Thailand-January 2017

On our first day in Bangkok, we wanted to go see three of the most famous temples.  Because it would have taken a long time to drive, we were told it is faster to take a boat up the river that goes between the different temples and the Grand Palace.  First, we went to Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn) and got to look around for a little bit.  Even though there was scaffolding on some parts of it, the temple was very beautiful and was completely covered in mosaics.

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Next, we took the boat to the Grand Palace.  The Grand Palace is made up of many different buildings, some of which are temples.  We were able to go inside Wat Phra Kaew, where the Emerald Buddha is, but we could not take pictures while inside.  The outside of all of the buildings in the Grand Palace, but especially this temple were very beautiful.  They were ornately decorated with lots of gold and colorful tiles.

The Grand Palace was very crowded, not only because it is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Bangkok, but because many Thai people were coming to mourn the death of the king who died in October.  There were hundreds of people dressed all in black who were coming into the Grand Palace to pay their respects.  Throughout Thailand we could see how much loyalty and respect the Thai people have for their king.  There were pictures of the king and prince in every hotel and in front of almost every building.

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After leaving the Grand Palace we walked a couple of blocks to Wat Pho, another temple that houses the Reclining Buddha.

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As a side note, make sure to check back at the post called “The Wedding.”  I just posted a link to the wedding video which is really well done.

After flying to Chiang Mai from Bangkok (about an hour flight) we checked into our hotel and went to sleep.  The next morning we were up bright and early and were picked up by our tour guide, Prom, to take us to the Elephant Nature Park to spend a day with the elephants.

After an hour and a half long car ride we arrived at the park and Prom showed us and the three couples who were also in our group around the main platform where visitors eat lunch and where we could feed the elephants.  They brought out buckets of watermelons and squashes and the elephants came right up to the platform to take them out of our hands with their trunks.

We then got to go out and see a few of the elephants up close.  We were able to pet the ones that were friendly, but had to stay away from the babies.  The Elephant Nature Park doesn’t want the babies to become attached to humans because when they are out in the wild they might then go up to humans they see which can put them in danger.

Our guide told us about the stories of the elephants we met, as most of the elephants at the nature park come from a past of being abused.  This elephant in particular was completely blind because she had been stabbed in the eye by a past owner when she had disobeyed them.

After meeting these few elephants we ate lunch and then headed out with buckets to the river where they brought over another elephant and gave her food so that we could bathe her.  We splashed water on her to get all the dirt off.

After bathing our elephant we got to change into dry clothes and head back out to watch more elephants with the time we had remaining.  It was incredible to be able to just walk amongst the elephants and watch them interact, eat, and walk around.  There was even a baby, the youngest in the park.  He was only 8 months old- so cute!

Overall, this day at the Elephant Nature Park was one of my favorites in Thailand and was an experience I will never forget.

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We had one more day to spend in Hua Hin, so Evan, Hannah and I went to the Sam Roi Yot National Park to go to the Phraya Nakhon Cave where a Thai king had built a pavilion. After arriving at the national park, we took a short boat ride to the beach where the hike to the cave began. It was a short hike, but it included a lot of stairs and the weather that day was very hot and humid. However, the cave that we arrived at was incredible and it was completely worth the hike. This was possibly one of the most beautiful places I have ever been (right up there with Cinque Terre in Italy) and pictures do not do it justice.

After walking around in the cave we hiked back down to the beach, had lunch at a little restaurant they had there for people who camp in the national park, and rode the boat back to where our taxi was waiting to take us back to the hotel.

Here are some pictures from that day:

The boat we rode in!

Looking down into the cave.  See the tiny people?

Looking up out the top of the cave

Over three days, there were several events leading up to Shivani and Pranav’s wedding ceremony.  The entire experience was amazing and I am so thankful I was invited to attend the wedding.  Here are some pictures of the decorations (which were incredibly beautiful and well designed):

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Here are some pictures of my friends and I at some of the events:

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To see the wedding video, click this link: https://vimeo.com/200535776/6183fcebe8

We took off from JFK at 12:45 am. Here we are before going through security: 

We took a 14 hour long flight to Shanghai, China and then would have a 4 hour layover before our flight to Bangkok.

I took a time lapse of us landing in Bangkok. The view from the airplane was so beautiful!

After getting off our second flight to Bangkok and going through customs we were welcomed by a team of people from the wedding.  They gave us drinks and snacks and showed us to a van that would take us to the Anantara Resort in Hua Hin, which is about 3 hours away from Bangkok. Our driver was very friendly and was glad to have us play music for most of the ride- he even put in a few requests!

Upon arriving at the resort we were greeted with a welcome gong and floral necklaces. 

We were checked in and shown to our room, which is actually the closest room to where breakfast is served and where some of the wedding events will be held. Our room is relatively normal but the bathroom is beautiful and we have a patio that goes out in the back. Anantara itself is very pretty and the wedding decorations made it even more festive and bright.

On our bed we got a leaf with this message- we think they got Hannah’s name mixed up but it made us laugh!

Hannah in front of our room:

Our patio in back of our room. Through the bushes you can see a bit of the pool: