Travel Updates: Hua Hin With TAT

Sa wad dee ka!

So yeah, I was just got back from Thailand again!. After exploring Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai area in February, this time I was invited by Tourism Authority of Thailand to experience some highlights in Hua Hin. I was happy to join the famtrip because I've never been to Hua Hin before. Yayyy! I always love the idea of exploring new destinations.

Siam Kempinski Bangkok

Tourism Authority of Thailand launched a new campaign which named Family Fun Thailand. They invited participants from around the world to experience family fun activities in Phuket, Chiang Mai, Khao Yai and Hua Hin (for team Indonesia & team Australia New Zealand). Not only bloggers, they also invited media, journalist, travel agents and celebrities. Team Indonesia is a group of 4 travel agents, 1 media journalist from Kompas, 1 blogger and a celebrity family Ryan Delon, Sharena and their super cute son Ryshaka; accompanied by 2 personnel from TAT Indonesia.

cooking class!

After a very pleasant stay in Siam Kempinski Bangkok, the next day we hopped on our van and headed to Hua Hin which is only about 2,5 hours from Bangkok. Depending of the traffic of course. First activity, cooking workshop! We were taught how to make Kaotang or Thai traditional style rice crisps at Sukantha. Though we didn't make it from scratch, we were excited to garnish our own Kaotang and bake them. And not to forget, take picture of it and show it off on Instagram :p

Camel Republic

smize, Alpaca...smize! :D

Feeling famished after the cooking workshop, we had a lunch stop at 1000 Sook Food and Farm which has a very interesting architecture. They serve both Western and Thai food. There's a bunch of animals like ponies and rabbits for the children to play with. Unfortunately I didn't have enough time to explore the farm as it was time for us to visit Camel Republic.

Camel Republic is a combination of a mini zoo and a theme park. Not only camel, I also got the chance to interact with alpaca, sheep, flamingo, bunnies and various birds. My travel mates had fun trying some of the rides. One of them was Eagle zipline. Woohoo!

Hua Hin night market

For Art's Sake 4D museum

I've never knew that visiting a 4D museum would be so amusing. Specially when I enter the room full of characters from horror movies. Yessss, I felt home! I love horror movies so much and judging from my pictures above, my face expression is a huge fail. Instead of looking scared, I looked a bit too happy seeing the ghosts, lol. Next time I will definitely take my family and friends to visit this museum again and take tons of tricky pictures. Oh, by the way they use some special paint for the moon so it shines and looks real.

Vana Nava Water Jungle

Asia's first water jungle! I gotta admit that I love the idea of their theme, water jungle. The trees saved me from the scorching heat while I was doing the inspection. First thing first, upon paying the entrance fee, visitors will get a RFID wristband. This wristband will make your time in the water park a lot more easier. Not only for getting in and out the park, visitors use this wristband to scan their locker and to purchase some food & beverages. No more hassle of bringing cash or wallet while having fun. One of the zone that attracted me the most was this surf simulator. Though it looks so easy peasy, I knew that I would look like a towel being tumbled inside a washing machine once I hop on the board. So, no thanks. I'd better saving everyone's time and energy by just taking picture from the terrace :p

high tea at the Tea House, FM outlet

Plearnwan

I don't know how many times I already mentioned in this blog that I super love love love night markets! I did visit the Hua Hin night market in the previous day but Plearnwan was the one that blew my mind. I adore the vintage ambiance. When I walk through the rusty tin pieces and wooden planks, I couldn't help myself to think that I was flown by a time machine back to the 50's! Not until I found out that the Thai name itself means plearn (enjoy) and wan (yesteryears). Besides clothes and cute little trinkets, visitors are also spoiled by various Thai traditional snacks to nibble.

art workshop. Can you spot my voodoo doll? 

On our third day in Hua Hin, we had an art workshop at Baan Sillapin artist village. I was quite nervous honestly. At school I've never scored good in painting. I would just pour a tin of paint on a paper, splash some colour here and there aaaand voila! I called it arts. Though I thought it didn't look that bad, my art teacher had always felt unhappy about my works. Oh well. Upon arriving at the artist village, we were allowed to choose either a plain doll, a canvas bag, a t-shirt or even a mask to paint. I chose a cat shape doll which later with my magic it was turned into a voodoo doll look alike, lol. Please stay tuned for more information about this artist village. I still have some blogpost coming up about this Family Fun Thailand trip *wink*

the Chocolate Factory

Let's Sea beach-front restaurant

the Barai spa at Hyatt Regency

pretty spa room

When you stay in Hyatt Regency Hua Hin, I'd suggest you not to miss a visit to their spectacular spa called the Barai. With a total area of almost 4 acres, it's considered one of the largest spa in Southeast Asia! The exotic and elegant architecture somehow reminds me of Morocco, Angkor Wat and India. So gutted that my schedule was so busy that I didn't get the chance to try their spa service. But there's always next time, right?

Indonesian celebrities were being interviewed by Miss World Australia & Queen Elsa

Team Indonesia! 

Back to Bangkok for the big event where all the participants and celebrity families from 7 different countries gather to share our experience. And to fit their new campaign Family Fun Thailand, the event was held in Siam Park City amusement & water park. How fun! I'm honoured to be able to meet Mrs. Juthaporn Rerngronasa, the Tourism Authority of Thailand Deputy Governor and also the gorgeous Miss World Australia, Madeline Cowe.

private beach at Hyatt Regency

Well that's basically my 6 days trip to Bangkok and Hua Hin in a nutshell. I am now working on my next piece about For Art's Sake 4D museum that I'm going to publish probably next week.
Thanks so much TAT for giving me the opportunity and wonderful experience that I will treasure forever. Thanks Mrs. Ana and Miss Devi from TAT Indonesia, also Khun Montika and Khun Bew from TAT Thailand for your warm hospitality.