This Morning I said goodbye to Bannamhoo Bungalows and the town of Pai. I truly loved it there. The 138km ride through the mountains to Chiang Mai was much more fun with the proper gear and a bit later in the day.
Back in Chiang Mai I stopped in at Lookbua restaurant for some lunch which was very tasty. Then I returned my bike and re jigged all my bags from bike mode to plane mode.
From Chiang Mai, I Flew 2 hours to Krabi where I then caught a 45 min taxi to the Ao Nam Mao pier where I boarded a long tail boat and traveled 25min to Railay beach.
I then followed google maps 20 mins through the jungle in the wrong fucking direction, trying to find my hotel. Thankfully a staff member from a different resort took pity on me and led me all the way back from where I came, to a tour agent kiosk. You heard me right. I was very confused and proceeded to cough up the remainder of the Thai baht I had with me, which was weird because I booked with a credit card. I was told I could pay with my credit card but it would cost me a $20 surcharge. Then came the stairs, there is is 122 steps to get up to the hotel. Then you follow a dark path covered in broken glass into the jungle till you meet a giant white wall that says Railay Hilltop Resort. my room is on the bottom floor and has absolutely no ventilation and the door to the room barely locks, also the bedding was torn and the door to the bathroom is only about 5’9 and I’m 6’4. Do the math.
Obviously by the tone of how I am writing todays post I’m tired and not particularly pleased with the most expensive place ill stay during this trip being the shittiest. No quote tonight. Tomorrow will be better
In Thailand it is very common for most locals to never really eat at restaurants, instead they eat at market stalls and vendors. In my opinion this is where you will find the most authentic Thai experience while traveling here. The big fancy curries tourist favorites are not something I’ve ever really seen the locals eat, but market food, they love it. Its simple cheap and arguably where you’ll find the best local favorites.
This was one of the most Thai things I’ve ever seen, yes that’s a cat sitting with the fresh veggies, Totally food safe right.
This is my second trip to Chiang Mai and Chiang Mai Gate Market is a stand out for best place to stock up on fresh fruit, cooked meats and other goodies for a days adventure or just to grab a snack, with most things under $1 cad, you can really stretch your budget after having incurred some brutal unexpected expenses like I did yesterday without sacrificing taste or quality.
Even though most of this stuff has never seen a cooler or refrigerator, most of it is salted and seasoned enough that its perfectly safe for us foreigners to eat. My personal favorite is the spiral curried sausages which are absolutely to die for and pack really well for a day trip out to Crazy Horse Buttress as crag snacks.
For $7 cad I got some sweet bread, 3 bananas, 4 pieces of curried sausage, a massive portion of jack fruit, and half a pomelo. This was an awesome adventure breakfast/lunch and all of it was so good, the fruit is incredible in Thailand.
After I got my haul from the Market I hopped on my suped up shit box scooter and put putted the 30 odd kilometers to crazy horse, where I ran into a group of expats that graciously let me join their group and climb with them, Trent, Clara, Brad and, Alana if you ever read this, you guys are great.
The Crazy Horse Buttress climbing area is comprised of 22 climbing walls with over 280 routes, so its definitely somewhere you can climb for a long time and never climb the same route twice, This wall is called the Reunion wall.
Later in the day I walked about half a kilometer east of the reunion wall to the Tamarind Village, where I met another awesome group of climbers. I climbed a few more routes with them until my fingers were sore and my stomach was rumbling.
For dinner tonight I went to Lookbua restaurant which was highly rated on google and it truly did not disappoint. This pork fried rice was so simple but so delicious, I’m truly in awe of how tender pork is in Thailand.
This Thai-Chinese fusion roasted duck red curry was arguably the best dish I’ve ever had in Thailand, It was a perfect meal after a big day of climbing.
After dinner I had plans to meet up with a group of climbers who I am planning to go climb with tomorrow, before that i found myself with some time to kill so I took my put-put and explored around the old city of Chiang my for a bit which is quite beautiful at night.
On my little time killing adventure I found myself at Buak Hard Public Park, which I’ve been to before but during the day. The last time I went to the park it was dead no one around, but I made a realization that showed the differences of Thailand to Canada. Its hot as shit here in the day time so people go to the park at night because its cooler.
The park was absolutely jam packed with people walking running, exercising, doing yoga, dancing. which was totally a new experience for me. also all the ponds in the park were stuffed with the fattest koi fish I had ever seen. Which i totally made fatter by feeding them copious amounts of fish food, For some reason feeding koi is so relaxing to me, I love it.
As I have been writing todays blog post I realized its really the first day I’ve been able to focus on writing about what I did, instead of how I felt on this trip. Which is a nice change of pace for me. Today was just such an easy breezy beautiful day. Tomorrow is my last day in Chiang Mai and I’m super excited to go climb with a big group of people at the Buttress.
Ps. If my grammar is shit today its because I’m falling asleep writing this post and truly have stopped caring about punctuation.
The Great Dopamine Rush of 2025 