Jacqkie | Travel and Lifestyle

When we decided to visit Siem Reap , I was adamant about doing sustainable tourism. I wanted to do something for the local community or with the local community but I simply just didn't know how to go about it. All I had in mind was it to be something to do with art and community. Thankfully, I found BackStreetAcademy.com while I was heavily browsing online searching for "sustainable tourism in Siem Reap" . I was hesitant about booking a tour supposedly hosted by the locals and coordinated by an online channel. But after going through it's impeccable website with all the information I needed to know and the 5* reviews on Tripadvisor... I was convinced that this was the next best thing. After all, how else do we make decisions these days! Why I wanted to choose a family bonding activity with mummy and sister, one can never get enough family time, and decided that getting our hands on, picking up a skill and essentially connecting with Cambodian local ladies wou...

Now that I’m older, and presumably wiser, I have built my own opinions on a lot of things and another, style. Most times I am either clad in a simple top with dark pants, pearl earrings and my famous string bag pack. Other times you’ll see me donning something sweeter, mostly in white, I like the clean, crisp and casual feel of a white shirt / top. Perks of traveling around the world is seeing a lot of interesting things, learning new stuff and eventually exploring new ideas. Food, architecture, people and fashion to name a few are the things that I truly love to observe. I picked up so many new ways of fashioning myself throughout my travels; scarves, bracelets, anklets and a little bit of everything else to mix and match. My style is a cross of bohemian, sweet (pearls, braided long hair) and just chilled. (unless I'm in the office 9 -6, then, I am in my monkey suit) This is a rare post of me talking about the ladies fashion around the world that I’ve come across with, but...

I was on overdrive from July to October, between the opening of the new restaurants, and volunteering in events, and the newfound passion with mum. There’s something going on every-day between these, family and friendships right up till October. So this quarter, I decided to focus more on my first love, BLOGGING!  This isn’t a travel blog, it just so happen that I feel most inspired to write after going to different places. This time, I want to share with you about my recent family trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia. I have never felt so … luxurious in any of my trips before, and this was that one that was. And we weren’t even spending money like water, it was just – that we had a good hotel, it was more laidback and relaxed. I am always so … “particular” about my budget when it comes to traveling, I’m not thrifty, I just like to make sure that what I’m buying is good value for money. Before going to Siem Reap I spent my weekends trying to figure out “what kind of vacation this w...

That disclaimer needs to come first because the idea of temple running is often associated with the impossibility for someone older (like my mum in this case) and it's often so overwhelmed with the idea of being young, tough and rough, having the right kits and the right shoes (unless you're in a huge tour group). Whoever invented this image? Well, we did it with me on slippers (although I must say, not recommended though) and mum joining in. Of course we didn't do ALL the temples in the Angkor Wat Central, in fact we only chose 4 from the selection. We wanted to be very honest with ourselves, do we really want to do temple running THE WHOLE 4 DAYS? No, we wanted to do other local things, eat, meet local people, tuk tuk around and basically enjoy Siem Reap as we honestly would. Also, it was very impractical for mum to painfully follow us temple running throughout the trip. So in a day we went to; 1) Angkor Wat 2) Bayon Temple 3) Angkor Thom 4) Ta Phrom (the To...

Writing this post in a small room of this Younique Hotel at my layover from Siem Reap before I fly really early in the morning tomorrow to Bali for work. I've had a really good time with the two ladies, now it's back to the grind. I wanted this vacation for the longest time because of the streak I had since ... July probably. Haven't had a proper breather from anything since then. It's good to go off the grid once in a while and get lost in translation, food, culture and anything in between. I admit I used to be so hard on myself when it comes to traveling/ vacation; like I MUST try all, follow the itinerary, meet new people, get uncomfortable, must see underground new things, take cool photos. Whoever invented these rules? Now I realized, the most important thing about going away, is to actually do things that make you happy. I started listing down a few things that I cannot miss, and followed my body. I made sure my health is taken care too, and embracing ev...