Every now and then we would like to introduce you to one of our destinations by providing a short story written by one of our team members or clients. This was written by our founder, Bethany, and shares a glimpse of life in Northern Thailand (a place she calls home for about half of each year.)

I cannot write a simple story about Thailand. Having spent so much of my life there over the past four years, it’s hard to know where to start. In particular, Chiang Mai has been the fertile ground where much of my personal growth has taken place. I also started my business here. I met my husband here. Even more than that, the time I spent in Thailand by myself for the first year was where I could finally hear the desires of my own heart.

Like so many other foreigners to Chiang Mai, I came intending to only stay a short time (maybe 3 weeks?) I was in a waiting period, hoping to get a long-term work permit so I could enter Bhutan and start my life there, where I had joined the team of a travel company several months prior.

But the Bhutan work permit never came, and in the meantime I found myself intrigued by Northern Thailand. Having only been to Bangkok before, I didn’t understand how much soul and character the former Lanna Kingdom contained. The wildness, the jungle, the music, the people. The coffee. The resistance, the history. 100 million points of view. The dichotomies, the irony, the humor, the openness. Forest monks. Sex tourists. Instagram influencer wannabes. Anarchists. Artists. Professional fruit carvers. Trail runners.

And most importantly, a sense of freedom allowed many to express themselves in ways that might have been impossible in less fluid environments.

While the town of Chiang Mai is fun and easy-natured for locals and foreign inhabitants alike, it was only when I began exploring beyond Chiang Mai’s borders that the wild heart of Northern Thailand made itself known to me. In a wet, abundant jungle that is continuously regenerating itself, it can be hard to find the trail. Getting up to a mountain’s summit point is less about the elevation gain and more about the energy required to wind your body through and around the mountain’s thick and muddy foliage. 

But then sometimes, many times, you’ll find yourself spit out of the jungle and into a village. Just when you thought you’d disappeared from reality completely, suddenly there’s a house, and a chicken, and a middle-aged husband & wife brewing pour-over coffee from the beans they harvested and roasted themselves.

Northern Thailand is grace embodied in the land. It is a place that provides, if only you’re willing to loosen your grip on control. Those who respect the mountains and what grows there will never go hungry. And if you’re determined to disappear, to lose your sense of self, or to reclaim your freedom from society and anything that holds you back, the thick jungle will hide you for as long as you need.