The next stop of this trip was supposed to be Mae Sot and Um Phang way out west in remote Tak Province to see the tallest waterfall in Thailand. Unfortunately, the road going to the waterfall is inaccessible due to flooding and mud slides. And even if the road was clear it wouldn’t matter because the waterfall is overflowing so much that it completely destroyed its viewing platform and the nearby campground. So the government of Thailand closed off the…
My drive from Chiang Rai south was thankfully, uneventful. There were reports of flooding on part of my route through Phayao so I considered briefly taking the long way through Chiang Mai. Good thing I looked at the radar online though before leaving because Chiang Mai was getting pounded. I took my chances with my original plans and made it to Sukhothai with no problems. On the news were lots of pictures of Chiang Mai flooded with water and mud….
After exploring Chiang Saen basically as a couple of day trips from Chiang Rai, Now it’s time to explore Chiang Rai itself. I was the most worried about dealing with floods in Chiang Saen, but it turns out that Chiang Rai got flooded much worse. The water has receded and the city is mostly cleaned up, but the streets are very dusty and dirty with now dried mud and there are piles of mud on the sides of some streets…
The flooding danger seems to have gone away for now in the two stops I decided to skip. So, I’m going to attempt them now, starting in Chiang Saen. Chiang Saen never did flood, but it is one of the villages that they were most worried about since it’s located right on the bank of the Mekong River. And just as a precaution I decided not to sleep there and instead stay in Chiang Rai about an hour away. It’s…
Well, I was supposed to head north from Chiang Mai, but it turns out there’s a giant typhoon wreaking havoc and causing devastating floods from Vietnam, across Laos, northern Thailand, and into Myanmar. The whole region has gotten about three times the average amount of rain so far this year. That’s a lot of water! Anyway, two of my next three planned stops are either dealing with floods or are in danger of flooding soon and unfortunately for me, my…
Greetings and welcome to Thailand! After having my visa rejected over a typo about six months ago, I finally got everything straightened out and NOW, I can enjoy another Holy Crap Adventure in this beautiful part of the world. Thankfully, my journey here went super smooth. But I also arrived super late, so I just stumbled into my hotel and crashed for the night. After a good night’s sleep I’m ready to start exploring my first stop, Chiang Mai, in…
I’m learning that getting around Central America is pretty darn easy. There are lots of cheap shuttle options that usually pick you up right at your hotel, and when there’s not, there’s an easy bus going right where you want. Just two blocks from my hotel in Guatemala city was where the bus left for my next destination, Santa Ana in El Salvador, and the next country on my list. The border crossing was easy and quick, and in just…
Another bus full of tourists, another border crossing, without the corrupt officials this time though, and it’s welcome to Guatemala. My base for this part of the trip is the tourist saturated Flores, a tiny little island in Lago Petén Itzá connected to Santa Elena on the mainland by a quarter mile long causeway. Flores is a cool place to stroll around, but as far as I can tell its just hotels, restaurants, and souvenir shops. I’m staying in Santa…
My border crossing from Chetumal, Mexico, into the next country on my list, Belize, went pretty smooth, if not a little slowly. I took a bus full of tourists, just like me. First we exited the bus to get stamped out of Mexico. Normally you get charged a Mexican tourism tax with your airline tickets, which I did, but I read that the border guards try to scam tourists into paying it again when leaving. Me and the couple in…
I hope you’re comfortable because this post is gonna be dense. I left Tulum on an early bus going further south to Chetumal and then got right into a taxi to take me to the airport where I rented a car for this next leg of the trip. Because a car equals freedom. But before driving out of Chetumal, I made a quick stop at their Mayan Culture Museum. The museum was fairly small, but sure packed a punch. They…