From Indonesia to Thailand We Go

Monsoon season was wrapping up in late September 2024, so for our journey back to the north of SE Asia first of all, we wanted to thank the visa card travel angels for making what could be a very long day chocked full of delays a whole lot more bearable. Fun even? In fact, thanks to our favorite credit card, Capital One Venture X, we visited a record of five lounges this journey from Bali to Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok. That’s three healthy meals a day (or five if you’re Greg; healthy referring to pre-pastries.)

Also, after four practically dry lounges, we were extra appreciative to be back in a more liberal land with wine on tap, smiling lady boys serving it up and those delectable spices already molding into our tummies. It felt good to be back! Welcome to Thailand! 🇹🇭

Our first lounge took us to Bali’s Denpasar after being told our one checked bag (over 7k) would cost an absurd 3.7 million rupiah or $244, significantly more than the value of the tickets alone. Fortunately, they let us carry it on after we explained we tried to add it online and weren’t able to. 😅

Although Denpasar is one of the busiest airports in Indonesia, we were surprised to see they only had one lounge, and despite all the tourists milling about, it wasn’t jam-packed. Thankfully, they also had something besides mie goreng, including lots of western options and BEANS, which are always a treat in Asia! They even had a delightful “butterfly” tea. Hopefully no actual butterflies were juiced for that color. 

For our flight to KL, the upside was we scored by getting the row in front of the emergency exit row. The downside was the notorious fake button. In case you’ve never experienced it, here you get the joy of a bum button, a la Ryan Air, and a 90 degree (may 88?) tilt for three hours. 

We more than made up our economy seats in KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport) by lounge hopping for 8 hours, due to a five hour delay and final 11:40 pm departure courtesy of Batik Air, also called Malindo Air, also called Thai Lion Air and three other names. (Part of the reason figuring out baggage was so complicated.) 

Lounge hopping feels like the same level of gluttony as the bar hopping we did 25 years ago. It’s a good thing we don’t make it a habit. One last bowl of this delicious soup before we head out of Laksa Land. Greg emerged satisfied after two draft beers, and still full of energy after lounge two. 

KLIA seems to be cloning a neighboring city’s airport concepts. But, we also learned on this visit that it’s not nearly as efficiently organized as Singapore. There is especially a lot of confusing signage.

We always love seeing all the places we could get to on the departure flight boards, however. One of them included Sheremetyevo, which we had to look up. A red flag we won’t be heading to anytime soon.

Heading into the third, and best lounge of the day, the Sama Sama Express, also known as Sky Suite. Are we starting to understand why things can be confusing here?

Although we were already filling up, they had quite decent Indian food and dessert options, and a lofted and elegant space which felt more like a mountain lodge than an equatorial lounge. However, there was no complimentary alcohol available at all, for which Mandy was disappointed because she’d be holding out til “happy hour” for a glass of wine. 

The final lounge, at 9 pm, resulted in the same so we settled for some chamomile tea to procure a sense of sleepiness for our 11:40 flight which fortunately wasn’t in front of the exit row this time. 

And finally…totally bleary-eyed, we stamped into Thailand at 1:13 am for 60–no longer 30 days—a very exciting recent change on the tourist visa, especially for us nomads.

After demanding some local currency from the ATM, we were picked up by Mr. Kong, who owned a nearby guesthouse with an adequate $10 bed, and offered to pick us up and drop us off to the airport for a mere 200 Baht or about $6, all of which was much preferred to sleeping in the airport. Mr Kong was interestingly deaf so it was intriguing to see how he communicated using limited English, in addition to his disability. We definitely admired his ambition in this hospitality heavy position. 

Bleary-eyed at the airport five hours later, we noticed a series of pharmacies and clinics. In the airport. Gotta love the Thai medical system. It was also interesting to visit Bangkok’s Don Mueang International Airport because it is one of the oldest airports in the world. It opened on March 27, 1914, as a Royal Thai Air Force base and officially began commercial flights on March 25, 1924, with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines being one of the first airlines to use the airport.

After reading a bit about the airport’s history, we headed to our fifth and final lounge for this journey where our tastebuds were slammed with Thai goodness like Green Curry Gourd with Chicken and Drunken Noodles. 

Neither one of us cared that it was 8:00 in the morning. It was Thai Time. Finally. Also featured in Thai time was a wall of help yourself liquor and wine, which we hadn’t had in months. A real dilemma since we’d wanted it all day yesterday and it was again…8:00 am. 

So what did we do? We waited until the acceptable hour of 10:00, which we reasoned was 11:00 where we’d just come from in Indonesia. Although after more than 24 hours of travel, this guy refused to have his photo taken with it, (so it actually never happened.) In short, it tasted like the kiss of a cabernet rainbow, which were washed down with morning desserts. 

No squirrelling allowed! Mandy! 

She instead took the opportunity to bring sexy back with her new compression socks which have a way of immediately making her cranky. Damn, being 44 is fun! 😂

It didn’t matter, because we were in Thailand where only smiles are accepted. In fact, from our lounge “jail,” we learned that even the robo vaccums smile in Thailand.

And our airplane too, bringing double entendre to “It’s a bird. No it’s a plane!” Nok Airlines was not only a cute airline, it was efficiently organized. We paid for this one out of pocket which was $80 from Bangkok to Chiang Rai, including our checked bag which was 13k and our other two bags at 7k each.

Although this was our third visit to Thailand, it’s the first to the north’s verdant and mountainous lushness. And, 30 hours later, only five in the actual air, we were wiped, but we’d made it!

Settling into Chiang Rai: Our Accommodation

We settled into a fabulous studio apartment from Airbnb in Chiang Rai for two weeks as we waited for the floods to recede and some special guests to arrive. We were really happy with it thanks to its dense opportunities of a whopping FOUR places to sit, a mostly stocked kitchen with a paring knife and a college dorm fridge, and an immaculate and quite enormous pool (which no Thais use because it’s “too cold,” according to the housekeeper) and gym facilities, all for $21/night. 

It was also smack next door to a giant shopping center, which included two food courts loaded with Thai treats and a supermarket stocked full of local and imported goodies…a perfect balance in our book! 

A ‘Lil Dose of Thai Healthcare

The first order of business in Chiang Rai wasn’t necessarily a fun one, but always an interesting experience to check out another hospital. No injuries or illnesses thankfully that took us there. The reason for our trip was to get Mandy’s prescription for her heart medication. No, even in medically liberal Thailand, it’s surprisingly not available over the counter. Although she had a nine month prescription from Kuala Lumpur in July, the price of each pill was significantly more expensive in Malaysia at $1.50/each compared to $1.14/each in Thailand. And since we needed it for six months until we get to Europe, where it’s even cheaper, this made a big difference. 

The catch was she had to get a new prescription from a cardiologist. Fortunately the consultation itself was literally $5 and gave us the opportunity to check out the health assessment options at Bangkok Hospital and compare them to what we did in KL.  

Mandy got the appointment by sending an email to the reception desk at Chiang Rai’s branch of Bangkok Hospital about a week in advance. When we arrived, we were immediately greeted by a friendly flurry of faces who checked us in and processed us immediately before taking us to waiting area where her vitals were tested. 

Five minutes after that, we were whisked in to visit the English-speaking cardiologist whose office set up was fascinating…with a screen for the doctor and a mirrored screen for us so you could watch her every keystroke. She asked how much medicine Mandy wanted and we were in and out of the hospital in a total of 30 minutes. For the service, speed and professionalism, we’d undoubtedly recommend it. 

In the meantime, we got some pamphlets to check out the health assessment options, which were overall vastly more expensive than the ones in KL. However, for $1350-$1413, it does include most of the same things we received at Prince Court, as well as additional testing including an echocardiogram, stool analysis, vitamin D, and MRI brain scan. (We paid $478 for Mandy’s and $426 for Greg’s). Also, you can add on a colonoscopy spa day for about $450 to the offering at the Bangkok Hospital which is about half as expensive as what we paid. 

Or, if you wanna body part it, a dementia screening for $255, a physical therapy and acupuncture package for $105, or a cardiology update for $207. In fact, we presented this last item to Greg’s parents when they arrived to Chiang Rai and encouraged them to spend a few hours at Bangkok Hospital getting a full coronary artery screening to get a baseline of where they are and what their risks are for heart disease. 

Since they’ve never had such an opportunity in the States, they jumped at the chance to pay about $200 for a CT Coronary Calcium Screening, an EKG, an Echocardiogram and a consultation with a cardiologist and were simply mind-blown at the process and cost. 

We made Grace’s appointment two days in advance and Larry walked in and was able to get the same package. Although it wasn’t the most “fun” day of our time with them it was definitely the most beneficial and eye-opening. All of us met with the same cardiologist, Dr. Sajeepilai Janpanya, who also helped Mandy a couple weeks before. She was very thorough in her explanations, and spoke great English. Grace is always a pro at getting the staff all lined up for photos. It’s hard not to adore their throw-back nursing caps!

Dr. Janpanya explaining the results, which were packed up with a radiology image CD in an envelope for Larry and Grace to take home. All the tests took about three hours.

Ready for their martial arts match. Yay! It’s time for my echo!! It worked out great because Mandy got to accompany Grace throughout the procedures while Greg accompanied Larry. 

The hospital is wonderfully sterile, clean and modern, although we thought some of their translations could use some modification. 🤢 Fortunately, this was not a room anyone had to visit on this day. 

The admin staff at the front desk. We felt sorry for them because they didn’t get cool hats.

The health guard that seemed to follow us around most of the afternoon. Sometimes he would stand in front of us for 10 minutes babbling in Thai and we felt like we were in big trouble.

If you’ve gotta do them, heart health day seems like a proper time and place for heart hands. What a great experience!

Don’t Miss Give Green Farm House!

After spending hours at the hospital, we had worked up an appetite so we walked 20 minutes to the nearby Give Green Farm House which was on a lush plot of Eden-like land. This organic farm-to-table experience offered an absolutely delicious buffet spread for a very reasonable price. ($4.48/each) The server who greeted us captured the essence of Thai smiles (and K-Pop heart fingers), and she explained the items on the buffet, which were all vegetarian friendly other than one chicken dish.

Our selection included scrumptious piles of glass noodles, papaya salad, spring rolls and a new one for us…heart-shaped fried wild betal leaves. This plant is believed to have medicinal properties and is used in remedies for inflammation, cough, and digestive issues. But the taste was a bit peppery, crunchy (because they were fried) and quite frankly, amazing. Our rendition was drizzled with a pickled spicy salsa. Ok. Maybe that was the amazing part…

Our sweet server explained that the leaves are often used in Thai miang kham, where they serve as wraps for various fillings and are often served on sticks. (Because why should meat get all the stick action?!) Anyhow, we were so excited to find them at the night market a few days later and it was stuffed with peanuts, lemongrass, lime and some veggies. Really tasty too although nothing beat the version at the Give Green House. 

Our server, the owner’s daughter, was so sweet, she not only gave us bug lotion to use, but she spread it on Larry’s legs. Haha. Those Thais…always service with a smile.

Pong Phrabat Hot Springs

After our first hospital and Give Green House visit, we walked about an hour through the countryside to arrive at Pong Phrabat Hot Springs. If it weren’t for the welcome sign in Thai, one might think you’ve pulled up to a cheesy roadside attraction in nowheresville, USA as you enter the facility. In addition to comical dinosaurs with feet that correspond more to a deer than a flesh-eating carnivore, this facility offers a free soaking pool for your footsies, stark private soaking pools that make you feel like you’re in a prison (but a fancy one with hot water!) and of course, the opportunity to get rubbed down for less than $5…naturally, because this is Thailand. There is also a regular hot springs swimming pool but unfortunately it was closed.

We realized that most locals congregated at the free foot soaking pool, which also doubled as a kiddie pool. Thai kids, like most kids, don’t seem to mind what they’re swimming in. We chose to grab a private room for an hour, which was about $1.50 each. We requested the “old bathhouse,” which seemed a bit more atmospheric, but it must have got lost in translation because we ended up in this concrete pit instead. It looked straight out of Eastern Europe. We know because we’ve done it. 

It took quite awhile, and some brute force, to figure out how to work the cold water tap, but fortunately, despite its jankiness, we got in. Although the tub was more than big enough for two, Greg happily sprawled out for a photo.

He then looked quite grumpy when his wife told him it was time to go. A lingering and fascinating gift from the silica-laden waters would be Mandy’s silver ring metamorphosed into a blue one. While in the water, it also turned shades of copper and purple…a true mood ring in action. This has happened in other hot springs and has always changed back to silver after a period of time. 🤞

The price list. As mentioned, we tried to get the old bathhouse and we got ushered to the new. 

Another dinosaur backside on the property, as well as the entrance to the facility. It took us about 20 minutes to get a Grab back to Chiang Rai from here but it finally happened for about $5.50.

The rest of the photos are from our walk from the Give Green Restaurant to the hot springs. As expected, because of recent flooding, we encountered a lot of water. In fact, at one point we had to turn around and go another direction. Stop!!! You’re in Thailand!! And yes, we drive on the left side of the road here!

There are dorms for Chiang Rai Rajabhat University. These students must be very bright! The center for TTFL. It honestly never occurred to us former teachers that this acronym exists in other languages. Look at that letter blob!!! Wow. Glad we can get by in English here 😬

Another university building, which we later learned was founded as a teacher training college. Somewhere in Thailand. 😂

Daily Life in Chiang Rai & the World’s Best Cuisine (according to us)

Let’s be honest…you can’t really dive into “living like a local” in Thailand without first and foremost showcasing one of the world’s most extraordinary and dynamic cuisines, much of which we discovered at our neighboring mall’s food court. (Central Chiang Rai.) Thai food, especially made by the loving hands of a local, is fresh, is healthy, and is unbelievably inexpensive ($1-2 a dish). Plus, thanks to Thai peppers, it typically has got a kick which for us, “a little spicy” is the perfect amount of heat. Seriously, what’s not to love?

For the record, this section doesn’t even include night markets, because that’s a whole other endeavor…with a whole other mind-blowing experience. It does include grocery shopping, both in local produce markets and the regular supermarket where the selection is abundant and easy. And of course, when we weren’t doing that we were checking out some normal things in Chiang Rai….

A dish we had been waiting all year for…the flavor explosion of Som Tom or Papaya Salad, which is predominantly made from, you guessed it…papayas. However, it comes from the shreds of the unripe green version. Papaya salad is tangy. It’s spicy. It’s crunchy. It’s slightly sweet. And its definitely a top ten Asian dish in our book. This rendition cost $1.50 each.

Because it is predominantly a northern Thai dish, it was our first time to try Khao Soi, although we did housesit a cat with the same name in 2020, who was much too adorable to snack on. Khao Soi obviously has no cat in it. It’s a flavorful and aromatic Thai curry noodle soup with a rich coconut milk based curry broth with tender egg noodles and crispy ones on top. Although they love to put pork in eveything in Northern Thailand, fortunately we were able to find one with chicken. It’s definitely one our new favorite dishes.

And of course another fan favorite for eons has been…. Pad Thai. But, nothing can beat having it on the $1 menu. 😋 Minced Basil Chicken is a bit meh in comparison.

Greg ready to dive, or rather swing, right in.

🎵 How much is that pot-ty in the window? 🎶 Yes…when you’re not indulging on food, there’s plenty of other vices to be had in Thailand. Indeed, recreational marijuana (with low THC) has been legal since 2022 but laws are changing rapidly to make it medicinally focused. Notably, you won’t be walking through clouds of ganja smoke à la Portland, Oregon because it’s definitely illegal to smoke in public. If you’re gonna do it, make sure to stick to a private location or you could be fined big time. We’ll be enjoying our non-rule-breaking brownie in the bathroom of our Airbnb….

Or, if you prefer….a massive wine selection. Unfortunately the lowest bottles we’ve found started at $15 so we chose to table that hankering a bit longer. Fortunately the beer is way cheaper than in Indonesia. A hefty-sized Chang goes for about $1.80 so long as you stay out of tourist zones where it can be doubled.

Our grocery store, Tops, in Central Chiang Rai Mall, was definitely a hoity toity one. You knew because of its overpriced bougie offerings of imported olives, cheese, pickles and beans. A can of SW chickpeas from the US was about $3 but if want pickles from Deutschland, you’re looking at least $6. Still, for a bougie store, we only spent $124 for the two weeks in Chiang Rai where we cooked at least two meals a day at home. Who needs apple cider vinegar when you can have it with coconut?!!

Speaking of apples, this is the ridiculous selection at this supermarket in the tropics. We surprisingly ate a lot of US, New Zealand and Australia apples here because no one seemed to buy them and they were always on steep discount. 

When we weren’t shopping at the supermarket, of course we were gorging on fruit at the local markets. Among those fruits are these quite unappealing mini dirty-looking potato berries. Looks are deceiving, however, because langsat fruits, are seriously AMAZING!!  Inside, the flesh is translucent and divided into segments, similar to garlic cloves (or mangosteens). The taste is sweet, slightly tart, and juicy, sometimes compared to grapes.

They can’t all be as sexy as these rambutans, which we will forever call the COVID fruit because of how they look, but how also, how many we ate while stuck in Cambodia in spring 2020. 

And the sexiest of them all, colossal and shiny seedless Muscat grapes from China which sell for astronomical prices in Japan in South Korea. Here, we somehow managed to get them for $2.08 for half a kilo. YUM 😋 Four avocados, of varying ripeness, for $1.20.

Red Thai chilies: we praise your contribution to this fabulous cuisine. 🌶️  Speaking of chilies, we always appreciate the food stands that have pepper ratings on their menu because you never know exactly how hot “Thai spicy” can be. We’ve found that about two peppers is where we like to hang out for the best amount of flavor and least amount of potty time the day after. 

This was one of Mandy’s favorites: rice  noodles with shrimp and bean curry and although it only had one pepper, she was able to add more separately.  The dish consisted of noodles, some of them bizarrely blue, swimming in a sea of pureed bean and wow, was it tasty!

A mango, pineapple and passion fruit smoothie for about a buck. And of course it’s served with its highly necessary plastic handle because god forbid your hand gets cold. We try and turn down this “service” as much as possible, but it’s often lost in translation or they’re just too quick on the draw. This mini steak house stand even had their own nano farm! Not what we thought a baby steak would look like…

Fresh. Fresh. Fresh. Everything is fresh. Look at that mushroom selection!

Our favorite food court where we ate  about 10 times in two weeks. 🤣 Who’d have thought we’d become such mall rats in SE Asia?! 

Handmade tribal wear available mainstream. Mandy was very interested in it but it wasn’t so backpacker friendly. Look at that detail! 

Mushroom soup and our favorite treat…a coconut milk frappe. 

Not our favorite. Oreo flavored Coca Cola at the Tops supermarket. Seriously. Is this a thing we’ve missing during our time in the US of A!? Ew. 

Walking it all off with the locals on the old airport runway. This seems to be the thing to do for exercise every evening. Fortunately we also had access to a pool and a gym so we weren’t limited to a concrete ribbon to truck down.

There were in fact many places to walk in Chiang Rai, but they weren’t exactly all pleasant. Especially when the nightly Hitchcock-esque cacophony began in the wire nests above us. And yes, we got shit on. Or, rather, Mandy did as she walked beneath the royal street signs. Fortunately this means good luck around here so I guess we’ll take it?

We had to walk about 25 minutes north until we saw another white person. But, as soon as we saw this Swenson’s, they multiplied like bunny rabbits!

As much as we liked the mall, we did get out a bit. This “Drunken Moly (I think they meant Holy?) Basil Fried Noodles with Seafood” meal was at Happy Table (Meal), in said tourist zone, where the prices seemed comparable to the mall, although most had been doubled. The food was about 300 times better than a happy meal. Mandy’s veggie spring rolls. Both meals were $5.30.

Also, we observed that Thai massages were “significantly” inflated in the center at about $9, rather than $6. So basically, you might break the bank if you’re not careful. 

The Chiang Rai Clock Tower stands like an ostentatious shiny beacon in the middle of a common roundabout. It’s quite surprising if you don’t know it’s coming and you’re just strolling along. The Clock Tower was built in 2005 to honor Queen Sirikit.

Night Markets of Chiang Rai

No trip to Chiang Rai can be complete without a trip to the night market, or for us, three. Two are a pop-up weekend spectacle, while the Chiang Rai Night Bazaar is a permanently parked nightly ritual.  Of the three, the best for us was undoubtedly on Sunday, because it felt hyper local, mostly with young Thai families and very few foreigners. Despite this, a father and son welcomed us to their booth at the “Sunday Night Market” where we were able to pick out our first fresh spring rolls of this visit. The downside to this market is there was minimal English so we had to rely a lot on our eyes, noses and Chat GPT. That said, they all are a culinary utopia and have their advantages, including ample healthy and amazing food, drink and shopping options. And…we always easily stuffed ourselves for under $5 total.

We settled for these three ($.90 total) which were crab, sweet egg and shrimp all served with the “little spicy” rather than dragon fire dipping sauce. We liked them so much we went back for seconds. In hindsight, we shouldn’t have done this because we didn’t save room for something even crunchier. Of course, in Thailand you can have your pick of crickets, grasshoppers or grubs, all fried crispy. Lucky for us, we’ve already had all three of these particular proteins so nothing new got to crawl into our tummies on this visit. 

The massage station seems to be a mandatory department at the local night markets. The price was $2 for a foot rub. We did this back in 2013 and back then, believe it or not, we just relaxed rather than looked at our phones. 

The market begins every Sunday at 4:00 pm. 

Various pots of marvel. You can have any of them, dumped in a plastic bag and served with a plastic mini fork more fit for gerkins, for $.60. Also…coconut pancake fritters. We had a few. Not really worth the space in our stomach inventory.

The dance floor which was later sprinkled with festive couples scooting around to twangy Thai instruments which was curiously followed by “Runaround Sue.”

It was always so fortunate when English appeared, although tentacles decorating even the most divine-looking piles of food are typically a sign we’re not interested in chowing down. Alternatively, you can shoot up with radioactive looking jelly for $.30. 

Piles of healthy ingredients mixed with…pink(?) eggs the Easter Bunny clearly misplaced in Thailand. In actuality, pink eggs are a type of preserved egg known as “Kai Khem” or salted eggs. These eggs are cured in a brine solution, and the shells are typically dyed pink to distinguish them from regular fresh eggs. The pink color is (supposedly) purely for identification purposes and doesn’t affect the taste or preservation process. Fresh cut fruit bowls for $.60.

Dumplings rolls for $.30/each and mango sticky rice…always a welcome night cap. ($1.50)

An opportunistic blind busker who played a flute. 

On another evening, the Saturday Night Market could be found at “Chiang Rai Walking Street” and was simply extraordinary….one of the best night markets we’ve been to in quite some time thanks to its variety of food, handicrafts, souvenirs and live music. It also had a bit more English than the one on Sunday, although we were among only a handful of foreigners navigating the flow. However, it was overwhelmingly massive and obscenely packed at around 6:30. Perhaps consider heading there earlier or later if you go? From our perch overhead, we interestingly observed that all the workers at the market had on matching blue outfits, hair covers and masks. They look like they were more outfitted to inject you with a COVID vaccine than a helping of Pad Thai.

Mmm. Speaking of Pad Thai. It’s even better than the mall here and half price at $.75. We also grabbed a rice noodle crab and fish salad for $.90 and got intoxicated on drunken noodles. By the way, that’s not the official Thai name; it’s probably just a dumb name English-speakers came up with as a way to get them to eat Thai food.

Families spread out on mats enjoying the market, while all eyes were on the dancers. 

The final market we went to was the Chiang Rai Night Bazaar which occurs nightly, features lots more English, and coincidentally, all the tourists. It will also set you back a few more baht. And yes, they cater to your weak Germanic tongue. You can get it “spicy” or “no spicy.”

It was nice because it was centrally located and also not too crowded. There were overwhelming options in the best way possible.

Cats, Cats, Cats

(Disclaimer) If you’re not a cat person, you probably skip this section and move onto the next posts. If you are a cat person…we hope you enjoy as much as we did. 😻 

Although the streets of Thailand are not the kitty haven that predominantly Islamic countries like Indonesia are, we definitely found the place to go in Chiang Rai which is guaranteed to bring any cat lover some joy and insta-therapy….the Cat ‘N’ a Cup Cafe.

This cat cafe is probably the best we’ve been to. It’s cozy, warm and different than many we’ve been to because it’s practically a cat show, loaded with adorable and unique breeds, most of which are friendly and open to approaching you even without treat coercion (you can’t win them all with cats!) 

Secondly, it was free, other than the required drink or food purchase. We had a slice of the chocolate truffle cake and although it was divine, if we go back we’d stick with a drink because the kitties were way too interested in our food for us to thoroughly enjoy it.