Breakfast with Elephants and Other Tales from Thailand

Thanks to the third season of White Lotus, you'll be seeing, reading, and hearing about Thailand and specifically a certain Four Seasons hotel in Thailand everywhere this spring. We've been. Here's what we found. (There's more to see than Koh Samui.) 

I have always wanted to visit Thailand, but the trip always eluded me. I created lists, bookmarked articles, and tagged hotel websites into a file for the journey I would eventually take. That file, now long outdated, was thrown out after I returned from an incredible ten-day retreat in Thailand as a guest of Four Seasons Hotels. We visited three of the Four Seasons properties, each in dramatically different locations — and, yes, one is the one you’ll be seeing everywhere since it’s the setting of White Lotus 3. This was a luxurious and convenient way to see Thailand and have access to a variety of exclusive experiences.

Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai

The second largest city in Thailand, Chiang Mai is a bustling metropolis of one million people. Known for its arts, culture, temples, and food, Chiang Mai is a dense city that pushes the senses into overload (traffic! people! smells from open kitchens!). Thirty minutes outside the bustling city in the rolling hills of the Mae Rim Valley is the Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai, a full-service resort of 98 rooms, including 12 pool villas and 22 private residences. Spread across 32 acres, the lush gardens, terraced rice fields, small lakes, and lily ponds are tended to by a team of 40 full-time gardeners. Also roaming around are a family of darling water buffalo.

Food and wellness are a big part of the experience. The food and beverage program includes wellness-inspired menus that focus on portion control, incorporating a bright range of raw foods (a certain pea fritter with avocado and tomato jam will remain in my mind forever). North by Four Seasons restaurant takes full advantage of its fire grill: Virtually everything on the international menu takes a turn either in the fire. Sustainable and locally produced foods, not surprisingly, also share the stage at the hotel — the chefs harvest many ingredients from the hotel’s kitchen garden and introduce local farmers and producers to guests through regular chef’s dinners.

My favorite culinary experience was the market tour and class I took at Rim Tai Kitchen, the Thai restaurant and in-house cooking school. Class begins early in the morning with a visit to Tha-nin Food Market in Chiang Mai. Five of us followed the chef through the market as he introduced us to Thai ingredients and his favorite local snacks: Thai iced coffee, spicy pork sausage, sticky rice with mango, and flash fried pork rinds (an excellent road trip snack). After shopping, we crossed the street to the open-air stalls for a hot breakfast and sampling of different northern Thai noodle dishes like khao soi, Northern Thailand’s most famous dish. Back in class, we learned about Thai ingredients and cooking techniques, like the importance of combining sweet and spicy and using simple raw ingredients such as ginger and tamarind. Chef demonstrated how to make green papaya salad and pad Thai before setting us up at our stations, which came equipped with pre-portioned ingredients and the assistance of a personal sous chef. My pad Thai was pretty unbelievable. I now have greater appreciation for my neighborhood Thai takeout spot in Seattle and was even gifted a new wok for Christmas, a hint that I had better put my new skills to work.

I counterbalanced all the good northern Thai food by popping into the resort’s state-of-the-art exercise facility, which includes sauna and steam rooms, and got a natural adrenaline high on a bike tour of the Mae Rim Valley with Moustafa, the energetic, athletic Director of Rooms. In addition to being a great workout, the tour was an excellent way to see the valley’s vibrant pastoral landscapes and experience the serenity of lesser-known rural temples, where the only signs of life are lazy dogs and silent monks.

The hotel’s rural location introduces guests to the area’s agricultural community, whose mainstay is crop rice farming. Speaking of rice, when we returned from biking, a few of us participated in planting and harvesting rice on the hotel property, a process that made us appreciate every grain we have ever ingested. After all that physical exercise, it was time to push the mental jet lag to its limits with meditation and yoga in the Yoga Barn. On the shore of the pond, surrounded by lily pads and vibrant pink lotus flowers, the yoga barn proved an idyllic setting to find balance, recharge, and prepare for whatever came next. Namely, a lychee cocktail.

We spent three nights in Chiang Mai. And while we saw and did a lot in that time, I could easily have spent a couple more days exploring the city, indulging in Chiang Mai’s famous street food and adjusting to the time change by the emerald green pool. Since the hotel is located at least 30 minutes outside the city and traffic can be maddening, exploring takes a little planning and intention. Translation: For travelers with independent minds who like to set out on their own, staying here may prove isolating and inconvenient, so you’ll want to plan accordingly.

Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle

After saying “khob kuhn ka” (“thank you” in Thai) to our hosts in Chiang Mai, we were off to the Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle, located 30 minutes outside Chiang Rai. The intimate Tented Camp is nestled in the jungle on the banks of the Ruak River at the confluence of the Burma, Laos, and Thailand. The four-hour drive was broken up with stops at a cake bakery by a river in the middle of nowhere (strange, but delicious) and a visit to Wat Rong Khun, also known as the White Temple, a bizarre and blinding white complex of new buildings that are more tourist attraction than place of worship. While you can drive directly to the camp by car, it’s more fun and scenic to arrive by the hotel’s long-tail boats, which are docked down the Mekong River at the border. As our cars pulled up to the river bank, we hopped out into the sweaty sun and into the long, narrow boats. With engines roaring, the boats raced up the river to the camp’s dock, where, with windswept hair, we were welcomed by the staff with cold towels and chilled drinks. Yes, arrival is sweet.

The Camp’s accommodations include three different private canvas tents and one two-bedroom Explorer’s Lodge, a space that feels like the homestead of a 19th-century explorer. All rooms have wood floors, handcrafted furniture, flushing toilets, giant copper soaking tubs, and a fully stocked complementary bar — extravagance at every turn. Speaking of extravagance, I settled into camp life and recovered from traveling with a visit to the spa for a Thai massage. Located deep in the jungle along a bamboo-laden path, the spa’s two open-air pavilions seem to hang precariously in the trees, the only noise coming from birds and wildlife in the branches beyond.

We spent evenings with the camp manager, who was a consummate host, mingling with guests as if welcoming friends into his cozy home. Because of the camp’s small size, guest interaction is encouraged — at hosted wine and cheese tastings and sundowners over the river. At the end of the evening, when the sky fades to black and too many gin and tonics at the Burma Bar make the walk home less desirable, the Camp’s vintage 1975 Land Rovers appeared to shuttle us back to our tents. At this point, my only question was whether to have a nightcap in the hot tub on the deck or opt for a soak in the massive tub in the center of the tent. I did both, of course.

The beauty of jet lag is that it’s a great excuse to lie in bed while the sun rises. At the Camp, that means enjoying the light change as it filters through the mist and watching the layers of morning give way to views of the jungle canopy below and Burma in the distance. While early mornings aren’t for everyone, breakfast at the Camp is not to be missed. Every morning, Linda and Plum, two of the Camp’s incredibly docile Asian elephants, visit the breakfast pavilion so guests can tuck cucumbers and coconuts into their trunks. While their names may befit haughty great aunts at high tea, Linda and Plum are actually feisty teenagers and are not shy when it comes to barking at guests to get up and feed them. Of course, all the guests giggled and squealed like happy toddlers, delighted and awed by the experience.

Without question, the highlight of a visit to the Camp is spending time with the elephants that live on the property. Through its partnership with The Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation, Four Seasons has rescued and adopted more than twenty working elephants from city streets, returning them to the jungle to live in peace and tranquility. In addition to daily breakfast shenanigans, guests can help bathe, feed, and walk with the gentle giants, participating in their care and learning about the special relationship that each animal has with their mahout (trainer). Rides are not part of the experience here, and are generally discouraged for rescue elephants.

Two nights at the Tented Camp were perfect. If I had had one more day, I could easily have filled it with experiences like fishing and weaving with locals (not at the same time, though I’d like to weave a fishing basket), tree planting, or a visit to Mae Sai, the border town where Myanmar meets Thailand.

Four Seasons Koh Samui

Yes, yes, this is the one that will probably be forever changed after White Lotus, sesaon 3 airs. A visit to Thailand is not complete without experiencing the country’s tropical beaches. Our trip ended on the famous island of Koh Samui, known to locals as Coconut Island. Secluded on a hillside facing the never-ending blue vista of the Gulf of Thailand, Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui is a luxurious, full-service resort with 70 guest villas, a private beach, a bustling kids club, three restaurants, and a lavish spa. The resort also has a house yacht that guests can book for private sunset cruises.

Built on the steep slope of a former coconut orchard, the villas are designed in traditional southern Thai style, with thatched roofs, an abundance of lacquered wood, and inviting indoor-outdoor spaces. Every villa has a private infinity pool with expansive views of the sea. The beach, the only private cove on the island, is ringed by towering coconut palms, making it a lovely place to swim, snorkel, kayak, and relax, especially in the adults-only area. Behind the beach is the pool, a fabulous 50-meter expanse where I did leisurely laps between cocktails from CoCoRum, the resort’s beach bar.

For guests who don’t dare skip their daily workout (even on vacation), the march uphill to breakfast at Koh Thai Kitchen & Bar is challenging enough to set off any FitBit. Want to run it? The resort rewards guests who make the run from the beach to reception with a certificate of achievement. While that was too extreme for me, I was still interested in a fun, authentic workout experience, so I booked a Muy Thai boxing session with the resort’s resident champion fighter, who runs guests through their paces by throwing punches in the tree-top pavilion and puts your balance to the test (and your skills on display) by going a few rounds on the floating platform in front of the beach.

Back to breakfast. While fried rice for breakfast every morning is a good way to live, the morning spread at Koh includes a wide variety of western and Thai dishes, incredible pastries, and mango so ripe and delicious that it is refrigerated until ordered. Lunch was ceviche or pizza from CoCoRum (the executive chef is Italian) to eat at my beach umbrella, fresh seafood from beach restaurant Pla Pla, or heavenly tamarind lobster and tuna larb back up top at Koh. The food here was universally terrific.

Our three-night stay was the perfect way to end our tour of Thailand, but I would only come back with the intention of relaxing; you don’t come to Koh Samui if you are seeking a cultural experience. At my suggestion, we ventured out in a taxi one afternoon, looking to get the lay of the land and experience a different beach or local restaurant. What we found was lots of traffic clogging the two-lane road, garbage, and overdeveloped beaches with run-down hotels. I was relieved when we got back to the resort and a little disappointed that we hadn’t spent the afternoon sedentary, sipping chilled coconut water under an umbrella. Perhaps with a couple more days and a local guide we would have discovered another side to Coconut Island. Hindsight is always 20/20.

If I Had One More Day

I would swim out to the platform at Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui, challenge my favorite Muy Thai boxers to a fight (laughing all the way), and then plant myself on the beach under an umbrella with a double order of tamarind lobster.

Plan Your Trip

Cathay Pacific has direct flights to Hong Kong from New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Seattle. From Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific and Bangkok Airways provide connecting flights to destinations throughout Thailand. Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok at Chao Phraya River would be a great place to begin or end a Thai adventure. As far as ground transportation is concerned, there is no need to rent a car (if you do rent a car, American travelers should be aware that they drive on the left side of the road). The Four Seasons is happy to provide transportation, and when in doubt, Uber is at the ready. FYI, at Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai and Koh Samui, golf carts transport guests around the resort.

When to Go

High season is from November and March, when temperatures are more moderate and humidity is lower. Shoulder season brings lower rates, but weather can involve intermittent monsoons. The upside of all that rain? The landscape is very fertile and green!