Welcome to week seventeen of the backpacking diaries. Where I’ll be updating you weekly on where I’ve been, what I’ve been getting up to, and most importantly, how I’m really feeling about this insane decision I’ve made.
As you probably know, I’m currently backpacking through Asia after quitting my job and leaving London for good.
I want to remember every moment of this experience, and document as much of it as I can, just like I’ve documented everything else in my life post-18 on this website.
You can keep up to date with my travels on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube but for now, enjoy week seventeen of the travel diaries!
If you missed the first sixteen weeks of backpacking diaries, you can catch up here.
Top tip: for mobile data around Asia, we used the Airalo eSim which was super handy and easily installed onto our phones as soon as we arrived in Thailand!
Day 113: Monday 8th July 2024
Location: Pai & Chiang Mai, Thailand
Dear travel diary,
We woke up and watched Love Island in bed straight away as it had been the infamous movie night in the latest episode and we couldn’t wait any longer to see the drama unfold.
Checking out of our bungalow at 11am, we headed to the same cafe as yesterday to park ourselves until our bus later today.
We grabbed a table and I got to work on some blog posts for this week. I also received confirmation of my second ever paid Instagram partnership which I’m so excited about!
Then the torrential rain started around 1pm and didn’t quit before we had to leave for the bus station.
We had some brunch (avocado toast obviously) just after 12pm to make sure it had settled in our stomachs before the windy trip back to Chiang Mai.
The trip turned out to be windy but also extremely mental. We crashed five times. And I’m not even lying.
The minivan was a little old man who looked very old and frail when he climbed into the van to take us back to Chiang Mai.
Then we were pulling out of the bus station in Pai and he almost crashed into a motorbike. We then turned the first corner a few seconds later and he crashed into the side of a truck. He had to get out and chat to the driver while one of the passengers got out to fix his wing-mirror.
We had been in the minivan all of 10 seconds and already had one near-crash and one bang-crash. It was going to be a very long four hours.
Within the next four hours of very windy and dangerous roads that I couldn’t watch, we crashed into the side of two motorbikes, almost hit three dogs and crashed into a stationary minivan when leaving from our midway point.
To top it off, we arrived at the bus station in Chiang Mai and the driver said ‘we’re here!’ while at the same time crashing into the pavement while parking. You honestly couldn’t write it.
We all thanked our lucky stars that we were still alive after the journey and very glad to be out of that minivan.
Immediately calling a sane Grab driver, we checked into our new hotel for the next four nights, dropped our bags and headed immediately out for dinner as it was already 8pm and places don’t tend to stay open late here.
We headed to a Michelin Guide restaurant from Khao soi which was delicious!
Day 114: Tuesday 9th July 2024
Location: Chiang Mai, Thailand
Dear travel diary,
This morning I was tricked into a hike. It was called the Monk’s Trail and I thought it would be a pleasant little walk in nature.
It turned out to be a 90 minute upward climb to a temple at the top of a mountain. In 35-degree heat.
Now, it was only marked as a difficulty level 2, but it felt like a 5 to me. We won’t talk about the crazy person that was running up the climb.
But I’m quite terrified for myself that I’ll be climbing Mount Fuji in about six weeks. God help me.
It was a good way to get 10,000 steps in. Something we haven’t done in quite a while. Plus, the view was nice at the very top, I won’t lie.
After a strenuous morning, we headed for a very well-deserved ice coffee and then on to lunch at a famous Khao soi restaurant that only opens for lunch. It was incredibly cheap, a little spicy but very tasty.
Afterwards, we walked around as much of Chiang Mai city as we could, seeing the temples dotted around the Old City and trying to stay hydrated in the blazing heat.
I even bought my first souvenir of the trip, a small bracelet with an elephant pin for 42 pence.
For dinner, we headed to a pork restaurant that himself had been going on about since we arrived in Chiang Mai the first time. Basically, they have these very large cauldrons where they cook and smoke the pork for a few hours.
It was tasty, and very cheap, but when we went to order seconds (we were hungry) they had run out of rice and vegetables. They eat rice for breakfast, lunch, dinner and everything in-between here so that was quite unheard of.
Then of course it was back to the hotel to catch up on Love Island. We’ve also started watching this show called Owning Manhattan. Basically like Selling Sunset but we’re enjoying seeing New York real estate a lot.
Day 115: Wednesday 10th July 2024
Location: Chiang Mai, Thailand
Dear travel diary,
It was an activity day today! We were up bright and early for our minivan to collect us at 8am to take us to an elephant sanctuary.
We were gifted this experience with Tour Scanner. And made sure that this would be an ethical sanctuary which it really was. We had an incredible morning with the elephants. Meeting them, feeding them and watching them wander freely.
The sanctuary is female-only with five elephants, one of which is only 8 years old. They were rescued from riding camps and a circus, with one even having a number and star branded on it which was very sad to see.
The land here is huge and the elephants were able to roam around the entire time. We could see the different personalities of each one and it was really insightful to learn more about elephants in Thailand. An incredible morning.
We came back to the hotel afterwards and had a chilled afternoon in the pool and hotel room. I have a sneaky suspicion I’m getting a little sick as my bones hurt and I seem to have a cough working on me.
I thought I’d get sick a lot sooner than this, now that we’ve been travelling for almost four months and haven’t stopped yet. But I also had a suspicion that it would happen when we stop in Bangkok for a month because that’s when your body really lets you know you need to rest.
But we can’t be having that as I have a gigantic list of things to get through in Bangkok and I cannot be sick. So I’ll be having a Lemsip to see if I can counteract anything setting in.
We ended up having a duvet evening, ordering McDonald’s to the hotel and finishing Owning Manhattan on Netflix.
Day 116: Thursday 11th July 2024
Location: Chiang Mai, Thailand
Dear travel diary,
We had another early morning excursion today. And I won’t lie, I was still feeling a bit rough. But today was cooking class day, so off we set at 8.30am.
The cooking class was great and we cooked so much food. We were taken to a market first thing to look at fresh ingredients that we could buy ourselves during our remaining time in Thailand.
Next we were taken to the cooking school which was a huge complex with many cooking classes happening at the same time.
We were taken around the on-site fresh farm to look at the many ingredients they grow freshly here which was incredible.
Then it was time to cook. I really enjoyed that we could select our own menu, so a lot of us ended up cooking different things.
You had the option of Hot & Sour Soup (Tom Yam) or Coconut Soup with your choice of protein. Next, we made Pad Thai which again, you could choose your protein. Lastly, we made a curry. You had the option of green curry, red curry or Khao soi.
We’ve had so much Khao soi during our time in Thailand that we had to make this, and it was delicious!
They also made us butterfly flower tea and served mango sticky rice for dessert. Honestly, I’m not sure how we ate everything.
We left very full, but I was struggling a lot with feeling clammy, faintish and sore all over. Once we got back to the hotel, I had a lie down and a Lemsip while watching Love Island. And started to feel a little bit better.
We lazed around the hotel for a few hours, himself went for a swim and I lay on the bed feeling a little sorry for myself and tried to edit some more of my Dubai vlog.
We headed out for dinner to a Michelin Guide restaurant for some noodles. And then came back to pack up, plan what we want to do in Bangkok. Then watch the next episode of House of the Dragon.
Day 117: Friday 12th July 2024
Location: Chiang Mai & Bangkok, Thailand
Dear travel diary,
The day is finally here! We’re off to Bangkok today for one whole month!!
I’m so excited for these next four weeks and I’ve been quite excited for a while now. Four weeks to work, work, work.
But also:
Four weeks of not having to carry my heavy backpack
Four weeks of not having to pack
Of not having to go anywhere
Four weeks of being in a routine
Four weeks of having a gym and swimming pool
To feel a sense of normalcy
God, I am so excited for this. To have a little home in such a huge city and to experience living in Bangkok, Thailand.
I hope it goes really well. Especially since we’ve booked to come back again in two months after we go travelling again.
We caught our flight from Chiang Mai at 1pm, which got us into Bangkok at 2pm. It was around 5pm before we arrived at our Airbnb apartment building.
The layout was very confusing and we had no idea how to enter the building. Or where to find the keys. Once finally located, we made our way to our floor and couldn’t figure out how to enter the apartment.
The keypad didn’t appear to be working and the Airbnb host wasn’t replying to us at all. Extremely unhelpful, but after playing around with it I finally figured it out.
The apartment is just what we need. It’s 27 floors high with a small balcony and separate bedroom.
We’ll be hibernating here for the month to get a lot of work done and exploring Bangkok at the same time. Plus, we have three outdoor swimming pools, a large gym and co-working space in the building so it’s going to be perfect!
There’s a 7-Eleven built into the building on the ground floor which couldn’t be better, so we did a small shop to stock up on the necessities.
Both of us were still feeling quite poorly in the evening so had a duvet night watching The Holdovers and starting the most recent series of Selling the OC.
There’s going to be a lot of TV and movies watched in this apartment and I can’t wait!
Day 118: Saturday 13th July 2024
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Dear travel diary,
Today was my worst travel day.
It was our first day waking up in the Bangkok apartment and we watched Love Island in bed before grabbing a toastie and coffee from 7-Eleven downstairs.
There were a few things we needed to grab for the apartment, so headed to a Home Pro store about a fifteen minute walk away from the apartment.
We were in the middle of the bathroom appliance section when I got the phone call you always dread that you’re going to get when you’re away from home.
A close family member of mine passed away unexpectedly, and that’s where today’s diary entry will end.
Day 119: Sunday 14th July 2024
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Dear travel diary,
Yesterday felt like a dream when I woke up this morning. I don’t have much to write about today, but I will write something about experiencing grief away from home soon.
This is the third time this year that I’ve received that phone call and been away from home and away from my family.
I’m in this apartment in Bangkok while my family are together at home in Ireland, sorting things out, making arrangements, being there for each other.
It’s quite an alien feeling to feel so helpless and not really know what to do. I feel guilty going about my life as normal because back home, I would be doing something, going somewhere.
I’ll write again tomorrow if I can find better words.
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