Thursday, December 29, 2016

Explore Khao Yai [ 考艾 ] - Day 1

I read that there are three seasons in Khao Yai and if you wish for a more cooling weather, the best time to visit will be during winter season which is usually from November to Febuary. It is also when most of the farms will be in operation.

According to the driver, January will be much more colder than any other months. The temperature in the day can be in the low 20 degree and night time can be even lower. Meanwhile the dry and hot season will be between March - April and the wet months will be from May till October.

My initial plan was to visit Hua Hin but Khao Yai is a much more beautiful place to visit as recommended by my cousin. I googled for information and managed to plan some activities for the family. There is something for everyone and  this beautiful state has so much to cater for, to satisfy visitors of young and old.

This december holiday was madness again as we planned our trips back to back again ! We spent one week in Malaysia, flew back on the fifth day so that Vera does not get too long a break away from her treatment. We flew off again to Thailand the very next day again from 6th - 14th Dec, of which 6-9th Dec was spent in Khao Yai [考艾].

I missed the sunflower fields in Hokkaido and was pleasantly surprised that there are actually alot of sunflowers blooming in Khao Yai ! About 3 hours away from Bangkok, our driver, Khemika (Ms Neck) picked us up from the airport and drove us to Khao Yai with a lunch stopover at a "Food Court".

Passing by Saraburi Province as we headed to our resort, Neck asked if we wanted to visit this field (smaller) than the one I wanted to go initially. I though why not since it's nearer and we could ave more travelling time. Despite the fact that it's smaller in scale, this sunflower field looked as awesome with the sunflowers heading towards the direction of the sunlight. I feel that the best time to visit is in the morning or between 2pm - 4pm, least the sunflowers would be more upright ?

A selfie stick is always useful when comes to taking family pictures ! Love the sea of sunflowers behind us! 


Caught a bee at work !


The kids could run freely in the field ! Neck's daughter happened to be with us on the trip. We did not mind and infact more than happy to have her around to explore the places with us. She took some really nice pictures for us too !

Photo credit: Pla


Just taking one shot does not do justice. I guarantee you that you will be snapping away like us. A group picture before we left the lovely field.

From the left: Pla and Khemika, us

Our next stop Primo Piazza ! Where you can find the most adorable Alphacas  !



In a Europe look-a-like, rustic and relaxing setting, this place is a must come for photography lovers!




We spent most of the time feeding in the shed. Vera showed no sign of fear towards these gentle alphacas! We were happily feeding them, the donkeys and the sheeps !

Look Mummy !!



First encounter with the donkey

Love this scenary !

 Grazing Alphacas and sheeps got fed too ! The kids and ourselves were totally in love with them !


The vast space to run free and Vera was happily rolling and sliding down the slopes ! Had to take one shot of us without the kids. We had to leave the place reluctantly as according to whwat we have planned. But I swear this is a really nice to bring the kids !


Primo Piazza
Address: 861 Moo 6, Thanarat Road, Tambol Nong Nam Daeng, Pak Chong District, Nakhon Ratchasima 30130

Opening hours:
Fri - Sat: 9am -12pm
Sun - Thurs: 9am - 10pm

Entrance Fee:
100 Baht / USD $2.80 (Adult)    
50 Baht / USD $1.40 (Child)
If you need to contact Khemika, you can watsapp her at:
+66 83 305 5270

Let her know you are recommended to go to her by Piggy Family. Not that I earn a commission from her but because she can communicate in English which makes things so much easier and we personally find her service reliable. We told her to personally drive our friends should they engage her service.

Just incase you have mistaken Neck for a Tour Guide. Nope she is not one. She mainly does Airport Transfers to Hotels or maybe you can check with her on Bangkok City Tour if you need a driver. In Khao Yai, the hotels charge by per destination. Hence, we felt that engaging a driver will be a much better option. Khao Yai is pretty much new to Neck as well but we used GPS to locate certain places we wanted to visit when Neck could not find. Nevertheless, my places of interests were all covered during the 4D3N stay in Khao Yai and Neck drove us back to Bangkok.

If you just want to engage her service in Khao Yai for a day but decided to take another transport back to Bangkok, most likely Neck will not take up the job as it does makes sense that she be driving back an empty vehicle all the way from Khao Yai and it's not worth the time, effort and of course her expenses for petrol back.

Updated on 17 April 2018: I received quite a few similar enquiries. My bad for not jotting it down. I cannot remember exactly how much we paid. But it was between $160 - $180 Sgd per day of 10 hours, not inclusive of attractions entrance fee and meals. I would say both parties give and take on the timing and it is totally up to your own comfort to include Neck during your meal times. It is not compulsory but we thought it was nice to have them dine with us.

Accomodation for the driver is solely their own responsibility. You do not need to cater to their lodging. They will get it settled. =)

We stayed at Thames Valley during our visit.

Stay tuned for the next post on our next adventure in Khao Yai !

Khao Yai Day 2
Khao Yai Day 3 

Thank you for reading and if you would like to stay tune for future updates, do follow me on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram !

Disclaimer: This holiday is a NON SPONSORED post. All expenses are paid through our very own pocket. Just purely documenting down these lovely memories and to be shared to all who are looking into kids friendly places in Thailand!

18 comments:

Unknown said...

We were in Thailand in December too! I wish I had spent more time in Khao Yai, but it was freaking hot when we were there. No complaints though, because I prefer freaking hot to rain. But I was asking myself, if this is called a cooler month, I wonder what it's like during their warmer months.

xavvy said...

Alamak !! Sorry to have missed your comment !! I thought Khao Yai is cooling in Dec ? I think if you want the cooler temp, good to go after mid december. My ex-colleague went 2 weeks after us and he told me , it was much cooler !

Hottest would be April onwards I guess. Anyway, I don't mind making a second trip and explore other areas !

Simply Tasty said...

Hi

May I know where do you stay at Khao Yai?
What is charge from airport to Khao Yai?

Turtle said...

Hi, does Ms Neck was ur private driver during that whole 4 days 3 night there?

Unknown said...

Hi,
We are planning a trip end of the year. Can advise wat are the charges for driver and accomadation? Tks:)

eveline said...

Hi! Nice reading your post. Just wondering, which hotel would you recommend in khao yai pls and how many days is good?
Tks!

Unknown said...

Hi, I am planning a trip with family for 3D2N (travelling with a toddler and a 5yr old). Any advise?
Could u provide me with ur driver's (Ms Neck) contact no.? What are her charges?
Which hotel did u stay in for the 4D3N?

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
prawny said...

Hi Simply Tasty, my apologies for the late reply as I did not receive any notification. I stayed at Thames Valley. I engaged the driver for 4d3n ( round trip) back to Bangkok.

prawny said...

Hi Turtle, yes she was with us for the whole of 4D3N. Accomodation for herself, she will settle it. =)

prawny said...

Hi, my apologies for the late reply. We stayed at Thames Valley, driver will arrange her own accommodation. Charges if I din remember wrongly, we paid her about $160 per day.

prawny said...

Hi Eveline, pardon my late reply. We stayed at Thames Valley. We went for 4d3n. If you would love to visit National Park, extend another one or two days would be good.

prawny said...

Hi Veronica, pardon the late reply. The driver's contact is in the post itself. Charges may differ now but as a guage I paid around $160-$180 per day for 10 hours.

Anonymous said...

Hi. Would like to know Neck charge, is it include petrol expenses.
Thankss

flower guy said...

I believe the rate that you paid is only for the car usage of 10hrs a day right. Any entrance fees etc are not included. Can we tell Neck the places that we want to go or it is restricted to only certain places. Do you have to put a deposit after you book her. My family is also planning to stay 4D3N in Dec 2018 so I am doing my "research" now. I heard there are Strawberry Farms that we can visit in KY as well.
Thank you.

xavvy said...

Hi Anonymous, I think I paid like $160 - $180 per day. I can't remember clearly as it has been some time ago. You may wish to check with Neck via watsapp ?

xavvy said...

@ Flower guy: sorry for the late reply. yes only for car usage. Entrance fee and meals are not included. You can give her your planned itinerary, what she did for us was, she shifted them so that they were all along the route if possible. We did not placed any deposit. It's based on trust. Yes, but the one we happened to visit does not have any strawberries yet but we did chance upon a grape farm. =)

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