Travel Risks Two Years into the Pandemic

All our flights in 2020 were canceled. Fast forward to March 2022, we thought things were better. We booked flights, procured necessary travel documents, and packed our bags. After two years, finally we could ride a plane again. It felt great. The preparation was quite daunting because of some travel restrictions and requirements, but the […]

A Day and Night in Ayutthaya

The historic city of Ayutthaya was the second capital of the Kingdom of Siam after Sukothai. I first visited it in October 2009 with friends and colleagues. It was only a day trip. We did not stay for the night since the city was not that far from Bangkok. We rented a van and it […]

Where Should You Stay in Hat Yai?

Hat Yai, the largest city of Songkhla province, was my home for a number of years in the south of Thailand. It is near the Malaysian border. The main campus of the first and largest university in the south, Prince of Songkhla University, is located in Hat Yai. Its airport has international flights to Kuala […]

Have you been to Songkhla?

I used to call the province of Songkhla home for several years, well its largest city Hat Yai. It is one of the provinces in south Thailand, near the Malaysian border. Its capital city is also called Songkhla (originally Singora, which means city of lions in Malay). It is less than an hour drive from […]

Budget Travel Tips: Bangkok, Thailand

Is it possible to stay in Bangkok without breaking the bank? The answer is yes! In early 2007, I was surfing online and found ECC Language Institute’s Introduction to TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) course in Bangkok. It sounded interesting. I tried to answer some questions and applied. Later I received an […]

Bhu Tarn Koh Chang Resort and Spa

October 2018 Bhu Tarn Koh Chang Resort and Spa is the sister resort of Klong Prao Resort. We really liked our room in Klong Prao, but we only booked for two nights. Unfortunately, the room was not available for two more nights. I quickly looked for hotels nearby through the Agoda app on my phone […]

Klong Prao Resort in Koh Chang

October 2018 I have been teaching in Thailand for years now. I met my husband in my second school and we are blessed with a daughter. Having my daughter on a trip is quite a challenge but it is also fun. I book hotels with her in mind. I read online reviews. They help me […]

Once Upon a Time in Koh Lipe

The highlight of our Thai island getaway in 2017 was the exchange of wedding vows. We booked our tickets to Hat Yai months earlier, but the wedding preparation was only less than 3 weeks. We wanted things to be stress-free. The ceremony was a time to enjoy, relax, and have fun. While searching online for […]

Backpacking Days: Phnom Penh, Cambodia

October 2009 We rode a van from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, the capital city of the Kingdom of Cambodia. I took us six hours to reach our destination. We stayed at the house of a Filipino missionary family in Phnom Penh for two nights. We first visited the killing field during the Khmer Rouge regime. […]

Backpacking Days: Siem Reap, Cambodia

October 2009 Fascinated by tales of ancient cities and civilizations, I packed my bags and together with three other girls started a journey to the ancient world. I learned that no matter how great a kingdom or civilization was, there was no such thing as forever. The ancient Khmer empire once ruled the entire Mekong valley from […]

Backpacking Days: Road to Poipet, Cambodia

October 2009 Overland travel from Thailand to Cambodia took more than five hours. We took the earliest train that departed from Bangkok‘s Hua Lamphong train station. The train arrived past 7 o’clock in the morning at Lat Krabang train station, which was the nearest station from where we stayed. We just paid 40 baht for the […]

Backpacking Days: Halong Bay, Vietnam

October 2009 I should say that the highlight of this getaway was spending the night in Halong Bay. Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi were also exciting, but it was my first time to sleep on a boat, and not a moving one this time. I slept on moving ferries during overnight trips in the Philippines. We rode a van from Hanoi […]

Backpacking Days: Hanoi, Vietnam Part 2

October 2009 I wrote an entry on my foodie blog before about eating in Hanoi. I would love to eat authentic Vietnamese food again. After our stint in the Museum of Ethnology, we went to the Temple of Literature. I took several pictures inside but most of them were lost. This temple of Confucius was the […]

Backpacking Days: Hanoi, Vietnam Part 1

October 2009 Outside Ben Thanh Market in Ho Chi Minh, I saw a statue located in the roundabout and took a picture. I found out later it was that of a Vietnamese hero, Tran Nguyen Hai. We could have visited other places in the city, but we needed to catch a flight to Hanoi that day. The […]

Backpacking Days: Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

October 2009 I lost most of the pictures taken during this trip after my old laptop was reformatted. Good thing I was able to save some pictures. This getaway was part of a backpacking trip with friends for almost two weeks. We packed only the essentials to avoid checking in baggage. From Phnom Penh, we rode a […]