WHEN IN ROAMING

The sixty days we were granted on our first Thai visa were coming to an end, so we finished them off right where we started, in Bangkok. We were flying out to Singapore from there anyway. The minute we stepped off the bus from Pattaya, into the crazy Bangkok city heat, it immediately felt like home. The smells, the sights, the transportation, everything was familiar. The comfort we felt after spending our first two weeks there was a little surreal and it was only intensified

From cooking classes in Chiang Mai to the White Temple of Chiang Rai then down to the beaches of Pattaya, check out our last bit of Thailand until the Songkran Festival island hopping begins! Keep roaming, the world is indeed yours! #when #wheninroaming #travel #traveling #chiangrai #chiangmai #pattaya #roamerreport #thailand #backpackers #video

We sat down with Alex & Abby, the minds behind what will be Bangkok's first bicycle co-op, "Don Kuson." Being 2 expats from the states, we were really interested to hear about how they became so intertwined in the Sathorn community of Bangkok where they live now. Abby & Alex, who already operate one apartment building with a first floor restaurant, have taken on a much larger space in hopes to create a community environment for the repair and education of bicycles in the neig

Some beach time was desperately needed after our stay in the mountains up in Chiang Rai. With a week and a half left until our visas were up in Thailand, we booked an AirBnB in Pattaya, a small beach town two hours southeast of Bangkok. We were sore and just couldn't wait to lay on the sand and sip on some drinks with endless views of the Gulf of Thailand. After our mountain visit, we rode back to Chiang Mai and caught a 13 hour sleeper night train back to Bangkok. Eli has ne

One thing we've noticed while traveling through Thailand is that once you get off a bus or train at any destination, there are hoards of tuk tuk drivers that will literally follow you around and ask you repeatedly "where are you going" so that they can overcharge you for a taxi ride. We've learned to ignore them and walk away from their vicinity to find a more reasonably priced driver. When we arrived in Chiang Rai there was no exception, however, there was a man who just had

Excited to get out of Chiang Mai, we took a three hour bus ride to Chiang Rai, the northernmost city in Thailand. We didn't really know what to expect once we got there, but we wanted to spend three days there and were in for a nice surprise. We immediately noticed that this town was the complete opposite of a tourist town. Our guesthouse was in a somewhat secluded area, in what we like to call, the real Thailand. You could not see another foreigner for miles and the people t

Just a 6 hour bus ride north from Sukhothai, we arrived to Chiang Mai on a Friday ready to spend a week exploring and stuffing our face with the city's amazing food offerings. Being the 2nd biggest city in Thailand behind Bangkok, Chiang Mai has a very leisurely feel compared to the Bangkok craziness. The old city is partly surrounded by a brick gate, each side having one entrance. It was pretty cool to know that hundreds of years ago traders would travel by river to the en

After 3 days in Ayutthaya, we hopped on a bus and rode three hours north to Sukothai, a small historical town in central Thailand that translates to Dawn of Happiness. It became the first independent Thai kingdom in the 13th century. Sukothai is split into two sides, old city and new city. We found a cute $6 per night hostel in new city and pretty much relaxed, read and drank the most deliciously fresh fruit smoothies daily on our three day visit. It was a much needed breathe

One morning last week, Trav woke up super early, like 6am early, and left our room. Of course I went back to sleep. He wakes me up an hour later and says, "Hey, I rented a motorbike and tested it out. You wanna go for a ride? There's a hell temple that's been overrun by monkeys that's 20 minutes away I want us to go see!" Immediately, I had two thoughts running through my mind; 1. There's no way I'm getting on the back of a random motorbike with you and 2. Hell and monkeys? H

Here's a very long story made very very short: In 1350, in an attempt to escape smallpox, the king of Siam (now Thailand) settled in Ayutthaya and named it the capitol of his kingdom, making the new city the second capitol in the country's history. For over 400 years the city flourished until the Burmese-Siam wars of the 18th century captured the city, destroyed almost everything meaningful to the Thai culture, and left the city abandoned. You can thank all my last minute m