Jungle Camp Day 1: Meeting the Elephants and Canoe Safari

On our fourth morning in Thailand, we left our hotel in Bangkok at around 5 am and took a transfer over to the airport, where we caught a plane heading south to Phuket. We flew with Bangkok Airways, and the 90-minute flight was the first flight I've actually enjoyed in a long time, with surprisingly roomy seats and even a full meal. Flying into Phuket, we had great views of the beaches, and even passed right over one as we came in to land!

After picking up our suitcases, we got into a minibus for the two or three hour journey to Elephant Hills Rainforest Camp in Khao Sok National Park. On the journey, we passed by the picturesque beaches of Phuket, before crossing over the bridge to mainland Thailand and entering deeper into the jungle. Unfortunately for Claudio, he slept for most of the journey, but I was lucky to see some Thai cows (which look so different to the cows we're familiar with in the UK) and even a couple of elephants!

We arrived at Elephant Hills at around one or two o'clock, and I have to say that our arrival was pretty chaotic (though things only got better from that point on). A lot of people were arriving at the same time, and we were all told to leave our luggage in a big pile at the entrance, before being given forms to fill out. Afterwards we had 20 minutes to grab a bit of lunch from the buffet, search through our suitcases for a change of clothes, and get changed in the toilets, before going off for our first activity. To be fair, the lunch I had of stir-fried noodles and sweet & sour vegetables was really good, but I would have liked to have been able to have more of it!

We then got into a truck and drove the 5 or 10 minutes to the elephant sanctuary. 

The moment we arrived, it was as if the day thus far, with the early wake up, all the hours of travel, and time spent in airports, just melted away. The elephants were just so majestic and the surrounding scenery was amazing.

After a few photos, we went into a wooden hut, where we watched a short documentary about elephants. We learned about the differences between African and Asian elephants (Asian elephants are generally smaller, with smaller ears and more toenails) and also about the history of how Asian elephants previously were used in conflict and in the logging industry. Nowadays, there are much fewer elephants in Thailand than there were in the past, but generally they have happier lives, living in places like Elephant Hills.

Then we got to meet the elephants up close and even touch them! All of them were female and ranged in age from 19 to 81, if I remember correctly. They were so noble and beautiful, and it was such a special experience to be so close to them. Their trunks feel like leather and are surprisingly hairy!

We also got to prepare a snack for them, which consisted of pineapples, bananas, sugar canes and protein balls wrapped in banana leaves. It was so fun to put the food in their trunks and then watch them putting it into their mouths!

We also loved watching them bathing in their pond - they looked so cute and it was clear they were having a great time!

Back in the hut, we were given some unusual bookmarks...that were made out of elephant dung! It turns out that they're processed in a way which makes them completely hygienic. We had fun decorating ours, and were happy to leave with a nice little souvenir from this wonderful experience (though unfortunately, the one I made for Claudio did not survive the journey home very well!).

We then moved on to the second activity of the day, which was the canoe safari. This was a very relaxing, hour-long ride down the Sok river with a local guide. Here we saw some incredible mountains, as well as amazing wildlife, including snakes and monkeys!

Back at the camp, there was a programme of optional evening activities before dinner, starting with a short documentary, followed by a Thai dance performance and a cooking demonstration. It had been a very long day, so we decided to give these a miss and get settled into our tent.

The tent was actually like a small hotel room with a proper bathroom and shower. It was really cool to have the experience of camping in the middle of the jungle but in relative luxury!

We also took some time to explore the rest of the camp, which is such a beautiful and enchanting place. All of the décor is so well thought out.

One fun thing to do was to put a pin on the camp's map. I couldn't add one, as there wasn't any space left to put one on the UK (the vast majority of guests at the camp were British), but Claudio had more luck, and got to put the first ever pin on Chile!

We finished off our evening with a quick dip in the pool, before enjoying a delicious buffet dinner and drinks from the bar.

It was quite surreal to have started our day travelling through the city streets of Bangkok at 5 am and to end the day drinking a piña colada in the middle of the rainforest in southern Thailand. This was one of the busiest days of our honeymoon, but also one of the most memorable. It felt magical to be in the jungle camp, and meeting the incredible elephants was an experience we'll remember forever.

We still had another day and a half left in this beautiful place, and our second day would see us exploring more of Khao Sok National Park, spending the day at Cheow Lan Lake. A blog post all about it will be here shortly!

Three Weeks of Chilean Summer

We spent exactly three weeks in total in South America, and I thought that would feel like a nice long time out there, but it really went by in a flash! The first week was filled with last-minute preparations for our wedding, followed by the wedding itself. In the second week, we had more free time, but also needed to spend some time getting Christmas presents. Then we went on our minimoon in Argentina for a couple of days, came back in time for Christmas, after which we only had a few days left. We both felt that another week there would have been nice!

During our time there, we rented an Airbnb in Providencia, which is one of our favourite areas of Santiago. The apartment was located right next to Parque Balmaceda and had great views straight across to Cerro San Cristóbal. We went out running a couple of times in Parque Balmaceda and then along the Mapocho River towards the Costanera Center and back, which was a really picturesque way to get a workout in. The building also had a rooftop terrace and pool, which we used nearly every day after getting back from our wedding, including on Christmas Day itself!

Of course, we also spent lots of time with Claudio's family in Maipú. This included going for walks with Jack the beagle and seeing all our old animal friends again!

And here are some of the other things we got up to around Santiago and beyond...

Viña del Mar/Reñaca

We actually went to Viña twice during our time in Chile. The first time was when I went for my hair and makeup trial a few days before the wedding. We took this opportunity to have a delicious and healthy lunch from Daily Dish (a vegan restaurant) and a walk along the beach.

The second time we went to Viña was on Boxing Day. (Definitely one of the most different and fun Boxing Days I've ever had!) There are other beaches we could have gone to, but we decided to go back to Viña, because last time we went, we wanted to visit Palacio Vergara and weren't able to, so promised ourselves that we'd visit next time we were in Chile. I love palaces and castles, and so I was really happy to finally see this beautiful and elaborate palace. You can actually go inside for free if you fill out a survey, which we did. We were hoping that the interior would be a kind of representation of what the palace would have looked like when people were living in it, but it was actually an art gallery with mostly modern art. It was still nice to be able to enter for free though.

The palace is located in Quinta Vergara, a very scenic park to walk around.

Afterwards we went to Reñaca Beach, one of my favourite beaches in the entire country. We were really lucky with the weather, as generally it's quite windy on the beach in Chile, which makes it feel much less warm than Santiago in summer, but this time it wasn't windy or cloudy at all, and the weather felt absolutely perfect. 

We wanted to have at least one swim in the sea during our time in Chile, but as Reñaca is more of a surfing beach than a swimming beach, and has really big waves, this was a bit difficult. But we were able to splash around in the waves, which was fun! After that, we had a really nice time just lying in the sun.

Biblioteca Nacional de Chile

We ended up spending quite a lot of time in the historic centre of Santiago during our trip. I lived there in 2018 and still have a fondness for the area, because there are so many beautiful and interesting buildings, streets and monuments there. However, it is not as well looked after as other historic centres around the world, and does have a reputation for criminal activity, particularly after dark. But I don't think you should let that put you off visiting, as there are so many things to discover there. One place neither of us had visited before was the National Library, and we had a lovely time exploring it. Not only is it free to enter, but it's a beautiful building and has all the literary vibes I love! When living in Chile, I did occasionally miss the cosy bookshops of the UK - I don't know why I never thought to come to this library before.

It also has a cute gift shop and a tranquil garden with orange and lime trees.

Santiago Centro

Some other highlights from the city centre included visiting various galerías, which are like shopping arcades. Each one has different kinds of shops, and there's even a wedding one, which was super useful for us! I loved finding this little French bookshop inside one of them.

When wedding shopping, we also discovered this café in one of the galerías called London Coffee, and knew we had to come back after the wedding! This was a really cute place and pretty good value for money too.

Other places we explored around the centre included this interesting street with bridges near Plaza de Armas, and the city's cathedral.

Museo Histórico Nacional

Another free place to visit in Santiago Centro is the Museum of National History of Chile. This has some really interesting artefacts, such as the flag that was used to declare independence, and outfits from throughout history. The building is also very beautiful.

MUT (Mercado Urbano Tobalaba)

Over on the other side of the city in Las Condes, one of the most affluent areas of Santiago, we went to visit a new mall that recently opened, called MUT (Mercado Urbano Tobalaba). Apparently its design is based on New York's Grand Central Station, and it's got some nice independent shops and restaurants, and a stunning rooftop garden to check out.

Casa Juliet

We saw this café in Providencia on YouTube, and it looked so nice that we had to visit. To be honest, it's definitely designed to be shown off on social media, and while the food was good, the coffee we had wasn't great. But it's so pretty!

It's also right next to a very tranquil park, Parque Augusto Errázuriz. We had a walk around it and then went and sat in the shade for a while at Plaza Rio de Janeiro.

Christmas in Santiago

The Southern Hemisphere Christmas is still something I can't quite get used to! Although I hate cold weather, I feel like Christmas has to be wintry and cosy. Besides, in December in Chile, everyone's already enjoying the summer, and Christmas seems a lot more in the background than it does in Europe. Having said that, it is nice to have a different experience of Christmas - our Christmases in the UK don't vary that much, and we'll probably appreciate our next one more because of the extra year's gap.

One of the things I enjoyed most was seeing the Christmas lights at Palacio Falabella on Christmas Eve before going round to Claudio's parents for dinner and present opening. It was quite magical!

It was also nice to see Paseo La Villa looking Christmassy.

Other Highlights

Among the other highlights of the trip of course included eating lots of tasty food, including Chilean sushi (I much prefer it to the kind we get in Europe!)...

...mote con huesillos in Parque Araucano (drinking/eating mote con huesillos in a sunny park is one of the definitive experiences of a Chilean summer to me)...

...and curry at Himalaya Indian Restaurant. This is a restaurant down the road from our old apartment in Ñuñoa, where we used to go on special occasions. We went there on the last weekend of our trip, and I felt a bit sad that we weren't going back to our little flat afterwards like we used to.

But instead we went to one of our favourite parks, Parque Bicenenario, to walk off the food, followed by a ride on an e-scooter, which was a lot of fun!

Those three weeks went by far too fast, mainly because they were filled with so many fun and happy moments. We celebrated one of the best days of our lives with our wedding, and then had a great time travelling, spending time with family and friends, and just enjoying life. At times, it felt like we were back in the life we had in 2022-2023, and I have to say, I do miss those days, and I felt really sad to leave, especially as we don't know when we'll next be back.

Coming home to freezing England, returning to my parents' house in the countryside, going back to work, and commuting to Bristol every week, has been a big contrast, and not necessarily in a positive way. But we've entered the new year as a married couple for the first time, and I know that this is going to be an exciting new chapter for us. I'm sure 2025 will bring its challenges, but hopefully there'll be plenty of adventures along the way!