Away travelling to Sri Lanka when I'm young and able!

I saw this quote on the other day in the Facebook and I totally agree with the statement. I know I has been missing from my blog for a while because I'm busy making money to go travel! I knew I just came back from a few trips (Taiwan, Krabi, Hatyai) last few months, but it isn't enough (well it is never enough right?). I love to travel and this is not a secret, how do I do it so often..most of the times (well almost 99%) I paid for my trip. I don't splurge on luxury items like handbags and expensive food instead save it for my trip. I put away  50% of my earning every month for me go holiday. So with proper financial planning anyone can go holiday few times a year. And holiday does not mean it must be far.

So when AirAsia has the secret sale last April, I just book my trip. I'm flying to Colombo (Sri Lanka) today and would explore there for the next 7 days! So excited!! I knew this is not a popular first destination for many people but do you know...Sri Lanka has safari!!! And I wanted to go for safari to see elephants and leopard in the wild! Besides that they have really nice beaches, Ceylon tea mountain and temples to be explored. I shall share with you guys when I'm back ..and I'm active in my instagram and facebook. So if you want to see my travelling photos, do follow me :D 

Facebook page : Jessying

Instagram handle : @jessyings

Twitter acc : @Jessyings

So far as you can see from my Tripadvisor travel map I have been actively exploring ASEAN countries for the past few years and hopefully by next year, I would have travel to Vietnam and Laos to complete my journey in exploring all 10 ASEAN country. And next target is Europe! 

My motto in life!

So what you are waiting now, money and job can wait but our time and youth is not waiting for us. So if you are always wanted to go some more, do make it comes true! World is so big and there are so many wonderful experiences waiting for us to unlock!

Travel tip: Do you know if you use ShopBack Malaysia, you get to enjoy greatest discounts on Agoda and best promos on Expedia as you receive cashback on your travel bookings! Now you can travel more to see the world with ShopBack Malaysia! Click -> http://bit.ly/shopbackmy to register now! 

Top 5 reasons why you should celebrate Songkran Festival in Hatyai!

Have you heard of Songkran festival or better known as water festival?

Songkran Festival is celebrated in Thailand as the traditional New Year's Day from 13 to 15 April and it's their national public holiday. The tradition of water pouring is meant as a symbol of washing away all of their sins and bad luck, and one cannot get angry when someone pour water on them.

I always wanted to experience Songkran festival and this year finally I made it, thanks to AirAsia for flying us to Hat Yai! Hat Yai is located southern of Thailand and it's near Malaysia (Bukit Kayu Hitam) boarder and it's fourth largest city in Thailand. Personally I have been there for many years and it feels like home when I got there.

So when I got back many asked me what should they expect and do for Songkran Festival and hence I decided to write this about it.

Things to prepare for Songkran Festival

Your weapon of course! We got this water gun from Hat Yai at 350baht (RM37) if I remembered correctly. There are many kinds of water gun, some has really cute Hello Kitty design. My advice is go for the one that has the maximum capacity of water, reason being you are preparing for a "water war" tedious to keep looking for place to refill your water gun. 

Note : If you decide to bring back your water gun, please check in this in your luggage or it would be confiscated if you try to hand carry this on board. I guess because of the container can fill more than 100ml hence you cannot bring this on board. 

If you decide to bring your handphone along to Songkran Festival, please make sure it's water resistant like my Sony Z3 or well protected with a waterproof pouch..I'm thankful that my handphone is waterproof and can take picture during the water war.

Waterproof bag or drybag 

This is super important lah, keep your money & mobile phone in waterproof pouch because you will get wet (it's more like you will get drenched) from head to toe. There will be a lot of people selling at the Songkran festival but always come prepare lah because you actually will get wet the moment you walk on the street.

Protective Eye wear 

I never thought protective eye wear would be that important. I tell you why because a lot of people will be spraying around and water will get into your eyes until you can't open your eyes. I bought this at 50baht (RM5.40) from a roadside stall.

We are in Hat Yai on the eve of Songkran Festival and the celebration has already started that night itself! 

Okay check out my OOTD lah.. recommend girls to wear black top because you will get wet and wear light material pants so that it will dry up quickly.

Eazy, Shannon, me & Khai all prepare to go for water war :D 

AirAsia organised a stage that night. There are DJ spinning music all day long with a lot of activities going on stage. So damn happening lah! 

Those AirAsia staff on stage busy entertaining us with water and all the audience happily accepting it like like blessing *good lah wash away all the bad luck*

I remembered my some Thai girls put some cooling powder paste to put on my face when they walk pass me... apparently also one of the tradition during Songkran Festival.. 

I think they made the cooling paste with prickly heat cooling powder

No matter young or old, all of them has water gun on their hand... this little boy damn mischievous... he literally chase me and spray me :P 

And I have to counter attack him..with my water gun..

There are water station on the roadside during the festival for you to refill. But there are people who rent the whole water tank for their own use. 

Now you see why I tell you to get higher capacity water gun because it's troublesome to find free water station.

Damn crowded ...and happening

So nice of AirAsia to give out prizes to lucky winners.... haha I also want to win flight tickets

There are concert everywhere during Songkran Festival eve. 

First time watching Muay Thai competition on street. 

Some even go to the extend of renting vehicle and have their water tank in car... fuiyoh..

Some of them fill up their tank with ice and it's super chilling water when they spray on you..very notty right!

I never knew how crazy and fun is Songkran Festival until I experienced it. Everyone suddenly become like little kids running around spraying water on each other... SO SO FUN because it's Thai new year and no one can get angry when water was being sprayed on them :D

So some asked me why want to celebrate Songkran Festival in Hat Yai, well this is my reason why. 

1) It's the biggest city in Southern Thailand and one of the nearest city to Malaysia boarder. So means everyone at the Southern region will gather in Hat Yai to celebrate Songkran Festival together.

It's very near to KL, with only about 1h 10mins flight from KLIA2 to Hat Yai International Airport. AirAsia flies 10x weekly to Hat Yai from Kuala Lumpur.  Hat Yai is one of the main hub in Southern Thailand, hence it's easy to get transit flight to Hat Yai via Don Mueang with 9x Daily flights.

2) Very easy to communicate with Thais in Hat Yai because they can speak fluent English, Malay, Mandarin and some even can speak Hokkien. That's why I said it feel like home in Hat Yai... no need to worry about language barrier! 

3) FOOD - I love Thai Food. What so unique in Hat Yai is there are plenty Chinese & Muslim Thai food too. They are cheap and good. 

And of of the must try in Hat Yai is Chinese dim sum. It's has huge varieties of choices and only 18 baht (RM1.90) per basket . Must try dim sum restaurant in Hat Yai - highly recommending Chokdee Dim Sum Restaurant

4) After celebrating Songkran Festival in Hat Yai, there are a lot of nearby places of interest that one can visit. One should not miss the famous statue in Thailand which is the Golden Mermaid in Songkla.

Hat Yai also has their own floating market. Klonghae Floating Market is the only floating market at the southern of Thailand. Opens on Friday to Sunday from 3pm to 9pm. Most of them are selling local food. We took tuk tuk here about 100baht for return trip from city. 

5) In Hat Yai besides Thai Baht, you can also pay in Malaysian ringgit if you don't have enough Thai Baht. How convenient right? This shows that there are a lot of Malaysian tourists visitting Hat Yai until Malaysian Ringgit is widely accepted there.

Most important just prepare to have FUN FUN FUN lah! It's an unforgettable experience for me. You got to experience Songkran Festival yourself to know how FUN is it!

And with the coming AirAsia Travel Fair in Paradigm mall happening over this weekends (29 - 31 May 2015) offering 20% off all flights tickets, you should go and book tickets to enjoy Songkran Festival in Hatyai next year lah! I'm planning mine trips too, so hope to see you all there!

To find out more about AirAsia flights to Hat Yai, please visit www.airasia.com

Travel photos of my recent Myanmar backpacking trip!

Hey all! Anyone miss me here? 

Well I just came back from my Mystical Myanmar backpacking trip a while ago. Been so busy trying to catch up with my work and sleep!

I was there for 5 days 4 night and it was a very tiring trip but fulfilling one because we managed to traveled 1500km to 4 different regions i.e Yangon, Bagan, Mandalay and Inle Lake. And 3 out of 4 nights we spent sleeping in the bus to travel from one place to another. We spent about RM880 which includes my Airasia flights, transportation fee, 1 night accommodation fee, food, entrance fee and a little bit of souvenirs! 

I have so much to share with you all about this trip because I realized there are not much info on the internet that you can find. So before I can do that, let me take a nice break and do sit back and enjoy a few pictures which I took using my new camera Olympus E-PL7 (oh my this is such an amazing camera!)

Initially we have a a few more friends who supposed to come along, but all pulled out last minutes. Anyway I had fun travelling with my bff Lam.. he is so chatty and crazy!

Not only that we also managed to meet new friends during out trip! On the first day, we managed to know this very fun couple Cheryl and Juno from Penang during our trip and we decided to travel together! Ahh.. that's the beauty of backpacking.. to meet different people!

The famous Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon!

Botataung Pagoda in Yangon - How I wish all these gold are mine!

 Some very colourful Sleeping Buddha statue in Chauk Htat Gyi Pagoda in Yangon!

 Bagan sunrise view at Shwesandaw Pagoda

Egg york - Sunrise at Shwesandaw Pagoda

Took a picture for Cheryl and Juno, the couple who are we travelling together! They are getting married end of the year ... so took this as their pre-wedding pic for them ...Love is in the air!

Lots of huge & beautiful Buddha statutes in Myanmar, especially Bagan!

Beautifying my skin the local way! Met this super friendly lady and she insisted me to try this yellow liquid  extract taken from Thanaka tree. This extract is very interesting because most Myanmar girl applied this on their face. I was told this has the benefits of sun protection, cure acne and promote smooth skin. It is also an anti-fungal cream too!

We also went to  Kuthodaw Pagoda in Mandalay is the world's largest book stands upright! The book is actually the each small shrine behind me house a marble slab inscribed with texts! And there are 729 of them!

Beautiful sunset in U Bein Bridge in Mandalay! 

 The Signature post on how the fisherman catch fish at the lake!

   Amazing view at Inle Lake at noon!

The life in Inle Lake

Hope you guys like my pictures! Myanmar is a really beautiful country to explore and the people there are really friendly and kind! I kind miss Myanmar now!

So you guys interested to know more about my adventure leave me a comment ya! Maybe I will blog about my trip how & where in details if there is  request!