Maldives, what can I say? I’m missing it a lot… and even more throwing back to our times by watching this video. Me and Tom just started our joint Youtube channel and our first video is from the adventure we had on Anantara’s islands, Dhigufinolhu and Veligandu. I’m already missing the sunny weather, crystal clear waters and pristine beaches of Maldives.
Check it out, and don’t forget to subscribe!
<3 this guy!
One sentence. The food in Pai is sooo good. Let alone at this hotel! We stayed and dined here the whole day! Never left the hotel until check-out!
The lounge area is perfect for a bottle of wine!
THAT view…
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We stayed at so many cool places during our trip to Pai in February, but Puri Pai Villa was the one to put a mark on us. The decor, the feeling of modern luxury and all this combined with a panoramic view of the hills of Mae Hong Son.
Because of the location, you will only be able to catch the sunrise, but it is one of a kind. Make sure you don’t miss it… It gets quite chill in the morning, so you get that nice misty mountain vibe. A part of the charm is hiding under the blanket as you gaze into the endless nature as the magic golden sun start to rise. It’s so relaxing and it doesn’t even feel like you’re in Thailand anymore. Once the sun is up and the noon comes creeping in, it’s totally ok to get into your bikini and summer clothes again. But don’t try to be a hero and go for a mornings swim, it’s WAY TOO COLD.
Grab a bottle of wine at the pool bar and take a seat at the beautiful large balcony overlooking the stunning horizon of Mae Hong son and just relax to the sound of nature. The food there is AMAZING. You have to try their pastas, all of them were good! Then night comes and you can hang out at the bean bags in the sun deck, there’s even a fire-place, a draft beer place and on Fridays there’s a BBQ!
Puri Pai Villa, we’ll be back!
Yayy, finally booked our tickets to Maldives, super excited to finally get to see what this Island country have to offer. I’m looking forward to sun and endless blue seas… Thank you so much Anantara! We’ll be staying at the stunning Anantara Dhigu and Veli for a whole week, talk about being a lucky couple. When are we heading off you may ask? 30th og March until 5th of April!
Talk later guys- we are heading to feast at the new Marriott hotel down our soi. I’ve heard Marriott Marquis has one of the best dinner buffets Bangkok has to offer served at the Goji Kitchen & Bar. Let’s see what this is all about. <3
Who’s this handsome guy…
Loved chilling by the pool area, the view is perfect overlooking the hills and rice fields.
Get one of these private villas in the background, you’ll get a clear view of the sunrise in the morning <3
//Bikini-H&M//Swimmers-Thomas Royall//
This photo is taken at Pai Island Hotel a 2 minute walk from Yoma Hotel. Seriously, go there to have a cup of single bean coffee. I had a cappuccino and it was the smoothest one ever.
The first night during our time in Pai we stayed at Yoma Hotel located only 5 minutes away from the city center. The view is stunning and the pool is located in a perfect position to chill and watch the sunrise or just gaze at the beautiful view. The lighting is perfect for photos during sundown to catch the flares, amazing! As you can see we totally took advantage of this, oops. I opted for the villa as it had more privacy and a clear view. I also loved the glass balcony doors in the morning. Open the curtains and watch the sunrise over the mist from your bed. All the rooms have a nice outside area so even if you don’t want to spend the extra, Yoma Hotel is a great choice. It’s also only a 2 minute walk to Pai Island Resort which is picture perfect!
We just came home from four amazing days in Pai. As I mentioned to you guys earlier, Tom turned 32 years on the 9th of February, so I wanted to surprise him and take him somewhere special. Pai is so beautiful, surrounded by stunning waterfalls, hot springs and beautiful green scenery as far as the eye can see. Moreover, there is so many nice places to stay up there.
I spent hours deciding on hotels and ended up choosing three different ones for our period of stay, and it was the best decision ever. All our rooms and sceneries were perfect, and all of them with a different vibe. I ended up choosing Yoma Hotel for our first night, Puripai Villa for the second and finished up with a private pool villa at The Quarter.
Starting the first day of 32 with a single bean coffee at Pai Island Resort. Might be the best coffee ever.
I’ve been reading a lot of negative stuff about Pai having changed so much during the past decade, and that the tourist visiting the city are mainly hippies or people seeking drugs and parties. I can definitely see where people are coming from, but the only irritating thing I noticed was the amount of Chinese tourists cutting in line and not really understanding English. The town certainly has hipster/hippy vibe, and I can understand that people are reacting to the fact that at least 50% of the food they sell along the walking street and coffee shops are foreign food, but hey at least the people selling it are Thai people.
We pretty much chilled at our hotel the whole day during Tom’s birthday. The food at PuriPai villa is SO GOOD!
In my opinion Pai was pretty quiet and chill, everything closes at 10 pm, except a couple of bars out of walking street, but nothing loud. I think it is all about where you stay, as we had pretty much no noise at all at any of the places we stayed. I could imagine staying at the hostels along and outside walking street could be a bit noisy though. Because you do want to go to bed early so you can catch that beautiful sunrise! I wish I got to see the untouched pai 10 years ago, but I would definitely urge everyone to make a visit and judge for themselves.
Our days in Pai was perfect from sunrise to sunset. I’m so happy that Tom liked his surprises! Though I think we both have to go on a major diet as we pretty much ate all the time. Cake, wine, beers, burgers, pasta, sandwiches, NOODLES, Pai is all about the delicious food! Who am I kidding… Wonderfruit is right around the corner!
Want to give Tom a little late birthday gift? Subscribe to his youtube channel.
I had a friend from back home visiting me for the past two weeks. I knew she wanted to see something new, as she had been in Thailand a couple of times before. It did not take me long to convince her to come to Cambodia with me. Ah- actually there was no convincing at all! I love how some of my friends are so adventurous and spontaneous! I also quickly managed to get Espen and Tom to join us on the journey too. It was great fun. I had never planned a trip over to Cambodia on my own before. There are loads of tips online already and it’s pretty straight forward. We spent a total of 15USD each to get from Bangkok to Siem Reap. Which I would say is quite affordable.
When crossing the boarder you’ll see loads of casino’s. Thai’s love to come here for a one day trip to gamble as gambling is illegal back home in Thailand.
We started in Bangkok at 6.20 in the morning leaving from Makkasan Railway station. Guys- make sure to emphasize that you want to be taken to the railway station and not the airport link. We even spoke to the driver in Thai and he still took us there. It took a lot of explaining for him to take us to Makkasan as he ended up taking us to the Klong Tan Railway station. (We later found out that the train stopped there too so he wasn’t wrong). Just be on your way to the station early. The train costs 48 baht (free for Thai’s) and takes you to Aranyaprathet or อรัญประเทศ, not far from the boarder to Poipet. A little insider’s tip is to get on in Hua Lamphong station. The train departs earlier from there but at least there might be a chance that you guys get to sit together. There are no numbered seats and they never sell out so be prepared to have to stand for an hour. Many people get off in the outskirts og Bangkok. So don’t worry. We had the pleasure of sitting with this cute lady and man from Sa Kaeo exchanging life stories.. It was nice. We also later got accompanied with a wonderful lady from Cambodia. I promised to meet her exactly one year from now on the train to come and chill at her place, ha-ha.
Beautiful Angkor Wat reflections
You can take a tuktuk to the boarder for almost nothing, then mini bus, bus or taxi from the boarder to Siem Reap. There will be a free shuttle bus waiting for you at the border. Whatever they advise you, go on a taxi. (48USD) It’s much faster and you don’t have to be bombarded with tuk tuk drivers to take you to the hotel once you touch down in Siem Reap. We took the mini bus as we bumped into another traveller on the road and didn’t want her to have to travel alone. Let’s just say the tuktuk driver in Siem Reap ripped us off!
The temples of Angkor is unreal!
Hahaha our friend photo!
Angkor Wat was beautiful. We went for the sunrise and it was amazing. We hired a tuktuk for the day (i’ll leave his contact on the bottom- this guys service is great, and he will not rip you off) for 25 USD. The TukTuk will pick you up at your hotel at 5am so you have plently of time to find a good spot. A good reminder is to get your tickets to Angkor the day before so you don’t have to line up in the morning. The price is 20USD for a day pass and grants you access to all the temples.
It was so nice to watch the many faces of Bayon, too bad this temple was overly crowded by tourists.
See what I mean?
It looks like we had the temple for ourselves 55
We only stopped at Bayon temple, Ta Prohm (the temple from Tomb Raider) and Angkor Wat the rest we just cruised by, as we were a bit scarce on time. We spent 7 hours in total exploring the grounds on Angkor and I must honestly admit I wish I had more. Beforehand I was thinking we would be tired after only two. However, the area is huge and there are so many nice photo ops!
#Leapkiss
One of the several insane trees around Ta Prohm.
FoodCeption of some of the amazing food we got to cosume in Cabodia.
We also had time for some chilling in the pub street and I obviously fell in love with their draft beers and prices. 50 cent for a pint hello?! They also have so many good things to eat, Cambodian and Western! We made sure to only fill our stomachs with Khmer food though… although we did stop for one of the best gelatos I’ve ever tasted! Make sure to visit Gelato lab if you go there!
We stayed at Villa OK 1, which had a great vibe and location. The staff was nice too. We paid around 400 baht each for a private room with six beds so it could have been even lower if we went more people. There are loads of cheaper accommodations but we wanted to pick something we were sure was going to work out. It had so many great review.
A n g k o r W a t you beauty!
To make the most of our time we decided to stay in Siem reap until the afternoon. So we had to take a taxi all the way back to Bangkok. It was all a breeze. 48 USD to the boarded in Poipet and then 58 USD from Poipet to our place in Bangkok. Divide that by four and you can say we paid 29 USD to get back home. That’s still a bargain! Obviously, it would save a lot more time to fly, but the prices was so high now as this trip was spontaneous. That being said I quite enjoyed the feeling of this trip and it was so cool to ride the train through Thailand. It was painful to sleep but hey- it was an experience. I definitely think I would do it again.
Contact for TukTuk and other Services:
Sithel Lim
e-mail sithellem84@gmail.com
Ok then- I hope I set a spark to your wanderlust fuse now. See ya later! <3
