It is another semester break for most people, but for me, it is a one-month-break before starting a new journey. Yeah, I have done my four years degree (unofficially, as my graduation ceremony is yet to come). Time really flies. It is already 1st of August, 2015 today, I have only one week of sweet holiday left.
Well, who cares how long the break is, as long as it is meaningful. Recently, by just scrolling Facebook newsfeed, there are many different groups of my friends visited Bangkok and Hua Hin. Hua Hin, especially, is a place in Thailand that has just emerged to be a new tourist attraction. My dad, who claimed to admire the fascinating view of Hua Hin beaches, suggested a trip to Bangkok and Hua Hin. It was a tough decision whether to follow tours provided by travelling companies or plan on our own. Eventually, I decided to plan on a budget trip for the family.
The planning process was a tough one as I am the only one from the family that has experiences in planning backpacking trips. However, I was not very fond of Thailand, maybe due to some unfavourable memories when I was a kid. The people look very scary to me and they cannot speak English. The planning was tougher than the time I planned for Hanoi trip. I did some researches from different websites, flyers from travel agencies and blogs, especially blogs from Celine, my matriculation friend. Few of my friends who went to Bangkok and Hua Hin before gave me useful tips in planning. A useful application to be recommended is Tripomatic. Tripomatic will show the places of attraction with details and place it on the map which makes it easy for us to plan the route later.
Based on my experience, all talks and no action will end up with nothing. Therefore, the first thing to do was to book flight tickets. Then only some planning on the places of attractions that we want to visit. By using AirasiaGo, I have booked flight tickets and hotels together. I could not say that it was the cheapest price I got, but it was definitely cheaper than booking them separately. One thing to take note is the location of the hotel. Sometimes it is hard to determine where to stay for the convenience of transportation when one is not familiar with the place.
Bangkok basically is a place for shopping, praying and eating. They have many famous shopping malls and night markets. Since I am not the luxurious shopping type of girl, night markets became my choice for shopping and eating. There are also many temples in Bangkok. People usually go to the temples for prayers, but I planned to go there for photo shooting. The architecture of the temples amazed me. They give me the impression of "blink blink" and "shining shining" everywhere. LOL. We spent one and a half day in Bangkok (half day used for flight from Hatyai-Bangkok) taking photos, eat and temple visiting. We also took a boat cruise in Menom Chao Phraya.
Hua Hin, on the other hand, is still developing as a tourist attractions. There are not many places that can be visited. The usual places where everyone visits are Santorini, The Venezia, Swiss Sheep Farm, etc.. Honestly, those places are very beautiful when seen from others' photos, but they are not very worth the price for entrance tickets. They are like specially made for tourists but not very related to the name of its place. I personally think that those places are overrated! The most satisfying visit in Hua Hin is the night market. We managed to visit Cicada night market which only opens during weekends. It is a very interesting night market with many arts displayed. There are also stalls selling handicraft. We also visited the famous Chatchai market. There were many things to buy there, such as clothes, souvenirs, food, especially SEAFOOD! The price are considered cheap in Hua Hin night market.
The overall expenditure for this 5D4N trip is approximately RM1000 per person, which includes only return flights and hotels, transportation (in Bangkok and Hua Hin) and entrance fees for tourist attractions (boat cruises and entrance tickets). In fact, the price for food in Bangkok and Hua Hin are reasonable. It is very easy to get delicious food with cheap prices, provided that one knows where to find good food. It is also important to visit places that worth visiting, else, one would end up spending huge amount of money for something that will make one disappointed.
P/s: Attached the itinerary I have planned (it was really, really, really, a very tough job in finalizing the places and routes.) Not a perfect one, but at least can be used as reference.
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