2 weeks in Bangkok and Chiang Mai Thailand as a digital nomad on vacation

Starting with the logistics:

Flight came in at: 4:00 am

Transportation to accom: I paid a taxi driver right outside the airport potentially too much but it was the middle of the night and I didn’t want to negotiate too much. I think it was around

Accommodation: SiamAze Hostel

Neighborhood: Technically in a called Din Daeng. Nearby the Sutthisan station on the blue line

Opinion: Fantastic! Great value for money, nice staff and clean facility. Free breakfast where you get to make your own eggs (true luxury haha) and nice looking activities (I didn’t go but I saw that one day they were doing a cooking class and one day a walking tour).

Location was good too. It did take me about 45 minutes to get to and from basically anything I wanted to do, so I would just be out for the whole day and that was fine for me. It was a quiet and safe neighborhood so I felt like it was a good place to take respite after Bangkok’s craziness.

Activities:

Honestly, what a fantastic city. Since I arrived in the middle of the night, I had booked the night before I arrived so I could come in and immediately pass out. In the late afternoon, after the heat of the day started to dissipate, I turned on the hangout feature on my Couchsurfing app to see if I could meet up with anyone and then went over to the Chatuchak Weekend Market.

There were lots of people active but I didn’t end up meeting anyone at that time for day, but it was Cinco de Mayo so I was planning to go to an event advertised in the app.

— side note

I LOVE the Couchsurfing app. Whether you’re a traveler looking for a place to stay or travelers just looking for friends, there is an amazing vibe on Couchsurfing. The people you can meet on there are usually super genuine people who all have a similar frame of mind conducive with seasoned travelers.

Rant over—

I mosied around the market myself doing a little shopping for business clothes and just taking in the vibes of Thailand. It was just like you see in the YouTube videos but luckily, not as busy. There were street food vendors and market stalls selling basically everything under the sun. I got the most delicious coconut smoothie (which was huge but a plastic cup with a plastic straw and a plastic bag type of thing to carry the cup 😩 I turned down the extra carrier).

Now, I’m a big birder so knowing that there’s a HUGE park at Chatuchak (Rot Fai Park), I knew I wanted to check it out to see what new species I could find. Turns out all the birds are very similar to India and Sri Lanka (surprisingly) so I didn’t see anything new. But I did meet a random guy in the park who just happened to be from Denver, where I’m from. We became friends and had the best time walking around the park.

I don’t know how many other people seek out parks when they travel but my boyfriend and I are always taking time to see natural places in cities. But even if this isn’t your normal activity, I highly recommend checking it out for the sake of cultural immersion. Towards late afternoon/early evening, locals were all around the park going for walks, doing zumba, riding bikes, free skateboards in the skate park, having picnics, having concerts even! It was such a beautiful thing to see so many people being healthy and active and enjoying their time together in this green espcape.

After that, we jumped on the metro and went to a Cinco de Mayo party near Phloen Chit station. The night went off like The Hangover. Well, not exactly, but as close as you can get. We ended up at a group of 10 people who met at the street party CS promoted with tacos and margaritas, then went to a Mexican restaurant for more tacos and margaritas, followed by a club and then eventually a more sexy-type club. Let’s just say there was a lot of soju and I think I got home around 4:00 am…

The best thing I did was get this party craziness out of my system on the first day since I’m not normally much of a party goer, but I feel like it’s necessary to experience Bangkok in all its extremes. 😝

I had a great time and I walked away with friends for the whole week so hell, yeah Couchsurfing.

I won’t walk you through every single day after that, but here is a list of other things I did throughout the week:

• Went to so many shopping malls.

  • I know that sounds funny but Bangkok has so many malls and each one has a distinct personality that I didn’t know malls could even have. It was actually great fun to see a different mall almost each day and for different reasons— Emsphere was amazing for the food court. I’ve never seen anything like it (except maybe a TimeOut market but that doesn’t come close). Terminal 21 was the best for clothes shopping. Its theme is airport and travel so each level is its own city. I did most of my shopping in “Tokyo”, for example. The IconSiam has a wonderful food court designed like a typically Thai street food market, so the food options were more traditional foods and fast vs Emsphere which is more like restaurants. MBK center was for people who like to shop for nock-off expensive clothes and watches (not my vibe but interesting to see). And Siam Square One is where the locals shop. So so fun to see how much they all vary.

• Chinatown & Talat Noi

  • The best night markets are here. During the day,Talat Noi had these almost hip vibes, or just very social. Some random and interesting places you can discover. Chinatown had all these hidden restaurants and bars where it looks like nothing is going on on the street side and then you walk in and you’ve got these super fancy and delicious places to eat and drink. And then at night, Chinatown lights up with all these awesome signs. There’s tons of people and lots of street sellers. Vibes are great and it’s so so fun.

• Imperial Palace

  • Very cool to see. Tons of amazing architecture and art. We hired a guide out front because I wanted to understand more about what we were seeing. It was inexpensive and definitely worth it.

• Reclining Buddha

  • Even though they’re right next to each other, we visited the Imperial Palace on a different day. The temple that the Reclining Buddha is in it quite large. It’s actually where the royalty go to pray, so there’s a lot more to see than just the Buddha. Nonetheless, it was awesome to see. And it’s even bigger in person!

• River Ferry

  • After the reclining Buddha we took a river ferry down to the IconSiam.  It cost about $1 and was a great way to see Bangkok from the water.

  Khao San Road

  • I feel like my experience was so different than most peoples, but I still had a great time. What I really appreciated was that there were hang out spots for people who prefer to smoke weed over getting drunk. It’s not common to go out and instead of wasting money on drinks you don’t really want, you can go with your friends to weed world and just chill at a quiet table and smoke a joint before having a walk around the crazy street. My fiend and I were on the same page so spent a lot of time chilling in weed world for free and then we went to get a foot massage and people-watched the crowd go by. It was the best massage of my life 😂

• Food

  • There’s soo much good food in Bkk. You can’t go wrong. Just eat everywhere. And if you hear it’s on the Michelin guide, it’s probably even better so also go.

Top tips:

• - Don’t expend to spend no money. At least not in Bkk. It’s a thriving city with lots of people making good money. You won’t pay as much as Europe but you won’t be buying as many $1 pad Thais (maybe $3 or 4)

• - Bring clothes to cover up. At all the holy sites and even the imperial palace, you must be covering your shoulders and knees. No exceptions. Men too!

After my week in Bangkok spending tons of time out of the house and hanging out with friends (so little work got done), I was pretty exhausted by the time I got to Chiang Mai.

Time I arrived: 10:00 am by flight from DMK

Accommodation: Airbnb; Ban Kong Rao Guesthouse

Neighborhood: Ban Sathaphon, just north east of the square

Opinion: Perfect. Quiet, local neighborhood with great options for food and other amenities (like a great hair salon, etc). Again, good value for money (less than $30/night). My own little motel-like room. Super nice staff and cute courtyard.

Activities:

Elephant Nature Park

• This was an ethical sanctuary recommended to me by a friend, and it was awesome. The elephants have free range inside the park and have all been saved by bad situations. They are calm and love to eat. The tours are well timed so that the place doesn’t get overcrowded with tourists, and you can’t touch them or anything, but you get to walk around and take pictures with them. It’s great fun and you know they’re doing a great job taking care of the animals.

Tha Phae Walking Street

• This was alright but there are probably better markets.

Second Hand Clothes shopping street

• There’s a street that has a load of second hand clothing stores. Some are better then others, but there’s an endless supply of clothes so it’s nice to have a walk around. I wouldn’t go out of your way though unless you were desperate like I was.

Coffee Crawl in Nimmanahaemin

• Since my friend and I both needed to get some work done, we spent the day bouncing between different coffee shops and restaurants getting work done and stuffing our face. I really wanted to visit the Museum of World Insects but it was closed the day I could make it. If I were to stay in Chiang Mai again, I would stay in this neighborhood. It’s hip and trendy with lots to do

Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

• My friends and I hiked all the way from Chiang Mai University up to the temple. It was soo hot and humid but we had a great time going for a little hike. The temple was beautiful with great views of the city from up high. It’s a beautiful temple.

Sticky Waterfall - aka Bua Tong Waterfall

• As cool as it looks! About an hour drive, best to do in a group. You hike down like one mile and then climb back up by waterfall. It was soo refreshing on a hot day and just a super cool spot to hang out with your friends.

Top tips:

• Great for living, lots of expats and nomads live here

• This where you can really dive into the street food. It’s so cheap and soo good.

• The night markets are probably really great, I was just too tired to make it to any