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Bangkok
I was a little apprehensive about Bangkok. I was looking forward to it but had this oddly nervous or unsure feeling about it. I imagined being overwhelmed with chaotic crowds, loud motorbikes and oppressive amounts of smog and humidity. But it wasn't like that. Well, I mean we did find chaotic crowds, loud motorbikes and some oppressive smog and humidity but it was not that bad, or maybe it was just that there was so much more to Bangkok than these things that it didn't seem like that big of a deal. It helped that we stayed more on the outskirts of center (away from Khao San Road and all that well known douchebaggery) but we were surprised at how easy and refreshing we found the city to be. Everyone is just so friendly, the food so good, plus we saw some amazing things and also had a great time doing a decent amount of nothing.

Wat Su Thatsana Thep Wara Ram Ratchaworamahawihan:

The Grand Palace:

And then there was Wat Pho, my favorite Bangkok temple that we saw:

Yoga statue

The highlight at Wat Pho is the huge reclining Buddha. It's 46 meters (just over 50 yards) long, that's half a football field.

On our last day we were feeling burned out and ended up at this weird themed mall to watch the Star Wars movie (which only cost $2.75!). The theme of the mall is international cities, and we were excited to see that two of its 9 floors were dedicated to San Francisco (along with a floor each for London, Paris, Tokyo, Rome, Istanbul, Hollywood, and a vaguely Caribbean themed floor). Here are some of the wonderfully tacky SF highlights (sadly there were no imitation Farolitos or La Palmas to be found):

The name of the mall is "Terminal 21"

And lastly for Bangkok, here is a condom themed restaurant, called Condoms and Cabbages, that we stopped in at for a drink. It was started by a family planning activist that wanted to make birth control less of a taboo in Thailand (which is, somewhat surprisingly, a very conservative place in many ways):

So as I said above the people of Bangkok were friendly, the food excellent and sites amazing, but that was just the start, because after Bangkok we headed north to Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai and the people got even friendlier, the food even better, and the sites still amazing.

Chiang Rai
In Chiang Rai we walked around the small town, ate at the amazing night market and also got our first massage (which we liked and plan on getting many more sub-$5 massages before we leave the continent). One day we hired a driver to take us around to some of the sites in the Chiang Rai region. Here are a few highlights:

White Temple
What a bizarre and memorable place. You walk over this beautiful bridge (where a guy with a megaphone yells at you to keep moving) over thousands of hellish outstretched arms and walk into the temple. Inside the temple is also a mural showing pop cultural icons like the Angry Birds (flying at the WTC), Neo from the Matrix, Michael Jackson, and Kung Fu Panda (and dozens of others) burning in what seems to be hell (?). We sadly couldn't take picture of this mural, but you can see some of them here if you wanted to. Outside the temple is plenty of other unexpected sights, like a golden bathroom or the faces of Hellboy, Gollum, or Pinhead hanging from a tree.

Black House
Another very unsettling place. It was the residence of famous Thai artist Thawan Duchanee, who transformed his property into his idea of hell - filling his many unusual buildings with animal bones and skins (all animals apparently died from natural causes). It's a beautiful but dark and creepy place to visit.

Monkey Cave (aka Fish Cave)
We didn't have much time to explore the cave, but we did get to see lots of unusual statues and mischievous monkeys around.

Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai is the big city in the north, but it's really not all that big. It has a huge ex-pat community so there is a great diversity of food and of westerners in cargo shorts. We again mostly just relaxed around town, ate a lot, and did a lot of walking, but we also took a very fun all day Thai cooking class. But the highlight of our time there was definitely meeting up with friends from back home that amazingly happened to be in Chiang Mai when we were. We met for some food and all went up to the temple on the hill outside of town. Somehow I forgot to take a picture with us all, but lucky Ellen remembered to take one:

Picked up some hitchhikers in our songthaew

A photo posted by quitbaconmyheart (@quitbaconmyheart) on Jan 13, 2016 at 9:23pm PST

More Chiang Mai:

Chiang Mai city walls

Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep

Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep

Two of our cooking class accomplishments:

Spicy tofu soup

Panang curry and Pad thai

We completely see why everyone loves Thailand so much. The people are wonderful, the food incredible, the landscapes diverse, there are so many great sites, plus (despite being such a huge tourist destination) it's all still pretty cheap. I know this is no surprise or news to anyone, but still, what a great place.

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Bangkok photos
Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai photos