Winter Break 2015: Thailand

For my winter break from school in Ulsan, I took a 5 day trip with two friends to Thailand. Although we had originally planned to go to both Chiang Mai and Bangkok, we started in Chiang Mai and fell in love with the city. We had heard that there was not much to do or see in Bangkok, so we decided to stay an extra day in Chiang Mai instead of going there at all.


Chiang Mai is one of the most beautiful and exciting cities I have ever been to. The center, old part of the city was constructed in a square, with a moat lining the outside of it. In the picture above, you can actually see the outline of it from the trees and road that run along either side of the moat.


Of the three full days we spent in Chiang Mai, the first we used to take a bike tour around the city. We rode around inside and outside of the square and stopped at any Wat (temple) or event that caught our eye.


The second day, we rented motorbikes and drove out away from the city to see the national park (Doi Suthep-Pui) on the mountain. Near the top, there was another large temple that we got to see and ate some street food at before heading back to the city for dinner.


On our last full day, we went to Happy Elephant Sanctuary. At this elephant rescue center, we got to feed elephants, give them a mud bath and then swim with them in the river. It was a nice, humane center that doesn't allow the riding of elephants and instead emphasizes that we work to take care of them since they had been rescued.

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