So I went on a trip with a random dude I found off the net – Mr Q
My level of unhinge-ness might have reached a new peak with this expedition.
In all honesty, the idea of traveling with a stranger has its own strange allure for me so here goes. Chiang Mai was never on my travel list until a friend of mine mentioned that I should REALLY visit it so I took his word and planned a short trip there (5D4N) just to explore this little hidden gem. True enough, I was pleasantly surprised at the good vibes in this place. It’s giving pre-commercialized version of Bali which I really loved. The abundance of massages everywhere and the selection of cafes was solid. Ah, my favorite would always be the activities and true enough Chiang Mai did not disappoint.
We went for a Thai cooking class, a Muay Thai class (exhausted my cardio for the year ISTG), visited Doi Inthanon National Park and yes, White-Water Rafting HAHAHA I had an NDE with the last time I did white-water rafting at Sabah but wHat DoeSnt kILL yOu mAkeS yoU StrOnger. LFG!!
Breakdown as follows:
- Flight (Scoot): $450/pax
- Hotel 4N (Cozy Inn Chiang Mai): $60 SGD/pax
- Activities (Cooking, Muay Thai, National Park, White-water Rafting): $326 ($32 + $22 + $61 + $95) SGD/pax
- Food, Transport & Expenses: $400 SGD/pax (fully using cash)
Total Damage: Est. $1.2K SGD/pax
Day 1 | Mama Noi Thai Cooking Class)
I ate Thai Green Curry almost every night in Copenhagen simply because I miss Asian food so I thought it would be nice to actually learn how to cook Thai Green Curry!! Turns out the green color is actually from the Thai green chilies – Birds’ eye chillies! We cooked 3 dishes in total; a soup, a main, a curry, made Thai milk tea and also a dessert; Mango sticky rice. The entire session was so enjoyable largely due to the guide cheering us on when we are cooking. NGL it really gave me some culinary wars vibes which was kinda funny. Thais really love their sugars and FISH SAUCE! We pounded the chillies, chopped the ingredients and slammed the sht out of the lemongrass :’) as part of the meal prep. Then, it was time to cook. The cooking part was quite fast actually, just that we took some time since we had to cook 3 dishes. Before we knew it, it was time to eat our cooking and surprisingly it was pretty good!! Thou shall open a restaurant one day and this will be my origin story HAHAHA Completed our meal with dessert and finally it was time to call it a day. Considering that we get to eat our own cooking, we actually didn’t have to think about dinner that day so I think this was a pretty good deal. Headed back and got a quick….massage before turning in 😉
Day 2 | Doi Inthanon National Park
Doi Inthanon National Park has one of the highest places in Thailand and there was pretty spectacular waterfall there too. What really impressed me was our guide’s caliber because he was so honest and genuine which was really refreshing. He really walked us though the history of the Thai villages with his stories and also the various antics that scammers try to scam tourists’ monies (I know). He didn’t hardsell anything and brought us to plenty of places to explore. I really enjoyed his sharing and ended up tipping him just because he’s that good.
Oddly, the entire tour group was mainly foreign white people and we were one of the rare Asians. I actually brought a camera to shoot the waterfall and ended up not really getting anything taken because of how brutal the water was splashing at the camera lens. Thank god for iphone. Oh, our guide also prepared a surprise gift and I made a random guess that it’s mango sticky rice and his face changed HAHAHA Istg it was a random guess and I got it right LOL And just like that we spent the whole day out at the national park. Washed up and went for a massage named “Office Syndrome Treatment” HAHAHA They focused on my back, shoulders and neck which was PURFECT.
Lastly, we grabbed a disappointing dinner at a western restaurant and headed home. Why disappointing you asked? Let’s just say the beef patty was cooked to “Congratulations” level no lie.
Some photos from the park:
Day 3 |Muay Thai Beginner’s Class, Chom Cafe, Maya Mall
I do have a background in Taekwondo (noob) but I’ve never imagined myself learning Muay Thai but here goes nothing. This was a 1-hour introductory session to Muay Thai and I almost passed away from this because of how tiring it is to… punch things. I’m not even kidding when I say the instructors laughed at me when I was panting away from this seemingly easy sport; he wanted me to punch 10 times and when I gave him the look he said, “ok, make it 5 times” HAHAHA Sister was exhausted from this ordeal but it was good cardio though. I can understand why people would like this sport, it is quite liberating to punch something…?
Overall a good experience and one of the instructors seems rather keen on coming to Singapore to teach Muay Thai. I told him I’ll see him around 🙂 After which, we went to wash up, got a massage and checked out an Instagrammable cafe/restaurant called Chom for dinner. I literally saw 6 ladies dressed up all demure like fairies as they took their photos with the background. The background of the trees and sprinklers gave very forest-y vibes which is quite pretty but it’s all fake ya LOL I ate some prawn vermicelli and Q ate fried rice. Both of which are quite meh but the vibes were good so that’s alright. Went to check out the biggest mall in Chiang Mai – Maya and pretty much summed up our chill day.
Day 4 | White-water rafting
White-water rafting aka how I almost died 2 years ago at Sabah. But this time, at Chiang Mai. I honestly think that the rapids at Chiang Mai was much more manageable than the one at Padas (Sabah). I survived and they even helped us take photos which was nice. I looked like I was losing my sht half the time LOL the trauma is real HAHAHA
Our session was accompanied by a group of Spanish people from Barcelona and also a couple from Belgium. The entire group was so chaotic and hilarious, we had a great time rafting ngl. The captain of our raft was quite funny and we basically had a water splashing war midst our rafting adventure. Everyone was so fun to hang out with and they even helped me up when I accidentally fell down at the slope. Along the way, we also met a couple of people from Dubai? They were hilarious; one of them literally jumped onto our boat and our raft captain went to “hijack” their raft so at some point we were on our own without a captain :’) Lunch was provided and we also got to slide off a mini waterfall before we called it a day.
What a day indeed.
Day 5 | SIN
Grabbed breakfast before we headed back to SIN 😉
This trip was rather interesting. I never really traveled with a stranger before but it was wild and memorable at the same time. I actually thought Q would make a great partner and that was my stupid brain being annoying. Traveling together is actually very telling of a person’s character. Not only was he spontaneous, he was also very supportive of random activities I suggested. Sure enough, the trip panned out the way I imagined. Just that I had to friendzone him after the trip due to personal reasons 🙂 Ngl he did give off golden retriever energy which isn’t really my thing I guess? But overall, a very innocently decent green flag. Update: I might reconsider him though the golden retriever energy is getting to me dang.
I don’t really see myself having the emotional bandwidth to sustain a relationship anymore? I literally only meet friends once a year :’) Truth is, I’m perfectly alright on my own. I don’t really see the need to…be with someone. If I could grab a random stranger on random trips, I wouldn’t mind that too; just for the company. Ah, I think they call those friends but isn’t it nice to say goodbye after the trip and move on to reality though. I guess I have granularized relationships to just…temporary companionship. Am I broken? It works for me though.
Also, I’ve decided that my purpose in this life is…to lead a fulfilling life. A happy fulfilling life. I will try. or cry whichever works :’) Will be spending New Years in Korea with Mother so that’s gonna be interesting. Yes, we have been there before. Sister’s skincare products have run out so this is my every-two-years shopping trip to Korea. Perhaps even give skiing another whirl since it was pretty fun kekeke
D
theniecextn. 
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