KHAO YAI
February 16, 2019
I've meant to share this post for a couple of days, but work and life have been so busy that it slipped my mind until today. Ah, it's the weekend! I wake up early to do my house chores, so I have the afternoon free. What shall I do for the rest of the day? I have yet to decide, but here's this post once and for all.
If you've been following along on my Instagram (@misscarlaviolet), you'd know that I spent last weekend exploring this not-so-secret little gem in Thailand: Khao Yai. It's a town outside Bangkok, approximately a three-hour drive, and I spent the weekend with two of my newfound wander buddies, Fon and Pauleen.
I looked up the place a couple of months ago when I recently just moved here and was in awe of all the photos I saw on the Internet. These little villages replicated parts of Europe, with beautiful flower fields, parks, gardens, and farms surrounded by lush greeneries. Alas, I didn't know how to get there at the time, nor did I have the courage to go on my own by way of commuting (which would have been a total disaster knowing now that there was no way I could have gotten around Khao Yai without a car. Phew!). So anyway, fast forward to two weeks ago when my colleagues thought it would be a great idea to do a weekend overnight somewhere outside of Bangkok; I immediately jumped at the opportunity to suggest Khao Yai (and boy, did I insist on it by doing so much research and knowing more than what locals would). To my appointment, they were convinced! So off we went, and boy was Khao Yai nothing short of what I expected. The only complaint I do have, which is to be expected, is the weather. It was so damn hot that I had headaches at the end of the day.
Anyway.
I have to say that most of what we saw in Khao Yai are attractions purposely built for tourism purposes, so when I say everything is so pretty, that's because it is designed to be. The social media-inclined person in me is jumping with joy, for every place we visited was Instagram-worthy. Since there are so many attractions in Khao Yai, we made a shortlist of the areas we needed to see so that no time was wasted.
We left Bangkok around 8:30 in the morning and arrived in Khao Yai at around noon after making a few stops for coffee and restroom breaks. Our first stop was the Birder's Lodge, a popular local farmer's market with a café where we planned to have lunch. However, the place was packed, and we would have had to wait for an hour to get our food. So, we decided to look for a nearby restaurant where we could get something to eat quickly. Thankfully, there were plenty of cafes and restaurants in Khao Yai, although it was hard to tell which ones were good. Despite this, we found Terano, a quiet Italian restaurant, where we ordered pasta and salad. The food was a bit salty, but overall, it wasn't too bad.
Post-meal, we geared up for the beginning of our non-stop photo-taking exploration. Our first location was Primo Piazza. By the name, I guess you can already tell it's an Italian-inspired village. There's an entrance fee you pay to get in, which is THB 200 if you're a foreigner, but I pass for being a local, which, unknown to many tourists, is that locals usually pay a lower price in any tourist spots in Thailand (yes, Bangkok included!). Accompanied by two Thais, I got to pretend like one and so only paid the discounted price of THB 100.
As expected, what you see inside is a replica of some little Italian village with outdoor cafes, down to the little details, such as flower pots hanging on windows and doors. But the best part that I really liked about this place is the farm, where you get to interact with and feed alpacas, rams, and donkeys. I've never seen any of those animals in real life before, so it's definitely one of the firsts.
After an hour or so of roaming around Piazza Primo, we were ready to move on to our next spot, and essentially, the main reason that I wanted to go to Khao Yai in the first place - was the sunflower fields. Now, there are plenty of flower fields in Khao Yai, mind you. But they are, of course, seasonal attractions. We were a few weeks late from the peak of sunflower season, and it proved rather tricky to find a farm that still had blooms. But I found one guy on Instagram who visited Khao Yai just a couple of days before we did, who claims to have found a farm that still had fully grown sunflowers at the time. I was so keen on going to the same farm that I shamelessly messaged the guy on IG. He was kind enough to pin the location for me because it was apparently a local farm that not many people knew about, so it wasn't on Google Maps. Oh, my joy when we reached the farm and saw that the sunflowers were still there, even though they were, to be quite honest, already dying. They were sad flowers, if you will. Sadflowers are better than no flowers, so we still went ahead.
I guess it was really that dead of the season that there wasn't anyone on the farm at all. Despite having a sign at the entrance saying that the entrance fee was THB 20, there wasn't anyone there in charge or supposedly collecting said fees. I guess you could say we trespassed.
So we went there, and half the field was dead save for one lot. That's where we got creative with all these angles to get some good shots. They don't look so much as sadflowers now, do they? I was content. But not so much as going without having to steal one. So I did. Oops. It made for a good photo prop; honestly, that's all I wanted.
After the sunflower farm, it was time for a snack break, and on our list for that was the Chocolate Factory. It's a one-and-all place with a pastry-bakery shop, a cafe, and a restaurant. We planned to buy takeaway souvenirs but decided to do it the following day for fear that whatever we bought would melt in the car while we explored the rest of Khao Yai. Instead, we sat down for a much-needed aircon break. We each ordered a refreshing drink and shared some chocolates and a cake. I did not take as many photos of our food as my outfit, but I did film and included it in my VLOG, so if you want to see that, go on and watch the video at the end of this post or head to my YouTube channel!
Once refreshed, we went on our way to another spot. There are just too many Italian-inspired villages in Khao Yai, and where we headed next was one of them. It's called Palio, and it's a more popular one than the Piazza.
I saw why it was more popular upon getting there. First, there was no entrance fee. Second, the village was bigger than the Piazza. Third, there were much more things to do inside in terms of dining and shopping (though the animal farm in the Piazza still wins for me). The palm trees in Palio were gorgeous, though, so much so that I was getting so many LA vibes, especially since we were there nearing the golden hour. It was just a beautiful sight.
By the time we rounded Palio's little shops and alleys, it was getting dark, and we were ready to retire to our hotel. We booked a one-night stay at The Kids Adventure Resort, which sounds a little sketchy. But it's legit and wasn't so bad. The fun part is that, and living up to its name, the resort offered various games and activities complimentary for in-house guests. There were activities like archery and shooting; you could borrow bikes and ATVs, to come to think of it. I don't know where, but there was a mini zip line and mini golf. You get the picture, so it was A kind of kids’ adventure place.
Again, I did not take many photos there, but it's partially on the VLOG, so go on and watch the video below.