A first-person travel vlog by Nate Buchanan (with companion Kara) documenting a day trip from Chiang Mai to Doi Suthep and a nearby coffee plantation/roastery. They ride a motorbike up a winding mountain road, climb many steps at a picturesque temple, discover a coffee research station and see coffee cherries and drying/roasting equipment, taste very fresh black coffee, and return to town to try local Khao Soi (noting a reported price of about $1). The tone is informal, enthusiastic, and exploratory.
Questions this video answers
Nate Buchanan
March 9, 2016
$1 (reported)
Chapters
Pretty girl, you wanna light up my life?
Pretty girl, you wanna light up my life?
I love me some banana chocolate espresso frappuccinos, but that hot coffee really hit the spot. Today we ride motorbike number three. We're getting so brave.
We got this cool map from our hostel. They recommended this as a day trip. So we're starting here in the city at the Diva and then we're gonna drive up here. We're gonna stop at this temple. It's supposed to be really cool. Maybe stop off at a couple of these waterfalls. And then ultimately our end destination is the coffee plan.
Never been to a coffee plantation before, but we both love coffee and I think it's going to be awesome.
Happy, Kara.
Now to see if we can find our way out of the city. This is definitely going to be the most traffic we've driven a motorbike in. Yeah, I'm a little nervous, but at least it's automatic. No videoing until we get outside of the city traffic.
This girl needs to hold on. We're doing it.
We made it outside the really busy part of the city. Now it's just still busier than we've ever driven a motorbike in time to get serious.
We are climbing a mountain. Watch the mountain.
Pretty girl, you want to light up my life?
Pretty girl, you want to light up my life?
Pretty girl, you are the light of my life.
We made it from our hostel inside the old city, climbed a mountain with a million curves and we just got to doi.
We just got to this temple.
That's a lot of steps.
Do you really want to see it?
Step number one of many. Somehow we always get our ourselves into climbing lots of steps.
Sam.
Pretty girl, you wanna light up my life?
Pretty girl, you wanna light up my life?
Pretty girl, you wanna light up my life?
Pretty girl, you wanna light up my life.
That was definitely the most picturesque temple we've seen since we got to Thailand. I couldn't put my camera down. Everything just kept getting prettier. So I just kept taking more and more shots. Last step. Next up, we are climbing the mountain further up to the coffee plantation.
Found this super awesome lookout.
Check out this little village.
Actually.
Coffee.
It's a research station.
They're researching coffee.
I see coffee. Look, look on that side.
It does say coffee.
Yeah. Let's go check. Let's go.
Facility of agriculture chang my university.
Coffee.
Oh, you want to go down and look at the coffee beans? You think we can.
Look at the coffee?
What are these?
Coffee beans. These are beans.
They're so red.
This is how your coffee beans start.
Think I can take one as a souvenir?
Nope.
Doesn't really have a smell.
Oh, that's looking beanie. Look at that one.
You can see the shelled beans through this crack.
We haven't gotten a proper tour, but if I had to guess.
After the beans are picked, they're laid here to dry.
Then that machine takes all the shells off of them.
And then they're put in this little greenhouse thing to finish drying. What do you think?
Then they're roasted. Then I drink them.
Wow.
That's the best coffee I've ever had.
Like, seriously, the best coffee I've ever had. It is so smooth. Like, it's, like, almost milky smooth, but it doesn't even have milk.
Like, this is just.
Just black coffee. I've never had coffee so fresh. It was literally grown right there and roasting down there.
We were told that they actually roast the beans like, a kilometer down the road that way. We're going to go try to find it.
We are, like, deep in these mountains right now. We've seen maybe four other tourists since we come back here.
I think we found it.
I don't know if this is a place where tourists are supposed to be, but we're here.
This place is beautiful. So green and so many flowers. Do you roast here? Roast the beans?
I don't know. Okay, can we go that way?
We just gotta let ourselves in. We're walking down this dirt road. No idea if people are gonna be down here, but this is not a tourist attraction.
We have learned this is quickly turning into one of my favorite adventures. I really want to find where they roast the beans, though.
Whoa. We have entered the coffee.
Real, live coffee beans.
This is the coolest.
I love it here.
Kara's really getting crazy.
I don't think they're roasting today, but we did find the roaster.
We were having so much fun getting lost on our motorcycle that we forgot to eat lunch.
Lunch.
It's, like, 4 o'. Clock, so we're gonna head back into town now and get some lunch. For dinner.
The host of our favorite travel podcast, Extra Pack of Peanuts, did a countdown of his top 10 favorite foods that he's ever had in all of his travels. And this place, Khao Soi mesai, was number one. And for a bowl of cow soy, it cost $1.
If Trav likes it, I like it.
That looks fantastic.
Thai tea.
It's, like, super sweet herbal.
All right, we switched it up this time. We're trying pork in it instead of chicken.
Must be the best cow soy in the world.
Best in the world.
This is so good.
Better than yesterday. I didn't think he could get didn't think he could get better than yesterday.
The has a more of a savory taste than yesterday, I think.
Like, it's like, thicker and the noodles are better.
I'm so excited.
I feel terrible. It was like 5 o' clock when we got here. We just waltzed in like we owned the place, sat down, and as soon as we did, they started, like, closing things up. Turns out they closed at 4pm but they still fed us. And it was fantastic.
It was so good and they were so nice.
We had heard that it was gonna be, like, super packed, and I was really surprised. We walked in and nobody was there. But that explains it.
We're branching out from our usual frappuccino and we're gonna get some ice cream.
