Jacqkie | Travel and Lifestyle

Before we took the flight to Bangkok for our all girls trip, we asked Stephie - the bachelorette to decide what else she'd like to do. And she said, temples!  But of course! I forgot Bangkok is beaming with beautiful temples, that I only remembered the shopping part of this city. So I did all my research and suggested a few.OK - one day for temples it is :) We started the day the usual. Headed to Terminal 21 for a heavy brunch, sort ourselves out, learned our saved maps in our phones and then made our way out. It seemed like the best way to navigate to all the places that we wanted to go was to go back to where we were yesterday (Taling chan "floating market") which is Saphan Taksin/ Chao Phraya Pier, I've got so many inverted commas for this day please bear with me... So we did just that. We took the train straight to the last station towards the big river, queued for the boat and started on our first temple which was Wat Pho (the lovely Reclining Buddha...

Best friends Ingrid, Stephie and I have known each other most of our lives. When I say most, I mean at least 13 - 18 years. Now some say, 13 years is nothing, on the other hand, some say a decade is enough to know. Well I think, who gives a fk. 20 years, 3 days, 5 months, a lifetime.  When you've got a good friendship, you've got it good.  We've always talked about taking a trip together, now that Stephie is finally getting hitched, we thought it's the perfect excuse to go for an all girls trip, like I did last year with the rest of the girls. AND IT WAS SO MUCH FUN. We decided that it was going to be ALL about shopping. That we'd come to Bangkok, enjoy a little bit, and spend most of our waking time shopping. I've never had a shopping holiday........ I must say....... Now that I'm older and earning my own...... It feels DARN GOOD. We stayed in The Blocks Hostel , which was a quirky hipster hostel managed by youngsters. I chose that hostel b...

Like punks, blogs are not dead too. I love my instagram, but nothing satisfies the craving to write, like a blog does. Now that I'm overwhelmed with my recent Bangkok and especially my Pattaya adventures, I feel like penning down some insights gained during this trip (before I forget them). 1)  No one cares how you get there  No one really vividly describes how they end up in a picture perfect place, and no one seemed to ask either. The mass usually does not care, or bother to find out how you'd end up at your destination. Which is distorted really, because one NEEDS to know how to get there. The best lessons learned are the ones within the journey itself. The dangerously close timeline of traveling from one city to another, the kind uncle Boon that helped navigate and bargain our way to a depressing floating market, strangers in a 3 persons bike ride, to walking 45 minutes under scorching hot sun because some guy duped you with directions, to taxi scams, and any of t...

I booked the entire Ladies NapSpace Dorm for all eight of us for at least 3 months ahead. Since they didn’t require deposit I was always at the edge of my seat, making sure that they don’t give away my reservations. YES I can be super paranoid. Angel, Ingrid and myself reached earlier than the rest of the gang so we were automatically tasked to look for the place. I was even more paranoid throughout the entire 2 hours journey to the hostel from Don Mueang Airport. Is it supposed to be 2 hours?!?!  We found out later that Michelle and the rest took less than half an hour with a cab to the hostel from Don Mueang Airport - I reckon that was kind of a good bus experience. EXCEPT – that we had to walk around the famous infamous Khaosan Hostel (where Hangover 2 filmed) in our rollers -_-“ seriously we are real backpackers who are just practical about shopping!! And yet we are roving around our rollers looking super impractical and lost in one of the busiest street in South East ...

Deciding what to do as a group activity in Bangkok is not easy, but neither is it difficult either. My friends and I are so different in personality, so different in background and history, that to connect everyone with one common thing is almost impossible. But if there is one thing we can quite agree on is .. FOOD. I mean, who doesn't love food?! So I decided to enroll us in a cooking class!! Since we were to stay in Le Meridien Bangkok along Bangrak road, I Googled cooking classes nearby and found Silom Thai Cooking School . After checking the reviews online, I was SUPER convinced that this will be a super activity for EVERYONE! My initial reservation was to do it during lunch, but some reservations were mixed up and we ended up doing it for dinner. WHICH WAS A MUCH BETTER CHOICE! We had to skip the market tour (breakfast and lunch have market tours, and 100 BAHT more expensive) and proceed with the cooking class - which was no big deal, because by evening we were a...

The girls and I have been exchanging notes on what to eat before reaching Bangkok. Every other week we forwarded each other a blogpost, one or two notes on what our next dish, cuisine, bites should be, or what not to miss. But really, nothing prepares you from actually being there. I honestly completely forgot what the recommendations were once we reached there.  Flashes of the recommendations from the blog came to life when I finally started walking down the streets (Khaosan Road). Because we were there for only a few days, 3 nights to be specific, every second was a ready discovery. Right after we checked ourselves in, Angel, Ingrid and myself - decided to go for a walk around the streets to start working on our tastebuds. You know - I always take my appetite for granted. And when I was in Bangkok, I made sure I appreciate my appetite! :) Here are some of my favourite bites/ cuisine in Bangkok: 1) Coconut Ice Cream with a Choice of Three Toppings  Fresh coconut ic...

Last week I asked a very important favor from the closest people in my life: to not look for their friends during good times, only - but also during the most confusing, darkest times of their lives. I have never been vulnerable to anyone, I have never let anyone 'see' me. And the best part of it all, there is a template of answers when someone asks me how I am, usually, "Great!" or "I'm good!" or simply "I'm okay." It doesn't necessarily mean that I may NOT be okay - it's just that - sometimes I simply have problems/ issues/ stresses (too) in my life and that they linger in my head (too). But I never portray these. I thought I was motivating other people by not portraying them, but I wasn't completely honest. The turn of events within these few weeks have changed my life. A few weeks ago I listed down the things I needed to do to address "this", more like a strategy: 1) Admit I have a vulnerability issue ...