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Showing posts from December, 2009

The Ancient City Trip with Perth gang

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Sean and Traci flew from Perth before Xmas and we're heading to Ayutthaya, the ancient city during the following Monday. We left Bangkok at 10 AM heading north. The royal summer palace was the first destination. It's only an hour relax car drive until we reached BangPa-In. We stayed there until lunch and moved to Ayutthaya. It was a very hot and dry day. The sun wasn't friendly to my guests. We visited 3 major temples and ruins plus had local snack to nibble on the way back to Bangkok. But despite of the heat, they all really enjoyed the trip. Trip adjourned by 4 PM. Time to recharged the energy to dash around in the evening!

Pengaturan Perjalanan

Ada 3 tipe traveller menurut saya, yang sangat terencana, spontan dan fleksibel. Berdasarkan pengalaman saya jalan-jalan, baik sendiri maupun dengan rombongan, fleksibel traveller lebih menyenangkan. Soalnya, kalo kita terlalu keukeuh sama rencana bisa jadi stres kalo situasi di lapangan berbeda. Jalan-jalannya gak jadi fun lagi. Padahal, salah satu tujuan jalan-jalan buat ngilangin stres dari rutinitas hari-hari. Sementara, kalo terlalu spontan juga susah. Pernah saya jalan tanpa rencana sama sekali, sangat impromptu. yang ada, waktu yang tersedia jadi gak maksimal. Setelah kembali ke rumah, saya merasa ada yang kurang. Tidak merasa menambah 'kaya batin'. Jadi sekarang kalo saya mau jalan-jalan, saya usahakan riset sdikit lah tentang tempat tujuannya. Kalo sempet bikin rancangan perjalanan harian. Walaupun nantinya bisa ada perubahan di sana sini, rasanya lebih tenang dan plong, plus setelah selesai jalan-jalan, saya merasa 'nambah'. :) Kalo Anda gimana?

Damnoek Saduak also suitable for senior

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Back in July, I had a senior couple (age over 70) visiting, I called them Abah and Mamak (means father and mother). They both still full of love and adorable. The highlight of their holiday was a trip to Damnoek Saduak Floating Market. Located about 2 hour car drive out of Bangkok, this floating market known as the biggest touristy floating market. We left Bangkok early morning about 7 AM cos we want to be there before the vendors gone by mid day. Although there are some other touristy objects along the way, my guests prefer not. They have personal reason to visit Damnoen. They are originally coming from East Kalimantan where floating market was a beautiful scene during their youth. Nowadays, only in Banjarmasin we will easily find it. We arrived there at 9-ish and rent a motor operated small boat that took us along canals. This is more like a village where canals is one of their transportation route even now the land route already existed. The boat trip was enjoyable, as we ca

Jalan-jalan dengan anak

Ada 3 kategori anak dalam hal jalan-jalan di kamus saya : anak bayi, anak balita dan anak besar (start from 6 yo to teens). Diantara ketiga grup anak itu justru anak balita yang perlu perhatian ekstra. kenapa?  karena anak bayi (under 6 months) masih blum gratakan bergerak dan umumnya hanya menyusu, lebih mudah lagi kalau menyusu ASI. Pengalaman saya travelling dengan bayi, yang paling penting diperhatikan 'hanya' kebersihan dan asupan makanan. Rata-rata bayi akan travelling digendong atau dalam kereta dorongnya.  sementara anak besar sudah lebih mudah diberi pengertian dan bekerja sama. Mereka rata-rata paham instruksi dan lebih bisa diandalkan. Anak 6 tahun yang kurang mandiri, masih akan saya masukkan kategori balita sih... Kelompok ini bisa makan segalanya (dengan catatan tidak ada pantangan/alergi), bisa jalan kaki cukup jauh, punya cadangan energi dan bisa diajak fleksibel, tentu dengan diberi pengertian. Nah, kalau balita hampir tidak keduanya. Balita belia (include bati

Fashion Shopaholic at Chatuchak

In early September I guided Mbak Ria and her friends to explore chatuchak weekend market. It was supposed to be a half day thing but turned out to be a day affair. Can't blame them, Chatuchak has too much to offer. One can get lost in there easy and can't find a way back. That's why it's so common for people to tell you, 'if you like something at Chatuchak, don't think just buy as you won't find them again'. Mbak Ria is a buyer for fashion item but her taste is.. say unique. She would buy an item you wouldn't imagine. But it's nice to wear. She will carefully look at the stiches, sense the fabrics and pay for a flawless item. The other 3 ladies are the cheerleaders. (go Ria go!) So it was 4 of us watching Mbak Ria shopping. While us only bought fewer than her, under her advise. They also careful about timing and energy. I help to ensure they only pass shops that mainly beneficial for them. No funny things like tattoo parlor, pets, housing acc

Bandung Shoppers

Mbak Ebbie and her friends from Bandung 'escape' from their husband and kids for a holiday in Bangkok in early October 2009. It was an enjoyable visit since they all share the same passion : SHOPPING. They all in the mid 40 to 50 but for the sake of shopping, i can't see any exhaustion. They would walk and walk and walk with those shopping bags for hours. They definitely in the heaven of female shoppers as Bangkok provide everything, especially for ladies. Bandung actually also fame for similar stuff-fashion. But I guess they found a different taste with good prices too. The night of their arrival, they already shop around their hotel in Pratunam once after I left them. The next day, among the sightseeing at tourist spots, again, they shop at MBK. Yet, I arrange a cabaret show for them but I was not surprise that by midnite they just returned back to hotelroom after shopping around. :) The trip to Chatuchak weekend market was cancelled. I thought it's also due to the fa

Flying with Jasmine

Sejak anak pertama saya berumur 2 bulan, kami sudah sering sekali jalan-jalan bareng. Bahkan cukup sering saya bepergian naik pesawat hanya dengan Jasmine, anak pertama saya. Sebagian besar sih memang karena keluarga saya berada di Jakarta sementara saat itu kita berdomisili di Balikpapan. Penerbangan terakhir saya berdua Jasmine (dan sangat berkesan) skitar tengah tahun 2008. Saat itu saya sedang hamil 5 bulan, berangkat dari Balikpapan menuju Brisbane via Singapore. Saya masih sempat kerja hari itu hingga jam 3 sore, pulang dan segera ke airport (untungnya cuma 10 menit dari rumah), ngejar penerbangan jam 5 menuju Spore. Transit cukup lama di Changi sampai penerbangan berikutnya menuju Brisbane yang take-off tengah malam. Kita sampai di BNE airport jam 9 pagi waktu setempat. Buat saya, Jasmine anak yang sangat beruntung bisa jalan-jalan ke banyak tempat di umur yang masih kecil begitu. Tapi keuntungan buat saya lebih banyak lagi, mungkin karena sangat terbiasa, Jasmine sangat koo

something about Bangkok and my service

After a while exploring Bangkok and beyond, I think it's my time to share and help. There are so much reason to travel and visit Bangkok (and it's surroundings). It's because this city is the capital of Thailand, the land of smile, where tourism is a so-huge matter here. More over, Thailand also a hub for some businesses and international organization. Even United Nations regional offices is here. Some traveller come alone for holiday or business trip, with their partner, with their gang of bestfriend, with family, etc. I found Bangkok can cater any type of visitors, whether they are a real tourist or not. But I also found some of those visitors are hassled and found inconvenient in the city. For that matter, one can't change much but can do a difference. Suggestion, explore with local-someone who knows- and trustworthy (that's me! *wink*). Language is one of the reason. Different rules and cultures are the others. While personally, a little trouble here and there w