If you're a beginner international traveler, Thailand is a perfect place to go for any occasion and at any age. I traveled with my best friend and roommate at the time. I was 19 and it was my first international girls trip destination. Thailand has such a fascinating culture and the country itself is beautiful. If you're interested in traveling to Thailand, here are some recommendations on things to do while you're there.

Go beyond Bangkok

Bangkok is a great city so see because there is so much history and there are tons of temples to see. I recommend doing a few days, at most, in Bangkok. Try the street food, see the temples, go out to a club or two, then take your adventure somewhere else. Bangkok is a place to go to, but not a great place to stay for long periods of time. Here are some photos from Bangkok.

Visit Chiang Mai

My favorite part of Thailand was visiting Chiang Mai for the weekend. Chiang Mai, by far, had the greatest food and the best spas. Make sure you get a Thai Massage and maybe go twice because you'll only spend about 500 baht. I also recommend seeing the city by moped. It was the most stressful experience, but also super fun to travel around and see the temples with a scooter. We definitely crashed, thanks to Victoria, but we lived and thats all that matters.

My Favorite Day Ever

Playing with Elephants in Thailand was the GREATEST experience of my life.

Elephant Nature Park is a great company to go with to see elephants. A lot of companies in Thailand will treat their animals poorly so it's important to research which company to choose. We were picked up from our hotel by car and taken to the Elephant Nature Park, which is about an hour north of Chiang Mai. We played with the animals all day; we fed them, bathed them, and climbed on top of them. Then they made us homemade Thai food after the day was over, which was some of the best Thai food we had. This was definitely the greatest day of my life so far and if you're limiting the activities you want to do, I strongly suggest you put this on the top of your list. Elephants are the greatest species on earth.

Southern Thailand- Ko Phi Phi

Island life was something Victoria and I really wanted to check out before we left Thailand. Ko Phi Phi is a beautiful place to visit; it is a very small island so a lot of people will only go for the day, but we stayed there for two days and a night. We had our own little beach bungalow, which was really cute and nice to have because I got sick on duck curry. We rented our own ocean taxi to take us from island to island. We snorkeled, explored all the little islands, and went to Monkey beach. The water is crystal clear and pretty warm.