Day 1 in Khao Yai

We spent 3 full days in Khao Yai and I booked taxi services for the first and third day through this agency:  Thai National Parks.  One full day of taxi service is quoted at 3600 baht (around S$144) which include pick-up from/ return to Bangkok hotel.  The service can start as early as 6am and ended till 6pm from any Khao Yai attraction.  Afterwhich, the driver will send you back to your hotel in Khao Yai or Bangkok.  On the first day, the driver picked us from Pathumwan Princess Hotel (located in Bangkok MBK) at around 6.45am after we were done with an early breakfast at the hotel.  As I indicated my interest to go to the sunflower fields, the agent suggested to me to go to Saraburi Sunflower Field.  We did and I had blogged about it in my previous post:

Saraburi Sunflower Fields

I had booked a winery tour with PB valley at noon.  We reached Khao Yai around 10.30am so the driver - Mr Somkid drove us to one of the attractions that we had listed in our itinerary - "The Bloom".  The place wasn't as big as I had thought it would be and you could cover the whole area by foot probably within an hour.  

Our next destination:  PB Valley  (Need to book the vineyard and winery tour in advanced)

Email:  info@khaoyaiwinery.com

The tour is conducted 5-times daily at 9am, 10.30am, 12noon, 1.30pm and 3.30pm and 

takes about 75 minutes.

The rate for above tour is 320 Baht/Adult and 250 Baht/children.

Children under 4 years are free of charge.

We got to sample 3 types of wine.  Cheers!  =)

After the tour, it was already past lunch time.  As such, we had our lunch at the PB Valley restaurant.

We were seated near to the window so this was our view from our table.

 Grape Juice and Passionfruit drink.

After a good lunch, we proceed to our next destination:  Primo Piazza.  We reached there around 3.45pm.  Again, the place is not very big and we spent around an hour here which included some time spent at a cafe.

The highlight for this attraction is that you can get to feed alpaca.  The had increased the admission fee from 100 baht to 200 baht though.  

Next, we went to "The Chocolate Factory".

 It is not quite a factory but more of a shop that sells chocolate products and also a cafe.  We bought some chocolate and cakes back to our hotel.  We ate some during the night and we put the leftovers on the table in our room.  The next morning, we found lots of ants in our sweet food.  So sad.  :(

It was already around 5.15pm by the time we were done with "The Chocolate Factory" and we told the driver that he could drive us to our hotel.  However, the well-manner driver told us that he could still drive us to one more location - Piazza Palio.  

Basically, Piazza Palio is a nice little "village" modeled after Italy. You can find many shops, restaurants here and of course, it offers a nice backdrop for those who love to take OOTD.  The place was rather quiet when we were there on a Monday late afternoon.  Many shops were closed.  

 As we were still full from our late lunch at PB Valley, we didn't eat here.  

  Finally, we checked into our hotel at Khao Yai - Le Monte after spending almost 12 hours out.

Sunflower Fields @ Saraburi, Thailand

Just came back from a week of holiday in Thailand.  Instead of spending the whole week in Bangkok, we spent 3 full days at Khao Yai.  The blooming seasons for sunflowers normally starts in December till January.  The local tour agency that I booked my tour with suggested to us to visit the sunflower fields at Saraburi as the blooms in those small fields scattered in Khao Yai were not very impressive yet.  We agreed and topped up 300 baht for the driver to make a stop at Saraburi before heading to Khao Yai.  Saraburi is about 2.5 hours drive from Bangkok.  We spent our time snapping photos of the beautiful sunflowers.  This was also my first time visiting a sunflower field so we took tonnes of photos.  Immersing ourselves in the field of sunflowers was really delightful!  =)

A sunflower with cool shades.  =)

 

These stalks of sunflowers are taller than me! 

[Media Invite] Baker's Well Mooncakes 2017

[18 Aug 2017.Fri]  Baker's Well 2017 Mooncake Private Launch

Just when a friend of mine was sharing with me about this nice bakery at East Coast Road - Baker's Well that I had yet patronize before, I received an invitation to Baker's Well 2017 Mooncake Private Launch Event at Suntec City Convention Centre.

The different flavoured snow-skin mooncakes that Baker's Well offered are:

Yuzu Truffle

Earl Grey Lavender Truffle (New Flavor)

Champagne Truffle

Salted Black Sesame Truffle

Rum & Raisin Truffle

Matcha Truffle

Baker's Well's mooncakes are artisanal handmade from scratch.  I heard from them that even the blue colouring for the rum and raisin truffle mooncake are obtained from the blue pea flowers juices extracted directly from the owner's garden. 

 This year, their packaging is kept simple but still rather eye-catching.  When you place the 4 small boxes together, you can form two full moons which is quite an apt design for the mid-autumn festival.

 Baker's Well is well know for their traditional handmade baked-skin mooncakes such as Pure White Lotus with Double Yolk and Roasted Melon Seeds and Traditional Mixed Nuts.  All their products are made with less sugar and they also have Sugar-Free Pure White Lotus with Roasted Melon Seeds for the more health-conscious customers.

  The 6th flavour of their snow-skin collection is the Earl Grey Lavender snow-skin mooncakes.  Wrapped in a lovely shade of pastel purple, the perfect blend of premium Earl Grey Tea with Lavender will definitely please all tea-lovers.

Their all-time best selling snow-skin mooncakes are these pink Champagne Truffle.  The taste of the champagne is rather strong and definitely a must-buy for all liquor enthusiasts.  

 Similarly, their Snow-Skin Rum and Raisin Truffle mooncakes (purple) also has a very strong alcoholic taste.  Generally, I find that Baker's Well snowskin mooncakes, although small in size but very strong in their respective unique flavour.

These Snow-Skin Yuzu Truffle mooncakes have a very refreshing citrus taste.

Traditional Handmade Baked-Skin Mooncakes.

 I love their Mixed Nuts baked mooncakes.  Every bite contains a mouthful rich of different types of nut, very satisfying.

Where to try Baker's Well mooncakes?  You may head to their shop at East Coast Road or visit any of the Mid-Autumn roadshows.  Takashimaya already started the mooncake fair last weekend!

Baker's Well
Website:  http://www.bakerswell.com/