It was a long journey from Phoenix to Chiang Mai. I had stops in both Los Angeles & Hong Kong. By the end, I felt I was in desperate need of a shower and some personal space. I arrived in Chiang Mai around 14:30, and was settled into my hotel around 16:00. I figured the best thing I could do was clean myself up and get some fresh air. So, I changed my shoes, washed my face, put makeup back on, grabbed my purse, and put some of my things in the safe. I was on my own and out and about.

Not 100% sure of where to go, but just remembering a little bit from studying google maps, I headed toward the night bazaar. From their a couple of left turns led me on a journey through souvenir shops and Buddhist temples. I pushed on knowing that I had to wear myself down and go as long as possible before I could go to sleep. I probably lasted about two hours on the streets. Not feeling bold enough to sample Thai food yet, partially because I didn't feel like making the effort to figure out what to order, I ended up ordering Pizza Hut because it was literally right outside our hotel. I did my best to eat all I could despite the fact that I felt like I could pass out at any second. With a full belly, I took a quick hot shower, then waited to hear from Brad when he landed in Phuket. I didn't last much longer. I was trying to stay awake until he got there, but it wasn't possible. I could feel myself dosing off, and immediately grabbed my phone to let him know that I wouldn't be awake upon his arrival. Seconds after sending the text, I was gone …out cold. I remember, a little while later hearing the hotel room door open, and the sound of my husbands voice. We were finally back together.

The next morning we had to get our own breakfast, so we went out and stumbled upon a Starbucks. It was a nice choice because it gave us a little bit of our normal cuisine while we got "wild" with the Thai food. ...and it was a nice relaxing routine way to start our mornings together.

During our first day, we just stayed in the city. We wandered all over looking for fun treasures, in between popping in and out of the small temples. As we wandered along the city walls near the river, we ended up finding John's Place, a restaurant that had the best Pad Thai in all of Thailand....

After a day of wandering through the city, we were tired, sweaty, and couldn't wait to relax. We ended up wandering through the Night Bazaar, enjoying food & checking out the local vendors. Eventually though, it was time for bed; I had hung in there as long as possible.

The next morning we woke with only one one activity in mind. Elephants. Our first task was to wander upstairs to the concierge to book an event. We ended up booking with Elephant Jungle Sanctuary, mainly because it was within our time frame, and they don't offer elephant rides, a crucial requirement for me. They were picking us up late that morning to take us to thesSanctuary, so with the time in between we went to Starbucks to get our breakfast, and then did some light wandering through the city in a different area than usual. We ended up finding a fun temple with mother of pearl inlaid pillars, and mirrored mosaic detailing. These striking details were intoxicating as I we looked around. We also, had fun taking pictures mimicking the Buddhas.

When we got back to the hotel we packed the back pack and waited downstairs for our driver. It was an extensive drive in an open back vehicle with a group of about 10 other people. It was easily about 1.5 hours of driving, with a stop at a gas station for snacks. The drive was very scenic, but towards the end I was starting to experience some motion sickness from not being able to see out completely.

Once we were permanently out of the truck, we were instructed to put on one of the festive "ponchos" then were shuffled over to the picnic tables for our orientation. Our guide/instructor walked us through the timeline for the afternoon & shared information about Thai elephants and the organization. I was so excited to interact with Asian Elephants I was beside myself!

We started off our interaction with handfuls of small bananas. Elephants love bananas! After probably 30 minutes of loving the sweet “little” beauties, we headed up the hill to meet the mama & her 5 day old baby. It was such a treat! We watched the little baby slowly wander around near its mom & practice using its trunk and ears. It was so cute! We all watched in awe wanting to love on the tiny baby.

When it was time for everyone to have a mud bath our group scurried back to our belongings & readied themselves in their swimwear.

The Thai employees had already begun shuffling the elephants toward the mud, and we were not far behind. Within moments there were 5 elephants and approximately 20 people in a giant pool of muddy water. The elephants began jubilantly rolling around, and the people gathered round tossing mud on the elephants and giving them mud massages. It was so fun... At one point it became a bit of a mud fight as patrons began lobbing large wads of mud back and forth towards each other. No one was safe (or harmed).

About 15 minutes after, we all made our way towards the river for our baths. We all grabbed old bowls and buckets & began rinsing each other and the elephants, splashing one another like children. It was one of the best times that I have ever had in a river. Once play time was over, and everyone was "cleaned off", we headed back up the hill to the outdoor showers, where we were able to rinse off river debris and remaining bits of mud. For snack time Elephant Jungle Sanctuary provided us with some amazing Thai dishes & some watermelon. It was all delicious, and great to fill up before our long drive back.

When we arrived back at our hotel it was time for real showers before we journeyed back out. We wandered a little bit, not fully sure of what to do. We explored the area a bit more, and ended up deciding to eat at one of the local restaurants, Pizza Hut. We couldn't shake the "lame" away, but for some reason we were both craving it. So we went with it. It was surprisingly expensive compared to the Thai food, but really hit the spot. Sometimes, you just need some greasy pizza!

We headed back to the hotel in an attempt to get some cool dry air. Also, we wanted to scout out a potential zip-lining company. Without much trouble we found one, Jungle Flight Chiang Mai. I booked us for the JF3 package, with arrangements to be picked up in the morning. We were pumped!

I wasn't ready for bed just yet and wanted a little more time on my feet, so we headed back out for about an hour until Brad was too worn down to continue. The extensive rows of street vendors and tourists were quite overwhelming, and seemed like they went on for miles and miles, probably because they did. Finally though, the weather overtook us and we were back in our room with a movie on before getting some rest for a very fun day ahead.

It was zip-lining day! We headed out to grab a quick McDonald's breakfast before our big adventure. Next thing we knew, we were in an air-conditioned van headed for the bumpy Mountains outside of Chiang Mai. Upon arrival, we were issued a locker and basically asked to leave anything that couldn't be securely fastened to our person. We filled out our paperwork and then were geared up and broken into our groups.

They took us down to the starting point, and from there we were off! It was incredible! Especially the 1000M line.... The view of the canopy was so amazing that I wish I could run the line every day. We didn't see any wildlife, and the only loud noises I could here were those of other thrill seekers near by. It was a really enthralling afternoon... except maybe the "roller coaster" where you are latched in & hold onto two handles over head and basically get whiplash voluntarily... To put it simply, it was wild, also a bit painful at times. (It is possible to get flung, but you are still attached and still make it to the end.) We eventually ran out of lines to zip along, and were led down the road to a local restaurant that had some cuisine prepared for us. It was good, but, honestly, it sketched me out a little bit so I didn't go hog wild for it like I did at the Elephant Sanctuary.

When we got back to the hotel, we quickly rinsed off the jungle sweat and then headed out to wander and to grab an early dinner. We were thinking about going to Doi Suthep the next day, and I needed something to cover my shoulders so that I wouldn't have to wear my lightweight pullover again because that was brutal. I had found something at one of the souvenir shops, but it was a little pricier than what I wanted, but I didn't want a traditional Thai silk sarong... I wanted something that I could wear at the beach or wherever. ...anyways long story short, I thought about it, looked at other places, but went with the one I like best..

For dinner we went to a restaurant that sat along the river, The Riverside Bar & Restaurant (it doesn't get more straightforward than that!). We had a great view and great service. I went with Chicken Fried Rice, and Brad got something a little more exciting. It was a calm quick meal, but it was all I needed at the moment.

After dinner, we stopped by the hotel so that I could change into something more comfortable given the climate.... A dress wasn’t working for me. Then, feeling adapted, we then headed back out to explore more of the markets. We wandered for several hours, wanting to try several things and just experience Chiang Mai. We tried some of the hummus from the middle eastern couple, we tried Pad Thai from one of the local ladies (it was exquisite).... We ended up at another market where we wandered for a little while, and then Brad ditched me to find Thai beer... While we were separated, I considered it a perfect time to buy a few pieces of boho jewelry. With my purchase complete, and my first "negotiating" sale done, I went back to find Brad. He had a pitcher of Chang, and I couldn't help but assist him with it. We enjoyed sipping our beer and watching the tourists and locals mingle and mix.

With Brad ready for the next chapter in our culinary evening, we went across the way to one of the restaurants and got a small table where we both proceeded to order soup. I'm pretty sure that may be part of why the Thai people are so skinny -- soup combined with the heat and humidity just makes you sweat even more... I enjoyed mine as it was basically a chicken noodle, and Brad hated his... I think it was like a seafood soup that he said had a very strong ginger taste. It was pretty funny to watch him try to suffer through it, but eventually he just couldn't do it, so we got the check and left. We wandered on a bit more.... and found another market for Brad where he was able to find another snack.... Finally, we were both full. We were both exhausted, and so we decided to make our way back to the hotel. We were leaving the next day, so we packed the bags the best we could, and headed to bed.

The next morning we finished packing, and got ready to head to Starbucks for breakfast. While we were eating we decided to go to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, a temple on the mountain. After our very American breakfast we needed to find a driver. The trick was finding one for a reasonable rate.

Once we had our guy, we headed up and up and up the side of the mountain. He stopped at a picturesque spot overlooking the city so we could enjoy the view. We noticed several street vendors offering food and souvenirs, but felt it was best to hold off until later. We were able to snap a selfie, and then were quickly back in the car. When we finally reached the top, our driver agreed to wait for us until we were finished with our tour. We bought our tickets, and took the tram up to the temple which was packed with people. Only then, did we realize that the stairs wouldn't have been a problem. Ready for our final experience, we found the spot where we had to remove our shoes & we headed inside. It filled with tourists and locals paying their respects to Buddha, and many dressed in black to honor their late king. It was decadent and beautiful. Although I personally am not a follower of Buddha, nor do I fully understand Buddhism, I find it to be a very beautiful and peaceful religion.

We spent probably about and hour to and hour and half wandering the grounds before we found our way out and back down the beautiful staircase. We wandered across the street and headed down hill past the street vendors. We grabbed some meat skewers, and perused the trinkets. Without souvenirs we crossed the street once again to find our driver, but he found us first. When he got his tuk-tuk he drove us back down the mountain, and dropped us off at our hotel.

We immediately regretted having this as our drop off point because we wanted to go to John's Place again for lunch, and neither of were dressed for that journey. I was in jeans, making it an absolutely miserable, hot and humid walk. We drank through our water quickly, and scarfed down our Chicken Pad Thai once again.

We were now ready to depart Chiang Mai. We sauntered back to our hotel to grab our bags, check out, and just sit. We waited for about an hour for our driver scheduled to pick us up early that afternoon to take us to the airport.

ISSUE 23: Chiang Mai, Thailand 2016