Thailand Part 2 - New Years Eve & Elephant Sanctuary in Chiang Mai

Chaing Mai was my favorite city! It was up north so the weather was a bit cooler and we were surrounded by beautiful mountains.

This style of skirt that I’m wearing was really popular in Thailand but I purchased this skirt about 3 years ago on Amazon. It’s very light weight and perfect for the weather. You can purchase this exact one here, or wait until you’re in Thailand and get similar styles of half the price.

We flew to Chiang Mai on New Years Eve from Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok on Bangkok Airways. The flight was 1 hour and 20 minutes and we booked it using Google Flights before our trip to Thailand. If you plan on flying to Chiang Mai on New Year’s Eve plan to leave as early as possible. Flights tend to get canceled due to the lanterns being released in the sky for the NYE celebration.

We stayed at the Cheeva Dee Hotel in the Old City neighborhood near The Thempah Gate where the NYE celebration takes place. We were greeted with fresh lavender tea & rice crackers and immediately took a ride on their complementary bicycles to explore the town. We also enjoyed a full breakfast and specialty cocktails by the pool every morning that was included in the price.

New Year 2020 in Chiang Mai 

Lanterns get released at The Thempah Gate and in other parts of the city. We chose to celebrate at The Thempah Gate because it seemed to be the most popular place to release lanterns. There are a lot of street closures for the night markets on NYE and cars aren’t allowed near or around The Thempah Gate, so we made sure to get there early as possible.

The streets started to get crowded at around 8pm. We ate at a local restaurant and walked to the gate. It was difficult for us to find a lantern vendor but we found a few towards the back of the gate where it was less crowded. You can negotiate the price of the lanterns, some vendors were selling them really expensive.

The lanterns were being released as soon as the sun went down but there was no official midnight countdown, but we did our own countdown and released our lantern with a wish. It was so beautiful to be there at witness this in person.

I will say you have to be careful while you’re experiencing the lanters since people a lot of people let them go prematurely, this caused the lanterns to fly straight into us and one of them almost burned my faux locs HA!

Only a few bars were open in order to keep celebrating 2020 but were closed by 1AM. We were satisfied with our experience at the gate, it was such a low-key and perfect way to bring in the new decade! wooot

Care for Elephants Experience at Elephant Nature Park

Elephant Nature Park is a sanctuary and rescue centre for elephants. There are over 60 elephants here and when a new elephant is rescued they have a hard time adjusting with the other elephants. The “Care for Elephant” experience is a volunteer opportunity to help prepare the newly rescued elephants for their new life. It was such a memorable part of our trip since it’s always been a dream of mine to be face to face with elephants. This was a more personal experience so spots fill up quickly. We booked this about 3 months before our trip here.

If you go to Thailand and choose to interact with elephants please choose an experience that doesn’t involve riding them. As soon as I started my research I found numerous websites that begged travelers not to ride elephants or take photos with tigers. I had no idea the amount of torture these gentle giants endure in order to be comfortable with people riding them.

We spent the day caring for these 3 elephants which were recently rescued from riding camps. One of them had been in captivity longer than the rest, she was more aggressive and still dealing with trauma from her previous owner. We weren’t allowed to get close too her but after a while she started to warm up to us which melted our hearts. <3

As volunteers, our job is to contribute towards their healing from previous treatment by showing them love, respect and to prepare them to join the other elephants at Elephant Nature Park. We started our day by preparing fresh food and feeding them before embarking in a long walk in the jungle.

We walked with them for about two hours. We just followed them as they roamed freely. We also had bananas in our bags which we would give to them through out our walk. About midway though out, we stopped by a lake to bathe them but we weren’t there for long since they didn’t really like to be in the water. After the lake we stopped at a cute tree house where we ate the most delicious vegetarian thai food. The view from the tree house was breathtaking and we were able to keep an eye on our 3 elephants from above.

After we ate we had the opportunity to visit Elephant Nature Park and see all the elephant’s they have rescued as well as elephants that are recovering from serious injuries from being in riding camps. The images are too graphic for me to post but I hope everyone who reads this will make better decisions when visiting elephants. I wish I could write a book about our day in detail, but our lives will never be the same after this experience and I hope everyone is able to visit this place one day!

Nimman Road

We did so much while we were in Chiang Mai that really surprised me. We visited Nimman Road which is an upscale shopping district of Chiang Mai and is considered the trendiest part of the city. It’s filled with restaurants, cafés, bars, shops and boutique hotels. It definitely different from the traditional area we stayed in. I can’t wait to to return and stay here.

Doi Inthanon National Park

We took a day trip to Doi Inthanon National Park, the highest mountain in Thailand. The name Doi Inthanon was given in honor of the last King of Chiang Mai who was concerned about the forests in the north and tried to preserve them. He ordered that after his death his remains be placed here.

It took about 2 hours by bus to get to the top of the mountain from our hotel. It’s really beautiful but photos don’t do it justice. The national park is HUGE and there is so much to see. I recommend visiting here with a tour guide because we could not find any transportation that would take us here so we can explore on our own. We were told that even if we found a way to get there we would definitely get lost.

After visiting Doi Inthanon National Park we stopped at a near by village. We were able to drink their fresh coffee and see their rice fields. I loved it, it reminded me of my little campo in Sajoma, DR.

Poppy’s Kitchen

We ate so good while in Chiang Mai but one restaurant in particular stole our hearts! POPPY’S KITCHEN!

We stumbles across Poppy’s Kitchen after a night of exploring the town. Their mango themed restaurant and beautiful interior caught my eye and I am so happy we gave it a try.

Poppy’s Kitchen is located in Phra Pok Klao 8 Alley, Tambon Si Phum, Mueang Chiang Mai District, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand. They don’t have a social media presence which makes me very sad because everyone should know about this place! If you’re a mango lover like me and please give this place a try if you’re ever in Chiang Mai.

We’ll be back Chiang Mai !

Before heading to our final destination in Thailand we walked around Chiang Mai and explored by foot. We did some shopping and ate some really good local food. I was really satisfied with our time here and I am happy we got to do everything on our list although I definitely want to return to Thailand and just stay in Chiang Mai. I feel like there is so much more to do & discover.