It’s so sunny and hot here in Bangkok, I can’t even remember the last time it rains. With the kids rotting at home during the weekends, I plan to send my boy to summer swimming class if I can find an instructor. Hopefully, the public pool has uv pond filter and it’s not dirty.
So far, I haven’t go the feedback from the instructor. Sigh…
So, how else can I keep my kids occupied?
My kids are enjoying their summer holiday now, but the poor kids are not going anywhere because the parents are tied up with work. Worse still, we have to save up for their next school fees payments for the new school year, so it’s best not to spend much on vacations nor life insurance rates.
Our plan to fly back might not come through either due to our work load. It’s all about work and make money now!
We spent a day snorkeling on the neighboring sea and islands around Koh Chang. We got to the pier very early in the morning, and I managed to get myself a new pair of bikini at reasonable price at the stalls here.
Stalls at the pier
We boarded the boat as soon as we got there. The view was nice.
The boat ride took about an hour, and it’s quite bumpy. 
The map
A shot on the boat ride
We went to 2 snorkeling spots. On the second spot, we dropped by an island.
I found that the corals are not as colorful as Similan Islands, but then, I should not be complaining.
Fish feeding is allowed here, and the fish are so FRIENDLY!
The fish got close to the boats as soon as they were packed. I guess they were used to having tourists around.
It’s our kids’ second snorkeling trip. I’m glad that they love the sea just like their parents. 
Having a swim in the sea is definitely a great work out, as comparing to taking the fat burner pill.
It’s great that BIL had bought a bigger SUV, so all of us can just hop in the same car for short trips. They are doing very well last year, with bigger house and a brand new year, gee…I wish we can do the same too this year! Let’s pray for better prospect in our business.
So, after a night at Nusa Playa Hotel and Spa, we checked out in the afternoon and visited Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Chonburi. I’ve heard about this zoo, but we went to Sri Racha Tiger Zoo on our precious trips.
You can get really close to the less harmful animal, and food feeding is allowed.
It’s a great place for kids to get some close up with wild animals, as long as their parents are keeping an eye on them.
Other animals are kept in captivity, and there are some which you can get a closer look.
My kids love this zoo so much, and I think we will come back here again. Anyway, it’s not too far from the city, and with the cheapest car insurance renewed, we might as well travel for a few more short trips this year.
Our friend invited us for a weekend stay at his place which is very near Sattahip beach, Chonburi. It’s very near to both Pattaya and Rayong, but I’ve never heard about it before. Thus, I was delighted when hubby told me about this weekend stay, and we visited the beach at Sattahip Naval Base, which is open to public in the weekends.
Despite the rubbish and stray dogs, this beach is still nice and “clean”. At least it’s much better than Pattaya beach, but please don’t compare it with one of those Green Study and unpolluted beaches like Ban Krut.
It’s a nice outing spot for kids as the beach is quite wide, and you can enjoy the swallow sea water and waves. Besides that, the shady tall trees provide a great spot for picnic, so don’t forget your picnic mat!
We stayed there for the whole evening until sunset. I think we will drop by this beach again, especially after our break back to Malaysia.
It might seem too early to pack for our trip home, but I have to “prepare” my kids well. We are taking the early flight, so my kids need to get up very early in the morning so that we don’t miss our flight. We missed a flight once when we went to Kuching, and it’s not a pretty sight!!! LOL!
I got the express boarding from AirAsia so that we don’t have to fight the crowd on boarding. It’s my first time flying alone with 2 kids, so I really want to make sure that we are boarding well instead of being pushed around. Unless you get the express boarding or you have social security disability, if you have ever fly with AirAsia, you might know that not everyone will queue up!
Anyway, there is still time to plan and pack. Talking about packing, I need to get my kids their trolley bags. Both of them are very eager to pack their own books and toys. LOL!
My kids have been to a few zoos, but all of us were surprised to see how hilly Chiangmai Zoo is. At first, I was wondering why they allowed cars to be driven in the zoo area, but it didn’t take me long to realized that it’s impossible to walk and cover every corner of the zoo with 2 kids in stroller and you have to walk uphill and downhill and the place is quite big! We took the shuttle service and it’s a relieve to my back bone and feet…
You can expect to see most common animals here, like any normal zoo. But over here, there are giant pandas!
My kids had never seen real pandas before, so they were thrilled to see the pandas. However, they got bored after awhile as the pandas are pretty slow, and …just sat there and ate. LOL!
Besides that, my kids had the chance to feed the cheetah cubs, the rhino, giraffes and etc. Not to mention, they went on pony rides again!
There is an aquarium here, but we missed it. So, maybe we should visit Chiangmai Zoo Aquarium next time.
BTW, take my advice. Drive in the zoo or take the shuttle bus. It’s impossible to walk like this, if you have young children! You will be exhausted in no time! But luckily, there are a few stalls selling drinks, but I don’t think it’s enough. Do submit your business resumes to the zoo authorities if you are interested to run a business there. Hahaha! Just kidding…
I was going through my photo collection in my micro sd and realized that I didn’t blog about some places we went in Bangkok. Maybe most of them are more for kids, so I don’t feel like they fit here. But maybe I will blog about Siam Park City if we go there. We have some discount tickets which are expiring soon, so hopefully they won’t go to waste.
There are theme park and water park at this place, and it’s a great place for kids. My kids are eager to go there, but I have to find out the exact location first. It’s somewhere in Minburi, as stated at its official site.
Let me find out more from Google map first. It’s really troublesome if we get lost again in Bangkok!
We are back from Bangkok, but we will relocate to Bangkok in a few months. I guess my travel blog will be filled with interesting places in Bangkok once we move there. My friends told me that they will come and visit us in Bangkok, but since my house is pretty small, they can’t stay with us. Nonetheless, it’s not hard to find Cheap Hotels in Bangkok, so I don’t think they will mind paying for the accommodation huh? LOL!
It’s school holiday next week, so we may bring the kids to KL for a few days. We won’t be looking for any Cheap Hotels in Kuala Lumpur but only stay at hubby’s apartment. I don’t that the kids don’t like that place, but if daddy has no intention to pay for the hotels, they will have to get used to the small apartment then.
Frankly, I wanted to bring my kids to Singapore because they haven’t been there. I think we should spend a few days shopping and sightseeing in Singapore, and my kids will definitely love the Siloso Beach in Sentosa Island.
So, maybe I should check out the rate of Cheap Hotels in Singapore too? I wonder if we will have time for the trip now? This school holiday is kind of short though. But then again, we can arrange a trip next time, but we will need to fly to Singapore from Bangkok!
My kids love the elephants and they were eager for a ride when we visited Bangkok last month. We went to Ayutthaya on Christmas Day and that’s the Christmas gifts they got last year. They were totally excited about it and even my 20 months old gal loved the ride!
Ayutthaya is the ancient capital of Thailand and there are lots of historical sites such as Wat Wattanaram and Wat Phra Sri Sanphet. We didn’t take a closer look at the temples as both hubby and I had been here before. My kids were more interested in the elephants than looking at historical remains of the ancient city! Maybe they will learn how to admire and appreciate the historical sites when they are older.
Elephant rides
Historical sites in Ayutthaya
The elephant we rode on
All 4 of us rode on the same elephant for 20 minutes, and it cost RM120 after conversion. The elephant we got is very tall and we had to grab our kids tightly so that they wouldn’t fall off! It’s quite shaky, so if you have a pocket watch or cellphone in your pockets, it’s best to keep an eye on them so that they won’t fall out.
If you are visiting Bangkok soon, make a trip to Ayutthaya for the elephants. You will love it.