Welcome back to part 2 of my “Solo Female Traveler Winging It in Thailand” series! This week I delve deeper into my Couchsurfing Chiang Mai experience, so you know what it’s really like to surf a couch… alone. With a guy.

Missed Part 1? Read My First 24 Hours in Chiang Mai!

Couchsurfing Chiang Mai: What It’s REALLY Like

Dozens of stalls lined the university gates, just a few minutes walk from Julien’s nice apartment.

Perfect.

I jumped out of the red taxi pickup truck, greeted Julien again by his scooter, and off we went on our first foodie adventure: a.k.a. stuff my face with every Northern Thai snack I have not tried yet.

Those were only appetizers, though. Later that night, my Couchsurfing host and I acted like very naughty tourists by having a a full-blown “Western dinner” at The Red Tree Restaurant.

HUGE is not big enough to describe it:

But as we say in Puerto Rico:

Barriguita llena, corazón contento!

That line perfectly captured my first 24 hours Couchsurfing Chiang Mai (and beyond): filled belly, happy heart indeed.

The next DAY

My Couchsurfing hosts had to work a few hours in the morning (he plays poker for a living online. I’m not kidding), so I took advantage of this to update my Instagram account and post some photos to my LatinAbroad Facebook page as well.

Just because you’re traveling doesn’t mean you have to go go go all the time.

It actually ended up raining in the morning. Wet season upon us.

Conclusion: WORTH IT!

Around midday, Julien and I hit the wet pavement for a scooter ride around town:

We did a fair bit of temple hopping, with my Couchsurfing Chiang Mai host hitting some sites he had not seen himself while living there.

Temples start at 4:48 below! 😉

Then, it rained again! But it doesn’t matter, I kept having fun!

Bring it, Mother Nature.

Then I did something really, really bad. Like, I-may-go-to-Buddhist-hell bad.

Our last stop before sunset was the Silver Temple (Wat Sri Suphan). As its name suggests, it is a temple made out of real silver. It’s the only one in Thailand.

Shiny, unique, entrancing. Of course I wanted to step inside.

And I did.

After snapping those selfies, one old and one young monk came up to us, almost-yelling in Thai.

I say almost yelling, because they were peaceful monks trying not to look like they were angry, even though they were clearly upset.

Their fingers started to fiercely point at a sign on the ground, which actually happened to have pretty large lettering, spelling the following:

NO WOMEN ALLOWED INSIDE

Both in Thai and English.

Whoops.

This day, however, would prove to be a little more embarrassing than that.

I managed to make myself blackout later that night. With no alcohol, whatsoever.

Now read THAT Chiang Mai photography workshop story here!

Part 2 of my shenanigans winging it: Couchsurfing & Temple Desecration (!!)