came rushing straight through the middle of it all. Then, just as quickly, the train was gone, the awnings opened, the vendors returned, and the market carried on like nothing extraordinary had happened at all.
Koh Samui - Island temples, scooter roads, and slow days by the sea
Koh Samui gave us a softer side of Thailand — ocean air, quiet temple visits, scooter rides through the island, and time to finally slow down. After the movement and intensity of Bangkok and the north, this was the kind of place where the days felt lighter, warmer, and a little easier to breathe.
Khao Lak/Takua Pa - Peace Beside the Memory of the Wave
Takua Pa and Khao Lak became the quiet ending our Thailand journey needed — sunset walks on the beach, dinners with our feet in the sand, slow pool days, and peaceful neighbourhood streets. But woven into that calm was the memory of 2004, when this coastline was devastated by the tsunami. Seeing the concrete evacuation structure standing there was a powerful reminder that even the most beautiful places can carry deep history.
We came here to rest, but left with something more: gratitude, perspective, and respect for a place that had rebuilt itself beside the sea.