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nature

    Saraburi rules!

    30/04/2018
    by

    I planned for a little weekend getaway for Tom’s birthday and wanted to go somewhere we had never explored before. I’ve always had Saraburi in the back of my mind after finding the gem Baan Souchada Resort and Spa at the travel fair at Queen Sirikit National Convention Center. Saraburi is known for their abundance of sun flowers, so in my mind I was thinking a nice getaway in natural surroundings at their perfect rice field villa overlooking the sunflower fields… though, as I found out, sunflower season is over by the end of January, so for Tom’s birthday on the 9th, they would all have gone away.

    couple sitting on haystack kissing

    Even if there was no sunflowers, I was very impressed with their premises.  I love hotels that aren’t mainstream brands. And honestly the pictures of the pool villa upgrade was convincing enough. The villa is gorgeous, still overlooking the rice fields, but with a long pool and a smaller mini pool to relax. There is also an outside Jacuzzi in the back of the villa.

    drone shot from infinity private pool

    Workout of today could easily be done here!

    girl sitting under a palmtree

    Nothing more appealing than green surroundings. This is pretty much right in front of the pool villas!

    What was equally as good was their food and wine. We did their set menu and Tom was particularly impressed with their salad, which is never Tom’s fave. So much that he had to find out where the chef had studied, which was, exactly as he guessed Le Cordon Bleu Dusit Culinary School. Oh and don’t forget to try the spa at least one day, great price, dreamy, and it has an authentic Thai vibe.

    girl holding an umbrella

    On cloud 9 after a Thai massage… 55

    girl stretching for water

    So peaceful to sit downstairs at the spa, there’s an area for yoga as well!

    solar panels on roof tops

    All the villas (at least in the area we were staying) were running on solar panels placed on the roof. They also plant their own crops, flowers and are farming animals on the property. You can also spot little birdies everywhere and there’s a bird watch tower for that purpose as well.

    girl standing next to a temple

    Many beautiful temple sites around Saraburi. Wat Phra Phutthabat is probably the one that stands out the most. If you only have time for one temple- this is it!

    Buddha in the jungle

    giant dam from the air

    Pa Sak Jolasid Dam

    girl looking out to a dam

    What’s a dam if not for posing :p

    Sooo jelly at Tom here, Monkey is my spirit animal!!! There are monkey’s EVERYWHERE IN LOPBURI. But they are very naughty!

    These monkey’s are just living along the streets in Lopuri. How insane.

    Around the property there’s the Jolasid dam, markets, honey farm (they might not be farming bees as this is seasonal, but they have some amazing beauty products), temples and with easy access to the vineyards in Muak Lek. We also drove by Lopburi on the way home, which is no more than 20 minutes away. Beware of the monkey’s tho, they stole my ice cream!

    Conclusion: if you love nature, exploring, wine…, monkey’s and awesome (pool) villas, you have to go to Saraburi!

     

    Somehow I forgot…

    20/09/2017
    by

    Caught up in the hustle of travelling around Europe and getting back home I totally forgot about the posts that were promised, but hey, let’s start with Norway!

    It doesn’t matter how long or short my stays in Norway are… it’s always going feel like home, and leaving is always just as hard. It never feels like I’ve had enough time here.

    couple goals travelling around norway

    Travel partner number uno!

    I think the hardest part is missing my family, but also my childhood home, all the memories I was brought up with, the familiar sights, smells and flavors. My friends. The feeling of a system that truly works. Strict rules and stiff prices set a side, I consider myself quite lucky to come from and having been born and raised in this beautiful country. I always find it more exciting coming here on holiday, especially when bringing Tom along, as he’s a tourist, meaning I have to think of amazing places to show him. My dad was the best when it came to taking us around all of Norway as kids, so I’m pretty much reliving and showing off my childhood memories to Tom. But I also get the opportunity to explore the unseen, which is awesome. Also, experiencing things as an adult gives you a totally different perspective than when you were young.

    cabin in the woods tomtvatnet

    Our cabin in the woods. One of my fave places during the summer months. So isolated.

    So far I’ve taken Tom north to Tromsø for dog sledding and searching for the northern lights, we’ve also walked the streets of little Bodø before travelling on Hurtigruta to beautiful Lofoten. Lofoten during winter time is amazing, but you have to rent a car to drive around the island to get the most of it. And make sure to figure out when the sun rises and sets, because you’ll only have around 4 hours with a clear view. Last year we did the most beautiful road trip I can think of, driving up to Åndalsnes past the famous “Trollstigen” and “Troll wall” before setting up tent in the stunning Geiranger Fjords, we also witnessed the gorgeous Seven Sisters Waterfall while exploring the fjords by boat. We continued by chilling out by the beautiful lakes of Stryn and made a little detour to camp out around Jostedalsbreen to go kayaking and glacier walking in “Styggevatnet”. You need to save up a bit if you want to do several planned activities in Norway, but trust me, it’s all worth it! We also made a trip to Bergen, Voss and the famous Borgund Stave Church. You can see more photos and how to do the same roadtrip here. I love travelling around Norway.

    streets of oslo

    Love the architecture of Oslo

    This year around we decided to try spending more time with friends and family as last year, we managed to book our trip while nobody was home. We started off in Oslo visiting my aunt and catching up with friends and family there. We normally only go for a couple of days, but since we planned a 1 month trip this year we managed to squeeze in almost a full week in Oslo. Oslo is a fantastic city during the summer months, and there’s so many nice places to eat and drink.

    Oslo vibes

    I also love how the weather and distance makes it perfect to walk everywhere. This time we visited Taco Republica for Oslo’s best tacos and they were extremely tasty, we were also introduced to amazing burgers at Kverneriet (Burgers) in Majorstuen, both of them must-visits if you’re a food lover like myself! The list of great bars and places with craft and draft beers are endless. Oslo makes beer drinking fun! I think our favourite place must have been Kulturhuset, I can’t remember how many beers they had on draft, but I can promise you they have something for your taste and something you’ve never tasted. The upstairs is lined up with games like shuffle board, table tennis and foosball tables- in other words PLAYTIME. Just how I like it!

    girls travelling around norway

    Preikestolen with Sandra<3

    We found a great deal for tickets to Stavanger as well, and were so lucky to crash with our lovely Norwegian friend Sandra (which we actually first met back home in Bangkok). We rented a car from the app “Nabobil”, highly recommended if you want to rent a car at a good price and drove up to hike the Pulpit Rock. The ferry leaves every 30 minutes, not far from city center and is a 45 minute ride followed by another 30 minute drive before you reach the starting point and parking. The hike up and down will take you a total of 2 hours if you add some speed to it, but the average time is 4 hours so keep that in mind if you are travelling as a family or haven’t been trekking much before. Stavanger is such a pretty city so make sure you have some time to walk around the old town, enjoy a nice meal at the water front or just walking around the streets for shopping and photos. It’s very picturesque!

    couple travelling norway kissing on pulpit rock

    Love this shot from Pulpit Rock!

    cabin in the woods travelling around norway

    Trekking and nature is a must when visiting Norway.

    I’ve already started planning for our trip home for Christmas and New Years. Can’t I haven’t been home for two Christmases already. Insane! Crossing my fingers for a white Christmas. <3

    Sunny days on the countryside

    12/09/2016
    by

    I’ve been staying at my aunt’s place during my days in Oslo. It’s been so nice and sunny! I haven’t had much time to enjoy the outside as I’ve been stuck in the city for school, but Sunday’s off so today has been filled with long walks and picking fresh blueberries. I’ve even gone running…twice! I’ve had such a lovely time here in Maura. Tomorrow I’m flying off to Levanger to see the rest of the family. Good times! -A

    The Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation

    01/05/2016
    by

    The Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation is founded by Anantara golden triangle camp and Four seasons tented camps. The camp was primarily set up to help elephants, but after a visit there you can see that they are contributing with so much more. Helping out the locals, and especially mahouts all over Thailand together with their wives and families. I’ve always seen mahouts walking along the streets of Bangkok, trying to get people to buy overpriced bananas off them to feed the elephants. In my mind I’ve always looked at these guys as bad and that they have no right to have an elephant by their side doing things like that. In my mind, I always saw this as people who had acquired elephants as pets trying to earn money…Needless to say, I’m being prejudice and are pulling everyone under one comb…  After visiting the elephant camp, I’ve realized that many of these mahouts are just trying to keep themselves and their elephants alive, doing what they know best.

    girl playing with elephant in chiang mai

    This baby loves sunflower seeds!!

    You have to keep in mind that these guys might not even have an education, they grew up with their parents taking care of their elephants, so that’s pretty much all they know. At some point they just couldn’t afford feeding their elephants nor themselves anymore and were forced to seek other options. The Elephant foundation has helped loads of elephant villages around Thailand providing the kids with proper education and the wives with work and income instead of just sitting at home. Most of elephant stuff you see in the Anantara Golden Triangle hotel is made by the wives of the mahouts. They also sell some at their camp. Beautiful jewelry and silk scarf made out of butterfly cocoons. Obviously they also provide work for the mahouts and their elephants making it a great little community.

    It makes me so happy when I see a place where the humans and animals seem to be working together and actually care about each other. That’s how the world should be… Elephants should have space in the wild and not in some circus tent or a little field. That goes for a lot of other animals too. It costs over 15.000 USD early to keep an elephant fed and healthy, so if you would like to make a contribution check out helping elephants. Or even if you just want to get more educated about the elephants or see other of their amazing projects. <3

     

    Xoxo

    -A

     

    Chillin in the Thai rainforest

    09/03/2016
    by

    As I mentioned earlier we were planning to go camping for our trekking and nature trip up North for Tom’s birthday. We had bought our camping gear beforehand and was ready to go. Little did we know about the cold weather that was lying ahead of us. I mean it was FREEZING. It’s already cold up North/Northeast during the winter months, but this time it was extra cold, and they actually told us it was the coldest day this year. So, we played it smart and rented bungalows as we went, which was still pretty cold. Let’s just say we did not use the aircon in any of the places.

    boy standing in front of rain forest hotel phitsanulok

    Entrance to the hotel from the main road.

    On the day of Tom’s birthday, we wanted to stay somewhere nice, so we went on Agora to see if we could get a place with a nice view or even a place with a pool we could hang out by. There were LOTS of options. At this time we were heading to Phitsanulok. After Tom got some time thinking he thought it would be nice to stay somewhere eco-friendly, which I think was a great idea and started googling up something while Tom was driving. This led to me finding the Rain Forest Resort which lies in the outskirts of Phitsanulok. The drive was around 3 hours from Phu Kradung and we arrived after sunset. The hotel is beautiful, full of nature and animal sounds.

    girl_eco_REsort_phitsanulok

    Thea pathway into the jungle and our bungalow.

    It’s kind of weird as the hotel is located right next to the motorway, but once you enter the hotel, you see greens for as long as the eye can see, and a nice river running through. Now don’t go expecting some Khao Sok or Pai scenery, but for what it was, and where this was located it was beautiful. We got a bungalow with a river view which was perfect. It had a nice outside area where you could chill on the balcony and connect with the nature. It was even nicer the next day after sunrise where you could go and chill on rocks at the river, or even something more comfortable as shaded seating raised on pillars. You can also get a massage there, which we unfortunately didn’t have time to.

    boy_sitting_river_phitsanulok

    Perfect spot to be in your own thoughts…

    girl_sitting_rocks_phitsanulok

    So serene <3

    food_eco_Resort_phitsanulok

    B R E A K F A S T

    The breakfast was nice too, and they grow their own vegetables. It was so good we actually bought some for home. I was so jealous when Tom chose a salad instead of fruits, as I expected it to be a normal Thai salad. You know the kind with Oak salad, tomatoes and carrot served with this weird slimy white sauce from Big C… I wished they baked their own bread though, or made their own jam. We didn’t have dinner there, so it might be more homegrown things on the menu then.

    rain_forrest_eco_resort

    You can chill by the river and get a massage here. Perfect spot!

    boy_sitting_thailand_hammock

    Birthday boiii, so cute!

     

    All in all, we were very satisfied with the hotel. The rooms were nice. It was possible to unwind in the nature, even if it was next to the motorway…. The reason why I mention this twice is because we read beforehand that it was noisy but we did not experience this at all. BUT, we did get a bungalow on the river. I think the hotel rooms are located by the road. Meaning, you will be dissapointed if you’re out for a quick stop and saving money. But if you love nature, and don’t mind spending the little extra. I think you’ll really like it. And also, be prepared for some lukewarm showers, which was pretty cold during the winter months.

     

     

    Xxxx

    -A

    Reasons to go to Norway

    26/09/2015
    by

    Norwegian nature. If you ever visit Norway make sure you get to see as much nature as possible. The air is so fresh and clears your mind and soul. No kidding.

    BEST KEBAB.

    Mmm, Norwegian ice cream sandwich makes the summer complete. I’ve tried the Häagen-Dazs one in Thailand, and NO the “bread” is not supposed to be crispy!!

    Pizza is my favourite food and Orion in Levanger has the best one on this planet. I love love love theit garlic and bernaise sauce !!

    BEST PIZZA.IN.THE.WORLD AT ORION, LEVANGER.

    Pepsi Max is best in Norway… just ask ANYONE.

    Bye bye Norway it’s time for me to leave and be off to New york! I’m pretty sure I will never settle in Norway, but I always get sad when I have to leave. Lately I’ve only gone for under a week when I’ve headed home but normally I go for 4-7 weeks and I still feel down when I go. I don’t know if it’s because I’ll miss the food, or being able to walk around in fresh air and nature or if it’s simply the tought of not staying at home with my family in my childhood bed where I sometimes feel like I belong.  I think it’s the last part.

    This trip I’ve been doing most of the things Norways is known for, enjoying the beautiful nature and eating amazing food, candies and other treats…I’m already up by 2 kilos so I’m scared to see what New York brings.

    Talk to you real soon! Xx