Day 123! As easy as ABC? The days are quickly flying by with my cousins around. We’re having a total blast and today was another amazing one. We explored one of Thailand’s national parks , Doi Inthanon, which is actually the highest point in all of Thailand! But because it was a long drive to the park… it ended up being a very early morning.

6:30am rolled around and Mina’s alarm went off. It kept going and going and I completely forgot we had an outing today so I said “can someone turn the alarm off?” But then I realized, I also needed to get up… so I crawled out of bed and got ready for the big day ahead!

By 7:20am we were all in the lobby ready to go! Our friends Miri and Joya joined us too. I’m so happy that we’ve been able to still hang out and that they get along so well with my cousins. It’s really added to the travel experience of meeting cool people from around the world. And we were about to meet some more great travelers!

We booked another tour to make our lives much easier today. Doi Inthanon was about a 2 hour drive away from the city and had a lot of driving around throughout the day as well.

As we entered the van, we were greeted by a bubbly Thai tour guide, Anna (who said if we forgot her name to call her banana). We were also joined by 3 other travelers: Keun from the Netherlands, Anuk from England, and Andrew from Toronto!

We drove around an hour to a gas station where we had our first stop for a bathroom and a quick snack for breakfast. I of course opted for a cheese toasty, no better way to start the day.

After our rest stop, we drove a little bit further to our first real destination of the day, the Wachirathan Waterfall!

This was a fairly quick stop, but the waterfall was very impressive! We wandered around and chatted with our new friends from the tour group. It was nice getting to know them more while admiring such a beautiful sight.

This waterfall had obviously been around for a while as you could see some major erosion in the rocks from continuous water flow. It was quite impressive!

We all piled back in the van to head to our next stop, the highest point in all of Thailand!

Doi Inthanon bolsters a height of 2,565.3341 meters (8,416.45 feet)! We didn’t have to walk very far from the parking lot to the summit, but we’ll have plenty of time for hiking later in the day.

At the summit, there were beautiful moss covered trees, perfect fall temperatures, and a memorial shrine for King Inthawichayanon.

I didn’t know this prior, but the north of Thailand was a separate kingdom from the south (Siam). It was called the Lanna Kingdom. King Inthawichayanon was the last king of the north and then his daughter married the King of Siam, thus uniting the two half’s.

Now the group picture infront of the sign, wasn’t actually the highest point… it was just for show. The actual tallest point was here:

After “submitting” the tallest point in Thailand, we got back in the van and made our way on a 30 minute drive to the twin pagodas. When you see or search a picture of Doi Inthanon, this is what you’ll see (and all I originally knew about it).

The twin pagodas are also known as the king and queen pagodas. These were made 5 years ago, two years after the start of the new kings reign. The king’s pagoda is 60 meters and the queen’s pagoda is 55 meters because allegedly the king is 5 inches taller than the queen.

Along with that, we heard about how the king currently has TWO wives and a number of girlfriends as well (allegedly upwards of 30)… pretty crazy. It’s very illegal to talk ill about the monarchy, so I was shocked that I was told this.

The pagodas were very pretty and the insides had Buddhas and also depicted different Buddhist stories about Buddha. There were also gorgeous gardens and great views that were semi obscured by the smog and clouds.

After the pagodas, I was in the bathroom doing my business and my group left me! My cousins were texting me, but they actually did leave me… our tour guide hung behind to wait but all was fine as I hopped into a free park truck taxi with my tour guide to catch up with everyone in our group.

Now it was time to visit a small “local market” before heading to lunch.

If this was Vietnam or Laos and I still had a motorbike, I would’ve skipped this market. It was most definitely a tourist trap, but they had a ton of samples which we all tried. A lot of us also bought snacks from the vendors as well.

Just another minute down the road, by van, lead us to our all you can eat lunch!

I took advantage of this and ate a lot. With skipping breakfast my stomach was a black hole. I was thoroughly enjoying the food, but they served fruit so I finished it off with a sweet treat.

After lunch, it was time for our second to last activity for the tour. A 2-3 hour trek (2-3 km) through the National Park and down to a coffee village.

The trek was fantastic! The weather so high up was crisp and felt like early fall in the US. You’ll see monk robes around trees. Apparently, this means that the trees and natue inside are part of the nature preserve and can’t be destroyed.

On top of that, we saw more waterfalls, dry rice fields, and some breathtaking views (even with the smog).

We even got to swim in a waterfall which was cold and refreshing!

It took around the 2 hour mark to walk the entire trek and our finishing spot was at a coffee village. This village used to make opioid, but since it is illegal it now grows many different ingredients for tea and coffee!

On the way to the village I bought a cup full of lychee for 10 baht and shared it with my whole group!

The tea and coffee plantation had 4 different drinks for us to try! They were medium roast coffee, tea made from caffeine beans, a mixed flower tea, and a butterfly pea tea!

After a long morning and afternoon, we finished up at the coffee village and got back into our van for the drive home.

It had been a long day but it was very fun and worth the money. We had a great guide who was funny and informative, we got to see some beautiful views, and also got to see a number of waterfalls. On top of that, the weather was gorgeous!

We got back to our hostel, where we showered and then headed back out into the heat for the Saturday night market!

First we got duck and wonton soup near our hostel. Then we called a grab and made our way to the opposite gate from where we were staying, the South Gate. Apparently this night market compares to or prepares you for the Sunday mega market, it’s just smaller. I’m not sure what to expect from tomorrow’s night market… but this one was rather long!

We arrived at the Wua Lao Road walking street market. This market was super long and had everything from clothes to food to drinks!

While at the night market, I decided to try silk worms again (I gave some to Mina, Ben, and Sam). These definitely weren’t as good as my first go, but I still enjoyed them. The Thai locals were pretty impressed that I was just munching away!

Ben, Mina, and Sam tried a scorpion this time around, but the consistency of this one wasn’t good.

And then for desert, I got a waffle called Babin. Which is made out of black sticky rice, coconut milk, coconut sugar, and coconut meat. It was very good! We also got 10 Baht pieces of mochi where I got a mint chocolate chip flavored one!

After a long day, it was time to head back to the hostel and get some rest. But before bed, Miri and Joya swung by and we chatted for a bit over some soju.

Tomorrow we have no plans besides the night market. We’ll see what we get up to, but I wouldn’t be opposed to a slower day. I guess only time will tell!

– Elie