Travel Blog

Ever since I was a small kid astronomy and the stars were always very interesting to me.  In fact, astronomy was my second choice as an occupation if I didn’t get into computers.  Well, I’ve been keeping up to date on space tourism since the first commercial space launch brought the first space tourist into space.  When this happened I thought it was a world changing event.

This coming Monday, Virgin Galactic will be announcing the individual who will be Australia’s first space tourist.  The lucky tourist paid $200,000 for the ticket to travel into space – something I would love to experience once in my lifetime.  I’m hopeful the prices for these space travel tickets will decrease dramatically in the next few decades so I can get my chance of traveling into space.  Without a doubt, the market for space tourism is in demand as one article states the company reported last year that well in excess of 200 people have already paid to be a passenger on these space flights.  We are entering into some exciting times as the beginning of commercial space travel for regular people like you and me is becoming more widespread.  Here we come Star Trek!!!

Here’s some info on Virgin Galactic:

Virgin Galactic is the world’s first spaceline. Giving you the groundbreaking opportunity to become one of the first ever non-professional astronauts. Virgin Galactic will own and operate its privately built spaceships, modelled on the remarkable, history-making SpaceShipOne.

Tags: space tourism, space travel

It’s officially 2009!  I just wanted to wish all my readers a Happy New Year and hope everyone has a successful and prosperous year in 2009!

My New Year’s resolution was to double my online income from what I made last year, but with the United States and the global economy in what seems to be a long recession it might be difficult to achieve.  It’s going to be another year of a lot of hard-work and dedication and I’m really looking forward to the challenge.  I can only hope that 2009 brings with it a better year and better economy.

So did everyone make a New Year’s resolution?  If so I’d like to hear about it.  Feel free to share your New Year’s resolutions by commenting in this post!

Tags: 2009, 2009 new year, happy new year

Traveling to Thailand, the “Land of Smiles”, was a great experience and one I truly enjoyed. In fact, I enjoyed it so much I plan on traveling to Thailand again real soon for a much longer time. After returning home from my trip I did a little research on the Internet about Thailand to get more acquainted with the area and tourist attractions; something I should have done before I went there on my last trip but couldn’t because of how sudden I found out I was going to Bangkok.

During my stay in Thailand, I had an uneasy feeling at times that the prices being quoted to me for merchandise, tours, taxi fares, etc… were a bit more overpriced than what they should be. In addition, when I spoke with certain locals around the tourist areas it seemed like something just wasn’t right. Well, I came across this site online about Bangkok scams and was amazed that some of the scams listed on the site almost happened to me! The name of the site, believe it or not, is Bangkok Scams, which can be accessed here http://www.bangkokscams.com. I suggest if anyone plans on traveling to Bangkok, Thailand they read up on this site beforehand. Now that I have the foresight to see what was happening during my trip I have to tell you there are many scammers around the tourist areas in Bangkok just waiting to take advantage of tourists.

Out of the Top 10 Bangkok scams listed here, I experienced three of them; and after thinking back about my trip and doing a little research, I can say some others scams were tried on me which I’ll blog about in the future.

The first scam I experienced on the list was “The Grand Palace is Closed Scam”. I took a taxi from my hotel to The Grand Palace and was dropped off right in front of the gate entrance to The Grand Palace. As soon as I stepped out of the taxi and headed toward what looked like the entrance, I was approached by a well-dressed Thai local man with an open umbrella (I guess to shade himself and anyone else he is trying to scam from the sun because it wasn’t raining that day).

The Thai man asked me politely where I was going, I pointed to the gate entrance and said “The Grand Palace”. He replied back “This is the exit to The Grand Palace, the entrance is over there” pointing to a further gate opening. He then offered to show and walk with me to the entrance. As we walked the other way he explained to me part of The Grand Palace was closed at the moment because there was some sort of funeral taking place inside for someone important who died and it would open up again at 2pm. He then pulled out a map and suggested I go visit two other temples close by and come back at 2pm when The Grand Palace opened up again.

This is when I started getting suspicious because I saw people going in and out of The Grand Palace gates. He then mentioned taking a tuk-tuk to the other two temples and it would only cost 10 baht (which is really cheap). Not any sooner when he finished his sentence a tuk-tuk pulls up on the side of the road with the driver looking very eager to have me jump inside. After some brief words and a conversation with him trying to persuade me to get into the tuk-tuk and visit the other temples, he finally pointed me to the original gate which I was walking too and said I can go and enter the Grand Palace through it. I was a little confused at first, but then realized it was some sort of a scam which he gave up on after I gave him a hard time and declined his request to jump into the tuk-tuk. I headed towards the gate entrance and to no surprise the Grand Palace was open.

In my next post I’ll be talking about a few Bangkok, Thailand taxi scams I experienced.

Tags: bangkok, bangkok scam, bangkok scams, grand palace, Thailand, thailand scam, thailand scams

If you’ve been reading my blog for sometime you know that I’m a huge supporter of non-profit organizations who help people in need around the world. I received a message through email from Bloggers Unite about an online awareness campaign for refugees.

On November 10, 2008 bloggers from all over the world are uniting to raise awareness on behalf of more than 40 million refugees. To ask the world to face the atrocities so many human beings must endure and to join together to help bring forward awareness and action for these problems.

Bloggers Unite along with Refugees United are asking bloggers to participate by blogging about the campaign or placing a campaign badge on your blog to help spread the word. The core cause of Bloggers Unite and Refugees United is sharing of information which leads to empowerment. Your actions matter, and your words can help change lives! Here’s more information about Refugees United which was taken directly from the Bloggers Unite website:

About Refugees United

Refugees United is a non-profit organization that helps refugees relocate family and friends through the use of the internet.

Refugees United provides refugees with an anonymous forum to reconnect with missing family. By registering with nick- names, scars, former locations and other markers only identifiable to family and close friends, everyone can remain ‘invisible’ to all but relatives.

• All refugees are welcome, regardless of conflict, place or time.
• Refugees United is an independent, non-political, non-religious NGO.
• No third party is involved. No official papers need to be filled in.
• The service is free of charge, easy and safe.

The Refugees United search engine is the first of it’s kind. Visit Refugees United to see how it works and to learn more about the work that Refugees United is doing.

Tags: bloggers unite, charity, nonprofit, refugees, refugees united

Here are two more pictures showing my perspective from inside the riverboat while cruising along the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, Thailand. In the right picture you can see the Phra Pok Klao Bridge, one of the many bridges which crosses over the Chao Phraya River.

Tags: bangkok, chao phraya river, phra pok klao bridge, Thailand

Today, I spent a good part of the day on a riverboat sightseeing along the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, Thailand. The Chao Phraya River is actually the largest river in Thailand and runs north to south starting in the center of Thailand where two other rivers meet, the Ping and Nan river, and empties into the Gulf of Thailand. Some of the largest and most densely populated cities in Thailand are situated along the Chao Phraya River, including Ayutthaya, Nonthaburi, and Bangkok.

I waived down a taxi in the front of my hotel, jumped in and headed toward the Sathorn Pier, also known as the Central Pier, which is located near the Taksin Bridge. The taxi driver actually dropped me off at one of the smaller piers near the Sathorn Pier to catch a riverboat. The picture in this post was taken while standing on the pier, and shows the riverboat I road on while sightseeing along the Chao Phraya River. There were many popular historical landmarks which could be seen while traveling along the Chao Phraya River including a number of temples, the Grand Palace, and the Royal Thai Navy Dockyard.

If your visiting Bangkok Thailand for the first time I highly recommend that you take a riverboat cruise to experience Bangkok from a different, yet very interesting, perspective. If you have the whole day to spare, depending on what type of riverboat you take, you can tell the boat driver to stop at several of the piers so you can get off the boat and visit the popular landmarks along the Chao Phraya River.

Tags: bangkok, chao phraya river, Thailand

Now that I feel refreshed after taking that shower here’s a summary of the last leg of my trip into Bangkok Thailand! The long journey from Hawaii to Thailand took about 15 total hours, including the stop over in the Philippines. Once I landed in Suvarnabhumi Airport, in Bangkok, I was treated to a long wait in the visa check line. I think I spent almost an hour in the line, probably because they have to take a picture of everyone that enters into Thailand for reasons which I have no idea. If anyone knows the reason why they take a picture of people please indulge my curiosity by posting a comment.

After getting through the visa check line I headed straight to the money exchange counter where I exchanged my US dollars to Thai baht with an exchange rate of $1 dollar for 32.82 baht. After exchanging my money I headed toward the meeting place in the airport where I had arranged for a friend of mine who was in Thailand to meet me so we could catch a cab to my hotel. The meeting area was quite a distance from the luggage carosel so I got a little lost since it was my first time in Bangkok’s airport. On the way to the meeting place I stopped by a local wireless carrier kiosk where I purchased a local SIM card for 150 baht, which is really cheap; 150 baht comes out to about $4.50 USD. The SIM card came with 100 free minutes which would be more than enough during my stay in Thailand. I swapped SIM cards at the kiosk just to make sure it would work with my phone; it worked just fine so I headed to meet my friend.

Picture of SIM Card

Once at the meeting place it didn’t take to long to find my friend. We jumped in a taxi and headed for my hotel. The drive from the airport to downtown Bangkok on Sukhumvit 11 took about 30 minutes through the express way. It was exciting to see Bangkok for the first time, and my first impression of Thailand is a positive one. I think I’ll really enjoy my trip here!

Tags: bangkok, sukhumvit, suvarnabhumi, Thailand