Photo Diary: Flying Squirrels

Posted on 4 Mar 20184 Mar 2018 by OnColouredPens

Hello friends! 🙂

Today I’ll be sharing our first day in Chiang Mai. You see, when I booked this Chiang Mai trip, I didn’t plan anything, same with Bangkok, well at least in BKK I had something in mind to do, but in Chiang Mai, we are totally clueless. Not totally though as I knew before hand that Chiang Mai is a place for adventures, thats it. 🙂

When we arrived in the hostel, our very friendly host asked if we have anything in mind for the day? I told her that I wanna try this adventure something, and when I mentioned the company name, she smile and said, its very good however its very expensive. (which i already heard when i checked it) She showed us a lot of brochures for possible adventures we wanted to try. Since I’m a baby sucker of adventures, I choose the ziplines. Good thing the husband is okay with it. So the next thing to do is which company to choose. Our host help us to decide, and so we choose Flying Squirrels. She also helped us booked for it, and she even got us a discount, THNAK YOU!

Since it was still early our host was able to get us a schedule for 11am, yay! Someone from the company will pick us up at the hostel and drive us to our adventure. While waiting for 11 am, we quickly get ready and left our bags at the reception (our room is not yet ready). We stroll around the area and get some quick bite.

The drive going to the place was approximately an hour drive from the city, yes that far. But no worries, you will definitely enjoy the view going up.

When we arrived at the place, the staff welcomes us with a beautiful smile and take us to our assigned table. They gave us the necessary papers we have to sign (waver) and they also gave us a t-shirt (its like a uniform hehehe). While waiting for our turn, we roamed around for a few minutes and I was so amazed with how beautiful the area is.

Finally its time for us to put on our gears!

Incase you are wondering what is that green thing below are helmets, it’s a hairnet, for hygiene purposes. 😉

After we put on our gears, we were divided into different group and in each group their are 6 members with 2 guides. And we have to get into a pick up truck, we drove for another 20-30 minutes approximately. And finally, we are at our destination.

Our guides conduct a safety guidelines for us to follow. Safety first, so you have to be very attentive. 😉

DSCF4261 — Me, being very excited volunteered to zip first. 😉 Say hi to our guide, Mr Bank!

To be honest this is my first time to do zip lining, and I’ll be doing 17 zips!!!

The only thing I regretted during this adventure was we didn’t get a go-pro. So our photos are limited as we were only using a point and shot, and you don’t want to drop your camera while doing ziplines, right?

DSCF4268 — The youngest member of group. He is so cute and brave.

DSCF4259 — Next group climbing to the next station.

DSCF4274 — I think this was the 300 meters zip, say hi to our our head guide Mr. Tiger.

DSCF4276 — Next stop will be bicycle on top!

After the bicycle on top, we still did a couple of zip lining.

Though we have limited photos during for this adventure, nevertheless I had so much fun. Our guides made sure that we are safe, every time we finished a zip they made sure to check our harness. During the first 3 zips I was screaming my heart out, I was so scared, but on the fourth our guide told me to just enjoy the view and not to be scared. I followed his advice, I calmed down and enjoyed the rides.

Flying Squirrels has 32 Station.

17 Ziplines (heights were 600m, 400m, 350m and 300m) During the 600m zip I was screaming again, this time I screamed because I was so happy I got to do this activity in Chiang Mai. 🙂
1 Abseil
6 Walking steps
2 Climbing Nets (challenge and spider)
2 Sky Bridges
1 Tarzan Jump: I enjoyed this tarzan jump so much
1 Skateboard
2 Activity Signatures
- Bicycle on Top Slider: I was closing my eyes when we did this activity, I was so afraid though E was with me when we did it, but I was so afraid to open my eyes. Imagine, cycling on a rope on top of the trees!!!
- 5meters long: ahhh this one, I super enjoyed, my 5 years old self was so happy doing the slides. Its not the normal slide you do in the park, this one is special. Wanna know what makes it special? Try the adventure for yourself. 🙂

To our guides, Mr Tiger and Mr Bank, thank you for making our adventure a memorable one. Thank you for making sure that we are safe, always. Take care of yourselves so you could guide more adventurers like me. And to Mr Tiger, have a good time with your daughter when she comes and visit you in Chiang Mai from Myanmar.

And after 3 hours plus of adventure, we went back to the office and we were treated by a buffet! 🙂

Thank you Flying Squirrels, I had so much fun!

Travel

Photo Diary: Damnoen Saduak Floating Market

Posted on 24 Feb 2018 by OnColouredPens

On our third and last day in BKK, we planned to explore the Floating Market. Since we are leaving for Chiang Mai in the evening, we decided to checked out early and leave our bags in the hostel while we explore the floating market.

From the hostel lobby, they had few items posted, one of them is the list of the floating markets. We decided to visit the nearest one which is Klong Lad-Mayom Floating Market. Its about 30 mins by taxi from the hostel. Before we left the hostel I told E to take a photo of the names so we could show it to the taxi driver and for our reference too.

The drive was not too long since it was early so the traffic was still okay. When we reached the place we noticed that it was too empty. The only creature that greeted us was a wild bore. I was wondering why? Could it be because we were too early for the opening? Even if we were too early for the opening, at least we should be seeing the vendors getting ready, right? Hmmm… Something is really wrong, did the driver dropped us in the wrong place?

While we were figuring out why, I noticed a small note. OMG! The market is CLOSED ON WEEKDAYS! And we were there on a freaking FRIDAY morning! I was so frustrated at myself why I didn’t checked it while we were still in the hostel. E told me to calm down while he figures out what to do next. Ok, fine, calm down self. E told me we will just go the next market. How? I asked him? He told me to check the photo he took earlier, it has the direction. Yay, great! We took the first taxi we saw and told the driver to bring us to Bangkok Southern Bus Terminal and from there we’ll take a bus going to Damnoen Saduak Floating Market.

When we reached the terminal the next question was, what bus number should we take? The miss-know-it-all in me was not functioning at that time. Good thing a lady approached us and asked if were going to the market. Yes! She guided us to get our bus tickets and told us the bus number and what time it leaves.

After 30 minutes on the road, I noticed the traffic was very slow. We were moving really really slow, it was like that for the next 30 minutes, oh my, a road accident. 😦 And this time I got already worried, coz I know the market will take an hour by bus and as what I’ve read it will close by 12 noon. I tried to sleep but sleep at that time was really elusive.

When we reached the place it was already 11:30, and If the article I’ve read is true, then we only have 30 minutes left to explore the area. We didn’t waste any minute, we immediately bought our boat tickets and off we go the floating market.

To be honest, we don’t have much photos while we were here. E was busy taking video and my eyes were also busy with the different items they sell in here.

DSCF4176 — I bought a Pad Thai from her, and oh it was really delicious!

You can find almost everything souvenir related items here, you just have to be ready though, the items are really expensive!

While we were on the boat exploring the area, we can’t help but get amazed by how the locals do their business. Floating market was heavily used by the locals before, until it became a tourist attraction. I don’t think locals still come here to purchase their needs, maybe they just come here to sell something.

While my eyes were feasting on the colourful items my mouth was also watering seeing the different food they were selling. From local delicacies to fruits to fresh coconut water to mango sticky to PAD THAI! We can’t help but asked the boat man to stop for a few minutes while E buys fruits and I get the mango sticky rice. We can’t help but gasp, the food we were eating were all fresh! The next thing I knew, I was already eating a huge serving of Pad Thai. 🙂

After an hour of touring the market we decided to go back to the dock, its time for us to leave. We don’t want to be stuck in the traffic as we have a train to catch going Chiang Mai.

To those planning to visit Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, I suggest you take a minivan, it will save you so much time, though its a bit expensive compared to a bus. But if you have so much time to spare, then please take a bus. You can go to Bangkok Southern Bus Terminal, take the bus #78. It will drop you in front of the floating market itself.

Did I enjoy? Absolutely YES. Though we faced some mishaps at first, but visiting this place is so worth it. Did I get something aside from food? Yes, even if its expensive, I can’t leave the place without buying something. 🙂

See you on my next post…

Travel

Travel Diary: Ayutthaya

Posted on 21 Feb 201821 Feb 2018 by OnColouredPens

On our second day in Bangkok we decided to see Ayutthaya. Ive read a lot of blogs about this place, also I’ve seen photos of a cousin who went to Ayutthaya, and its really nice.

I did a rough research on how to go to this place, and I already decided on which mode of transportation to take without considering E. 🙂 While on our way out, E told me to take our hosts suggestion, what transportation is best to take going Ayutthaya, and so I did. She said, “take the train, its faster“. Train? How to go to the train station? She smiled, “take a taxi tell the driver Hua Lamphong train station“.

Since Ive also read a blog that they took a train to Ayutthaya, so I said, ok why not? From our hostel, we took a taxi to Hua Lamphong train station. You can reach the station by taxi, tuk-tuk if its nearby where you are staying or you can take the mrt, Hua Lamphong is the last station of the mrt line.

Upon reaching the train station, like what I normally do, pretend that I know where to go. 😛 After few minutes of turning and observing the other travellers, I gave up and asked info from the staff. She pointed me to the ticketing window, so I went straight and purchased the tickets. “I wanna go to Ayutthaya, 2 tickets please“. She handed me my tickets, and told me what time is the train leaving and from which track.

I noticed that they didn’t provide a seat number for us, so I assume that its not passenger season and that we can choose our own seat as long as we are in the correct car.

While we were inside the train, I asked one of the train attendants about the seating arrangement, he just flatly told me, “standing”! What? Standing? But there were empty seats available, so we just happily seat down. Upon observing, then I knew, they won’t gave you a seat number if you bought the 3rd class seat and if your destination is not far. But I didn’t asked for a 3rd class when I bought the tickets? Maybe they just assumed I wanted a 3rd class since its just an hour journey? Well, fine with me, at least the prices is very cheap. 🙂

While the train is slowly moving to our destination, I was so shocked upon seeing a lot of people just happily cross the train railways! Like, hello! People! Why are you crossing the tracks? Isn’t it dangerous? I even saw one guy being sandwich by 2 moving trains! I was like? Whats wrong with them? E told me, they are used to it, its not as if they will cross the tracks knowing a train is coming. True! But still…

While I was so immersed with the surroundings, I heard one lady talking our language. She was asking her friends, if the train is really going to Ayutthaya, the miss know-it-all in me, smiled looked at her and said, yes, this is going to Ayutthaya. (but im pretty sure though, its written in our tickets… hehehe)

When we reached Ayutthaya station, I immediately run to the map (as if I know how to read a map), then a tuk-tuk driver approached me. He asked if were going to hire a driver that would take us around. I asked how much and he quoted the amount if its 2 or 4 hrs. E asked him how many people can fit in into his car, he said 6. E decided to asked our kababayan if it is okay for them to join us and we’ll get the tuk-tuk together, and they happily said ok. 4 of them plus the 2 of us, perfect!

It’s the same set up when you tour around the temples in Cambodia, the tuk-tuk driver will show you the photos of the temple, which one to go first and next. Unless other wise you have another place in mind, then you have to tell them. When you reach your destination the driver will tell you where they will wait.

Our first stop was the very beautiful Wat Yai Chai Mongkon. We roamed around for about 40 mins, then drive off to our next destination.

If you have done the temple tour in Cambodia, you will notice the similarities of the ruins.

Our next stop was the Wat Mahatthat and we paid the entrance fee of 50.00tbh

DSCF4088 — Everyone was looking for this iconic object, and probably this is the most photographed object in the area.

After taking thousands of photos, we decided to go to our next destination, I forgot the name. It was where you can ride an elephant or go for a tour boat. But I’m not really okay when it comes to riding into the elephant, I felt its too cruel. 😦 We asked how much do we need to pay if we just want a photo with them, but its too expensive, its 600.00 for just a photo, nah never mind. Plus the boat tour is expensive too, everything in this place screams for money, so we left, then we told our driver to bring us to a restaurant for our lunch.

New-Friends-01 — With our new friends. Photo grabbed from Ejay’s FB, I don’t know why I didn’t take a photo during our lunch.

After we freshen up, rested and fuel ourselves with sumptuous Thai food, we went to our next destination.

Too bad I forgot what was the name/s of the places we went after.

Hi Friends, thank you for making our Ayutthaya trip a very memorable one. Hoping to bump into you soon. Explore the world while you are still young. 😉

Dear Ayutthaya, I may not have written well about you, but please know that I had a great time exploring your city. If given the chance Id love to go back and explore more.

Much love,
C

Travel

Travel Diary: Bangkok

Posted on 18 Feb 2018 by OnColouredPens

For this years first travel, we head down to the City of Angels, Thailand! First stop, Bangkok. 🙂 Yes, BKK was our first stop, you might be wondering how many days we were in Thailand that I’m talking about stop/s. 🙂

E and I were in Thailand for a week, we split our days in BKK, Ayutthaya and Chiang Mai. And today’s post is dedicated to our day in BKK. I have so many photos that I don’t know which one to post. As the youngsters will always say, “the struggle is real!“

We came down to Thailand without really plotting an itinerary compared to the other places we visited. This time, our motto was “come what may”. 🙂 One thing is for sure though, I wanted to see the “Reclining Buddha” and the famous “Floating Market/s”.

On our first day in BKK, my plan was to see the Reclining Buddha right away and see where will our feet takes us. I asked our host on how to go to the place and she happily showed us the map and told us to take a boat going to Wat Arun Pier. Good thing the hostel is just near Phra Arthit Pier (N13), so we decided to walk instead of taking tuk-tuk.

When we reach N13 and saw the map, we decided to take the Chao Phraya Tourist Boat a an equivalent to hop-on-hop-off bus. We bought the One-day River Pass which is 180.00 thb.

DSCF3933

Santichaiprakarn-Park — Santichaiprakarn Park

Our first stop was the Tha Maharaj Pier. From here we walked all the way to the Grand Palace. But we decided to skip it since E can’t go inside coz he was wearing shorts, unless otherwise he will buy long pants from the vendors outside, which is by the way so pricey! Talking about taking the opportunity from the tourists who were not aware of the dress code. 😉 We continued to our next destination which is Wat Pho, from here shorts are allowed but sleeveless are not, good thing I had with me my cardigan.

Before you can go inside, you have to pay the entrance fee which is 100.00tbh. Upon entering to where the buddha is placed, you have to removed your footwear, don’t worry its not like the other temples were you will leave your shoes outside. They will provide a plastic bag to place your shoes on.

Reclining-Budha — Temple of the Reclining Buddha

DSCF3955 — Temple of the Reclining Buddha

After taking thousands of photos of the buddha we continue to walk outside, and took thousands of photos again. 🙂

DSCF3987

Wat-Pho-01

Wat-Pho-02

After thousands of photos taken, we decided to leave the place and explore other places. We head down to the nearest pier. And before we jump off to the boat I had my obligatory mango sticky rice first. 🙂

DSCF4011

We also visited the newly opened pier the “Lhong 1919”. The buildings are constructed in the Chinese architectural style. The place is not yet packed with tourists but its packed with “millennials” taking their #ootd, and what else can I do but to join them, too. I will only share one photo, coz the rest are my “fashion-blogger-wanna-be” shots.

San-He-Yaun

We also went to see their flower market. To be honest I was shocked with the amount of flowers they had, it was massive amount of flowers!!! Upon entering the market, I didn’t saw anyone taking photos, so I assume its not allowed? Thats why the photos we had are not really nice, it doesn’t do justice with how beautiful the place is.

Flower-Market-01 Flower-Market-02 Flower-Market-03

Hopping from one place to another is really tiring, I told the husband we won’t be visiting the other touristy places, instead we just hop on the boat again, rest and enjoy the view. If I feel a bit okay will get down. The last place we went to was Thonburi Railway Station. My feet were almost giving up that we ended up walking only nearby the pier, take some shots then go.

DSCF4009

While we were on the boat going back to our hostel it was almost sunset, the sky were turning into different colour. I decided to put down my camera and just enjoy the view. I don’t need a photo to capture the view, I only needed my eyes, mind and heart to save the beautiful memory.

Grand-Palace

When we reach to our hostel, we rest for a while and head out again for our dinner. Our place is just 5 cartwheels away from the famous Khao San Road! I was so amazed seeing pad thai anywhere! hahahaha… After dinner, E convinced me to go for a foot massage, and who am I to say NO? Im in Thailand eating Pad Thai and having a foot massage, life!

Our first day ended with a tired feet, full stomach and wonderful memories.

Random Thoughts, Travel

Korea in the Eyes of a KDrama Fan

Posted on 20 Aug 201720 Aug 2017 by OnColouredPens

Two months after our Seoul trip, I finally decided to sit down and sort out the photos I wanted to post. Last month I’ve posted 2 blogs about the trip, and I was actually planning to do a post in each day while we were there. Unfortunately I failed terribly.

This would be my final post for our Korean getaway. Enjoy. While I’ll be in the corner, sobbing and wishing I’m in SoKor now, kidding. :p

At Gyeongbokgung Palace, most tourists are wearing Hanbok. 🙂

You can just imagine how many dramas are filmed in here.

After Gyeongbokgung Palace we decided to head down to Hanok Village since its just around the area. Too bad, it was about to rain when we arrived, and rain eventually while we were walking around the area.

Given the chance I wanted to stay here for like a month maybe. 🙂

Welcome to Nami Island!!! What is travelling to South Korea without stopping by at Nami. My heart was flowing with happiness the moment my foot landed in the Island.

Seeing these trees is every “Winter Sonata” fans dream. 😉

After Nami, we decided to head down to Petite France. The weather was too hot on that day, but nevertheless we enjoyed roaming around the place.

This is another popular drama location. Hello fellow “My Love from the Star” lovers! 🙂

Im about to try their street food. 🙂

City-02

Its like a waffle but has different texture. Its really yummy.

Since we still have extra time after “~~shopping~~” from their underground shopping area, we headed to Han River Park. A lot of people (young and old) were their, having picnic and having fun.

Han-River-01 Han-River-02

Like every vacation, our 5 day Korean getaway has come to an end. My heart was full and at the same time heavy when we left our cute Air BnB. Travelling to SoKor is every Kdrama fans dream, and I’m lucky enough that I got the chance to see Korea earlier than the others.

Korea is such a wonderful country, I’m not saying this coz its the home of KDramas and KPop and Jo In Sung 🙂 I’m saying this because Korea is such a wonderful country, no more no less. But one thing I really love about Korea, is the way they preserved their culture.

And like every place I visit, I always say, I wanna come back and do more.