My Travel Blog

I’m planning for our year end vacations, so SIL and I went to the 14th Discovery Thailand and Discovery World 2008 at IMPACT Muang Thong Thani to check out the good deals of various travel agencies. Coincidentally, SIL is planning for a company trip, so we were looking around for a nice resort that will accommodate 30 persons and comes with activities of team building. We found one in Nakhon Nayok, but it’s still too eary to make the decision.

As for our family vacations, we will go for one trip each from November to January. In November, we will join in the company trip and the venue will be determined soon. By year end, we will go for a few days stay at Chomwana Resort and Horse Club in Chonburi.

The main reason why I chose this resort is, my kids can go for horse back riding!

Actually, they can only ride on ponies, but they are excited about the trip. We will be counting down to a new year at this resort, so it should be a memorable trip.

Later in January, we will make a trip to Chiangmai. We plan to go there by train and back by flight so that my kids can have their first train ride. It’s going to take about 12 hours from Bangkok to Chiangmai, so I hope that we can get the 1st class cabin for more privacy. I need to make a trip to the railway station to get the tickets soon.

I’ve shortlisted a few boutique hotels and resorts in Chiangmai, but I really hope that we can get a room at Sukantara Cascade Resort and Spa. The view is breathtaking and I love the serenity of the surrounding.

I just can’t wait to have a nice massage by the waterfall!

I’ve sent them a reservation email but yet to hear from then till now. Hopefully, they will get back to me soon and reserve a room for us.

So, what will your year end holiday be?

 Ok, after 5 days of heavy eating and shopping in Bangkok, my friends is going to fly back to Malaysia today. I hope that they will have a safe trip home and drive safely on the way back to Ipoh. I hope that they like this trip, even if there are some unforeseen circumstances like some kids couldn’t make it and we got lost in the city.

So, our lives will be back to normal for a week before we fly back home again. For these coming days, I hope to cook and eat in at home as we have been feasting a lot and I don’t want to swallow any diet pill to keep in shape! I know that I will have another feast back home where I can embrace all those delicious hawker food! *drooling over Penang laksa*

I guess we won’t be having any guest until December. In the mean time, I better watch my diet.

 We almost missed the cruise as we were caught in a bad traffic and hubby went to the wrong pier. The local Thai were pretty helpful in navigating us the way to River City, but passing by all those back alleys in Bangkok city is too challenging for all of us!

Nonetheless, we managed to get there in time. The adults had to pay for 1700 bahts each for the buffet aboard, and it’s free for all our kids.

Grand Pearl Cruise

 
The pier at River City

Frankly, we were rather disappointed with the food. It stared international buffet, but the food selection is rather scarce. I’m a big eater but I didn’t get a second portion. I thought I would eat till I need diet pills to control my weight but then, there isn’t much to eat!

The Thai tradisional dance performance only lasted in less than 5 minutes, so I don’t think anyone likes it. But there is a live band on the upper deck and if you manage to get a table there, it’s the best. The night view is magnificent, but too bad I don’t have a good camera for night scene. I tried so much to snap a photo of the Grand Palace at night, but the effect didn’t turn out great.

Night scene at Chao Phraya River

The tradisional dance

Thus, I will bring my kids on boat ride on Chao Phraya again, but I won’t pay for something so expensive.

 It’s public holiday tomorrow and we will be going to Dream World. It’s a theme park in Rangsit, so it should be quite easy to be located. I know that my kids will love it as they have always loved theme parks. This is the first theme park they visit in Bangkok, so it should be fun for them.

I better get my work done and keep all those sensors and linear motion away since we won’t be coming in tomorrow. There isn’t a lot of public holidays here in Thailand, so we will make good use of it.

I like free and easy trips, but you really have to do your homework before going aboard. My friends didn’t have a clue of where to go in Bangkok and they are just relying on our suggestions.

I will prefer to do some research and read up some reviews first before planning my agenda. Even if it’s totally flexible, you need to have in mind what to expect and where to go on your trip. Unless of course, you just want to relax and spend all the time on the beach or roaming in your hotel room. I did that before, it’s a great vacation too.

If you plan to do some shopping, check out the shopping destinations where you can find the goods you want. Even if they are Harley parts, I’m sure that you will be able to find the shops if you do your research thoroughly enough. Be an active tourist is better than a passive one, if you don’t want to waste your flight ticket to another country.

By all means, if you want to have a fun filled vacation trip, do your homework first.

 I’m quite good at packing because we have been traveling a lot. It’s not too hard to fix in 4 person’s clothes in a big luggage bag, as long as I stuff or roll them in. But I hate packing shoes. Being a woman, I like to look great, even if on a vacation. But I can’t just have a pair of shoes that fit all occasion or any outfit. Thus, I will try to pack another pair, just in case. However, I will only bring along a pair that is totally comfortable so that I won’t have foot ache later. Worse still, what if I need Plantar Fasciitis due to the pain?

So far, my ballerina Crocs is my favorite. It never fails me for comfortableness and looking great in shorts or skirts. Besides that, I have a pair of nice wedge too but it’s rather bulky for packing. I guess these are my favorite pairs of shoes for traveling…

 It’s been about 6 months since we moved to Bangkok and I’m loving this place more and more each day. It’s not hard to settle down even if we had lots of obstacles initially. First of all, it’s the education fees. Schools are pretty costly, and if you are an expat who is sending your kids to any international schools in Bangkok, I bet you will agree with me, unless you don’t have to pay for the school fees!

Other than that, we have to find a way of owning a house. Foreigners are only allowed to buy condominiums but I don’t like to stay in high rise building without a fancy garden. Thus, we need to earn a lot of money and hopefully we can find a way of buying a house here as time comes.

Another thing is, we will have to pay a lot for medical expenses. Our insurances back home won’t help us much now, so I need to find another coverage similar to North Carolina health insurance for my family. We haven’t solved this out yet.

Frankly, we don’t have much to worry about staying in Bangkok. The politic is out of our control, but we will just be watchful. So far, nothing much is worrying us, even if the news are scaring off tourists around the world. Did I mention that shopping is great? For a shopaholic like me, I feel like I’m shopping in heaven. Things are so cheap here!

Since we can go around with my friends for a couple of workdays, I got them a rented van with a driver. It’s not too costly, but you will have to pay for the diesel and toll charges. I thought the commuter van is using NGV, which is much cheaper than diesel or petrol, but then it’s running on diesel. My friends were quite shocked when they found out how expensive the gas bill was yesterday.

Maybe one day we should get a company commuter and hire a driver. It will be much easier if we have guests and customers. Let’s see how much is a commuter cost, and if we can get cheaper auto insurance quotes. Nonetheless, it’s risky to spend our company’s money lavishly like this, especially during the current recession.

 I have some friends from Malaysia this week and we have brought them around to try the local Thai food. Some of them can take spicy food really well, but then their tummies can’t take the overload spices! They have to use the loos more often, and I think Thai spicy food is more effective than any colon cleanser now. LOL!

But then, the trip won’t be complete if you don’t try Thai food in Thailand. It’s like blending into the culture through your tummy. Don’t you agree?

 I’m going on cruise tonight, and we will have fancy buffet dinner with some Thai performances on stage. I’m so excited about it and hopefully hubby won’t get lost in the city and we will reach the pier in time!

I’ve been checking out the details on Grand Pearl Cruise for some time, and hopefully, I manage to enjoy good food and the beautiful scenery of Chao Phraya River at night. There are lots of cruises here in Bangkok which offers rides on Chao Phraya River, so it all depends on your budget. We are paying about 1700 bahts per adult, so it’s more for the middle range. I really hope that the price is worth it and the candle light buffer dinner is superb.

Ok, let’s see how things go tonight and I will surely snap lots of photos!