The Travel Lunatic: Angelina Jolie's Favorite Jungle Hotel, An Overly Friendly Thai Boxer, and a Weird Waterfall You Can Walk Down!

All the amazing stuff in Northern Thailand we didn't write about elsewhere.

Jul 29, 2023

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The Travel Lunatic is a regular column about the amazing places Brent and I go, and the crazy things I do. Plus, cat pics — lots and lots of cat pics.

For the audio version of this article, read by the author, go here.

Welcome back fellow Travel Lunatics!

Brent and I were only in Northern Thailand for six weeks, but we saw so many amazing things, including the Mae Hong Son Loop and the White Temple in Chiang Rai.

But we also saw plenty of incredible stuff we haven’t written about yet. That’s what this column is about.

Versailles in Chiang Mai?

Chiang Mai is a cosmopolitan city with residents and restaurateurs from all over the world. So I wasn’t surprised to find good Mexican cuisine and Starbucks coffee shops.

But I was surprised to find Versailles de Flore, a completely bonkers Neo-Renaissance hotel and café modeled on Versailles Palace back in France.

Honestly, it looked like the owners had somehow managed to teleport the entire thing directly from Europe.

Collage of exterior and interior of Versailles de Flore, including Brent and Michael in the ballroom, in front of a fountain, plus a statue of a golden horse, elaborate landscaping, and more.

The flourishes are incredible.

The outside of the hotel includes a golden fountain with golden horses leaping out of a golden base. There is so much gilding that the whole place glitters under the hot Thai sun.

If this wasn’t designed by someone gay, I’ll eat my chapeau.

But my absolute favorite thing was the over-the-top ballroom where every inch is covered with some kind of motif usually involving flowers, as well as painted wainscoting, elaborate moldings, and gilded reliefs.

Did I mention the stained-glass windows and bouquets of fresh flowers?

In short, this place is Instagram Heaven.

But that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth visiting. And the food was surprisingly good!

The photo on the left shows three cold drinks, one bright orange and purples, the other blue and the last pale pink. The photo on the right shows a delicious-looking baguette sandwich. — *Our dining companion said, “These drinks are* so made for social media.” But that doesn’t mean they weren’t good!

Angelina Jolie Loves This Jungle Hotel

When Brent and I did the Mae Hong Son Loop, our tour company put us up the first night at a place called the Fern Resort.

Ferns? Hell, it was basically thirty bungalows plopped down in the middle of a jungle.

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