Sawasdee Krub! We, our couple on tour, are here again. Well, when we talk about summer, most of the people would think of the sea, sun, and sand. However, our trip this time would be different because we are going to Khao Yai. Let's see what do they have there in summer! But one thing I can assure all of you is that the weather will be nice and not as hot as you think. And I would like to use this opportunity to thank Readme.me and especially relaxzy, the website where all the best deals in Khao Yai are gathered and they have brought Thailand Travel Expo directly to your home. Relaxy has kindly organized my trip to Khao Yai with activities that are like no others. As a result, I have got a chance to share this travel experience through photos and words with you. If you are ready, let's go to Khao Yai! This journey is from 9 - 10 April 2016.

Travel program of this 2-day trip is as follows.

Saturday: Go to Pak Chong - Visit Somnuek Anthurium Garden - Chill at Coffee in the garden - Stay overnight at Baan Sujipuri - Do horse riding at O.K. Corral - Walk through Night Bazaar Pak Chong

Sunday: Visit the Natural Pond - Have fun at Scenical World - Lunch at The Chocolate Factory - End the trip at Wat Phra Khao Temple

All photos are taken by Nikon D5300 18-140 and GoPro HERO 4 Silver.

And you can watch this video firstly in order to see an overview of this whole trip.

This is another video that sum up the fun at Scenical World.

Our trip is on the long weekend so I guess the traffic to Khao Yai would be very busy. That's why we have decided to leave from Bangkok early around 6 AM. And yes, as expected the traffic starts to get busy since Wang Noi but we are still able to move regularly. Our first destination is Somnuek Anthurium Garden and the GPS will lead us there. Well, the GPS has ended up taking us to the wrong place. hahaha But it is not far from here to the right place though, it is about 10 kilometers. We have found a Chinese Roll Noodle Soup restaurant along the way and we will stop here for breakfast first.

The right spot of Somnuek Anthurium Garden is 14°40'50.8"N 101°22'02.8"E or you can use the map below for your reference, you need to take the left turn at Pak Chong intersection.

We have finally arrived at Somnuek Anthurium Garden and this is the sign right in front of the place but we actually take this photo on our way back. Somnuek Anthurium Garden grows anthuriums mainly. They grow them for sell and the garden is officially opened for tourists to visit. The fun activity here would be that you can cut flowers in the garden and arrange a flower bouquet yourself as you can see in the photos.

Let's take a closer look inside the garden! Luckily that we have met P' Jeab today, she is the daughter of the owner. She shows us around and explains everything. Anthuriums give flowers once a month generally but sadly that most of them were just cut. So we don't have a chance to see a lot of a nthuriums flowers this time.

One of the highlights of this place would be this moss floor. This green moss floor is all over the garden on all walking paths and they grow naturally. It is beautiful and you will feel like walking on a soft carpet when walking on them. However, P' Jeab told us that they need to be removed from time to time in order to let the soils breath.

Let's get back and concentrate on the anthurium flowers!

Other types of plants and flowers

If you are lucky to be here when they are watering the plants by the sprinklers, you have a high chance to see the rainbow like we do today. It is so pretty.

We have been walking through the garden and have cut some flowers. It is time to arrange a flower bouquet but I better let the girls take care of this. hahaha

One flower bouquet is done. However, it seems like P' Jeab is the one who did it. My girlfriend only did this and that according to P' Jeab's instruction. hahaha

This is another one. This one is very cool and unique.

We spend almost 2 hours here with no hurry. From my point of view, this is one of many activities that people who travel to Khao Yai and Pak Chong don't normally do. I would recommend this place especially to those garden and farm lover to come and visit. Moreover, P' Jeab is very friendly and talkative. It is fun chitchatting with her while walking around the garden. This experience would offer you a new angle of traveling.

We left Somnuek Anthurium Garden around 10 AM and we are going to Coffee in the Garden. You can find the direction in the map below.

We have decided to have a quick stop at Wat Pa Amnuai Phon or also known as Wat Wa Kajiaw first. Wat Pa Amnuai Phon is located in the alley next to Coffee in the Garden. It is at the very end of the alley. We are here to see the water wheel. However, we have found that the water wheel doesn't run because the river doesn't have much water. We asked locals here and have learned that this year has the lowest level of water in the river and it has never been like this before.

We are back at Coffee in the Garden. It is full with trees here. Let's go and have a look inside!

The reason why they have such a beautiful garden here is that they are also a garden design company.

This cafe is totally nice. However, it is not crowded here these days because people tend to go to the beach in summer like this.

You can choose to chill indoor with the air conditioner or outdoor. Let's order something to drink first then we can go and explore this cafe further!

If you walk toward the restroom, you will find this bird. I am not quite sure what kind of bird it is. If you know please let me know as well. It can even speak.

The restrooms get you to be closer to the nature. I bet you would feel like you are in the jungle when you enter, just like I do. The ambiance is so cool. They don't even have a roof.

We are back at our table. We choose to sit outside this time because it is refreshing with light wind. Well, the parking lot is totally hot but you will feel better once you step into the cafe. There is always some wind inside the cafe.

We have been chilling here for a while and it is already after 11 AM. We decide to just have lunch here since they offer a wide variety of foods. In addition, they have Thai Pasta with local Korat-style Sauce on weekend like this and we agree to have that as recommended by the staff.

Then we order two more dishes. The first one is Beef Salad.

The second one is Spaghetti. hahaha Have you realized that we have ordered such a contrary dishes to eat together? Well, they all taste pretty good but the beef is not that tender. We are totally full at the end and we can't even finish the Beef Salad.

We rest for a while after Lunch before ordering some desserts. My girl is very happy now.

All in all, Coffee in the Garden is a very nice cafe to chill in. It is not hot even you sit outside because there is always some nice light wind. Foods and drinks are also superb. Therefore, I highly recommend you to come and relax here.

We just left the cafe and we are going to our accommodation for tonight which is Baan Sujipuri. We take the first left and continue driving straight according to the GPS. Luckily that the GPS has taken us to the right place this time. This is the Lobby area and now let's go to explore other parts!

They have different villas to accommodate different numbers of guests from 2 persons, 4 persons, and 6 persons.

All villas are made from wood and clay. As a result, the temperature inside the villas is always nice. You can even sleep comfortably on a hot afternoon.

This is our villa. Well, all villas are pretty much the same in nice classic design.

The room is not big but the bed is soft and very comfortable. It also comes with a mosquito net and a small electric fan. Room temperature is pretty nice and steady all day and night. It is not hot at all during the daytime.

This is the public pavilion where guests can come and chill. They even have some swings and hammocks here.

There are 3 friendly dogs here. They are happy to play with us all day. One of them likes us to throw a stick into the river and he will run and swim to get the stick as you can see in the video. Then he will give it back to us and he likes us to repeat the whole thing all over again and again.

Another one of them likes to play the same but with tennis ball. If no one wants to play with him then he will let the ball fall into the water himself before going to get it. They don't seem to be tired after all this time but we are. hahaha I guess this place is perfect for dog lovers. Moreover, you are allowed to bring your own dogs to stay here.

Other interesting activities available here are kayaking and bicycling. More importantly, they are all complementary. They even provide life vests for those who can't swim.

We have done both activities and we are now going to take a nap for a while before going for horse riding around 3 PM.

Next stop is very exciting. It is O.K. Corral for horse riding.

I have never ridden a horse before so I am going to learn how to do that today before riding it for real right away. Different programs are available at different price. Mine is 1,200 THB.

I am ready so let's get started!

For the beginner who has no experience, you will be trained and try to ride a horse in the horse stall firstly in order to learn how to control the horse properly. This is including how to control a horse to walk, stop, and do jogging.

I am trying to make a sound like Woo Woo! in this photo together with padding the neck of the horse gently in order to ask the horse to stop walking.

Then it is time for us to ride horses around the area and we are very excited. Luckily that this time all the grasses are not green anymore. If they are green, they will attract horses and it is not easy to take them away. hahaha

We are on the back of the horse so I think it is a good idea to take a couple photo. This activity has been nothing but fun. Horses have such a high energy and once you want to work with them, you need to learn to understand them and treat them as same as they are ones of your friends. My first experience for horse riding is amazing, so don't wait to have yours, I am sure that you will love it. P' Chet, the owner, shows us some photos when there are sunflowers in bloom at Sunflower Maneesorn Farm. He explains that there will be a program to ride a horse there during that time and people will get very beautiful photo shots from there.

They also have a shop selling genuine leather products such as jacket, hat, belt, and so on. Most of them are imported from the U.S.

We spend quite sometimes talking to P' Chet here and we have learned a lot from him.

The little pony is also here.

It is time to move to our next stop so let's take a photo with P' Chet, he is super friendly! Those who like to do horse riding, don't forget to come to this O.K. Corral. Even though there are many places in Khao Yai offering this kind of activity, you can be sure that you will have a lot of fun here at O.K. Corral.

Our next stop is Night Bazaar Pak Chong where we will find something to eat. One of my friends is also working here as a vendor. We have found that there are so many foods to eat here but we end up eating Steamed Chicken with Rice. Even it is a simple menu, it never disappoints us.

This is my friend's business. He opens everyday so please don't forget to kindly support him.

We come back to Baan Sujipuri after a walk at Night Bazaar Pak Chong. We will take a shower and go to bed. Please be noted that there is no Television here. If you want to watch a movie or something, please bring your laptop along. The Wi-Fi connection is very good so you could do that through your laptop. We go to bed around 11 PM and the weather is very nice. It is even cold for us.

The new day has come. We will freshen up and get ready for today's program right away.

The breakfast here serves Boiled Rice. You can eat as much as you want and yes, we are full now. If we talk about Baan Sujipuri, I would say I am very happy staying here. This place is a good choice for those nature lovers who don't need much facility. In addition, it is pretty safe here because there are CCTVs all over the place. Camping is not available here so it is not crowded either. We pay 800 THB for one villa and the room rate is roughly like this during summer. So why don't you come and check this place out yourself! For more information please contact Baan Sujipuri.

The first program of today is to go to the Natural Pond which is not far from Baan Sujipuri. It is also close to O.K. Corral.

This is what I guess, they don't have much water during this time but the water is crystal clear. You can even see the bottom of the pond clearly.

We have spent only short time here before going to the next destination.

Scenical World is up next. We are going to have a lot of fun here today. Scenical World is both theme park and water park. It was just opened at the end of last year. The kid zone is also available.

These are promotional prices of the theme park zone which is available now.

On the other hand, these are the prices for the water park. There are quite a few promotions going on now so please check on their official page here for updated promotion Scenical World.

We are going to have fun in both theme park and water park today but let's start with the theme park first! It is called Life Park.

There are so many things for you to enjoy here. We start off the day here with a train ride to tour the place.

The train ride was about 15 minutes and we are now ready to get on this Super Pendulum which looks very exciting. Unfortunately, it is under maintenance. I feel relieved though because I am afraid that it is too exciting riding it. hahaha Even it is opened, I might spend sometimes thinking whether shall I go for it or not.

This Kiddie Town is for kids. I don't think it is big enough for adult to sit on those cars.

Then we have moved to this Mix Extremes. It is an obstacle course that you need to walk on a wobbly bridge and balance yourself on the rope as an example. These are just like those challenges for boy scouts. Let's see how exciting it will be!

First of all, we need to gear up and get ready. Well, there are so many staff here and they are so kind to volunteer to take photos for us because we won't be able to do that during the activity.

The instruction is given promptly.

Then we are ready to begin the activity. This starting point is pretty easy.

Then it gets more exciting.

We have to walk fast on this wobbly bridge. If not, our legs will start to shake. hahaha

This top one is exciting and scary. That's why my legs are shaking now. All in all, I would say that this activity is not very scary but it is a good start to warm up your excitement and it is fun. To end this activity, you need to jump off the tower but it is not that scary though.

This is our next station. It looks quite exciting but it is not actually.

It is tiring that we need to walk all the way up. The ride is very short and it is not fast or exciting.

Anyway, this Sky Driver would get your adrenaline pumping for sure.

We were waiting and felt like why those people are screaming so badly. It is our turn now and let's see! There is nobody else but the two of us though on this ride.

We was told that it will be about 1-minute ride and we guess this is quite easy as you can see from our happy faces.

But this free-fall starts to get faster and faster and it keep going up and down.

I start to feel scared after a while. I can feel that my face is getting pale. Then I can't feel my hands anymore and that is when I start to scream. hahaha

The last fall is super scared and exciting since we are at the very top. We are being paused for about 3 seconds before it bring us down very fast. I feel like I could pass out. hahaha I am not a big fan of this kinds of thing at all. On the other hand, my girlfriend loves it. She said this is so fun. Anyway, I can't deny that the ride is quite fun so don't miss it when you are here.

I am totally thirsty after the ride so I bought a can of coke which is 40 THB. Then we have arrived at Riddle Coaster. I will not take this ride because I heard that it would go round and round. I can't take the ride like this because I get dizzy easily. hahaha I can only stand here and watch.

Let's take a break by enjoying the fun and not too hardcore activity with Ever Slide!

It is a simple ride and not too fast. I guess it would be much more fun if you come in a group of people. You can compete with each other that way. Well, those who are heavy would make the ride faster as well.

The next one is Typhoons Tower. The staff said that the ride is not scary, it is like the ride to see the view and I like that. Eiei

The first impression when the ride gets started is nice with the view. However, it is getting faster and faster which is pretty exciting.

We get used to it after a while, as the speed is steady now. We have so much fun and feel excited too. We scream from time to time and it feels so good.

The speed slows down after almost 2 minutes and it feels very refreshing. However, I feel a little dizzy all of a sudden after the ride has ended. hahaha My girlfriend doesn't feel anything so I guess I am not good at all at riding this kind of thing. Anyway, I bet those who are not very scared of height will love this ride because it offers such a great view and you can enjoy the refreshing wind at the same time.

And we have come to this a-must ride when in here, GX-Swing.

I have got this shot when we were on the train ride. There are 3 tall poles as you can see and you will be seated in a capsule in the middle. Then you will be taken to the top before the set loose.

We are ready so let's go! Well, the excitement is actually happened when we are pulled up to the top because you will be going up and up slowly. It takes around 2 minutes to reach the top. On the way up there, I keep looking on the ground and realize that it is getting higher and higher. I don't even know when we are going to reach the top because we are facing the ground. I can't help but imagine how would it be if the string breaks or if I fall down accidentally. You can see how excited we are in the photo. I am telling you that you have got to try it yourself.

Once you reach the top, the set will loose and the capsule will start to fall down. I count 1, 2, and, 3 before screaming so badly. It falls down super fast and I recommend you to keep your eyes opened because this is the most exciting part.

Then the capsule will bounce up and down. This is not scary anymore but fun and you will feel like your tension has been released. This feeling is so good and this is when you should keep screaming out loud.

It turns out that I like this ride the most because I don't get dizzy and it is scary for only a few seconds. I also feel totally freed. hahaha You know what, I didn't want to do this at first, I walk away already but I turned my back and decided to give it a shot.

Our energy is pretty low now and it is almost noon. Anyway, let's have some more fun in the water park. It is called Splash World!

We are super ready, let's go! There are 15 different kinds of slides in total. This photo below is taken in front of the Splash Pool where there is a big wave coming in every 15 minutes. We will come back here after feeling tired from other slides.

We will try this one first. There are 2 slides that you can enjoy here and you need to climb up with the inflatable raft in hands. These slides are for 2 persons.

This is Space Bowl where you will experience a whirly excitement before coming down to the Splash Pool. It is like a toilet bowl to me somehow. hahaha

This one is not that exciting. It goes quite slow before running down to the pool.

We then walk up again but we try another slide this time. This one is quite exciting especially when it goes fast before hitting the water.

The staff are all around in both spots we start and end the slide.

We continue at Cyclone. There are 3 slides here. Two of them are for single-person ride and another one is for two. It is not that fast so it is not very exciting either. I guess if I take my T-shirt off, it would be faster. We have only tried 2 of them because we don't have enough energy to walk up to all the starting points. hahaha So, we have seen 5 slides so far.

These are photos taken from the starting point at Cyclone where you can see another side of the Splash World.

This white and pink stripe slide is up next. There are slides for 2 and 4 people respectively.

The water flows fast here so it is very exciting.

This is the slide for 4 people but we are 2. Luckily that there is one person who tried this slide earlier and would like to do more plus the staff who look after this slide volunteer to join so we can take a ride. The water flows even faster on this slide and I love it.

Next, we are going for the 6 slides shown in the photo below. 3 slides on the left are racing slides. For the light green color slide, you need to face down the slide on a racer mat. On the yellow one, you can just slide down normally but this one is very exciting since you will come down so fast. Last but not least, the blue slide is the most exciting one but I am not dare to try.

This is the most exciting slide.

This Tornado is coming up next. It is for 4 people. Well, it looks scary when you watch others slide down but I think it is actually not. There are 2 slides that will take you to this oscillating tube but I try only one. I am too tired to walk up the stairs again. hahaha To sum up, we have seen all 15 slides. We didn't try 5 of them because we have no more energy. Our energies have gone with walking up the stairs part. hahaha

Next to the Tornado is the kid zone.

We have come to this pavilion to rest. These pavilions can be found around Splash Pool but it is not included, you need to pay extra. Anyway, I guess the pavilion like this is perfect for a family traveling in a group.

Then we come to Splash Pool to wait for a big wave. The wave is huge and strong. It is so much fun.

In conclusion, it seems to me that Scenical World is a must to visit. Everything is totally new and there are staff looking after your safety everywhere. The service is also exceptional. For example, if you are only 2 persons and would like to enjoy the slides required more than 2 persons for the ride, the staff are more than happy to fill in the gap. Moreover, I would say that they have pretty high standard in safety regulations. They don't let another ride into the slide if the first one has not finished as an instance.

We have done taking a shower and getting dress around 1 PM. We will head back to Bangkok now but will make a few stops along the way. The first stop is at The Chocolate Factory where it is a cafe and restaurant.

The ambiance around The Chocolate Factory

There is a glass room where you can see how they prepare chocolate as well.

The restaurant

We have late lunch here. We have ordered dishes according to the recommendation of the staff and it turns out that they are all delicious.

Then we have some desserts.

My drink

We are totally full because everything is so good. So, don't forget to come here and try it yourself! You can come for dinner too. The restaurant will have a live music band during that time.

We left Khao Yai almost 4 PM before making the last stop at Wat Phra Khao Temple.

There are no any other tourists here. It was full with people last time.

We have made it to the last stop of this trip already so we will drive back to Bangkok now. We are lucky that the traffic is not busy at all. On the other hand, we have noticed that the opposite lane that leads to Khao Yai is very busy especially at Saraburi. We have finally arrived home and it is almost 7 PM. Lastly, this trip has ended. I have so much fun on this trip. I have done so many things I have never done before. And I won't do the sum up of the expenses this time because it is a sponsored trip. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Readme.me, relaxzy - the website where all the best deals in Khao Yai are gathered, Somnuek Anthurium Garden, Coffee in the garden, Baan Sujipuri, Scenical World, and The Chocolate Factory for everything.

For those who are interested in doing stuffs I have done in this travel review, you can go and experience them according to my story. I can confirm that you won't be disappointed. For more of my travel reviews or chitchatting please go here "เหลี่ยมพาเที่ยว".

Couple on tour will see you again next time, today I have got to say Sawasdee Krub.