myretroperspective

Other than Chiang Mia, Railay Beach was our favorite spot in Thailand. Located on a peninsula in the South of Thailand, Railay acts like an island since there are no roads leading in or out of the area due to the large un-drillable limestone rocks that surround it. Everything and everyone must come by boat. We took a ferry from Phi Phi Island to Railay Beach with the hopes of rock climbing and cave exploring, both of which are highly popular in this area. We were not disappointed and as we approached the beach, we could see why this place was so popular. While we were there we: Hiked to the view point. There was also a lagoon on top of the mountain but we were told by some disgruntled tourists that it was currently a muddy pit so we turned back. (we've heard to go during high tide and it's beautiful)  Enjoyed the cave scenes on the beach.  Watched two dudes decrease each other's brain cells.  Bought some food from a boat.  Climbed through a cave in the pitch black......

After the hustle and bustle of being in cities during our first week in Thailand, we decided that we needed a break and headed down south to soak up the sun, do some diving and well...do absolutely nothing. Like I've mentioned before, hubs and I are extremely a.d.d. when it comes to vacationing and while the plan was to spend our days on the beach, that didn't happen for very long. My pale skin is proof of that. After hopping on a plane from Chiang Mai to Phuket, we caught a ferry boat that would take us to Phi Phi Island. We heard very mixed reviews of the small island, but mostly that it had gorgeous beaches and a very lively (aka loud ) party scene. We weren't too worried because the hotel that we had found were small bungalows located on a hillside up from the water and about a ten minute boat ride (there were free shuttles through the hotel) or 20 minute walk from town. We figured that we would be far enough away from the bar scene that we wouldn't be able to hear ...

For our last adventure in Chiang Mai, we decided to follow a friends advice and take a motorbike ride around the mountains surrounding the city. Renting a motorbike in general was one of the best decisions we made during our stay in Chiang Mai. For just 200 baht a day (roughly $7.00) we could rent a motorbike, versus taking taxis or tuk tuks which often came in around the same price per day if not higher. The advantage of the motorbike was that we saved money and we also saved the hassle of having to track down transportation and then haggle with them about a fair price. Samoeng Loop We left early in the morning and planned to spend the whole day making our way around the Samoeng Loop and also making pit stops along the way at local attractions. Along the trip we: Saw elephants! Ok, this was my favorite moment by far. You know how much I love elephants . Well, when we were riding along, I looked over and spotted elephants from a distance. I may or may not have yelled in hubs ears that ...

Those are the two most important things on a trip right? While hotels don't make or break a trip for us, it's always an added perk when we actually look forward to going back to our room at night (because trust me, we've had many a times in our budget traveling that we tried to spend as much time out of the room as possible). Thankfully Chiang Mai was not one of those times. We typically gravitate away from large chains when we travel and instead look for small, locally run boutique hotels. We feel that we can get to know the hotel staff more personally and not be as segregated from the culture of the country we are visiting. In Chiang Mai we really lucked out in this department because Qi68 was by far my favorite hotel we have stayed at. The owner Qi really makes this place stand out. He goes out of his way to help the guests make the most out of their stay in Thailand by helping find unique restaurants in the area and help book local day trips. And that's not even th...

We made sure to bring our Go Pro along to capture for photos and video! I felt like our stay in Chiang Mai was one adrenaline rush after another. I'm the first to admit hubs and I are more than a little a.d.d. when it comes to traveling. We're all for relaxing, getting massages (and at $15 for an hour, who could resist?!) or lying by the beach. But for the most part, we keep this to a minimum. We're just so antsy to see everything we can while we're in a different places. We agreed, however, that once we left Chiang Mai and headed south, that would be when we would lounge on the beach(spoiler alert: that didn't happen either. We spent a total of an hour on the beach before we found a cave and decided to ditch the beach and go explore. This is probably the reason why I came back from Thailand just as pale as I went). While we were in Chiang Mai, we wanted to take advantage of every opportunity we could, and one of these opportunities was zip lining. It's somethin...