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Saturday, May 12, 2018

How to go to Koh Tao island from Bangkok by bus

Daddy & Son May 12, 2018

Koh Tao View Point

Koh Tao is one of my favorite islands in Thailand. The name "Koh Tao" means Turtle island in Thai language. It is located on the western shore of the Gulf of Thailand. Koh Tao, Koh Pha-Ngan, Koh Samui created the awesome Chumphong archipelago for tourist. I realized Koh Tao is interesting island for snorkeling and diving. I filmed many beautiful fishes while I had been snorkeling.

I went to Koh Tao with many different ways:

The fist time is from Phuket to Koh Tao with bus and leave Koh Tao for Bangkok with airplane in November.
The second time is from Bangkok to Koh Tao and leave Koh Tao for Phuket with bus in April.

They have two ferry companies only for transport tourist from the land to the island. Whatever vehicle you travel with, they always combine with those ferry companies: Lomprayah and Seatran Ferry.

If you like to travel to Koh Tao with bus, I recommend you to book the ticket at Lomprayah or Seatran Ferry's websites directly. The package includes bus and ferry. We will save time and budget with this package.

From Bangkok to Koh Tao, we booked the trip with Lomprayah. The ticket costs 1100 baht for adult and 550 baht for children. All buses will stop in Chumphong province. They have specific pier depending on ferry company. From Koh Tao to Phuket, we still trust Lomprayah. The ticket costs 1000 baht per person. We will change ferry in Koh Pha-Ngan. You can travel to Koh Pha-Ngan, Koh Samui from here. The other ferry will pick us up after one hour to Surat Thani province. They have bus to transport us to Phuket bus station at Surat Thani pier.

If you like to travel to Koh Tao with airplane, Surat Thani International Airport and Nakhon Si Thammarat Airport are two stations where you should arrive first. Surat Thani airport is closer than Nakhon Si Thammarat airport. The airplane companies however will plan the trip for you including flight, transfer bus and ferry which connected with Lomprayah or Seatran Ferry. You can travel with AirAsia, Nokair, Thai Airways. Of course the price is higher and the travel time is shorter.

Ban Hat Sai Ri (Hat Sai Ri district) is popular place to stay in Koh Tao. They have beautiful beach, restaurants, bars and convinient shops...You also enjoy the sunset from this area because it is located in western Koh Tao. We reserved a villa on the hill where just one kilometter away from the beach. It costs 4500 baht (1usd = 30 baht now) for 3 nights. We have good recommendation from the owner. We booked the snorkeling a half day tour for the day after. The tour costs 500 baht for one pax including free transfer, free lunch and beverage. The tour will stop in Koh Nang Yuan then the other places for snorkeling where are around Koh Tao island. That was good tour. We love to do it again in future. We also enjoy bars and some entertainments on the beach at night. The second day, I rented motorbike and drove around Koh Tao. Koh Tao have many awesome sightseeings such as: John-Suwan View Point, Nang Yuan Terrace, Shark Bay...

I hope those informations are useful for your travel plan. I also have some clips about Koh Tao which will demostrate my upper informations. Thank you for reading. Please stay with my blog and subscribe to my youtube channel to get my next travels.

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Monday, February 12, 2018

Travel

How to go to Sihanoukville from Siem Reap by bus

Daddy & Son February 12, 2018

http://www.goseeandshare.com/2018/02/how-to-go-to-sihanoukville-from-siem.html

I rowed from Siem Reap to Sihanoukville! No, I'm kidding. I heard Sihanoukville has beautiful and clean beaches. Sihanoukville province is located at the tip of an elevated peninsula in the country's south-west at Gult of Thailand. Sihanoukville is closed to Thailand. Sihanoukville however is closer to Southern Vietnam then Thailand. Anyway we will go back Ho Chi Minh City, Southern Vietnam and we are in Cambodia now. For me, I'm Vietnamese. I can visit Cambodia without a visa but Robert has to pay 30 usd for visa on arrival at the Siem Reap International Airport. Robert should use Tourist visa as well so we traveled to Sihanoukville after Siem Reap.

There are only 2 ways to travel from Siem Reap to Sihanoukville because the train isn't a popular option for tourists!

1.With airplane: Sihanoukville has a small airport served by a few flights daily by the following airlines: Lanmai Airlines, Bayon Airlines, Cambodia Angkor Air, Hahn Air Systems...The averange travel time is 1 hour. If you book flights early, you may get a good price like 30 usd. But the price can be as expensive as 100 usd if you book late. You may compare prices on flights with Skyscanner before you book flights. Robert did not know about Sihanoukville so we didn't book flights in advance. So we chose a 2nd way.

2.With bus: Of course, travel time of bus is longer. It is 12 hours. We searched online and decided to travel with Mekong Express Buslines Company. If you don't trust this company, you can choose other busline companies because there are many options are on Tripadvisor. The routes however are same.

The Mekong Express Buslines Company is an example. The ticket cost 12 usd per stage. We have 2 stages: from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh and from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville. So the bus cost a total 24 usd per person from Siem Reap to Sihanoukville. The travel time is 6 hours from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. We had short wait time and combined with others at the Mekong Express bus station in Phnom Penh. We continued travelling to Sihanoukville after that. That travel time is 4 hours. We departed at 7:30 am in Siem Reap and arrived at 8 pm in Sihanoukville. Also the bus company provided free tranfer service to our hotel!

I would like to give more tips such as:

The road is narrow from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville. You should sit behind the first row of seats if you aren't brave. Drivers are careful but they drive fast and pass frequently.
The bus lines also offer other routes such as: Phnom Penh to Bangkok (Thailand), Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam). Then you can travel between Thailand - Cambodia - Vietnam! When we went back to Ho Chi Minh, we booked same busline company.

I hope with this quick guide, you can travel around Cambodia easily. Thank you for reading and please stay with us for our next post about our Sihanoukville experiences.

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Saturday, December 16, 2017

Travel

Siem Reap Fast Guide

Daddy & Son December 16, 2017

Sometime you will get surprises when you travel to places for the first time. Some do not disclose all information in advance. Today I would like to share my experiences with you about my travel to Siem Reap city, Cambodia.

Angkor Wat, in Siem Reap Cambodia, is one of the most popular and famous temples in the World. Robert wanted to see it and so did I. When we checked into the hotel, the manager gave us a tour schedule with excellent rates. Many of the tour destinations were interesting such as Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom...and waterfalls and many other options. Every tour option included temples mixed with other places. We thought that's good because we would be bored if we only visit temples. So we decided we will take small temple tour that visits Angkor Wat on the first day.

I know they sell tickets for Angkor Wat but we had a big suprise when we arrived at the Angkor Ticket Office! A ticket for a 1 day visit costs 37 usd and a ticket for a 3 day visit costs 64 usd. The other ticket for 7 days visit costs even more. However, the ticket covers all temples in Siem Reap. I'm sure you can't visit all the temples in 1 day only but they don't sell a 2 day ticket. We discussed a few minutes and we decided to buy a one day ticket. So I changed the plan to get the most benefits from the one day ticket. I checked all the temples on the paper the manager gave us and picked the most awesome temples such as: Angkor Wat temple, Bayon temple, Ta Prohm temple, Neak Pean temple. We planned to see the other temples from tuktuk only. This tour cost 17 usd but that price is for the tuktuk driver only. We finished the tour at 3pm and the ticket expired at 5:30pm. If you want to visit more temples, you can do a deal with the tuktuk driver. We made some clips about the temples, please click HERE to watch, thank you!

The second challenge is that we would like to visit the Kbal Spean waterfall on the next day. The manager said the waterfall is inside the Banteay Srie temple and Angkor Ticket Office does not sell tickets for individual temples. If we want to visit Kbal Spean waterfall, we must buy ticket for 1 day visit which costs 37 usd per person. So we passed on the waterfall but we decided to go to Floating Village in Tonlé Sap lake. We paid 20 usd for this tour but in fact, that price is for tuktuk drive only! When we got there, we discover that we have to buy the other tour with 20 usd per passenger to go to Floating Village. LOL. It's lucky because we carry some money! After a few suprised minutes, Robert said "We will take the tour with boat because we won't ever come back here". Then we paid 40 usd for 2 persons. However the boat take us only as on a private tour.

When the boat left the pier, I thought it's bad if we paid 40 usd to see water and trees only everywhere...However, when we arrived at the Floating Village, we decided it was really worth the 40 USD. The Floatting Village is an amazing scene different from any other Floating Villages I have ever seen before. Every aspect of life happens on the water. Their activities are on the river only. The houses, the school, the police station are all on the river...After visiting the Floating Village, we stoped near a big ferry which is called Kampong Khluk Forest Eco System. If you wish to know more about it, you will pay the another 5 usd per person. We were there anyway so we did it! We get on a lady's boat. Seem she knows how to make money from tourists. She was singing while she was rowing the boat. Robert gave a tip to her after we finished. The last stop was Tonlé Sap lake which is the biggest in Siem Reap and Cambodia as well. The lake receives water from the Mekong river that flows from Myanmar, Laos and Thailand to Vietnam. This lake provides water for Cambodia's agriculture and other activities. The lake is important to Cambodia. The boat came back to the pier and we finished the Floating Village tour with good memories.

Even though we got some surprises and challenges , we enjoyed beautiful temples, an awesome floating village. We are happy about our experiences during this trip and took a lot of photos and clips. We stayed 4 days in Siem Reap then we left by bus for Sihanoukville.

So, we are just travellers, we aren't researchers or historians. We share our knowlegde but it isn't all about Angkors or Siem Reap. We would like to recommend some books to you which will demonstrate more about Angkors and Siem Reap.

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Monday, November 27, 2017

Travel

How to go to Chiang Mai from Bangkok

Daddy & Son November 27, 2017

http://www.goseeandshare.com/2017/11/chiang-mai-fast-guide.html

Hello everyone, I'm Matthew. Today, I would like to share with you about Chiang Mai province, Thailand. Please note that I am sharing my personal experience. This is not about Chiang Mai itself but about traveling to Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai province is a old capital of the Lanna Kingdom (1296 - 1768). It is located about 700km from Bangkok in mountainous Northern Thailand. The old city areas still retains vestiges of citadels and moats from its history as a culture and religiuos center.

I visit Chiang Mai often because Chiang Mai's weather is very good, cold, fresh and it is a beautiful city and quiet. I came to Chiang Mai in November mostly because the locals celebrate Loy Krathong festival which is an awesome scene. You can read more "Loy Krathong and Yee Peng Understanding".

There are 3 way to go to Chiang Mai from Bangkok:

With bus: You should go to Northeastern Bus Terminal (Mochit 2). You have many choices with a lots agency offices in there. The ticket costs from 500 baht for standard to 800 baht for VIP. Travel times are shown on board or you ask them, the answer is always 10 hours. But you should believe me, it will take 12 hours. The bus will pick up and drop off passengers in every province. You will have long day on bus and you know how you can arrange your time. Last stop is Chiang Mai Bus Terminal 2. You can take a songteow, tuktuk or taxi, grab taxi from there to town. The songteow costs from 100 baht depending on your negotiation. They won't take less than 100 baht per person. Grab taxi is good choice in this case. I will share my experience about Songteow in Chiang Mai in the next post.

With train: You can buy ticket in Hua Lamphong Railway Station Bangkok. It cost around 1000 baht and includes 2 meals. I said 2 meals are free because travel time is 12 hours too. Last stop is Chiang Mai Railway Station. Then you can pick songteow, tuktuk, taxi or grab go to center.

With airplane: This mean is fastest way: 1 hour 30 minutes. If you are lucky, you can find good price with Nokair, Airasia, Lionair, Thaismile, Vietjet under 1000 baht. Note that you can't check-in online with Vietjet so don't be late your flight.

Althought Chiang Mai center is small, there are many accommodations such as dorms, hostels, hotels, apartments, resorts, villages...You can walk in and find your room easily. But you must book accommodation online before you go to Chiang Mai in Loy Krathong festival. I had to sleep outside one time because all accommodations are full during Loy Krathong festival. However, the hotel and resort's prices are affordable and there are wonderful architectures.

Booking.com

Chiang Mai town is small. You can walk or rent a bicycle to discover. Mostly, I walk around center. I only rent motorbike when I visit some popular places that are far away. Motorbike rental costs from 150 baht to 300 baht depending on the type of motorbike and rental shop will keep your passport. Otherwise, you can book a tour in tour office or rent taxi to visit those places:

Doi Inthanon: It is located 104 kms away in South Western Chiang Mai. The mountain is the highest in Thailand. The fog will stay around you when you reach the peak of mountain. You can read more in Doi Inthanon Fast Guide.
Doi Suthep: It is the same distance as Doi Inthanon but it is located in North Western Chiang Mai.
Exploring around the city such as temples, museums, old architecture of citadels, night market...Special is Loy Krathong festival in November every year.

I hope my experience is helpful for you when you travel to Chiang Mai, Thailand. Any questions or you want to share experiences, please comment below. We will discuss it. Thank you!

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Monday, November 13, 2017

Travel

How to go to Koh Samet from Bangkok Thailand

Daddy & Son November 13, 2017

http://www.goseeandshare.com/2017/11/koh-samet-fast-guide.html

The following is a recap of my personal Koh Samed experiences:

1. About destination: Koh Samet or Koh Samed is an island off the coast of Eastern Thailand.

My first time I arrived at Ao Wong Duean. Ao Wong Duean is a beautiful beach but it is 45 - 60 minutes by boat. The water is clean. Restaurants are open on the beach. When the tide comes up, you can enjoy a BBQ and feel the waves clap under your table. Ao Wong Duean is rather quiet. It's good for people who enjoy peace and calm.

Ao Sai Keo or Diamond Beach is popular as Koh Samet Pier is nearby. Ao Sai Keo is attracts mostly young people who enjoy bars and dancing. The Sai Keo area is crowded because most locals live here. It take about 30 minutes from Ban Phe Pier to here.

The other beaches (Ao) are awesome also. Based on your preferences, you will choose where to stay during your period in Koh Samet. But I'm sure that those beaches have clean water and white silky sand.

2. How to get to Koh Samet: Koh Samet is located about 200kms from Bangkok in Eastern Thailand.

You can take bus from Ekkamai Bus Terminal in Bangkok. Ekkamai Bus Terminal is near Ekkamai BTS Station. The bus costs 151 baht for one way. They will sell you both the bus and boat ticket. But only buy boat ticket at Ekkamai if you staying near Koh Samet Pier. If you stay in other areas of Koh Samet, you should wait untill you arrive Ban Phe Pier on the main land and buy your boat ticket at that time. There are many ticket sales offices at Ban Phe pier for other Koh Samet destinations other than the Koh Samet pier.

Travel time is 4 hours from Bangkok to Ban Phe Pier. You can take a regular boat or a speed boat depending on you budget. The regular boat costs 50 baht/person. The speed boat costs 200 baht/person and it will take 6 persons together.

They do not advise you that you must pay 200 baht for Koh Samet National Park upon your arrival. When you get to the island, the police will do their duty and collect the entrance fee. If you read this point, you won't be suprised!

3. About weather: I came Koh Samet once at the end of October. There were many jelly fish. I think fall is jelly-fish's breeding season. Other times appear to be good.

4. About accommodation: The price of accommodation depends on season. Low season is obviously less expensive. High season is from September to April. Most Western visitors travel at that time. You can check prices online and choose one based on your budget. You may pay cash or with either a Visa or MasterCard.

5. About conviniences: You can find some ATMs and 7-Eleven convinience shops easily in Ao Sai Keo. The other areas may have ATMs but not many choices. However, Exchange Service are everywhere. You can carry some cash and you will be fine.

If you like discover Koh Samet, you can hire a Tuktuk-taxi or rent a motorbike. Tuktuk-taxi costs 700 baht minimum. They will bright you to all beaches in Koh Samet. It take 2 hours. You can rent motorbike if you can drive. It cost 300 baht per day (24 hours).

Those are my experiences in Koh Samet. You may have other experiences when you visit. I hope you will enjoy it. If it is helpful, you can like and share for your friends who are planning to travel to Koh Samet. Please also add your experience about Koh Samet in below. Thank you for reading!

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Saturday, November 4, 2017

Travel

Take Doi Inthanon Tour with 13 USD (400 baht)

Daddy & Son November 04, 2017

Phra Mahathat Pagoda

The first place is Doi Inthanon National Park that I highly recommend as important site when visitting Chiang Mai. Doi Inthanon is the highest mountain in Thailand. The highest peak is 2,565 meters above level sea. In November and December, the average temperature is 6 degree. I visitted Doi Inthanon 3 time and I saw the fog cover all the mountain even at midday. Doi Inthanon is located in Chom Thong District, South Western Chiang Mai Town. The distance is 104 kilometres. You must dedicate an entire day to this visit.

Sightseeings in Doi Inthanon mountain:

Sirithan Waterfall.

Wachirathan Waterfall.

The Highest Spot View.

Forest walking Path.

Phra Mahathat Pagoga - King Tower and Queen Tower.

Forest Walking Path

Wachirathan Waterfall

Entrance National Park fee is 200 baht and entrance Royal Pagoda fee is 50 baht.

You have 4 ways to go there:

First way: All taxi or songteow drivers will offer to take you to Doi Inthanon in their car. Taxi cost 3000 baht. Songteow is less, it is 1500 baht or 2000 baht. Notice that you must haggle the price with them.

Second way: You book Doi Inthanon tour in agency office. I didn't book a tour then I can't suggest a price. Tours are less expensive because the tour will combine you with other passengers. Most are 6 persons on one songteow. Otherwise, you can search tour on TripAdvisor (here) and book in advance.

Third way: You can rent a motorbike and drive to Doi Inthanon. Bikers must be careful because the road is wet and curved when you get in Doi Inthanon National Park area.

Fourth way: You travel to Doi Inthanon as a locals. Many Thai people go to Doi Inthanon and camp overnight in the camp area.

My experience will show you how to get to Doi Inthanon like a local. The biker can consult this experience also. How do I know? I met a young Thai couple in Chiang Mai Bus Terminal 2 when I had attended the Loy Krathong Festival in first time. They could speak English a little bit. I asked them how to go to Doi Inthanon mountain. They gave me they were going there also so I followed them.

Wherever you stay in Chiang Mai, you must go to the Chiang Mai Gate Market on Bumrungburi street. You will find yellow songteow bus station on Rat Chiang Saen street. One of them will go to Chom Thong District. Please ask them and they will show you which songteow. It cost 50 baht per person from Chiang Mai Town to Chom Thong.

Yellow Songteow go to Chom Thong

It takes one hour from Chiang Mai town to Chom Thong. The songteow will stop often to pick up and drop off passengers. The yellow songteow will cross a T-junction where you turn right and go to Doi Inthanon. But it will stop in Wat Phra That Sri Chom Thong (pagoda). The other songteow that services Doi Inthanon tour is parked outside. It cost 300 baht per person and combine 6 passengers together. While you are waitting full car, you can visit the pagoda quickly.

The tour will take 2 hours at least depending on how long you will visit each of these: Wachirathan Waterfall, The Highest Spot View (included forest walking path and some temples), Phra Mahathat Pagoda, then the last stop is the dried food market. If you are combined with locals, they may also stop in the camping areas for a few minutes. This tour schedule will pass Sirithan Waterfall. Remember that you must pay entrance fee for National Park.

After you finish the tour, songteow will come back the station where they departed from. It is important to remember the last songteow will finish at 6pm (18:00 o'clock) from Chom Thong to Chiang Mai town. So you must manage your time if you don't want to stay in Chom Thong that night. My experience demonstrates this journey take 5 hours. That means you shouldn't go to Doi Inthanon after 2pm (14:00 o'clock) from Chiang Mai without intending to stay overnight in Chom Thong.

This key will help you take songteow to back town easy. You ask driver to drop you at the T-junction. The songteow will turn right and you must turn left to back to town. Walk 5 minutes and you will see a bus stop house as indicated on the map attached. You will take a yellow songteow or other color which will go back Chiang Mai town from that point. Please do not come back the station with songteow because the songteow don't have English destination board. I made that mistake and took a songteow without asking. That songteow took me back to Doi Inthanon area again. LOL.

Those are my experience and directions for people who wanting to discover Doi Inthanon as locals. If you have questions or there is something you don't understand, please give me a comment, I will answer immediately. Thank for reading.

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