southeast asia – See More w/ C Moore

My Thailand Series: Phuket

Published on May 5, 2015 by money007pennyLeave a comment

For the final portion of our trip, we flew from Chiang Mai over to Phuket. We stayed at the beautiful Cape Panwa Resort, on the southernmost point of the island (http://www.capepanwa.com/). It was a great spot to get away from the hustle and bustle of the island. Our hotel had a shuttle to take us to the local town, where we had a great dinner on the beach.

The view from our room at the Cape Panwa.

From our hotel, we booked 2 day trips – first to Koh Phi Phi Don, to Maya Bay, also known as the famous beach from the Leonardo DiCaprio film “The Beach, and then on the 2nd day we went to James Bond Island on a kayaking tour. I had been really excited to go to James Bond Island from the minute I booked the trip to Thailand 🙂

On the first trip, we stopped at Viking Cave. This cave is full of thousands of birds called swifts. They make nests out of their saliva, which is harvested to make bird’s nest soup, a delicacy.

After the cave, we made a quick stop off in a lagoon for some snorkeling.

And then headed over to Maya Bay!

On the island, you could walk through the jungle, through a shallow lagoon, up and over some steps to a lookout point on the other side. Here is that photo!

On the second day, we went off on our kayaking James Bond Island trip. Unfortunately, it was the only grey and rainy day on our entire trip, but at least it wasn’t unbearably hot! We stopped at some caves and hopped into our inflatable kayaks. It was two people per kayak plus our guide, who did all the paddling 🙂

This was great fun because we were able to go close to the cliffs. We also went through a cave where we had to lie completely flat to fit through, and then went into a hidden lagoon. The cave was also full of bats and you could hear them chirping, plus it was super stinky.

After a buffet lunch on board, we headed to the main attraction, James Bond Island, where they filmed The Man With The Golden Gun!

Sadly, it is a bit of a tourist trap – but spectacular nonetheless. Glad I was able to make this the final stop on my amazing trip to Thailand!!

*All photos are the property of Charlotte Moore, unless stated otherwise, and may not be used without written consent.

My Thailand Series: Chiang Mai

Published on April 29, 2015 by money007pennyLeave a comment

The last place we visited on the mainland was Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is the largest and most culturally significant city in Northern Thailand. It was also my favourite city to visit on the trip.

On our first morning, we got up really early to present food and other offerings to the monks. Afterwards, we were giving a blessing.

Then we went around the old part of Chiang Mai via trishaw.

We stopped in a market and at a couple of different temples, including this beautiful one: Wat Ket.

In the evening, we visited a nightclub called Warm Up Cafe. We ended up going here a few times during our stay. This was an awesome local band that were playing the first night we went there.

And some local beer, Chang!

The next day, we visited the Mae Sa Elephant Camp, where we rode an elephant through the jungle, watched the elephants bathing in the river, and watched a show they put on (playing soccer etc.). Some of the elephants there are trained to do paintings, and those are available for purchase. While riding through the jungle, we were able to feed the elephants sugarcane and bananas.

After the elephant camp, we stopped at an orchid farm. I purchased a necklace made from a dried orchid.

And now onto one of the best parts of the trip: the cooking school! The school is called Baan Hongnual Cookery School which is just outside Chiang Mai. First, we stopped at a local market to learn about the different produce and spices, plus we picked up all the ingredients needed to make our 4 dishes: tom yum soup, papaya salad, chicken green curry and pad thai.

And the finished products!

The last Thailand post will be about Phuket!

*All photos are the property of Charlotte Moore, unless stated otherwise, and may not be used without written consent.

My Thailand Series: Chiang Rai & The Golden Triangle

Published on April 23, 2015April 29, 2015 by money007pennyLeave a comment

After leaving Sukhothai, we continued north – all the way to the Golden Triangle, the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar (Burma).

On the way we stopped at Wat Rong Khun, or the White Temple. This temple is stunning, completely white and silver, and it is an ongoing project by artist Chalermchai Kositpipat. Unfortunately, we were unable to go inside the temple, as an earthquake had just hit the area and damaged the temple. You’ll see the broken steeple in the photos below. Luckily the damage was minor. Admission to the temple is free, or by donation – and there is also a museum/art gallery where the artist is frequently working. This was one of my favourite places to visit in Thailand.

We continued to the Doi Tung region (6500 ft above sea level). Here the local hill tribes grow tea, coffee and macadamia nuts. We toured the Doi Tung Royal Villa, which was built for the King’s Mother, also known as the Princess Mother. She helped transform the area from growing opium to the focusing on growing tea, coffee and macadamia nuts, as it is today. Near the villa are the Mae Fha Luang gardens, which are quite spectacular to visit as well. The temperature in this area is much cooler, especially compared to Bangkok!

Nearby is Wat Phra That Doi Tung, a sacred hilltop shrine, regarded as the holiest sanctuary in the Chiang Rai area. Here I was able to receive a blessing from a monk.

The town of Chiang Saen is right on the bank of the Mekong River, which is the border with Laos. We traveled to the city to take a river cruise and make a quick stop at Don Sao, a small island which is a part of Laos. Don Sao is a bit of a tourist trap, with lots of souvenirs for sale – plus icecream, drinks etc. If it interests you, there are bottles of alcohol for sale, complete with scorpions or snakes inside!

The last thing we did in this area was take a trip to Mae Sai, which is the border crossing with Myanmar (Burma). There isn’t too much to see there, aside from lots of traffic! However, there are quite a few markets and some Burmese jewelry and handicrafts to look at. It was interesting to see the Burmese monks, as they wear maroon robes vs. the bright orange that the Thai monks wear.

The next post will be about Chiang Mai, called “Rose of the North”.

*All photos are the property of Charlotte Moore, unless stated otherwise, and may not be used without written consent.

My Thailand Series: Lopburi and Sukhothai

Published on April 18, 2015April 23, 2015 by money007pennyLeave a comment

After leaving Ayutthaya, we headed further north to Sukhothai. On the way, we stopped in Lopburi, also known as monkey town!

Lopburi is relatively small city, well-known for its resident crab-eating macaques that live in the center. We first stopped at the Buddhist temple Wat Phra Sri Rattana Mahathat.

Then we went to the temple that is overun by the macaques, Phra Prang Sam Yot. The macaques are pretty bold, and will happily steal food from you – but the city feeds them twice a day. When we arrived, they were given their morning meal of mangoes.

wat phra sri rattana mahathat , lopburi

We continued north and headed to Sukhothai. Sukhothai was the first truly independent Thai kingdom, where the Thai culture, language and alphabet originated.

First, we went to the Sri Satchanalai Historical Park, where we visited the most well-known temple, which is called Wat Chang Lom. This is a Sri Lankan style temple that has 39 elephants, some of which are in quite good condition.

Next we visited a small village in the area where we stopped to visit some locals. We went around the area by local transport, called song taews. It is a motorcycle with 2 bench seats, which can hold 4 people.

song taew tour

We also stopped at a local school to visit the children and donate some school supplies. They sang “head, shoulders, knees and toes” for us!

The old city of Sukhothai is full of ruins, which make up the Sukhothai Historical Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The park contains over 200 ruins. Our song taew driver took us around the park, stopping at a few different areas for us to explore the ruins.

Finally, we stopped at Wat Sri Chum, which contains a massive Buddha peeking through an opening in the walls.

Wat Sri Chum

The next post will be about Chiang Rai!

*All photos are the property of Charlotte Moore, unless stated otherwise, and may not be used without written consent.

My Thailand Series: Ayutthaya

Published on April 12, 2015 by money007penny1 Comment

After leaving Bangkok, we headed north towards Ayutthaya, stopping at the Bang Pa-In Royal Palace on the way.

The Bang Pa-In Royal Palace, also known as the Summer Palace, is a huge palace complex with beautiful gardens. You can rent golf carts to get around, which you might want to do on a hot day as there isn’t much shade in the complex. There is only one building you can go inside, which is a Chinese style palace and throne room. You must take off your shoes to go inside and no photos are allowed inside either.

Phra Thinang Wehart Chamrun

Right next to the Bang Pa-In Palace is a gothic inspired temple called Wat Niwet Thammaprawat. This temple is on a small island, and the only way to get across is on a hand-operated open-air cable car, which is operated by the monks.

Just north of Bangkok is the city of Ayutthaya, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Ayutthaya was one of the world’s largest and most cosmopolitan urban areas, and it was the capital of Thailand from the 14^th to 18^th centuries. The city was attacked by the Burmese army in 1767 and was burned to the ground. As the city was never rebuilt, the city is now known for its extensive ruins and continuing archaeological excavations. The most well-known temple in Ayutthaya is Wat Chai Watanaram.

We also visited Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon. This temple is an active monastery and it was one of my favourite places to visit.

The next post will be about Lopburi (monkey town!) and Sukhothai.

*All photos are the property of Charlotte Moore, unless stated otherwise, and may not be used without written consent.

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