3 Places not to miss near Bangkok

I love Bangkok but it is also worth it to discover what's outside of this big bustling city. I'm happy to have the opportunity to travel and would like to give suggestions to future travelers that there are also nice places outside of Bangkok. I know there are a lot but here are 3 of  which I went to: 

1. Ayutthaya

The full name of the place is Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya. It is 85 km north of Bangkok. Accessible by minibus and trains, this is popular for daytrips from Bangkok. As an avid fan of UNESCO world heritage sites, I kept this on my bucketlist and fulfilled it. My story here.

2. Hua Hin

About 199km southwest of Bangkok is the lovely Hua Hin. It is a beach resort town popular for Bangkok residents to have a getaway to. According to the Tourism Authority of Thailand, the name means "Stone Head" after the rocks at the north end of the powdery sand beach. Me and 4 of my friends went there for a 2 day getaway and I've detailed the story here.

3. Pattaya

Another resort city but this time located 100 kilometers south east of Bangkok is Pattaya. It is a major tourist destination in Thailand where there are a lot of entertainment and activities. Me and my friend went for a short trip and you can see it here.

I wanted to visit another place called Kanchanaburi but maybe during the next time I come to Thailand. I hope this inspires you to visit these places soon! Thank you for reading and 'til next blog :)

Thanks, JetstarAsia!

Last May 2016, my room mate and I flew to Bali, Indonesia for a short trip. We were onboard +Jetstar Asia Airways  and chanced upon their photo competition. It was named  StarJourneys and was so easy to join. Since Bali was so lovely, we had a lot of nice photos. I did as instructed and luckily got chosen!

Thank you for featuring me and my travel, Jetstar Asia! I am now more inspired to continue my wanderlust. :) I promise to write about my second Bali trip as soon as I can. 

Thank you for reading my blog. You can follow me on Instagram @katmeifucan06, too. :)

Experiencing Bangkok Floating Market

Me and my good friend continued our journey to Bangkok and were both curious as to what it feels like to be in a Floating Market. We researched about it and found that we can book online. We paid around 500THB (14 USD) for this half day join in tour. 

We were picked up from our hotel at around 7am. The van had 12 people in total, including the guide and driver. The ride lasted for almost 2 hours. We were then asked to board a motor boat towards the floating market.

We started to be in awe when we saw some stalls on the side. There was an area where we got off the motor boat and arrived at what looked like the entrance of the market. The guide told us that we can walk through the stalls on the side but the real beauty is when we ride another small boat that is rowed manually through the canals. This was not included in the package and so each of us were asked to pay 120THB (4 USD). Indeed, being rowed through was the way to experience the floating market. Here are a few of my snapshots.

A boat- stall

Products for sale included a wide range of souvenir items and spices. 

Different types and styles of clothing made in Thailand. 

Tropical fruits in season.

So, this is how it looks like when some guests find something interesting in one of the stalls. Their boats park right in front of it.

Cute paintings from a local artist. 

Because I was not able to eat much for breakfast as we left really early, I could not stop myself from eating some chicken barbecue

as well as coconut ice cream.

Though the merchandises sold were the same as that of the usual night markets, it was still a nice experience. After the market, our group was taken to another place where elephant riding was offered. We didn't try this out so we just waited for the other guests. We were driven back to Bangkok and arrived at our hotel at around 2pm.

Thank you for reading and 'til next blog!

Mekong River 1 Day Tour

I promised to myself that if I come back to visit Ho Chi Minh City in the future, I'd try the Mekong Day Trip. Last June 2016, I was given the chance to come back and because we were curious to know and experience the Mekong River tour, we booked for a one day tour to Mekong Delta at The Sinh Tourist travel agency. The cost was 199,000 VND or roughly 9USD for a day tip. This was our tour voucher. 

We were asked to come to the Tourist Agency's office at 7am of the following day and we boarded an air-conditioned bus towards My Tho. This is the city considered to be the gateway to Mekong Delta. We boarded a motorboat to cruise the mighty river. The Mekong is a trans boundary river in South East Asia and is the world's 12th longest river. From the Tibetan Plateau, the river runs through the China's Yunnan province, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. 

The weather was great despite of being in the rainy season of Vietnam.

It was a busy day for this tour guide. Because our bus was full, we had to be divided to 2 motorboats. He had to jump from one boat to the other to explain about Mekong.

But while he was busy lecturing, we were also busy taking photos at the back. The floating houses behind me are where fishes are farmed.

We stopped by what looked like a gift shop full of goods made of coconuts. I was not quite interested but it was great to know that aside from fishing in the river, the locals are also finding ways to use their resources and sell it for extra money.

Our group then moved on to see how rice is being converted to rice paper. We had some free taste and it was good.

Surprisingly lunch time came early and we were served with these big fishes from the Mekong. My mouth drools seeing this photo again. 

There is one restaurant personnel for each table to prepare the Vietnamese way of eating fish. She took out what looked like a clear rice paper and placed some fish meat, noodles and cucumber and wrapped them all up and gave each of us at least 3. It was amazingly good! We were also served deep friend spring rolls, sweet sour vegetable soup, caramelized pork in clay pot and rice. 

The Korean table mates that we had ordered the sweetened sticky rice which was shaped like a ball. The staff opened and served it into pieces. The Korean ladies were kind to also let us try it. 

After the satisfying lunch, we went back to the boat and continued cruising the river.

We passed by a place where a lot of coconut trees can be seen. The guide asked us if we'd like to have our photos taken in this scenic spot. Of course, I lined up to have my photo.

We came to this bee keeping farm and enjoyed a free taste of their honey tea.

It was refreshing. I wanted to buy one but I still had my honey lemon concentrate that I bought from Penang 2 months ago. Anyway, the people on our group bought bottles. It's also a good way to support locals and their products.

We were asked to walk for a few meters and we were led to ride these horse drawn carts. 

We reached a restaurant and were served these fresh fruits. While enjoying the seasonal tropical fruits, we were entertained by Vietnamese Traditional Music.

They called this music Dan Ca Tai Tu. A folk art form from Southern Vietnam accredited by UNESCO in 2013 as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.Though I did not understand any word, I feel that the performers were giving their best to share to us their unique heritage.

We walked a few meters again and were asked to board a small hand rowing boat to get to our bigger motorboat. 

The boat driver was a lady and there were 4 of us passengers. My friend saw that there was an extra oar and so he helped row the boat. 

Our last stop was a coconut candy factory. It was where we were showed how the process was. There was also a free taste but the candy was flavored ginger! I did not quite like it but I bought other flavors for friends and family back home.

It was an extremely busy day of cruising, rowing, and walking. Not really as fun as I expected but it was an educational one because of seeing how the people live near the great river. Thank you for reading and 'til next blog!