Excursions in Thailand!
During my three months in Thailand, we had three amazing excursions. The excursions focused on different things like history, culture, and climate. On our first excursion, we started our day off visiting the sticky waterfalls, which were waterfalls that had mineral buildup that made them easy to climb. The waterfalls were absolutely breathtaking, and being able to climb them was so much fun that everyone in my cohort climbed the whole waterfall twice.
After the waterfalls, we quickly grabbed lunch and headed to Maejo Banndin, which was a homestay where all of the buildings were made out of clay bricks. During this stay, we learned how to cook Pad Thai, make clay bricks, and launch seed bombs (which were clay balls that had a seed in the middle) to help reforest the local area. After our incredible stay at Maejo Banndin, we headed to two different elephant sanctuaries.
The first one rescued three different elephants, and we were able to feed them and hike with them in the forest. Then, we made our way to the second sanctuary, where they had hundreds of elephants. We were able to walk around the sanctuary and learn more about elephants in Thailand.
On our second excursion, we traveled to Sukothai, which was the first capital of Thailand. During this excursion, we were able to experience more central Thai culture and learn about local traditions. On the first day, we drove from Chiang Mai to Sukothai, which took around five hours, so by the time we all got there, we were pretty tired. On our second day, we rented bikes and rode around a historical park where there were ancient temples. At night, we were able to watch a practice performance for the holiday in the coming week.
For our last excursion, which was right after our stay at the homestays, we went to Chiang Dao, which was about an hour north of Chiang Mai. We got to Chiang Dao in the late afternoon and settled in before doing a couple of gratitude activities. On our second day, we went to another sticky waterfall and also checked out the hot springs, which were a big hit in my cohort. On our last day, we went into a cave, which was guided by a tour guide, and had the opportunity to see the temple in the cave.
The excursions were some of my favorite moments, and I truly learned so much about Thai culture and traditions during the excursions.