I think when most people think if Thailand they imagine pristine beaches with emerald water and picturesque island landscapes. If you are one of those people, you are not alone because until recently, despite living here, that is all i really thought of the country as well. However, there is a lot more to it than just that.
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Maya Bay a the Phi-phi islands
I moved up to the north of Thailand because I had heard that they have a cool season. The rest of the country claims to have a cool season but after more than 10 years of living in Krabi I found this claim to be dubious at best since the temperature would rarely ever get below 27 degrees C (80 F) and the humidity remained oppressively high year round.
Most of the time that I have spent up in Chiang Mai has also been extremely hot, because no matter what the claims are, we are still in a tropical country not too far away from the equator, it's never going to get terribly cold..... or is it?
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This time of year thousands of people "in the know" flock to the mountainous areas in the north in order to get a look at the frosty and quite cold landscape that happens for around a month.
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It might not seem terribly special to someone that lives in N. America or Europe where you almost certainly vacation to get away from this sort of weather, but for those of use that avoid sunny areas and basically sweat our asses off most of the year, this is a very special occasion.
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It's so popular in fact, that the roads leading up to Doi Inthanon is normally backed up for miles with traffic, and parking can be a bit of an issue especially on the weekends. Therefore, if you are visiting and can help it, the weekends should be avoided.
Down here in the "valley" where my house is, the temperature gets down to the upper single-digits at night (last night it was 8 degrees C or 46 degrees F.) It is not unusual for the temp to drop below 0 in the mountains. It is still extremely unlikely to ever snow because of other weather-related factors that I don't pretend to understand, but it really is nice to see people get so excited about frost, which is something that used to simply annoy me as a kid growing up in several regions that have rather brutal winters (Chicago and Nebraska.)
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you'll never get a view like this in Nebraska
People always flock towards that which they are not accustomed and the Thais get just as excited about cold weather as Americans get about warm-water beaches. The grass is always frostier on the other side of the fence i guess.
Personally, i don't really even own clothes for this type of weather, and I rarely ever even wear long trousers. Yesterday I dug out my clothes that in the past had only been reserved for trips to NYC and at this moment at near noon i am in my living room with a hoodie, jeans, and socks. I relish these moments because in a few months we shall return to the usual 35 degrees with near 100 percent humidity.
Since I am being forced to move away from here early next year, I am going to take some time to really appreciate this because it is truly wonderful to not be sweating all the time for a bit.
Taking notes because come whatever may, I am moving to Thailand even if it will be for a month! Lol. I would love the frost as I prefer freezing weather than hot weather. Sweating irritates me.
lol yeaaaah 27 degrees is not exactly what I would class as cool haha!! - and add humidity to that... meh! As far as weather goes, I think us Capetonians simply get excited about any consistency whatsoever, because our mother city is renowned for having about 100 mood swings in one single day lol! We can literally go from 35 degrees to a thundestorm in a matter of hours haha!!!
Sounds like you would make a perfectly good South African haha... I saw a meme once about our Afrikaans farmers... something about it being cold and them putting on two pairs of shorts HAHAHAHA!!!!
I've been there a few times, nice spot. Went snorkeling at a place called Khao Phing Kan which was cool. Your first picture reminds me of the place but it didn't look quite as Photoshopped in real life. Thailand is a popular des8 for Aussies as you may well know. Close, very cheap and loads to do...Or not do.
Oh! It’s a bit too cold for me! Houses in Thailand don’t have central heating system!!
The real natural beauty..
Well tbh I always had some nice thoughts about Thailand as well. While have not been there yet but hopefully will make it soon out there. Besides the temp is kind of low for me to bear I think jk . Nevertheless, enjoy the time that you have and hopefully the next place will be much greater as well !! Cheers !
Paints a really nice picture in my opinion. We have something called Hamattan in Nigeria. Its very strong in the Northern part of the country. Hamatan is basically a very brisk, chilly and dry air blowing from the Sahara desert. Its the closest we get to winter here.
Does the cold sweep through the entire country or just selected locations?
Awesome place Thailand is, hope you are enjoying have a nice day
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That is part of the reason I love living in Michigan. Even though some years are crazy, we pretty much get the chance to experience all of the seasons. We can have some days in the summer with temps over 100 F and high humidity and then we can have days in the winter with -30 after wind chill. For the most part it is a pretty pleasant place to live. I am sure you can relate to that if you lived in Chicago.
For all the travelling I have done and Thai food I love, I have never been to Thailand. These shots really make me want to visit and I suspect I am going to have to live there a month to properly unwind.
You can come here for some of the snow and cold we have. Gladly trade places in the winter!!
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Chicago winters.. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.. Brutal. I hate frost too. I will gladly go waste gas preheating my work truck before I will enjoy scraping frost from the windows. I HATE it! Sometimes it fools me though. I think its just dew, but NO..Its just clear frost. I could do with out it. "The grass is always frostier on the other side of the fence..." hahaha.. so true I suppose.
We've been to Hawaii several times, and loved taking the early trip to a summit for a glimpse of the sunrise popping up over those low clouds. Froze our butts off. Was windy as crap up there and cooooold. In the 20's F. Made for a brisk bike ride down. Neat to experience the changes in climate, and landscape from top to bottom. An experience for sure.
I haven't had to deal with frost / ice on car windows in ages. Once when i was in high school i didn't have time to wait for the rear defroster to do its job and started punching and even kicking it to get it off. I broke the really expensive back window on my hatchback. I learned to be a bit more patient after than $300 loss.
Oh my gosh. That had to be pretty funny to watch from a distance. That’s a lot of money for glass and a hasty mistake though. I once saw a guy pour hot water onto his windshield to melt the ice build up. Didn’t end to well. Water ice and glass all through his car when it shattered in a millisecond. Yikes 😳