Best Hotel in Pai: Reverie Siam Resort

My visit to Pai was made perfect by my stay here. Even with the promising excellent reviews I read online from TripAdvisor, various booking sites like Agoda and Booking.com; Reverie Siam managed to exceed my expectation.

Imagine realistic Alice in Wonderland and you get Reverie Siam resort. Founded by an English and two Thai siblings, Reverie Siam is the epitome of vintage English with a hinge of Thai. I'll admit, it's hard to pick a bone with this place.

After 3 hours of windy journey to this secluded hipster village of Pai, I was rewarded with the best stay on my two weeks long trip across northern Thailand, triumphing over many 5 star resorts I came across and stayed throughout the rural northern Thailand.

My villa was furnished with a luscious king size bed and fluffy pillows. Chandelier and drapes on the ceilings gave the room its luxurious ambience. Wooden vintage door to the right opened up to an unnecessary spacious bathroom with a garden view and separated shower room and toilet. Next to the window was a man-made bathtub big enough to fit two. Order a bottle of champagne, connect your spotify to the in-room music player and you're good to go.

Walked out the glass door in front of the bed and you'd find a private small pavilion with a table where you could have afternoon tea in front of a garden. 

Oh the garden. Seldom have I walked in a private compound with such a fantastical garden, while not in size, the landscape was comparable with the castle ground gardens I've come across in Scotland and other parts of Europe. And yes, it came with a central maze. 

Get lose in the maze and find yourself wandering inside a secret garden. Only guests were allowed to enter this section, and what a privilege it was. Within the walls you would find two salt pools (a plus for me): infinity pool and stone pool. The latter of which was accessible via the balconies of Deluxe pool rooms and has had a shallow zone for toddlers. 

The hotel provided shuttle bus to various drop off locations in Pai. You can find the map and time table here. Which is plenty convenient. But if you need something more private, you can always charter a private ride/tour with the resort and you get a personal chauffeur for half the day/full day. (Tip: ask them bring you to this secret location)

As if all these were not enough, the restaurant Silhouette Bar was the cherry on top of the magnificent cake. Easily the best Western and Western fusion food you could find within 100km of vicinity of Pai.  But I think that deserves another post of its own, especially when this is where I had the best pork belly of my life. 

Reverie Siam Resort

476 Moo 8, Vieng Tai

Pai, Mae Hong Son

Thailand 58130

Telephone

Tel: +66 (0)53699870

Email

Bookings

Reservations@ReverieSiam.com

General Enquiries

Info@ReverieSiam.com

Giant Brown in Seoul

Seoul was a lot different from what I remembered 16 years ago. For one, K-pop trend was just emerging, a far cry from the global phenomenon it is today. There was no such thing as k-beauty and most of South Korea felt like China in the 1900. 

Food was boring and blunt but mostly cheap. Heck, the whole of South Korea was cheap. 

It is no longer the case today.

Travellers have told me the food here can be and is more expensive than Singapore, and I agree. 

Last night I walked down to the food court in a departmental store and ate two plates of sushi taken off a conveyer belt, the bill came up to 17,000 won (that's USD16 or RM64). Then I walked over to a random food stall and ordered 250g of fried seasoned chicken cubes as after-dinner snacks, the small bowl of chicken cost me 10,000 won (USD9.50 or RM38). My dinner had cost me more than RM100 and I barely felt that I've eaten anything, and this was from a food court! 

I spent an hour around Myeong Dong and was visually flooded by the sheer volume of Korean beauty products available for purchase. Thankfully I wasn't into Korean beauty products, but I could imagine how easily someone can get sucked into this world, and has her wallet emptied in one afternoon. It's a shopping heaven, and shopping I wasn't not interested in. 

Which brings me to my final point, aside from the endless fried chickens, mom and pop's korean food joints, and BBQs, Seoul doesn't have a lot to offer, at least not to me. It felt just like another big metropolitan city with too much shopping and food to offer and nothing else. Bars and drinks here aren't as good as Japan, and clubs and nightlife aren't as posh as Shanghai's. Everything else fell short when in comparison with another big city out there, and the price tag made it all the less attractive. 

I have to give them this though, Korean Fried Chickens, hands down, the best there is. 

I will miss this when I leave. 

And who can resist a photo op with the biggest line bear (Mr Brown). 

Taken at Myeong Dong's Line Friends store. 

First Trip of 2018 (After Shanghai)

note: check out imotorbike if you want to buy or sell motorcycles and accessories. Sellers get to post for free. 

It's three hours till I have to wake up to get ready to head to the airport, yet I can't sleep. I can't help but feel that I'm running away, it's three days till your birthday after all. You would have been seventy by then. I had planned to celebrate elaborately for you this year, especially when I was too financially strapped to celebrate your sixtieth. You couldn't wait, and left all but too soon.

Circumstance like this harshly reminds me that time waits for no one. I wished I celebrated your living on earth like it was your sixtieth everyday. I always thought I had at least till the next year, or maybe I just refused to believe you could go. But you could, and you did.

We always said we would visit brother on one of his work trips, and you said a few months ago you wished you had gone while you had the chance. 

So I'm going.

And maybe, on the day of your birthday, we will finally get a buy you a cake and celebrate in South Korea together.

Welcoming the New Year 2018 in Shanghai

Shanghai was a nice getaway from everything back home. It provided solitude in a foreign territory, away from everything I knew. The feelings was still raw, but somehow the distance helped, and the absence of constant physical reminders helped. The nights in the spacious hotel room, however emotional, were therapeutic in a certain way. It reminded me of a time I used to travel, just my thoughts and I, disconnected from the life back home.

The modern city provided enough distractions in the day time and occasionally in the night time. I strolled the tourist hot spots that were crowded by local tourists from other parts of China, stood in queue at popular eateries, fought through the wave of crowds in Yu Yuan, and walked the evening streets of central Shanghai city.

On my last night I visited a well reviewed speakeasy bar "Speak Low" and had a great chat with a Japanese bartender while I watched as he prepared cocktail after cocktail. The drinks were expensive, but wonderfully crafted; paired with good company, it was an enjoyable an evening. It's been a while since I've enjoyed anything at all.

I have already dyed my hair dark at Hareta, I thought the vibrant colours didn't reflect what I've been feeling inside, being a brunette suits me better now. Despite the growing length, it was a lot more manageable than being a blonde; my hair hasn't felt healthier in years.