UNESCO world heritage site – See More w/ C Moore

Iceland – The Golden Circle

Published on January 10, 2016January 10, 2016 by money007pennyLeave a comment

The Golden Circle is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Iceland. It consists of 3 major sites, all within a day trip from Reykjavik.

For this trip, we didn’t rent a car so we booked this tour with Reykjavik Excursions. Reykjavik Excursions is a well-oiled machine, with hotel pick-up to the main bus terminal working extremely smoothly, as well as hotel drop-off at the end.

Before we headed off to the main 3 attractions, we were treated to a bonus stop, a visit to the Fridheimer Geothermal Greenhouse.

Friðheimar Geothermal Greenhouse — Fridheimer Geothermal Greenhouse

Tomatoes can be grown year-round thanks to the geothermal heating. You can purchase various products here, as well as enjoy some tomato soup with freshly baked bread.

After this, we headed off to Geysir geothermal area. Here, the Stokkur geyser shoots up water 30 meters into the air at regular intervals. There are many smaller geysers and mud pits to view in the area as well.

Our next stop was the Gullfoss waterfall, which is considered to be Iceland’s most famous waterfall. Gullfoss translates to golden falls.

The final stop is Thingvellir National Park, a UNESCO world heritage site. This National Park is where the American and Eurasian tectonic plates are pulling apart at a rate of a few centimetres per year. Our bus dropped us off a short distance from the main visitor’s center and we walked along the fault line trail to the top.

*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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