Santa Claus Village, Rovaniemi, Finland

-is the official home of Santa Claus!!!!

 It's not just a title: one of the town's main attractions is the Santa Claus Village. At the heart of the village is the Santa Claus Chamber, where Santa lives, ready to greet visitors.

One of the village's biggest draws is the Santa Claus Main Post Office. The Santa Claus Main Post Office is a real post office, which operates 365 days in the year. That is the place where all the letters to Santa are sent. The letters are opened by post elves and read through.

After that, guests can ride a sleigh or visit the reindeer farm or even explore the Arctic Circle, which begins at the edge of Rovaniemi.

The Christmas season is also the best time of year to visit. The season begins with a declaration from Santa on November 24 and goes into January, ending when the sun again begins to rise above the horizon.

Mark Twain

 is quoted as saying in The Innocents Abroad/Roughing It:

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.

Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.

 Maybe 2013 will be a great year to put your travel dreams in motion?

Saint Augustine of Hippo

Said: “The World Is a Book and Those Who Do Not Travel Read Only One Page”

If for some reason you're delaying on acting on your wanderlust or have been reluctant to travel, remember that travel can be one of the most life-changing experiences of your life.

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page" emphasizes that if you never go anywhere, you'll have a very limited view of the world.

Not all of us can travel the whole globe, but just making travel a priority—even to a new place a day's drive away—can be eye-opening.

Spiritual Travels

I've not been to these places but would love to go: Top of my list is these 2 places:

1. Emei Shan, China
Recommended Place to stay: Sofitel Wanda Chengdu www.sofitel.com/Chengdu

2. Uluru, Australia
Recommended: Longitude 131 www.longitude131.com.au

Bangkok

It was a short trip.

Stayed in the Pathumwan Princess Hotel in Bangkok.

The hotel rooms are quite large, modern and well kept. Breakfast is a very good buffet. This hotel is located in central Bangkok and is attached to one of the largest shopping centres in BKK. All you need to do is walk through the lobby and you're there! Shopping was made easy & super convenient. We could  make  trips back to the room as our shopping intensity builds up & bags getting heavier and we could no longer carry them!

Hotel is also connected to the mono rail station at National and a short walk across the footbridge to the upmarket Siam shopping area. In bad weather there is everything you need to enjoy a day wondering around MBK or adjoining shopping malls and the mono rail attached to MBK means you can travel to various locations very easily.

We didnt have much time & since the traffic was really bad, we decided to visit only one place.

Temple of the Emerald Buddha

The Emerald Buddha is smaller than I thought but it’s amazing, I could feel it’s energy even though it’s pretty far up in the altar.  To try and describe the Emerald Buddha would be like trying to explain how chocolate  tastes... You need to  see this absolutely beautiful Emerald Buddha for yourself and hopefully you could feel it’s energy as well.

So, If you only have one day in Bangkok make it count, go to visit the Emerald Buddha at the Grand Palace. 

 http://diarywhiteningjab.blogspot.sg/

Chiang Mai

Took a 4D3N trip to Chiangmai, Thailand sometime back

I'm pleasantly surprise at how clean the streets were. But due to the wheather (it has not been raining for a while) the streets were dusty. Stayed at the Imperial Maeping, not bad, though a little tired. Location was excellent, as it's walking distance to the Night Baazar.

The night Baazar is probably the main attraction. But you have to bargain alot. They have the latest movies, games in privated VCDs, but do not buy them as they are often faulty.

The conducted tours to the temples are not worth the money. Cos' the one temple worth going to is the one at the top of the hill. It's cool up there. The rest are very near each other in the city and quite typical. You can actually take a slow walk and visit each one with the help of a map.

 Do not waste your time visiting their 'home industries'. It's not well organized and they only want you to buy the stuff there, which is often dusty and expensive. You can get better/newer things and at lower prices at the Night Baazar. Do not be mislead by the tour guides. Mine actually told me that the things are more expensive in the night baazar!

The tuk tuks, a form of transport is quite useful. It's cheaper then the taxis, but again you have to bargain before you get on. If you stay in town, everything is close by, so it'll probably cost about 40 babt per trip. Dont have to pay more.

One hotel that's really nice is the Chedi, if you have the budget, please try it. Even if you dont, at least go and take a look, it's beautiful. Not a very large hotel, by the riverside, minimalistic design, it gives one a very tranquil feeling. It's near the baazar as well!

The wood carving, sculptures are really cheap and popular and would make great decorating pieces. Highly recommended, again dont forget to bargain.

Overall my stay was enjoyable. Will I come back? If I do, I'll stay at the Chedi next time!

http://diarywhiteningjab.blogspot.sg/

The CambodianTrip- Siem Reap

Booked into the Raffles Grand at Siem Reap. The hotel is charming but fixtures are old. The shower in my room was disappointing. The carpet was tired, & too little room in the closet! BUT thank goodness for the staff. EVERYONE in the Raffles was more than wonderful. The service was so good, in fact it's the best I've seen so far. Oh... internet is available & free!

Eat mostly in the restuarant in the hotel. Small menu but good food. The waiters were very attentive, well trained & oh  so charming, it's a pleasure to see them everyday.

Booked a guide & car for the temple for half a day US$60-. The guide rip us off, he showed us only 1 temple , there's 2 hrs left BUT he told us we needed another day (plus his service) for another temple. So anyone reading this please know that for half a day, you can cover 2 temples at least. In fact you can even do away with the guide. Take a tuktuk & arm yourself with a guide book & cover the grounds DIY!!!!

Places to go for shopping is the Old market (open during the day) & Night market (open only at night) -these 2 markets are just next to each other, lots of tuktuk there for toursits. For me, there's nothing much to buy. Things are tourist stuff, almost similar to what you can get in Bangkok & much lesser in quality. Everything is in US$. Have LOTS of small notes. They prefer that. Even tuktuks, you need to pay them in US$.

For Food, do visit the Pub Street which is next to the Old market. Many restuarants there with western & local food. Prices are very reasonable.  For a dish of stir fried chicken & vegetables (portion is sizable) & usually comes with rice, you pay only abt US$3.75,   local beer only at US$1-

Didnt do much for the whole 3 days we were there. My companion was not into temples, so we rather relax in the hotel. The whole place is not very developed yet, expect for the many hotels. There's 2 shopping malls we went into, one is definitely for ripping off  Chinese toursit groups. Saw a blouse which cost only US$5- in the old market, but was US$20- in this mall. The other mall near the night market looks empty & boring.

If you are NOT a temple freak & into cleanilness, this place is NOT for you....lol..... it's kinda dusty & hot

http://diarywhiteningjab.blogspot.sg/

Preparation

Very excited about this trip. Dying to see Angkok Wat. All booked & set to go!