With school starting back up, I’m unsure if I’ll actually be able to finish these posts, but I’ll certainly do my best.
My eighth day in Thailand was one of my transition days, so not spent doing quite as much as adventuring. Nonetheless, there were still some fun experiences I’d love to share.
My next destination for the trip was Chiang Mai, which is a city all the way up in the north of Thailand. I’d heard lots of good things about it, so in spite of it being a little further away, I opted to make it a priority.
Many people take the night train to get up there, but looking at prices I noted there were cheap flights from Bangkok, and with that I’d only spend a shorter time traveling for a similar price. The train was more than twelve hours, while flying was under an hour (though it would take a little more time to get a van back to Bangkok and then to the airport).
I woke early in the morning in Ayutthaya, had some breakfast at my hotel before calling a Grab Car to take me to the van station. My ticket had suggested showing up 30 minutes early, so I did so. This meant I actually ended up catching a 30 minute earlier van, and getting on the road earlier than I’d intended to. The van was pretty crowded, so I was crammed in a back seat with my backpack on my lap. Not the most glamorous ride, but cheap and effective to get back to Bangkok.
I arrived at Bangkok plenty early, called another Grab car to get to the airport.
Since I’d given myself plenty of leeway in my flight times (accounting for possible delays on the road, traffic etc), I had time to kill in the airport. So I had a coffee at a shop and relaxed for a bit and then even went to do a sit down meal for lunch (some kind of noodle dish and milk tea). I also wandered around a bit, as I hadn’t seen much of the place when I was coming in on my first day.
I had to admit it was very interesting to me that in the Bangkok airport for domestic flights you don’t go through security until you’re headed to your gate. I saw people with stickers saying they’d cleared security so they could then go back out and eat, but I opted to just wait until I was ready to go to my gate rather than coming and going. A short bit before my flight I went ahead and headed through a quick security line and headed to my gate.
The flight was very easy, and as it was so short I chose a window seat to really get the most of the views. Bangkok was fun to see from overhead, but I was most interested in seeing more of the North which I’d heard was lovely. Sure enough, the beautiful lush green surroundings to Chiang Mai were beautiful overhead.
When I’d booked my hotel on Booking.com it came with a complimentary taxi service, so I opted to use that for convenience. My driver picked me up and took me straight to my hotel, making things very easy.
I had opted to stay at the Twenty Lodge, a boutique hotel in the heart of the old city of Chiang Mai.
I checked into my hotel. They gave me some kind of refreshing tea that I really enjoyed and then showed me to my room. I set my stuff down before taking off to do a little exploring.
I enjoyed walking around a bit, mostly looking around some of the temples in the area, and admiring the canals surrounding the old city. I also spotted a few fun pieces of street art. Feel free to look through some pictures in the slideshow below.
Then I went back to my hotel and lounged by the pool for a bit.
At last I was ready to get some dinner. I cleaned up and then headed to find a restaurant.
I ended up settling at The House by Ginger, this lovely little restaurant in an old colonial home. I ordered a Chiang Mai Sling (white spirit, coconut liquor, lychee syrup, lime juice, white sugar, and pomegranate) and some fried rice with crab meat for my main course.
Everything tasted delicious, but what I loved the most was the atmosphere of the old house. It was just so fun, such a lovely romantic space with candlelight and an eclectic mix of couches and chairs at tables.
I was unable to resist dessert as well. I went with a brownie and ice cream, which was delicious and decadent. Definitely the perfect thing to end a busy day of traveling.
After I was finished eating, I headed back to the hotel. I’d been told the pool was open twenty-four hours so I opted to take one more swim before turning in for the night.
And that concluded another amazing day. Follow along to read about the other amazing days!
I woke up in my hotel in Ayutthaya and went to grab some breakfast in the courtyard before starting out on my explorations. My hotel had a nice breakfast with toast, juice, coffee, and fruit and then a main course of your choice (either more traditional Thai fare with rice etc. or more Americanized options). I went ahead and had eggs and sausage as I figured the protein would fill me up for a busy day.
Once I’d had my fair share of food, I took off towards the historic city. I started at Wat Ratchaburana . I bought a ticket to be able to get into all of the different archeological sites in the city and then headed into the first one I’d chosen to visit for the day.
Lizard spotted on the way to the temple
As with the day before, I wandered through the ruins, getting pictures and admiring everything there was to see. Wat Ratchaburana actually ended up being one of my favorite sites. One of the phrangs was actually open to go up inside. There were even some bats up in the corners of the chamber and you could admire the view of the temple from the top.
It didn’t take too long to see everything there was to see. Temperatures were heating up so I took off to the next site I’d planned to visit as quickly as I could, stopping a couple of times along the way to see other interesting things.
So as I mentioned in my last post, Ayutthaya is very spread out. Which is why a lot of people visiting more than one site choose to rent a bike. Unfortunately, overconfident person that I am, I looked at the distance and figured “oh I can just walk it”.
You’d think I’d have learned my lesson the day before of realizing Thai streets are not always built for walking.
Still, I went ahead and walked down to Wat Thammikarat, another site that was open for no charge.
Next was probably my biggest priority, heading to the site of the old palace (Wang Luang). I started by visiting Wat Mongkol Borpit. Much of Ayutthaya is in some amount of ruin, bases of buildings, crumbling phrangs, and chedis that are just exposed brick. This temple was a little more modern (1500s rather than 1300s), but it was also in a restored state and is still currently a working temple.
Picture of the temple before restoration
When I was done seeing the inside of the temple, I decided it was time to take a little break. Temperatures were continuing to rise. I know the hottest temperature I saw in terms of “currently feels like” was 109 degrees F (42 degrees C).
So I had a milk tea and some water and relaxed in the shade for a little bit.
Finally, I felt refreshed enough to continue, so I went on to visit the old palace. I wandered through, taking breaks in the shade of some trees as needed.
When I finished up seeing everything there was to see at Wang Luang, I headed over to Wat Phra Ram. I did stop to admire the elephants doing rides outside of the temple. Sadly, modern research shows that riding elephants can be harmful to them. So while I definitely would have loved to ride one in theory, I made a conscious decision not to participate. Still, I snapped a couple photos of the elephants walking by. They are definitely beautiful creatures. I hope one day Ayutthaya will get rid of their elephant rides, but sadly that’s probably a long way in the future at this point.
Still, I headed into Wat Phra Ram and saw everything there was to see there.
It was getting to be almost noon, so I hastened my pace a little, determined to see everything on my list before the heat became unbearable.
So, as quickly as I could, I made my way across the river to Wat Chaiwatthanaram, another ancient temple right along the Chao Phraya river.
I had thought about stopping for lunch, but again just felt any long break would only let the heat continue to increase. So with that in mind I grabbed some snacks at the 7 Eleven and then continued on my walk to the temple.
Some might feel like “well it’s just another crumbling temple, if you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all” but for me, I enjoyed the uniqueness of each one I saw. Wat Chaiwatthanaram had several very detailed parts, and several terracotta impressions of stories from the Buddha’s life. There was some restoration work being done, so there was some ugly scaffolding on a couple parts, but otherwise it was still impressive to see.
As I was already on the other side of the river, I opted to head down to Wat Phutthaisawan. It was one of the few temples that wasn’t completely destroyed during the collapse of Ayutthaya so it is actually still in beautiful condition and still used today. Unfortunately, it too was having some restoration work and had scaffolding, but it was still interesting to see what the former city might have looked like in its full glory rather than the crumbling archeological site that it is today.
The temperature was reaching its peak, and in order to get back across the river to my hotel, it would be a long walk. I opted to have a Grab car pick me up and take me to the Ayutthaya Historical Study Center on the other side of the river.
The study center was a small museum talking more about the history of Ayutthaya and giving more information about the various archeological sites. I particularly enjoyed that it was airconditioned so I could start to cool down after so much time out in the sun.
After I’d seen everything there was to see inside, I headed back out. I debated if I wanted to go elsewhere, but honestly I was exhausted. I’d walked about 14 miles (22 km), so I needed a break.
I headed back to my hotel, had a cold shower and otherwise just relaxed for the remainder of the hot and humid afternoon.
I was definitely getting pretty hungry though, so I soon mustered my strength and went back out to find some food. I ended up at Malakor Kitchen and Cafe.
I sat on their porch as the inside had open windows as well, so wouldn’t be much cooler. They did have lots of fans at least, so that definitely helped with the heat.
I had a passionfruit smoothie, some spring rolls, and a curry with pork and betel leaves (a leafy green kind of like spinach). Everything was delicious.
After finishing up dinner, I took a few more pictures of the temples lit up at night before heading back to my hotel. I needed to get packed as I would be taking off for my next destination early the next morning. However, I definitely had enjoyed what Ayutthaya had to offer. I saw so much beautiful history and it’s not a place I’ll forget anytime soon.
I had a lazy morning around Greenleaf Guesthouse to start my day. But, as much as I wanted to stick around Khao Yai National Park a bit longer, I had other parts of Thailand to explore. So I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before getting ready to go.
In the late morning, a driver took me and three others to the train station. We were all catching the same train, one heading to Bangkok but making a stop first in Ayutthaya.
I had never heard of Ayutthaya before I started researching places to see in Thailand, but it’s a pretty popular tourist destination, especially for those interested in history. Ayutthaya was at one point the Siamese capital, founded in the 1300s. Today there are ruins in varying states of decay of the once great city.
My train ride was a lot less pleasant than my first one was. I had chosen to sit in third class, as apparently second class (the best for regular trains during the day) was all booked up.
Though the second class car was definitely nothing fancy, third class was much more cramped and had no AC, just fans and an open window. You could tell people are used to being crammed on at times, as there were handles like they have on buses and subways. I did find it very interesting that there were reserved seats for Buddhist monks that clearly are set aside at all times.
Thankfully it wasn’t a very long ride, maybe an hour and a half to two hours. I did my best to just look out the window and admire the countryside. At last, we finally arrived at the small train station.
I bid farewell to the other two people who’d been in my group at the guesthouse with me before setting out to my hotel.
My phone said it was less than a mile to the hotel. I’ve walked more than that before, even with a heavy suitcase, so I waved off taxi drivers and set off walking.
Maybe three minutes later I realized what a mistake this was.
While I’ve struggled with suitcases on cobblestone streets and the like in Europe, I found Ayutthaya to be lacking in pedestrian spaces. If there was a sidewalk it often was crumbling, blocked by bins, bikes, cars etc. I was ending up in the street quite a bit and also noticed I’d have to take what looked like a freeway overpass to get over the train tracks. I was a bit dubious that there would be a proper walkway across that. On top of that it was over 100 degrees F (37 C). So, I parked myself in the shade on a corner, pulled out my phone and requested a Grab Car.
My ride was there a few minutes later, taking me to my hotel in blissful air conditioning.
Sure enough, it was a very short drive, but I was relieved to be out of the heat and felt this was a safer option to walking overall.
I arrived at my hotel, Luang Chumni Village. It was pretty much a large house in traditional Thai style with some modern amenities. I spent a few minutes in the AC in my room, drinking some water and laughing at the “No Durian” signs on the fridge. For any who don’t know, Durian is a very smelly fruit, so I did see several signs asking people not to have it in hotels and other public spaces, but this was my first encounter.
Finally, I gathered my day pack and set out to go explore.
The remains of the historic city of Ayutthaya is quite large, spread out across the city, though concentrated on an island in the middle. Still, I knew being mid afternoon I probably would only see a small part and could concentrate on seeing more the next day as I was staying two nights.
Some ruins close to my hotel (free to wander around)
I grabbed a few snacks at 7 Eleven and then took off to Wat Maha That, the remains of an ancient temple. As Ayutthaya is spread out, you can buy a ticket to get you into all the sites for one day, or just individually buy ones for the sites you want to visit. There are also some parts that are free, but the more elaborate structures all charge. I went ahead and just bought an individual ticket, figuring it was unlikely I’d see more than one part with so little of the day remaining.
Sure enough, I wandered through the temple and found myself dripping sweat. It’s pretty exposed out in the sun. They provided free umbrellas for people to shade themselves, but even that only did so much. I also had noticed signs asking women to cover up, so I had slipped some lightweight pants over my shorts, warming me further. I’m not sure the rule was actually being enforced, but I would rather be safe and respectful.
I just meandered through the various temple structures, admiring crumbling phrangs, old pieces of statues, and everything there was to see.
I finally wrapped up my wanderings and headed out of the complex. I noticed there was a park behind the temple, Bueng Phra Ram Park, a large green space with some ponds and shady trees. I sat under one of the trees to eat a snack and rehydrate.
As I was doing so, and debating what I wanted to do next, I noticed a beautiful bird flying by.
I mentioned in my last post, but for any who don’t know I’ve become very interested in birding in the last year. I read a book about the intelligence of birds called The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman and every since I’ve been hooked. It’s pretty budget as far as hobbies go and makes for good motivation to get out into nature. So, needless to say seeing some new birds had me intrigued.
Turned out the bird was a Common Hoopoe. But as I watched it fly away I was beginning to notice more birds gathered around the large ponds.
Since I knew the day was drawing to a close, not the best time to go explore the other sites, I figured this might make for a good conclusion to my day. I’d stick to the shade of the park and see what beautiful new birds and other animals I could spot.
So I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering, taking photos, listening and looking for birds. I wandered over bridges and looked at a few free ruins in the mix. I recorded a number of new species I had never seen before. I also was surprised by alarge Asian Monitor Lizard in the waters of a pond. He disappeared into the lush aquatic plants before I could snap a picture.
At last, I was tired and ready to be done for the day. I headed back to the hotel, bought some cold water on the way and then took a cold shower to refresh before dinner.
For dinner I ate at a place called Earl Thai. I know I had some kind of a chicken and rice dish which I enjoyed. I had wanted to do one of the curries but unfortunately it was unavailable the night I was there.
On my way back to my hotel I took some pictures of the temples in the evening light. I also stopped by the night market. I’ve seen my fair share of markets in Europe, but definitely haven’t visited one at night, so that was a fun new experience. I didn’t buy anything, but enjoyed wandering a bit.
As I was heading back to the hotel, I realized I was still a little hungry so I grabbed some chocolate ice cream at a local parlor called Duca Tim. They did soft serve, two flavors for the day. You could get one or both flavors in a swirl and then pick your cone flavor. It was very fun and colorful experience!
Finally I headed back to the hotel, determined to get a good night’s rest before another eventful day.
I began my morning in Khao Yai National Park with breakfast at my guest house. Greenleaf Guest House has a small restaurant attached, so they offered food you could order. I had eggs, toast, fruit, and coffee.
After filling up, our group hopped on the back of the truck and took off for the park with our guide, a different one than the day before.
We stopped at the park gates. Apparently they need names of anyone entering the park submitted ahead of time online, and our guide had done so, but technology being what it is, it hadn’t gone through. We entered our names in her phone again and waited before finally being granted access.
The roads wound up into the mountains through beautiful lush jungle. Even as someone who had visited beautiful tropical locations before, I was in awe of the gorgeous scenery.
A few minutes up the road, we stopped pretty quickly, our guide noticing a snake in some bushes on the side of the road. Somehow she’d managed to see it from her spot in the passenger seat. We were all quite impressed with her skills.
It was an Oriental Whipsnake, named for its slim body and crested eyes. Our guide tried to pull it out of the bushes to look at more closely but eventually had to just let it continue on its way as it had slithered out of her reach.
We continued driving onwards, keeping our eyes peeled for more wildlife.
At the top of the mountains we stopped at a viewpoint. Our guide passed out leech socks. To anyone not familiar with leech socks (I definitely wasn’t before this trip) they are small cloth sacks the size of your foot that you slide on like a sock over your socks and the bottom of your pant leg. You then fasten them to keep them tight around your leg, thereby preventing leeches from crawling under your pant legs and finding a place to feed. As it was becoming the wet season in Thailand, leeches were more of a problem so it was important to take precautions.
After some pictures at the viewpoint and securing our socks in place, we continued driving. We stopped at the visitor’s center and had a look around and a short break. Our guide gave us some mango sticky rice in banana leaf as a snack to prepare for our upcoming hike. Then we were back on the road again.
We stopped for a view of a Great Hornbill. As someone who’s gotten into birding lately, I was definitely thrilled to get to add such a beautiful species to my life list.
We did a little more driving and looking for species from the car, but sadly weren’t able to see much else. Our guide then had us stop at a trailhead and we began walking into the jungle.
Our first animal spotted was a Cardamom Mountains Pricklenape, a very unique looking lizard. Our guide kept joking about him wearing eyeshadow since he does have a dark coloring around his eyes.
We kept walking further into the trees. I was at the back, but suddenly the entire group froze. Everyone ahead of me was open-mouthed. As I crept a bit closer, I caught a glimpse of a large black furry form. Before I could even think to raise my camera, it bolted into the trees.
At first I was unable to even comprehend what I’d seen. My brain was trying to register monkey, but I knew the largest monkeys in the area weren’t that big.
Our guide, who was also still in some shock, said it was a juvenile Sun Bear. In all her years at the park, she said she’d never seen one that close before.
We waited for a bit while our guide called her boss and told him. He was nearby and came to look around and see if he could find the bear again. Sadly no luck.
Our guide had calmed down some, but she was still a little shaken. Admittedly to come face to face to such a large and dangerous animal, had to be a shocking experience. As I hadn’t gotten as good of a look and hadn’t even realized what I was looking at until after it was gone, I wasn’t quite so scared.
We continued on our walk, stopping to look at some different insects and bugs. We also spotted some claw marks left from a Sun Bear in the area.
We took a break at a large tree… well I say tree but really it was just where a tree had been before vines had strangled it. Now the vines remained like a giant cage. We climbed through them, amazed at how large they were.
The group sat and ate some snacks. Our guide had gone to scope ahead, leaving us alone. We sat chatting for a bit before we became intrigued by something inching along the ground. It looked like a little dark colored worm, moving in a strange manner, inching and wriggling and then standing on one end and stretching towards us. We were all quite curious.
Our guide returned and we asked her about the strange creature. She told us to move away as that was a leech and the reason it was moving towards us was because it could sense us and was looking to feed.
Thoroughly freaked out we all backed away and followed our guide onwards. It definitely wasn’t like leeches I’d seen in movies.
A few minutes later while looking at something I felt a strange sensation on my finger. It felt like playing with a straw as a child, pressing it to your skin and sucking. Sure enough when I looked down there was a leech clinging to my hand.
I immediately began to panic. I’ll admit, it was not my finest moment.
My guide flicked the leech away and looked at my hand. The little beast hadn’t broken the skin thankfully. She said it was unlikely they would as finger pads have pretty thick skin on them.
Needless to say I kept my arms closer to my body from then on out, worried about brushing against vegetation and having another tiny hitchhiker join me for a ride.
The jungle soon cleared and we came into a large grassland type area. We saw some elephant footprints and dung, but sadly no elephants.
In the middle of the grassland was a watch tower to look for animals. So we climbed up and took a look around. No luck at spotting anything big, though we did admire some swift nests built under the tower.
At last, we came to the end of the trail. The truck met us there and drove us to a restaurant in the park where we had lunch. I went ahead and ordered Pad Thai again, though it wasn’t nearly as good as the day before. Our group enjoyed our food and some fresh watermelon, chatting and sharing pictures with one another. Sadly, no one had managed to get a picture of the Sun Bear before it took off.
With some time remaining for our lunch break, we wandered around the restaurant area a little. I ordered an iced milk tea. I also admired a Sambar (a type of deer) lying near the rest area.
Our guide had set up her scope near a bird nest up front, keeping an eye out for the mama bird to come back. Sure enough, a Long Tailed Broadbill soon showed up. We admired her colors through the scope.
As we were getting pictures of the bird, there was a commotion behind us. Turning around, we saw a monkey with something in his mouth quickly climbing up to the roof of the restaurant. Apparently the sneaky macaque had snuck down, grabbed someone’s food and then quickly headed back up to hide on the roof out of reach.
We had a good time sitting and watching him for a bit, before our guide told us it was time to go. The monkey we’d seen earlier sat at the exit, seemingly watching us leave. He really was prime entertainment.
On the road we drove around a little bit, seeing a juvenile Red Muntjac and its mother. We also saw a large Asian Water Monitor Lizard, though our guide assured us it was actually more of a medium size.
We stopped at a waterfall, hiking down into the canyon to get a better look and take some pictures. Sadly, there is no swimming allowed in the park, but it was still beautiful.
After that the leech socks were finally able to come off as we would be spending the remainder of our trip in the back of the truck.
Apparently evenings are a good time to spot wildlife, so the tour concluded with a drive along some of the roads keeping an eye out for monkeys and elephants.
But after only a short time of driving, our driver pulled over and our guide asked us to hop out quickly. The driver went and grabbed something out of the road using a piece of cloth. He came over to where we were standing on the side of the road and put down the biggest scorpion I’d ever seen. Looking it up later it was a type of Giant Forest Scorpion. Thanks to their large size and bright green color they are very a bit easier to spot crossing the road, so our guide thought it would be a fun thing for us to see, and we’d save it from being run over too.
Our guide let us get some pictures, even turning it around so we could get a better angle. She’s definitely a braver woman than I.
After we were done photographing the scorpion, we hopped back in the truck and continued driving. And before too long we started spotting monkeys. Lots and lots of Pig-Tailed Macaques hanging out along the road. Most of them know that tourists often have food and make easy pickings. Our guide had warned us ahead of time to have food and even sodas tucked away if we didn’t want monkeys in the truck stealing from us. We got to admire them from a safe distance, especially laughing at one larger male who would block traffic to check if there was anything worth taking.
The sun was beginning to go down, so unfortunately we did eventually turn around and head back towards the exit of the park. No elephants spotted.
I was at the back of the truck, so I was staring down the road behind us. I noticed a fuzzy black head poking out of a bush towards the side of the road. My mind immediately jumped to a dog based on the size, and knowing there were plenty of feral dogs in Thailand, I just assumed one had made its home in the park. But as I started to laugh about it to the group, I watched a bear look both ways before heading out of the bushes. And behind the bear were two little black cubs. Sadly by the time I realized, I didn’t get a picture, and only one other person in the group saw it. I apologized for not realizing sooner it was a bear, as I’m used to American bears which are much bigger. Still, I was thrilled to know I’d seen not one but four sun bears in my time in the park. I missed a porcupine others spotted at the front of the truck later, so it was definitely luck of the draw sometimes on spotting wildlife.
We headed back to the guest house for the night. As most of us had to pack or were leaving by train that night, we didn’t hang out as long in the evening, but did enjoy dinner together before heading back to get working on packing our bags, ready for another adventure in the day ahead. I would miss Khao Yai, but definitely looked forward to something new the next day.
After getting up and having breakfast at my hotel in Bangkok, I called for a Grab car to take me to the train station. My next destination for the trip was Khao Yai National Park.
I had booked a train to Pak Chong, the town nearest to the main park entrance.
I’d heard all kinds of rumors about Thai trains always being delayed, having problems, slower than driving, etc. I had none of those problems, so I was actually pretty happy with my first train experience.
Now, I love national parks, but unfortunately they are one type of tourist destination where you really need to have a car. I did manage to visit a national park in Croatia without a car… but from my research, this just really wouldn’t be feasible for Khao Yai. I already hate driving in my own country, and can’t even fathom what it would be like to drive in Thailand with crazy traffic and the fact they drive on the other side of the road from what we’re used to in the states. So, since renting a car or motorbike was not something I was willing to consider, I opted instead to hire a tour company to take me into the park. I knew there were trails you weren’t supposed to access without a guide anyways (I guess some tourists got lost in the jungle at night at some point and sadly ruined it for everyone). So it seemed like a good option to go with that.
Settling on the tour company option, I ended up hiring Greenleaf Guesthouse and Tours. Initially I was just going to use them to do the tour, but I ended up deciding to also use their accommodations for simplicity’s sake. This would be a little change from my usual type of place though, as the guesthouse was less of a hotel and more of a backpackers retreat. Very basic, only a bed and small bathroom. No AC. No hot water.
Still, the driver picked me up at the train station and took me and a few others over to the guest house. When I’d contacted the guest house a couple weeks before they’d said no one else was signed up to tour on that day, and I might end up having to pay more for a private tour just by myself. But thankfully a few others did end up signing up last minute so I was able to do a half day and full day tour for a much lower price and with other people to adventure with. Though I love solo travel, it does get a little lonely sometimes, so a group tour can be a nice change of pace.
We were dropped off at the guesthouse and had a little time to get ready for the half day tour. Once I’d gathered my stuff and made sure I was appropriately dressed in long pants and closed-toed shoes, I headed to the restaurant area out front of the guesthouse. I went ahead and ordered lunch before we took off, doing chicken and cashews with rice which was really delicious.
Having been fed, we loaded onto an open-backed truck and set off down the windy roads. We stopped briefly at a huge golden statue of a monk. Apparently he had turned salt water on one of the Thai islands into freshwater and therefore was very revered and had the statue built in his honor.
Back in the truck, we were offered some chips as a snack and then headed to our next destination: the Ban Tha Chang spring.
Everyone shed their clothes and jumped in the water to enjoy cooling down after time out in the heat. Our guide even built a makeshift changing room for anyone who needed it and most of us spent the time just relaxing and cooling off.
The water was so refreshing and felt amazing. Our guide pointed out a few more natural wonders to us such as a golden orbweaver spider in the trees (too far away to get a decent picture) before we hopped back in the truck again.
In the parking lot, our guide had found a huge millipede and had fun showing it off to us. He let those who felt brave enough hold it. My appreciation of bugs and insects has come a long ways, but I still am not fond of critters crawling on me so I opted to pass.
Before too long we pulled over at a temple called Wat Sa Nam Sai. We walked around the grounds a bit, and our guide showed us some local insects such as the weaver ants that build their homes by sewing leaves together. Our guide then handed us masks to put on our faces and flashlights and led us to some stairs heading deep into the earth.
We passed hanging tree roots and descended into the dark depths. At the bottom of the stairs, we saw several branching caverns and a Buddha statue, and we heard some squeaking noises.
This Buddhist temple also had a cave as a part of their complex. The monks use it to meditate, coming down and sitting in the complete darkness and relative silence and using it to empty their minds. But other residents have made themselves at home alongside the monks. These were thousands of small bats.
Our guide showed us various bats, two different species. He explained more about them to us while we wandered through the caves. He did at one point lead us back into the furthest depths and asked us turn off our flashlights and fall quiet, seeing what the monks must experience when they meditate. It truly was pitch blackness, darker than anything I’ve experienced before.
The bats kept fluttering around us. Our guide did mention that sometimes the young ones will bump into you. I didn’t personally have any hit me, but they definitely came pretty close. I’m not a person who’s scared of bats, so personally I found it to be an amazing experience.
Back out of the cave we removed our masks. Apparently sometimes there’s fungus that grows in bat guano, so it was just a precaution. We jumped back on the truck and headed off down the road.
We stopped at another cave, though our guide warned us we weren’t going in, and certainly wouldn’t want to even if we could. Apparently while there had been a hundred thousand bats in the previous cave, there were more than two million in the current one.
Instead, we took woven mats and went and sat in the nearby fields. Our guide offered some fresh pineapple and binoculars and we waited as the sun went down. Hawks were beginning to gather, knowing what was coming. And indeed as the sun sank lower, bats began to emerge from the cave from two separate entrances. Millions upon millions poured forth, flying in clouds through the sky.
I’ve put pictures below, but truly they can’t capture the experience. The noise of millions of wings flapping, of little bat sounds, the hawks swooping down to get dinner. It was a marvel to experience and something I’ll likely never forget.
After the clouds of bats were beginning to disperse, our guide had us go and stand along the road facing some trees. The sun had almost fully sunk at this point, so it was getting very dark. We stood very still and quiet, and then sure enough a few bats began to fly out towards us. One girl on the tour freaked out a little and had me trade places with her so I was more in the middle of the fray. I stood there letting the bats fly past me, hearing their wings flap and their little squeaks as they avoided colliding with me. Apparently these were the same ones we saw earlier. They take a route out of the cave and through the trees every night and our guide has memorized their route and enjoys putting his groups in that experience.
At last, our guide called it a night, though one of our members realized she’d dropped her phone somewhere. We formed a search party and combed the field we’d been sitting in and thankfully were able to find it.
Our guide made two last stops, one to show us the fireflies, and another at the local 7 eleven to pick up any needed supplies for the next day (apparently a couple people didn’t have good insect repellent).
Back at our guesthouse we had dinner together. I ordered the Pad Thai. I’d been putting it off, not wanting to be too much of a stereotypical tourist. It actually ended up being the best Pad Thai I had on the trip, so I was very glad I had it when I did.
Me and a couple others chatted for a while before finally heading to bed. The guesthouse rooms were indeed very basic, but after a tiring day like the one I’d had it didn’t really matter. I took a cold shower, turned on my bedroom fan and collapsed into bed, ready for the next day, and looking forward to even more adventures.
Day two of my adventure in Thailand started with an early morning in Bangkok. I actually originally woke up at 4 AM (curse you jetlag), but did fall back asleep until 7, which was when I’d set my alarm for in the first place.
I headed downstairs to grab some breakfast. One criteria I almost always have in picking my hotels is that they have a breakfast available (preferably just included in the price). I actually am a person who really needs some sustenance in the morning to function on the regular. So when I’m out trekking it’s imperative I eat something.
My hotel had a nice variety of food, some more “Americanized” options like eggs, ham, toast. But also some rice and some kind of stir fried meat and peppers, which I found very delicious. Having filled up I felt ready to face the day ahead.
My first stop was the Grand Palace. My research before the trip had indicated it was a must see in Thailand. Hence making it a priority for the day. I had heard it was good to get there early, avoiding both the heat and the crowds. So I went as soon as it opened at 8:30.
The Grand Palace is essentially a large complex including the royal residence (Thailand still has a monarchy) as well as a temple, and some other structures. I went ahead and rented an audioguide to be able to get some more information as I walked around.
It was very warm in the sun, so I was definitely glad I’d gone early in the day, though I still had to stop and buy water more than once while walking.
I took lots of pictures so make sure to scroll through the slideshow below to get some views of the beauty of the Grand Palace.
I also took advantage of the museums in the complex while I was there. One was devoted to the temple and another called the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles was essentially devoted to the fashion worn by the queen mother. I enjoyed both, especially some time in the air conditioned buildings instead of the intense heat of the sun.
When I finished at the Grand Palace, I decided to walk over to Wat Pho, a nearby temple complex that houses the Temple of the Reclining Buddha.
I walked around a bit inside the complex, admiring the various parts of the temple especially the enormous reclining Buddha (pictures just don’t quite do it justice). The temperatures were definitely rising though, so I opted to get some ice cream and water for lunch before deciding I needed a longer break in air conditioning.
My ticket to the Grand Palace also included a show called the Khon Thai Masked Dance performance. It was only available in the afternoon, so I hadn’t worried about it earlier. But now it seemed like a good option.
So figuring I’d already paid for it anyway and could use a break inside, I hopped on one of their open air trolleys to get over to the theater. Unfortunately, I didn’t think to take my hat off and as we were driving it came flying off into the busy road. Of course, it wasn’t like I could easily ask the driver to stop so I could fetch it. So I just resigned myself to losing my hat. The good news was, I’d brought a backup one, not to mention I was sure I could find a cheap one elsewhere if I really needed.
At the theater, I headed inside and found a seat. For the next thirty minutes I watched various dancers perform. They did some dances showing the various time periods of Thai history, a couple showing off different regional dances, and also did a retelling of one of their traditional stories in dance form. All in all, very beautiful and enjoyable.
An example of what some of the costumes looked like
After the performance, I hopped back on the trolley to head back to the Grand Palace. They stopped to let some people out on the far corner of the palace, and I realized it was right near where I’d lost my hat. I figured it had probably been run over, but honestly, since I was in the area I figured I’d check.
As I scanned the road, I saw nothing, but when I happened to look off the road I saw a hat sitting on one of the posts that keeps vehicles off the curb. I ran over, and there was my hat in perfect condition.
A Thai man who had apparently either seen someone grab it and put it safely there or perhaps done so himself was delighted to see me get it. He smiled and said something in Thai, and I just grinned feeling so incredibly lucky.
The heat was only continuing to get more intense so I headed back to my hotel to enjoy the pool for a bit. I admired a few things along the way, but otherwise just went straight back. Definitely a good choice!
Government offices were decorated with white and purple ribbons for the Queen’s birthday, which was happening later in the week
That evening, I headed out to find dinner. I figured I’d venture down to Chinatown to do something different. I saw some good reviews for a fried noodle place not too far from Chinatown, so I headed there. The place was called Ann Guay Tiew Kua Gai, and it had a Michelin award.
I decided to try something different and chose the fried noodles and shrimp. I also had a coconut beverage which was delicious. The noodles came out and I was not impressed. The shrimp didn’t taste very fresh to me. The fried noodles had a weird slimy and gluey texture underneath the crispy exterior. (I actually did end up having these noodles again later in the trip and decided they just aren’t really for me texture-wise). They also brought some kind of a sour soup that was okay.
I left the restaurant, initially thinking maybe I could walk down to more of the real part of Chinatown and walk around. But I was pretty tired out from the day, so I opted to instead to just walk past The Giant Swing, a tall red structure outside of a temple that used to be used for ceremonies. It wasn’t very far out of the way on my way back to my hotel.
I actually ended up being very glad I didn’t go all the way down to Chinatown as it started raining really hard. I was thoroughly soaked by the time I got back to my hotel, even with an umbrella.
I’d hoped to swim again in the evening, but sadly the weather foiled those plans (also doing some thunder and lightning… never a great idea in an outdoor pool).
With all of those adventures behind me I headed to bed ready for more excitement the next day.
I’d title this blogpost with my actual destination, but I feel like that would be false advertising as I actually spent pretty much no time in the place I ended up spending the night, and therefore don’t feel like I can give very good advice about it.
So, I may have already mentioned in past posts that my experiences with Croatian and Slovenian buses varied. However, the one company I had a very bad time with was Flixbus, which was a pity because I found their website probably the easiest to use and they seemed to have quite a few options.
One of the reasons I made this statement was because a few days before this particular bus ride, I was informed it was cancelled. Rather than simply refunding me, the company asked me to call them (which is always fun when you’re roaming internationally) and get things squared away. I had no luck getting through to anyone and decided to just book another ticket and hope maybe I’d be refunded another time. Tickets at least aren’t too pricey.
So, as a result of this change, I had to take a later bus to get to Zagreb, my next destination. I’ll admit I’d given myself minimal time to begin with, mostly because the guidebooks I’d looked at hadn’t mentioned anything particularly exciting about the city. Other than being Croatia’s capitol, there wasn’t much that really excited me, especially after seeing some amazing historical sites like Zagreb and Split, and beautiful towns like Bled and Ljubljana. The main reason I chose to go, was that it would cut down on my travel time to my final destination of Budapest, where I was schedule to fly back to the states due to good deals I found on tickets. However, the bus change did effectively cut off the minimal time I had even more so.
Travel does involve some flexibility. So I decided to simply enjoy the fact that I could have a more leisurely morning up at Lake Bled. I enjoyed breakfast at my hotel, and then walked around the lake a little bit in the sunshine.
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After a little bit of meandering I headed back to the bus stop. I had to make my way back down to Ljubljana before I could head to Zagreb.
Again I enjoyed the ride through the mountains with beautiful views on that particular sunny day.
Arriving in Ljubljana I was supposed to only have less than an hour to wait for my bus. I used the bathrooms in the train station (actually free–which in Europe is a bit of a novelty), and grabbed something to drink from a vending machine so I would be set for the bus.
However, the bus ended up being more than thirty minutes late. I boarded, heading up to the second story (as it was a double decker which I thought was fun). I had to shoo a lady out of my pre-booked seat, and felt a little bad, but as I had paid more I wasn’t going to be nice about it.
After that we set out. I listened to an audiobook and enjoyed the views out my window. And then we hit the border.
Now, this was March 11th. Coronavirus had just begun to spread worldwide and was beginning to create some panic. My mother in fact had messaged me mentioning that the US was shutting down borders, worried that I might not be able to get home (as I’m writing this at my house in the US I’ll go ahead and assure you that I did manage to get home safely).
And of course, this meant that in Europe borders were getting tighter as well.
At the border we sat there for maybe thirty minutes on the bus. They kept shutting off the engine to save energy, making it very stuffy on the top level. We got out of Slovenia no problem, but at the Croatian border, we were held up for a while.
Finally we were allowed off the bus to get in line to hand over our passports.
I watched in horror as five people ahead of me were pulled aside and told to wait. I could barely breathe as I handed over my passport, wondering if I too was somehow going to be pulled back. I hadn’t been to Italy or other places facing pretty extreme cases, but I wasn’t sure what their criteria were for pulling people.
Instead, I was waved through and headed over to wait with the rest of the passengers. We watched on as two of those held back were sent over to us, and then the other three were left standing awkwardly by the immigration booth. Two girls who looked maybe my age or younger, and then a young nun wearing a facemask. The three of them stood waiting for maybe fifteen or twenty minutes. I felt awful for the three of them, probably unsure what was happening. I was at least glad to be off the stuffy bus for the wait, even if I was watching the time and wondering when I’d be getting safely to Zagreb.
Sure enough, a few minutes later the girls came back over to join us and began to gather their bags from the bus. I eavesdropped a bit and heard that they had been told they needed to go into quarantine and could not pass the border. I guess both of them were from Germany, where the numbers of infections were higher at the moment, and for that reason weren’t being allowed into Croatia.
The bus driver, did at least kindly drive them (with all of the rest of us) back over the border and dropped them at a gas station and then did a loop to go back through.
The whole process was disconcerting and scary. I breathed a sigh of relief once we were through, but it put us more than an hour late on our schedule.
We arrived in Zagreb late in the afternoon, getting into evening time. Of course, the tram was packed with commuters, but I shoved my way on with my suitcase and paid for a ticket with the driver regardless.
Thankfully, a few minutes later we were in the commercial center and I was able to disembark and go find my hostel.
I was staying right across from the cathedral, which was beautiful. I did snap one picture of it before heading inside. Interestingly enough there was an earthquake there not long after my visit and I read that the cathedral suffered some damage. Even though it was a brief glance, I am glad I saw it before the quake.
I stayed in Kaptol Hostel, though I went ahead and paid for a private room rather than doing a dorm. I’d opted to treat myself on the trip and pay a little more for privacy and a good night’s sleep.
Once checked in I put on some clean clothes and headed out to find a nice dinner. As it was my final night in Croatia, I wanted to use up all my kuna before heading over the border yet again.
So I headed out to find food. I’d asked at my hostel for a recommendation, but unfortunately they owned a restaurant down below and would only recommend that one to me. So I set off to find my own. Which is how I ended up at Restoran Lanterna na Dolcu.
I was the only one there, but they had good reviews, and the food sounded good. I took a seat down in their fun old cellar and had a glass of Croatian wine.
For a starter I had baked štrukli which was delicious. It’s a traditional Croatian dish with pastry dough, cream, cheese, and bacon. Super decadent and delicious!
For my next course I ended up with steak, yet again with mushrooms and vegetables. The waiter for some reason recommended I get a side of potatoes with it, which ended up being way too much food. But it did effectively use up my kuna. Unfortunately that left me with not enough for dessert, and besides I was pretty stuffed anyways.
I paid my bill and then wandered around a little bit. I found a grocery store and picked up some lunch for the next day since I’d be on a bus about midday.
Then it was back to my hostel for a good night’s sleep, figuring at least in the morning I could maybe go see some things after breakfast.
Unfortunately, just as I was going to bed, I happened to check my email and sure enough had an email from Flixbus saying my ride the next day had been cancelled.
Less than 24 hours before I was scheduled to leave, they went ahead and cancelled my ride with no explanation. Again, I’m going to advocate based on my experiences with this company not to use them. They seem to be very unreliable, and they definitely messed up my time in Zagreb due to their unpredictable changes.
I looked over my options for alternate buses, and of course I could either leave very early in the morning, or late evening and get in after midnight. I was very disappointed about the prospect of literally getting no time in Zagreb, but knew arriving so late would be a bad idea. So I reluctantly booked a new ticket for 8 in the morning and rescheduled my alarm.
So as you can see, I cannot speak to Zagreb as a city. Due to unforeseen circumstances I didn’t end up getting to do anything more than walk around a bit, eat some good food, and sleep. Maybe one day I’ll get to go back, but that’s just part of travel. You can’t plan for everything and sometimes just have to go with the flow.
My second day in Ljubljana was just as amazing as the first. I woke up and went to get some breakfast. My host of the B & B provided an amazing spread, even though I was apparently the only guest. She made me some eggs, provided several types of bread and toast with homemade jam. Yogurt, coffee, and fresh vegetables. Happily full I took off to start my day.
Anyone who is familiar with my blog knows I love me a free walking tour. It’s one of my favorite ways to get oriented in a new city. I have to be getting close to about two dozen taken in my lifetime by this point.
So I joined up with the Ljubljana Free Tour in the main square of the old town. I was very happy to find a dozen other tourists there as well. Though I had enjoyed my more “private” tours earlier in the week, it was nice to have a group and feel less singled out.
We spent two hours wandering around the old town, learning more about the city, its culture, and its history.
After we finished up, I grabbed another grocery store picnic lunch and sat by the river to eat. I was so glad the weather was so perfect. My b & b host kept remarking on it, so I definitely realized it wasn’t probably the norm for Slovenia in March.
Once I was done eating, I decided to head for the castle, perched up on a hill in the middle of the old town. Though you can walk up to it, I chose to take the funicular to better enjoy the view and save a little time.
Up at the castle I had opted to get an audioguide and walked around with that. Much of the castle itself is free, which is pretty cool, but doesn’t have a lot of information posted, so it was good to have the guide. I also was able to enter the history museum, museum of puppetry, go up in the viewing tower, and see a video presentation about the history of the castle. All in all it was a pretty enjoyable experience.
Best of all, in my opinion, was the views. Thanks to the good weather, you could see the Alps from the castle and it was spectacular.
Once done at the castle, I headed back down the hill. I did a little postcard shopping and then headed back to my hotel to rest for a bit before dinner.
I had asked my tour guide for a recommendation of where to eat after the tour. She’d listed a few places, but I’d ended up walking past one of them during the day and had seen the menu. I was pleased by the options so I decided to head there.
The restaurant was called Gostlina Pri Kolovratu. The place was pretty quiet when I arrived, but of course, I realized that was probably because it was a Monday and I’d arrived pretty early.
For a drink I had a grapefruit radler made by Union, a local Ljubljana brewer and one of the biggest in the country. I started off with a cheese plate. Once again probably a little too much for just one person, but definitely delicious. Probably one of my biggest regrets of traveling alone is not being able to enjoy sharing foods. Still, the plate was very fun. Three types of cow cheese and a goat cheese on a small potato as well as some fruit and vegetables paired with it.
Then for a main course I ended up with a kranjska klobasa, a traditional Slovenian sausage similar to a kielbasa (for any who know their sausages). It came served with Matevž which is basically pureed beans and potatoes, as well as some vegetables and mustard. It was actually really delicious, and fun to try something pretty traditional rather than just looking for a creative use of local ingredients (because I’d had a LOT of steak lately).
For dessert, I ended up going with a cream cake, which was decadent and amazing. It’s apparently a local dish from Bled, which was where I was heading next, but it sounded too good to pass up. Basically it’s a thin layer of pastry with a custard cream and then a layer of whipped cream topped with another layer of pastry and some powdered sugar. I may have to figure out how to make some myself, because it really was heavenly.
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I enjoyed the walk back to my hotel. My experience in Ljubljana really was incredible, and I would recommend it to anyone already down in that area visiting Italy, Austria, or Croatia. It’s definitely a great city with lots of beautiful history, delicious food, and fun things to see and do.
Stay tuned for more Slovenian adventures as I take off for the Julian Alps.
I couldn’t resist a Split pun, because of course my next trip destination is Split, Croatia!
I woke in Dubrovnik to pouring rain. I gathered my things, put on my raincoat and headed off to the nearby bus stop to catch a ride to the autobus station where I could catch my bus to Split, a city north of Dubrovnik.
Now some might ask why I didn’t just rent a car. I will admit driving is one of my least favorite activities even in my hometown. On top of that, it’s very cheap and pretty easy to get bus tickets in Europe, saving some money. And of course once you’re in the big city it’s usually easier not to have a car anyways and to rely on public transportation. Which was what I opted to do.
Now, I consider myself to be fairly adept at utilizing public transport, but I will admit city buses tend to be the form that gives me the most trouble. So, thinking I’d be proactive I asked the driver if the bus was going to the autobus station. He nodded and I went back and found a spot to stand with my suitcase.
I kept an eye out on my phone to try to see where approximately I might need to get off. However, I watched in surprise as the bus zoomed right by the autobus station. I had a brief moment where I thought maybe the bus stop was a few meters further down the road, but as I watched my dot on the map moving out of Dubrovnik and heading for the next town in the metropolitan area, I realized I had clearly missed my stop. I pressed the button to request a stop and watched as the bus driver looked back in time to see me and throw up his hands in disgust.
I got off at the next stop, finding myself back in the pouring rain. I had left early thankfully, but looking at my phone it still approximated at least a fifteen minute walk back to the station. I was just about to panic when I realized my bus ticket covered transfers, so I could technically go over to the stop on the other side of the road and catch the bus back into town.
Thankfully, another bus pulled up shortly after and I managed to get off at the appropriate stop. I breathed a sigh of relief before going to find my bus to Split.
I used several different bus chains during my travels, but my first I started with was Arriva. All in all they are actually my top recommendation for anyone travelling by bus in Croatia.
I spent the drive listening to audiobooks and looking out the windows. I actually found it kind of fun because we drove through Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Due to how the borders are drawn Croatia actually is not all interconnected. Bosnia has a small strip of shore access at the city of Neum. So delightfully in driving from Dubrovnik to Split you get to stop to cross into Bosnia and then maybe ten or fifteen minutes later you get to stop to cross back into Croatia. Interesting experience to be sure.
Other than that the drive was uneventful. I arrived in Split in the early afternoon and thankfully it had stopped raining. I found my way to my room for the night called Ziggy Star. It was interesting because I had mistakenly assumed it was some kind of hotel or b & b but it actually was just a single room in the old town, not unlike an airbnb. It did come with the advantage of breakfast at a local cafe in the morning though and was altogether a great location for a stay.
After my stuff was dropped off, I decided since the weather was so lovely I’d take advantage of the sunshine and head to a local park. Marjan Forest Park is a coastal hill right near the main city that you can climb for fantastic views as well as beaches and fun wandering trails.
I ended up spending several hours wandering the hill. I think I ended up walking about eight miles. It was fantastic. The views were beautiful and I even dipped my aching feet into the Adriatic (it wasn’t warm enough for anything beyond that).
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Tired out I took a break at my room and then cleaned up to go to dinner. I decided to try Bokeria, a restaurant in the old town I’d heard good things about. It ended up being one of my favorite dinners of the trip.
I had a “bruschetta” which was actually pears with Gorgonzola, balsamic glaze, and nuts on toasted bread. Then for my main course I had “ravioli” which was more pastry like rather than like pasta filled with wild game meat. And then for dessert this yummy little white chocolate raspberry coconut treat. And of course a glass of local Croatian wine as well!
After eating well, I headed back to my place for a good night’s sleep.
Thanks for reading about my second day of my adventure! Hopefully I will have more up soon.
I did have a question on my last post which was “Why Croatia?”
Well, the most simple answer comes down to these criteria. I wanted a place that:
I hadn’t been to before (you can check my “about” section to see what countries this ruled out).
Somewhere I’d feel somewhat safe as a female solo traveler (I mean someday maybe I’ll take more risks but for now that pretty much took Africa, South and Central America off my list).
Somewhere that wasn’t in a crisis (meaning no Australia with their wildfires or Asia with the COVID19 crisis– it hadn’t spread to Europe at the time I was planning my trip…).
Somewhere not outrageously expensive.
Croatia ended up fitting all of those things pretty well at the time. It’s a pretty safe country. In the off-season it’s not quite as expensive. And I’d never been there but had always heard good things. I found a pretty budget flight and the pieces just all fell together!
Feel free to ask other questions and I’ll do my best to answer in the next few posts.
Hello everyone. I know it’s been quite some time since my last blog post, but I haven’t been traveling as much now that I live in the States again. However, I recently had a pretty fun spontaneous vacation and have had several people ask me to blog about it. And since I’m currently in isolation due to the COVID-19 situation, I have some time on my hands.
A little more than a month ago I was feeling a little bit drained from my daily life. I keep some travel photos by my desk at work, and I remember looking over at them and thinking how much I could use another adventure about now.
Which was how I very spontaneously decided to purchase plane tickets to visit Croatia. I had two weeks of paid time off saved up at my job, a decent amount tucked away in savings, and as it was March and therefore the off season, I knew I could find things for much cheaper than I would normally.
Of course, when I booked all this Coronavirus really hadn’t become the pandemic it is now, or I obviously would have chosen to postpone my trip to a better time. But it did make things kind of an adventure, which I hope to elaborate for you here.
The first stop on my tour was Dubrovnik. For any who don’t know, its a beautiful UNESCO protected city on the Adriatic Sea in Croatia, surrounded by strong fortifications and filled with history. For any Game of Thrones Fans, there was some filming done there (I am not personally a GOT person so cannot attest to everything the city has to offer– but it definitely has upped the popularity of Dubrovnik as a travel destination).
I’ll skip the boring travel details for you. I flew from Seattle to Frankfurt and then down to Dubrovnik from there. It was a long two days of travel. So I was pretty exhausted when I arrived in the evening. But even then, as my taxi driver delivered me to the walls and dropped me off to walk to my hotel (as there are no cars allowed in the old city), I was pretty awed by what I saw.
Driving in at night really served to highlight the beauty of these strong walls surrounding the old town. They looked so impressive lit up.
The town itself was completely quiet as I snuck down to my hotel. I stayed in a cute bed and breakfast called Andio (meaning angel in Croatian) tucked back in a street in the old town.
Needless to say I turned in for the night, and woke the next morning ready for an exciting day.
When I opened my blinds I was delighted to see sunshine. Rain had been in the forecast before I arrived, and it had been pouring on my way in that evening. Thankfully the sky was clear, making it the perfect day to get out and explore.
I had breakfast at my hotel before taking off for the city walls. It is, after all, one of the most famous parts of Dubrovnik.
Once up on the walls, I had fantastic views of the old city and the sea. It was pretty warm in the direct sun even in the spring, so I cannot imagine doing the walls in the summer. For any visiting in June-August I recommend some sunblock and going early in the day!
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Nonetheless, I continued walking the walls, getting all the way around the city and taking a bunch of photos. Please enjoy them if they will load for you. It’s definitely one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen!
After that, I met up with a walking tour. I’d originally booked a free one. For any who haven’t experienced free walking tours, they are some of the best things to do in a new and unknown city! You meet up with your guide, do the tour, and then tip what you feel is the appropriate amount based on how good it is. I’ve done a couple dozen at this point, and have never had one I felt was “bad” and many that were simply excellent. However, due to the off-season and lack of interest, my free tour ended up cancelling on me last minute. So I had to book with an actual paid tour company instead, though it ended up being worth the money. I showed up and to my surprise only one other person was there! Our guide Ivana walked us around the old town telling us more about the history. I learned a lot and had fun.
Once we were done, I decided to take the cable cars up to the top of Mount Srd (got to love Croatian words without vowels… no it’s not an abbreviation of some kind). It had fantastic views over the old city. Unfortunately it was cold and windy so I didn’t linger for very long.
I spent the rest of the afternoon just wandering the city enjoying the sites. And then I went to find dinner. My tour guide had recommended a restaurant just outside the old city called Dubravka.
I had fresh squeezed orange juice (you might notice some oranges in the pictures above… definitely a good local fruit option), and then a steak with a mustard and gin sauce. It was pretty delicious! On top of that I loved having views of the walls from my table!
After a fantastic first day I turned in for the night. I was ready for the next day of adventure ahead. You’ll just have to wait for my next post to read about it.
To Roam the Roads of Lands Remote 