Hi guys, I'll be blogging about my Khao Yai trip which we took 2 days off our 6 days 5 nights in Bangkok.
Our trip started on our 2nd day in Bangkok. It is not advisable to go on the weekend because there a lot of happenings during the weekend in Bangkok, you DON'T want to miss it. Anyway, we chose Khai Yai out of Hua Hin and Pattaya because it is new, and not crowded with tourist and the scenery is really very beautiful. We were so right, i never regret my choice tho. Khao Yai is so peaceful and quiet, not much tourist, everything was just ..US!
Expectations:
3 hours to reach Pak Chong ( a town near Khao yai) by Public Bus. Beware of scams where the bus will drop you off in the middle of nowhere and another van will come and pick you up demanding a larger sum of fees to get you to your destination. They say Pak Chong is near, you should stay there instead because food is convenient.
Reality:
it took almost 4 hours to reached Pak Chong, please take a VAN instead, it will save you the hassle and time. There will not be any scams if you go direct to a counter in Mo Chit Bus Station , the price is only 120 baht which is consider very cheap. I must say Pak Chong is NOT NEAR. It took about 30 minutes to our hotel, 40+ minutes if you want to go to PB Valley. Book a hotel around those attractions, food is not important, you can get 7 eleven and really trendy cafe here, the scenery is more important. haha.
Our Hotel, Prairie Hills with swimming pool, continental breakfast and strategic location.
I must say with the price we are paying, everything is just so worth it. It's new, the service girl, although she can't speak english took the effort in helping us find transport to move around the attractions in Khao Yai. We actually conversed by google translating everything she type to us.
The View from our room.
Everything was just so serene, neat , clean and pretty. Right beside our hotel is a theme park called " Scenical World" and right beside us is also another English theme hotel but cost a lot more than our stay.
Breakfast was limited but everything tastes good. There was this man standing attentively next to all the dishes constantly checking the food. They even gave boxes of cereal instead of you digging your cereals that was placed in a glass jar or something. I was glad to see a few outsiders, but yet, all of them are Thai, we were the only tourist from outstation.
What to expect:
The room is god damn spacious! it can fit at least 8-10 people! I think they should get 9.5/10 for their Agoda ratings instead of 8.5. (0.5 because they can't speak English, it felt like chicken and duck are trying to make sense of each other's language) All the hotels in Khao Yai are like luxury palace, if you ever heard of Thames Valley, you will know burning your money is worth spending the night there. Hotels rate in Khao Yai are cheaper in Bangkok. Always expect a higher price during the weekend and Friday ( don't ask me why). I searched a hotel RM121 and it was RM186 after i clicked Friday.
We reached Khao Yai around 4/5pm which was really late and out of our schedule. (Never take a bus, just NEVER)
we manage to catch some of these attractions before their closing time. Most of the attractions closes at 6pm (It will be quite dangerous during the night time)
We went to Palio Village which was just a stone throw away from where we stay.
Everything was so beautifully constructed here.
You can actually spend a night here if you want in Palio Inn.
There's a few shops selling gifts and souvenirs. A lot of shops are still not opened or maybe because it's a weekday, there's hardly a soul there anyway. We were free to snap all we want without getting bombarded by tourist.
Palio Village is worth going to. In fact i like it more than Primo Piazza, or maybe because is the weather because we went during the evening, we were not bothered by the heat anyway. I was expecting an entrance fee but nope, it's FREE. There are a lot of places to snap pictures, a lot more beautiful than Primo Piazza.
We were suppose to spend our dinner at this super popular high end restaurant called " MIDWINTER GREEN", it's like a games of throne palace with games of throne interiors. But on the way we saw this beautiful lighted up spots and realised is one of the recommended cafes in Khao Yai to go. Seeing that MIDWINTER GREEN will cost us a fortune, we decided to try this cafe out instead since is nearer as well.
Photo credits to : google. My camera sucks during the night, so i might as well take it from Google. When we were there, there's only us and one couple outside probably celebrating anniversary or something. There's hardly a soul there, but the outside was beautifully lighted up like there's a bonfire party or something.
Food is not cheap and the amount is not much but the food was really tasty.
My plate of spaghetti is about 260 baht (It was RM35 at that rate of time) I don't mind spending but at least i expect a bigger portion?
Our meal of the day.
Salmon thin crisp pizza: 180 baht ( can they just called it salmon on potato chips? lol)
Herbs Chicken : 180 baht (this was the only food i felt worth paying)
What to expect:
Small portions of food with high price. Save the money, pay extra and go Midwinter Green okay? at least you get to experience a remarkable atmosphere although i read the reviews their food was so-so but at least you pay to enjoy a high-end dining experience and feel royalty to be able to snap insta-worthy pictures after that.
PB Valley is our next stop the next morning. We checked out early and left our bags at the lobby and scooted off to our next attraction. Pb Valley is far but the view on the way there was serene! We spot a lot beautiful hotels and cafe along the way, we even saw this space theme hotel shaped like what we would have seen in any Alien movie. LOL.
The weather was hot.
BURNING hot. We were expecting at least 300 baht for a tour +entrance fee but there was it wasn't a wine season and we see a few tourist inside snapping pictures. So yea, we can actually go into the farm and do a little photoshoot.
And then we saw this.
SUNFLOWERS!!!!
Oh my god, i thought we would need to go to a flower farm to see this but in PB Valley, they have it too.
They even had a bench there, but it was still burning hot. The amount of sweats just to take this picture.
Here's a few pictures of what we had seen on the way to PB Valley.
There are other winery farms as well, i would suggest you to go Monte Asoke Valley as well because we drove pass there and it was equally beautiful.
What to expect:
Burning hot weather. Honestly we don't feel like snapping a lot of pictures because it was just too hot. Picked your season wisely while going Khao Yai, the best season to go is December-January where even Jim Thompson Farm will be opened to visitors. You can see grapes growing at the winery area, but you can see more tourist as well. Anyway, just expect a really hot day.
We went to The Bloom next. It is just a stone throw away from PB Valley, you can even walked there if you want to ( obviously not from the heat). The bloom entrance fee is 100 baht but is worth paying. I might say is because this season, everything is so hot and blazing, the plants are not blooming well but they have lots of different types of photo spot for you. If you don't want to get sunburnt, you can choose to pay 200 baht for a package where they use a buggy to fetch you around and you will have free cakes and drinks after that.
I like how tedious their decorations were. Everything was decorated just so you can have a nice photo out after that. Unfortunately it was soooo blazing hot, we can hardly take any nice pictures without looking like a squinted-eye Popeye.
What to expect:
Hot weather. A big area of different colour plants surrounding you. They have sheep too where you can feed them at the back and their sunflowers are bigger than PB Valley. It's The Bloom anyway, so expect to see a lot of flowers surrounding you .
Our last stop was Primo Piazza. By that time it was around 2pm already. There's no food there except overpriced coffees and cakes. The weather was again, BLAZING HOT. It is much smaller than Palio Village and it required an entrance fee as well, (100 baht)
With that entrance fee you get to feed the alpaca ! OH MY GAWD, look just how adorable they are. They can't stop eating, and behind them are sheep and donkeys as well.
Such a happy girl finally getting away from the sun and get to feed alpacas.
So here's an alpaca picture for you. Not really well kept but hey, it's still an alpaca! I never seen one before haha.
'
I never get to snap alot of their buildings so here's a picture taken from their official website just so you know how it looks like tho. Credits to them
What to expect:
No food, most of the shops are closed ( i was looking for their ice cream shop, but nobody seem to be operating it and it's a weekend by that day) Their buildings are beautiful and well constructed, Palio Village was nicer tho.
So that's it, after that we head back and took our luggages and went back to Bangkok. There are more things to see in Khao Yai but because we wasted our first day on the public bus *eyes rolling* there are a cafe not to miss, it's on the way to Primo Piazza from Pb Valley and it's call "THE BIRDERS" LODGE" i never seen so many people in there ever since i step foot in Khao Yai. That place is really beautiful but because we were running out of time, we just manage to drive pass that area.
Maybe next time i should go to Khao Yai National Park as well, is for the nature lover and for those who seeks for adventure.
There is utterly NO convenient transportations to take you around once you reached Khao Yai. ALWAYS rent a tour/ driver/ car to get to Khao Yai. Even if you hear people saying you can rent a motorbike once you reached Pak Chong, who's gonna carry all the luggages for you while you ride the bike? Nope, still is advisable to rent in BANGKOK.
* if you need to rent a car, always make sure you have a credit card. ALL car rental companies hold your credit card amount as deposits in case you run off with their car or drove their car down the waterfall. LOL*
I wish to go back here again , is a relaxing area away from the bustling crowded Bangkok.
Hopefully
xoxo
Ann
