Pai, Thailand

Mentioned Thailand, naturally Bangkok comes to mind! So when Lawrence influenced me to visit Thailand, he suggested to visit this little town in Northern Thailand, I was a little reluctant initially, but since I badly needed a break, oh well... so long as he done the research and find me a relatively safe and comfortable accommodation. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, Lawrence was forced to withdraw from the trip, and I took over the research rather unwillingly.

Pai is situated on a highland some 135km north of Chiang Mai, en-route to Mae Hong San, and bordering Myanmar.

Arriving Chiang Mai International Airport, we took Bus No 6 (Bus 11 also goes to Arcade Bus Station) from the bus stop situated at the left hand side of the airport. For 15 Baht per person, the bus took us on a Merry-go-round around Chiang Mai city center before reaching Chiang Mai's Arcade Bus Station some 60 minutes later. It's OK if you take this as an opportunity to look around the city on bus. A cab for about 120 Baht will probably takes 20 minutes. Besides cab, other popular means include Tuk-Tuk (motorised tri-cycle, about 50 Bahts, negotiable) and songthaews (red pick-up, usually 20-50 Bahts per person for trips within the city)

A direct minibus from Chiang Mai's Arcade Bus Station will take about 3-4 hours (at interval of about 1 hour). We paid 150 Baht each for the air-conditioned minibus (Gosh, we almost don't feel the aircon at all!), and upon leaving Chiang Mai, the route's very bumpy hilly road all the way. Local buses cost about 80 Baht, and takes around 4 hours, with a stop for 15 minutes break half way.

Shortly before reaching Pai, there was a security gantry, with armed officers verifying travel credentials. (But strangely, we did not see this upon leaving Pai)

Pai is a serene Bohemia-liked small town. Our minibus dropped us at the town center, and it was a 10 minutes walk to our accommodation, The quarter (right). For around S$150 per day, The Quarter offers free PC usage (with internet) in their Computer Room, free bicycle rental throughout our stay, and free daily breakfast. It's a resort style accommodation with pool and pleasant scenery. Its breakfast is relatively sumptuous as compare to generally high class hotels in other part of the world. Among the elite accommodation in Pai, The Quarter is situated closest to the town, just next to the town hospital, and a mere 5 minutes walk away. Advance booking is recommended, but otherwise, cheap accommodations are well scattered within and around town center.

Pai is a small town beside the river Pai, hence its name. Within the town, there are numerous restaurants, massage parlours, guest houses and souvenir shops. There are hill tribes (such as Karen, Hmong, Lisu and Lahu), padi fields, elephant camps, hot springs and waterfall around the proximity, but these are probably too far for bicycle. Motorcycles are easily available for rental at 100 Baht per day, with additional 40 Baht insurance and a refundable helmet deposit of 100 Baht. Fuel (full tank about 100 Baht) not inclusive of course. But the thing is that, you don't even need a license to rent one, just your passport! There are also tour agents there to arrange visit to the hill tribes, day trip (white water raft, elephant ride) and even trip to Myanmar or China, not to mention Mae Hong San or Chiang Rai. the whole town center can be easily covered within an hour by foot. And typically, one can easily find cheap accommodation within the town center in Pai without any advance reservation. For Muslim, there are also a few unappealing eateries gathered at one corner of the town.

Come evening, the whole town springs to life! With street performers and night markets, you get to savour local delicacies at very affordable price! I was so mesmerise with this lemongrass drink that I helped myself to a few servings from different vendors! They also have noodles, BBQ meats, Indian food, and even this very popular fried pancake stall, selling something similiar to our Roti Prata, but with filling of banana, honey, strawberry jam, chocolate, peanut butter to choose from! There are also stalls who sell gems that they claimed are real rubies and sapphires from Myanmar selling at an unbelievably cheap price! Not to mention hill tribe handicrafts, and the vendors actually do dressed in tribe outfit!

For once, I amost forgot I was in Thailand, but some Bohemian city... and I began to like this place! It was with much fond memories when we boarded the bus back to Chiang Mai.


From Chiang Mai to Pai (excerpt from http://www.thaihermityoga.com/getting_here.php):

Bus
Local Buses to Pai leave from the Arcade Bus Station on Kaew Nawarat Road in Chiang Mai, from platform 13, cost around 80 Baht (approx. US$2), and take 3 - 4 hours to reach Pai. The bus stops once, around half way, for 15 minutes.

The Arcade Bus Station can be reached by taxi, tuk-tuk, sawngtaew (red, two row pick up truck taxis) or local bus from anywhere in Chiang Mai City. If you are going directly from the Airport to the Arcade Bus Station, you can order a Taxi at the Airport, from the stand just outside of the main exit. Please allow up to 45 minutes to reach the bus station.

Buses leave at the following times:
07:00 am, 09:00 am, 10:30 am, 12:30 pm, 02:00 pm, 04:00 pm

Tickets for the Local Bus can be purchased from the ticket booth near platform 13, but ensure you purchase your tickets at least 30 minutes before the bus is due to depart. The telephone number for the Arcade Bus Station is: 053 242 664 (international +66 53 242 664), and for the Bus Company serving the Pai-Chiang Mai route: 053 304 748 (international +66 53 304 748)

Minivan and Taxi Minivans and Taxis will generally be located around the Arcade Bus Station, and have no set schedule. They are usually available between 08:00 and 15:00, and you can simply tell the taxi driver taking you to the Bus Station that you want to go to Pai by minivan, and they will drop you in the right place. You can also book them through your guest house/hotel. The cost is 150 - 160 Baht


Air
SGA Airlines, http://sga.co.th/main/index.php now offer 20 minute flights, daily from Chiang Mai to Pai.

The scheduled flights are:
Chiang Mai - Pai
Daily Flight: 5E 913
Depart: 10.55
Arrive: 11.30

Pai - Chiang Mai
Daily Flight: 5E 914
Depart: 11.45
Arrive: 12.20

Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, Thailand

Back in Jan 2008, my main regret while visiting Bangkok, Thailand, was missing Damnoen Saduak Floating Market in Ratchaburi province. It was not in my initial plan anyway, but Rashid, my travel mate, was so keen that he actually pondering paying hotel's tour agent a premium for the visit. I was reluctant of course, so he suggested we went on our own.

From the few guide books that I brought along, I was able to gather the fact that, the nearest floating market that at least looks like the real thing, was Damnoen Saduak, situated some 105km away, southwest of Bangkok. Getting there was no easy thing! It's about 90 mins drive by car, and one can expect longer by public transport (about 2 hr). And the best time to visit is between 6am - 9am, before the tourist flowing in from Bangkok, and before the genuine fruit and vegetable hawkers on boat made way for the commercial souvenir vendors.

Anyway, on the day we were suppose to go, we both overslept and gotta gave it a miss.

So, I made this an itinerary on my family's subsequent trip to Bangkok in November the same year.


Getting there by bus:
There are public buses from Bangkok's *New Southern Bus Terminal (right), also known as Sai Tai Taling Chan locally, (Pinklao-Nakhonchaisi Road) to Samut Sangkhram Ratchaburi province, you can then walk along the passageway to the market, or take a boat to the market pier. Buses starts around 6am at an interval of 40 minutes. Journey takes about 2 hours and it cost 49 baht for air-con bus or 30 baht for normal bus.
*Note: Do not confuse with the old (New) Southern Bus Terminal, or otherwise known as Sai Tai Mai

Among others (515, 549), bus 556 from Suvarnabhumi Airport goes to the new Southern Bus Terminal. But to make the earliest bus, it is recommended that visitors take an early cab (abt 160 baht from city center) to the bus terminal or staying at a nearby hotel, such as Royal City Hotel.


Getting there by Taxi:
There is no point enquiring about this from Suvarnabhumi airport, the counter staff will advise you to take a bus from Southern Bus Terminal. However, it was understood that one way taxi from Bangkok city center to Damnoen Saduak cost about 1200 baht, but I manage to book a cab for a whole day (12 hours, 6am - 6pm) for 1500 baht. For those interested, I manage to have the lady cab driver's name (whom we call 'May') card here. As a simple courtesy, kindly offer her free lunch when you are having yours. We are so impressed by her service that we even engaged her service fetching us to the airport on the next day. But please note that this nice lady only understand very limited English, and quite a number of times, we had to resort to sign language~ LOL!



Reaching Damnoen Saduak:
Do not get suck in by the boat tour operator at the bus station. They want "Standard" price of 1000 baht for one hour long tail boat tour. Instead, walk outside the parking lot and turn left to town. A short 10 - 15 minutes walk and you will arrive at the bridge over looking the floating market. You can then hire a non-motor boat tour for 300 baht per boat per hour at the floating market. But be warn that Damnoen Saduak is quite large, paddle boat might be unlikely to cover the equivalent that motorboat can cover before the tourist flooded in (around 9am) from Bangkok. Anyway, we paid something like 300 baht per person (if I remember correctly) for the motor boat trip of 90 minutes.


Staying around Damnoen Saduak:
For those who wanted to catch the first light around Damnoen Saduak, so as to avoid the early rush from Bangkok, here are 2 convenience lodging around the vicinity. Otherwise, there is no need to stay overnight in Damnoen Saduak, as you can probably cover it within half a day.

Little Bird Hotel (Nok Noi) Tel: 032 254382

Moo 1/8 Damnoen Saduak

10 minutes walk for the market and close to banks, conveniences stores and café.

Baan Sukchoke Country Resort Tel: 032 254301

103 Moo 5 Damnoen Saduak

3 km from the floating market, have the staff call a tuk tuk or a boat (B400, up to 10 people) to go to floating market

Both don’t accept credit cards

Beside Damnoen Saduak...
In Bangkok, there is actually only one floating market, Taling Chan Floating Market, at Thonburi. But it only operates during weekends and is now rather commercialise. Take bus numbers 79 or 83, which cross the Chao Praya River to the Thonburi side of Bangkok. The market is located near the front of Taling Chan District Office. 9am - 5pm, weekends only.

Other floating markets include:
Bang Phli Market in Samut Prakan Province
Amphawa Floating Market in Samut Songkhram province
Bang Khu Wiang Floating Market in Nonthaburi province
Tha Kha Floating Market in Samut Songkhram province


I will not be touching on details of Damnoen Saduak or other floating markets. As I believe those interested can do their own research with more interesting findings, again I reiterate, the main purpose of this blog is to illustrate means of getting to various attractions. Other blogs or website will probably do a better job in introducing them.

Zaanse Schans, Zaandijk, The Netherlands

No visit to the Netherlands is complete without seeing the windmills. In Netherlands, the larger scale working windmills can be found in Kinderdijk, 15km east of Rotterdam (Take the subway to Rotterdam Zuidplein station and then the bus 154 to Kinderdijk, bus stop Molenkade, abt 46 mins), but the more convenient location (and in my opinion, most scenic) for a visit is perhaps Zaanse Schans, 15km north of Amsterdam.

You can take a train from Schiphol Airport Station to Koog-Zaandijk (2nd Class return, €7.50, 30 mins), with a transit at Amsterdam Sloterdijk. It's even more convenience from Amsterdam Centraal, there are direct trains which takes about 17 mins. Upon alighting at Koog-Zaandijk station, it's another 15 minutes leisure walk to Zaanse Schans. There are road signs along the way, you won't get lost if you know the general direction well, or simply by following the road signs.

The weather today wasn't as good as when I last visited some 9 years ago. I was disappointed that the sky didn't look too pleasant for my pictures =( Anyway, let's touch on the windmills =)

I need to reiterate that the main purpose of this blog is to introduce a nice place to visit and means of getting there via public transport, where possible. So, I won't spend time to repeat what other website already described (most likely better anyway), so I merely quoted in general the description here:

The Zaanse Schans is a fully inhabited, open-air conservation area and museum located 9 miles north of Amsterdam. Original buildings vividly depict Dutch life in the 17th and 18th centuries. The authentic houses, the historic shipyard, the clog-making demonstrations and, above all, the windmills, attract hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. De Zaan region is probably the world's first industrial site ever. Some 250 years ago, well over 800 windmills were cramped into this relatively small area. They performed a wide range of industrial duties. Of the five windmills, three are open to visitors. A boat tour on the river Zaan offers a particularly wonderful view of these mills.

The open-air museum also features a wooden shoemaker, a pewter factory, bakery, cheese and dairy farm, and a century-old grocery store. The Zaanse Schans is open from Monday through Sunday from 10 a.m. To 5 p.m. Please note that not all museums on the site are open during the winter months. Admission to Zaanse Schans is free. There is a small fee for the museums and mills. There are four direct trains per hour that take you from Amsterdam Central Station to the Koog-Zaandijk station in 17 minutes.

The windmills
At Zaanse Schans you can see al lot of windmills.

De gekroonde Poelenburg
One of the five remaining paltrok windmills in Holland. Unfortunately this sawmill is not open to the public.

De Kat
This mineral mill is open to the public throughout the week. It produces a range of raw materials for the coloring and paint industry.

De Zoeker and De Bonte Hen
These oil mills are both in working order. Both mills are open to the public at certain times.

De Huisman
This small mustard mill is still in use. Unfortunately, it is not open to the public.

De Hadel
This drainage mill was used to maintain the desired water level in the polder.

Mills outside The Zaanse Schans
Just outside Zaanse Schans you will find windmills with captivating names, such as 'De Bleeke Dood' (The Bleak Death), 'De Ooievaar' (The Stork) and 'De Held Jozua' (The Hero Joshua). The nearby 'Schoolmeester' (Teacher) is the last remaining paper windmill in the world. For many centuries, paper produced in this region was considered the best quality paper in the world. Did you know that America's 'Declaration of Independence' was written on paper from De Zaan?

Quoted from: http://us.holland.com/e/8134/The+Zaanse+Schans.php

Keukenhof Gardens, Lisse, The Netherlands

Having finally managed to find time for the very first post, let me start off with the Keukenhof Gardens in Lisse, The Netherlands.

The following is a link to the official home page for the world renowned Keukenhof Gardens in Lisse, a short train ride from Schiphol Airport of about 20 minutes (to Leiden).
http://www.keukenhof.nl/

Alight at Leiden Station and turn right upon exit, there is a Conexxion office, selling all-in-one package which includes return bus fare and entrance ticket to Keukenhof Gardens at about €16 (back in 2005). Bus 54 departs for Keukenhof Gardens every 30 minutes and the journey took about half an hour. At time of posting, I understand that there are more alternatives such as direct bus from Amsterdam and Schiphol Airport as well. From Schipol, there is bus 58, which goes directly to Keukenhof Gardens at an interval of every 15 minutes.

I didn't take bus 58 then (wasn't even sure whether it started then anyway), because I bought a train ticket to Tilburg, where my convention reception was held later in the evening. I am allowed to alight as many times along the way as I wish, so long as the alighting stations are along the same route to my destination. You see.. it was a business trip, and I was going to claim the train ticket as part of my business expenses (and rightfully so!), so eventually I was probably paying a cheaper rate if I took the bus at Leiden, the nearest train station to Lisse. After that, I would be able to travel on from Leiden to Tilburg, without the hassle of going back to Schiphol since the package price included a return bus journey.

Although I would advise travelers from Amsterdam to take bus 58 from Schiphol, but Leiden Centraal Station is still an awesome structure worth a look out for..

The Conexxion office is situated at the left corner, outside this picture. Just make sure you turn right upon exiting the station, it's just a couple of minutes' walk, and the bus bay is just across Conexxion office. During flower season, you'd probably see a queue there, it's likely to be it ^.^

Keukenhof Gardens opens for slightly more than a month during Spring, usually during early April till mid May, and remains closed for the rest of the year. For people catching it during the fringe period, they are advised to check out the exact date from their official website. It has more than one entrance of course, but the Conexxion bus will always drop you at the main one. So drivers please note, if it may convenience your arrival.

The main entrance can be quite crowded at times, particularly the ticket booth, for drivers especially, so travelers are strongly encouraged to purchase all-in-one ticket from Leiden or Schiphol if possible!

Keukenhof Gardens cover a land of 32 hectares, with more than 4.5 millions tulips in 100 varieties. There are 15km of foot paths, with more than 7 millions bulb planted by hands.
But they are not limited to tulips though, there are cherry blossoms, roses, hyacinths, orchids, daffodils among many others. There is even a miniature zoo with pigs, lambs, cows and white peacock! At one corner of the garden, you can even climb up a mock-up windmill to appreciate the splendid colours of tulip fields within!

Keukenhof is a garden so big, that visitors hardly feel any proximity from fellow flower lovers, in fact, they would feel surrounded by flowers instead. Cycling is not allowed in the garden, so leisure walking is much of a necessity but fear not, there are ready cafes available around every corner for a brief rest if required. Keukenhof Gardens consists of the Hoofdingang Paviljoen, Oranje Nassau Paviljoen, Willem Alexander Paviljoen, and Beatrix Paviljoen. Each Paviljoen can easily be as large as 1000 square meters, each with their respective theme. So, it will only be wise to come as early in the morning as possible. Walking in the gardens is such a breeze, with full of hyacinth scent, and flying cherry pedals, you can't help asking yourself, is heaven any better?!

There are a lot more scenic pictures I could have uploaded, but I guess it's never enough, besides, google can easily turns up more beautiful pictures of this heaven on Earth, so I leave this post with a strong recommendation here, if there is one garden you must visit in your life, let it be Keukenhof!

The place that starts it all..

I might have started my flight adventure way back in 1994 to a tiny island call Hong Kong (not yet S.A.R. then, still under British colonial rule), but my love for flowers started some 11 years later, this time to an ex empire known more for their lax in drug and perhaps, the breeding land for some of the top notch soccer players in the world.

My attempt to visit the Keukenhof Garden in 1997, when I toured Europe, was met with poor planning and disappointment, when we chose France as our first destination after leaving United Kingdom, where our flight landed, and left Netherlands as almost the last, before we continue our journey to UK and took our flight home from Heathrows. Our initial intention was perhaps to enjoy EuroDisneyland while we were still fresh and energetic. And that period of time, internet was not that popular, that defied me the luxury from embracing the exuberance research prowess of the world wide web. With more than 10 countries to visit over a span of a month, I was also shorthanded and had to pass on some planning to my tour mates, much to my dissatisfaction at times.

So, on a brief business trip to The Netherlands, I managed to squeeze in a visit to Keukenhof Garden in Lisse before the evening reception at the Groenendael, Hilvarenbeek, nearer to Tilburg. This visit fulfilled one of my greatest regrets from my Europe shoestring tour about 8 years back, and till this day, remains one of my fondest memories, that I so much wanted to bring mt parents for a visit, if my financial commitment permit. From then on, I fall in love with flowers and made more subsequent trips to see flowers, notably in Japan.

Whatsoever, this blog is not just about flowers, I'd like to share, particularly with my very good friends, who may want to visit some of these places in future, and also to store some of my best memories during my trips, so that one fine day, when I look back, I can beam with deep satisfaction, and my hardworked research won't go to waste.