Black & White Muang Sing, Laos (Part 1)

Some of the photos taken in Muang Sing town, Laos late 2010. It was one of the most remote area in Laos. Here life is simple and basic where luxury is almost non exist!

Remarks:- Part 2 of this Black & White collection will follow soon after. Hope you guys like it and stay tune for part 2

Mae Ngat Dam @ Sri Lanna National Park

Went to this lovely hideaway about 45 minutes drive from Chiang Mai city. I was here with my love one. We eventually spend the whole afternoon here sitting and relaxing in the middle of the giant Man made lake.

Location:- Spanning a vast area of lowland woodland, this hilly national park north of Chiang Mai surrounds the provincial town of Phrao and has some arresting scenery in the northern reaches. It’s best appreciated by staying on a house boat on the Mae Ngat Dam in the middle of the park. Bua Tong falls, en-route to Phrao, is also worthwhile.

Everywhere with my camera

Having hooked up with my lovely Nikon DSLR sometimes ago....I hereby presented to you some of my personal collections of photos that I love. Mostly taken in South East Asia countries.

Chiang Khan, Loei (north eastern Thailand)

Ban Wat Chan@District Galyani Vadhana. Chiang Mai Province.

Doi Inthanon National Park

Morning market@Muang Sing, northern Laos

Kids @ Luang Namtha, northern Laos

Remarks:- the photos shown above are copyright of notyourtourordinary.blogspot.com and could not be reproduce in any mean and way without prior approval from the administrator of this blog.  

Cherry Blossom

I have this passion for cherry blossom recently...and here are some of the photos I've taken in Ban Wat Chan @District Galyani Vadhana. Chiang Mai Province.

Just came back from a recent trip to the latest district in Thailand. More info & photos on this lovely place soon. The temperature here was 8 degree Celsius when I was here...OMG...too cold for me.

Doi Mae Salong, Northern Thailand

Just a preview on my recent trip to Doi Mae Salong in Northern Thailand. the main reason I was here was to witness the cherry blossom season..but I am just weeks to earlier....climate changed and the full blossom this year was late! How disappointed it was....nevertheless I manage to snap one or two good one!

Remarks:- More info on Doi Mae Salong soon. I would definitely recommend to you guys a 4 days 3 nights Doi Mae Salong self drive tour! You will never regret!

The Majestic Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon

After an absence for two months...here is the photo of the majestic Pagoda in Yangon. A must SEE in my travel journal!!

Day Time

Night Time

More info on my first ever trip to Yangon, Myanmar soon :)

Long Breakaway

It's been more than 10 days since my last tweet & blogs......have been working on lately with work, friends outing and so on. I am really looking forward to visit Loei, Thailand or more specifically North Eastern Thailand. My destination is the tranquil & sleepy town of Chang Khan separated only by a river from Laos. I'll be spending a few days here before embarking on my 2nd backpacking trip this year once again to Laos....but this time is Phongsaly!! The northern most of Laos bordering China & Vietnam. A town full of different tribe but main group being the Mengla which origin from China! Hopefully weather is good and I can take some nice photos to be share with the readers here! Mean time tune in for my last chapter of TransIndochina.....The city of Luang Prabang.....and my first ever flight with Laos Airlines on the all new ATR 72-500 Turboprop plane!! Cheers...!!! 

Siem Reap,Cambodia to Udon Thai, Thailand ( Day 7 17-Feb-2010)

This was probably the longest league of our journey in this entire TransIndochina 2010. We wake up early in the morning and get ourself ready for a long and tiring day. We had our usual breakfast at our hotel restaurant at 7 am sharp and to our amaze our pre-arranged car was already waiting for us. We will move north west to Poipet( Gambling heaven for rich Thai Chinese & Cambodian) in a 2 hours car journey before we could cross over to the town of Aryan, Thailand. From here we will take a bus to Korat for a pit stop before taking another bus from Korat to Udon Thani by pass Khon Kaen with a mind of crossing into Laos on the same day! We did our lunch break at 12pm in the sleepy town of Aryan.....we had some simple fried rice and coffee. We boarded our bus to Korat at 1pm sharp.

Border Crossing in between Cambodia & Thailand

Bus Terminal in Aranyaphet, Thailand

Our bus from Aranyaphet to Korat at the Korat Main Bus Terminal

Nothing much to say about the bus journey as we all try to catch as much sleep as possible realizing that it would be a long day. True enough we arrived at Korat Main bus terminal at about 4.30 pm and staright away we bought another bus ticket to Udon Thani as we understand that we would not be able to cross the border to Laos today........so we choose to make a non schedule pit stop at Udon Thani. Our bus schedule to Udon Thani is 5.30pm and we had our toilet and ciggie break at a small cafe located inside the bus terminal. We departed from Korat as evening fall and our journey to Udon Thani is a far and boring one with the bus making quite a number of stops in between to pick up and drop off some passenger.Our dinner was a quarter of grilled chicken(40 bath) shared among 3 of us.We reached Udon Thani about 10.30pm and check in to a motel opposite the Udon Thani bus terminal 1. We will rest for a few hours before we take the early morning bus to Vientiane, Laos. 

Udon Thani Bus Terminal 1

Our hotel in Udon Thani

Street in Udon Thani at night

We did a quick tour of Udon Thani at night after our dinner(Braised Pork leg Rice@30bath per plate) at a street stall nearby our motel. Udon Thani is quite sleepy at night and the weather is chilling.....we don't even need to open our fan at our room.We called it a day at about 12.30 am as we need to board the earliest bus tomorrow at 8 am to the capital city of Laos, Vientiane. End of day 7 the longest day in the entire TransIndochina 2010 journey. 

Remarks:- Udon Thani is the last city in Northeastern of Thailand before you will reached the Thai/lLaos border. My personal preference is you stay here for 1 or 2 days to discover the city but I don't have the luxury of time during my trip. Drop by here if you are doing the same journey as me.....Udon Thani will surprise you with its charm!

City & town visited in Thailand till date!

After more than 10 years traveling in the land of smile and counting, I've start to lost count of places that I've visited. Therefore, I think it is better for me to record it here so that I'll have my own reference in the future.Truly I've visited quite a number of Thai'c city & town......and here goes the list:-

1) Bangkok 2) Chiang Mai 3) Chiang Rai 4) Korat 5) Hatyai 6) Khon Kaen 7) Udon Thani

8) Trang  9) Koh Samui 10) Betong 11) Lamphun 12) Mae Sai 13) Ching Dao
                                     
14) Aranpayprathet 15) Nongkai 16) Phattalung 17) Pai 18) Krabi

 19) Songkla 20) Samoeng 21) Ayutthaya 22) Pattaya 23) Phuket 24) Golok

 25) Hua Hin 26) Cha-Am 27) SanKhampheng 28) Doi Saket 29) Saraphi

Remarks:- list will be updated regularly and I am looking to add a few new city and town when I am traveling to Loei ( Swiss of Thailand)  next month.

Son & Sun Chill Out Restaurant

Recently I've this opportunity to visit the sea side town of Trang in Southern Thailand with 2 of my good friends. Nothing much really about Trang, a sleepy, quiet and peaceful town which is about a leisure 2.30 hours drive from Hadyai. What is worth mention during this trip is a small little hidden restaurant located in between the highway between Hadyai & Trang. We bounced into this place accidentally as we are stopping at a petrol station for a short break! The food is cheap & delicious..... and I love it so much.... especially the Tom Yum clear soup which is excellent!! The Iced Tea is excellent too!!

Name & contact:

Son & Sun
Chill Out Rertaurant
Office: 08-5151-2152

Saigon, Vietnam - Phnom Penh, Cambodia ( Day 3 13-Feb-2010)

Once again we started our day early as we are travelling overland to Cambodia. Everyone wake up early and as usual we had our delicious buffet breakfast at our hotel. We wait at our hotel lobby for our driver to send us to the VIP bus that will bring us all the way to the capital city of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. Our driver was late but once we see our bus....we are delighted as it was really a huge bus.....and...there was less than 10 person on board. Ticket price is USD 7.50 per person and for that price we have no complain at all! Not going much into the details of this journey.....but the 7 hours plus journey to Phnom Penh is a great but tiring one! Here are some of the photo's taken through the bus journey!

Remarks:- The journey from Saigon, Vietnam to Phnom Penh, Cambodia will bring you to some of the remote & poor town in both countries. The border crossing in Vietnam is called Moc Bai whereas the crossing in Cambodia is called Bavet. Immediately after you step into Cambodia you will witness dozens of Casino and hotels lining up at both left & right hand side of the road. Normally after crossing into Cambodia, you will stop for a lunch at a local restaurant but the foods here sucks & very expensive. Be ready to fork out USD 3.50 for a plain wantan mee or USD 4 for a plate of fried rice. Nevertheless it is an eye opener experience of a life time and this bus journey is the longest yet I"ve tried in my life! The longest bus ride ever in my life.........Cambodia overland to Laos!!

Third Tallest Mountain in Thailand

Well wonder which mountain is the 3rd tallest in Thailand....the answer is here:- see the photos below........

Doi Luang Ching Dao......3rd tallest mountain in Thailand.......I shoot this photos from a bamboo platform in a resort own by a Thai & Lisu couple. A perfect place to unwind your day......cool & relaxing.......GREAT ESCAPE!!! One of a MUST DO when u visit Ching Dao.

Doi Inthanon Revisited July 2010

Before I blog about my TransIndochina trip.......here is my recent most trip to Chiang Mai.......well of course I revisited Doi Inthanon..........here are some of the photo's I've taken:- For your pleasure viewing......hope u guys like it.......