Bangkok - 10 of the best healthy activities around Langsuan

 

A holiday in Bangkok does not always mean that you spend the entire day shopping (although you can) or lounging round the hotel pool sipping a cocktail (although you could).

The Langsuan Area in Bangkok – including Lumpini Park just around the corner does provide a number of opportunities for you to stay healthy on your holiday.

Go for a Run

Lumpini Park covers 58 hectares in the centre of the city – offering a number of pathways for you to choose from. The most popular route is that around the edge and is approximate 2.5 kilometres.

Practise Tai Chi

If performing a series of movements in a slow and controlled manner is what you are looking for then every morning there are groups of people who practising this.

Aerobics

Visit in the early evening for the biggest group – sometimes up to one hundred –who practise this high intensity routine at the entrance to the park from Rama IV.

Visit a gym

In the park there is an area which provides basic equipment for you to use but it is rather shift and is predominantly male.  The cost to join is 50 Baht

Chinese Dance

This is similar to the grace seen in the Tai Chi but is even more elegant. The movements represent beauty, grace and delicacy – originally it was to preserve the Chinese Culture but is more commonly used as a simple workout.

Yoga

There are many styles of Yoga practised but they all indicate similar holistic benefits.  Take your pick from a number of places offering this.

Eat Healthy

With the plethora of roadside vendors and the tempting smells coming from them this is not always easy. However there are always a number of vendors selling a more healthy alternative – from the freshly pressed fruits to prepared salads.

Muay Thai

This is Thailand’s national sport and it is certainly not one for the faint-hearted – it utilises the whole body as weapon and it is martial art which ultimately comes with control.

A bicycle ride

This is a growing activity for more and more people throughout Thailand but going on your bicycle through the traffic in Bangkok is certainly not for everyone.  Nevertheless through the park it can be quite lovely.

Go for a swim

This is an activity which might be more difficult to find but if you are staying with us at Cape House Serviced Apartments there is a pool on the 16^th floor – before your cocktail perhaps?

For a full version of this article please read Cape and Kantary – Issue 17 - http://www.capekantaryhotels.com/ckmagazine/Issue17/index.html

 

     

Phuket - what to do, eat, visit and stay

 

What can you do?

One thing to do is join a Muay Thai training camp.  Tiger Muay Thai is a popular training camp here in Phuket.  Or you can have a personal lesson with the Trainer from the local village?  Or you could visit the local Muay Thai ring - some of our guests did!

Where can you eat?

There are a number of places to eat in the Cape Panwa area. Try Panwa House; it always serves Thai food made with fresh ingredients and in a perfect setting.  Book in advance by phoning +66 (076) 391 123/5.

Drone footage by Joyce Division

Where can you visit?

Somewhere that is not always a tourist destination is Khao Khad Viewpoint so don't expect there to be anyone there.  This place gives you a wonderful view over the hills and weather permitting far away.

Where can you stay?

Tucked away in a quiet corner of southeast Phuket where the water is calm and serene all year round is Cape Panwa Hotel.

See you here... 

For more of this article click here for this issue of Cape + Kantary or read the issue in all the rooms of the Cape & Kantary Hotels.

          

The ‘Hungry Ghost Festival’ or the ‘Por Tor Festival’

It is believed by some of the Phuket Community that the spirits of our dead ancestors will visit them once a year on Earth.

This mean that tables are set with food in homes and candles and joss sticks are lit and doors of the homes are left open. This is an invitation to the spirits to come into the home and the spirits will have left when the candles and joss sticks have burnt out.

 There is a more public display and this is the baking of cakes that are shaped as turtles and then covered with ‘red icing sugar’.

 The turtles are covered in red icing and are made locally – much like the ‘Mooncakes’. The turtles are bright red because in this tradition this is the colour of ‘good luck’. The shape of the cake is a turtle because this symbolises ‘long life’.

 

 

These turtles are carried in a parade through Phuket along with a number of people in their local dress. The red turtles will be enormous and carried on a vehicle or will be carried by hand.

 

The parade will finish in Phuket Town, usually at the large Chinese Shrine called Jui Tui.
 

 

The Red Turtles however will be taken into the Car Park above the enclosed Local Market. Here the Car Park will be full of tables with food prepared for the spirits – whole roasted pig, deep fried duck, red Fanta drinks, carved fruits and more red turtle cakes!
 

 

In the middle of this there is a Shrine and carpet set up for this occasion. Here the local dignitaries will give their blessing to the gods and ask for luck for the future.

               

 

 

9 reasons a trip to Thailand is good for the soul

 

1) The food will retest your taste buds

 - there is a selection of restaurants in and around Cape Panwa Hotel

 

2) You get a great massage for like 5 bucks

 - 500 Baht adjacent to the beach (more in the Spa)

3) The beaches will force you to relax
 

 - relax here...

4) Festivals give you a direct access to another culture

 

 - there are a great many in Phuket (here's one)

5) There are tens of thousands of temples here 

 - here is a map of some of them

6) The markets are a visceral experience

- and there seems to be more and more

 

7) When you are tired of the beach you can head to the mountains

- and the rainforests and waterfalls towards the North of Phuket Island

8) The fruit alone is medicine for your body

- and there is a vast selection to choose from

 

9) The hotels will make you feel like a queen (or a king)

 

 - at Cape Panwa Hotel and Spa we hope that we can do just that....

The full article can be read on - 

http://matadornetwork.com/bnt/9-reasons-trip-thailand-like-medicine-soul/

              

Ayutthaya - what to do, eat, visit and stay

There are a number of things that you can do when you visit Ayutthaya.

1) Rent a bicycle from nearby the Ayutthaya Railway station and take a leisurely ride.

2) Visit the Tapestry Restaurant and indulge in some traditional dim sum. (The traditional Chinese soup kra por pla made with fried fish maw is highly recommended.

3) Visit Wat Mahahat. This is the temple best known for the head of the Buddha lodged in the roots of a tree close to the temple. There are a great many more temples to visit here, this is only one.

 4) Close to the ancient ruins  there is Classic Kameo Court which is an ideal place to stay. It offers fully-equipped deluxe studios and one-bedroomed suites ideal for short and long stays.

The text is from the latest edition of Cape + Kantary magazine and the full article can be found in - http://www.kasemkij.com/ckmagazine/index.html.

              

Pack Light, Pack Smart

 

Repacking at the check-in counter is a pain. When you find out that your bags are over the weight limit, having to quickly rearrange what you spent hours neatly packing can be a nightmare. What if your stash of salted-eggs roll out of your Louis Vuitton carry-on or even worse your travel-size fish sauce bottle spills across the contents of your favourite suitcase?!

 

Here are some tips

 

1)    Ditch the heavy suitcase

2)    Know the weather where you are going

3)    Find out what you can and can’t bring to your destination

4)    Follow the liquid limits and pack carefully

5)    Sometimes less is more

6)    Bring something to bring things home in

7)    Check your weight limits with the airlines which you are travelling with

 

The full article can be found in - http://www.kasemkij.com/ckmagazine/Issue4/index.html and was written by Kreangsak Suwanpabtakul and the illustrations by Chirachai Phitayachamrat

              

Highlights from Rayong to Chiang Mai and Kabinburi to Phuket

Rayong Fruit Garden

Love your fruit? This one’s for you!

Pick your own fruit all year round and taste delicious sample at Rayong’s Suphattra Land Orchard and Botany Garden, 18 kilometres from Rayong.

Stay at Kantary Bay Hotel, Rayong 

  

Ayutthaya: Wat Yai Chaimongkol (Monastery)

You can’t visit the Ancient City at Ayutthaya without stopping off at the Wat Yai Chaimongkok. A magnificent ancient royal monastery that used to be the centre of culture, literacy and education, its timeless pagoda can be seen far away on the horizon

Stay at Kantary Hotel, Ayuttthaya 

Kabinburi: White water rafting

Best known for it’s natural beauty, Kabinburi is also a great place to go white water rafting – but only if you are good! The famous Kaeng Hin Pung river is said to have the strongest current in Thailand. Rafting season: Jul till October

Stay at Kantary Hotel, Kabinburi 

Sriracha: Flight of the Gibbons

Tarzan did it, so do the gibbons – now you can.

Flying through the jungle using treecreepers takes some mastering, but that isn’t putting the sport’s growing number of fans off – have a go.

Stay at Kantary Bay Hotel, Sriracha 

Hua Hin: Best sticky rice and mango

Some may know it as a beach town, others know it as the Thai Royal family’s holiday home and others know it as where to find the best sticky rice and mango in Thailand.

Try it as the Pa Chuea shop – opposite the Hilton Hotel.

Stay at Cape Nidhra Hotel, Hua Hin

Chiang Mai: Wiang Kum Kam Ruins

Wiang Kum Kam was a settlement long before 1287-90. Deserted because of frequent flooding the site was later buried under mud when the river changed course. An important historical site today, the ruins are spread over a vast area and best enjoyed by a guided tour on a horse-drawn carriage.

Stay at Kantary Hills Hotel, Chiang Mai

Phuket: John Gray Sea Canoe

Great learning experiences, exciting adventures and ’life-changing’ times on the water!

John (Caveman) Gray’s Sea Canoe – the ‘original’ canoe – led the way in Canoe Tours of this kind and has won many awards and distinctions for its eco-tourism efforts.

Stay at Cape Panwa Hotel, Phuket 

(Full version is available here - http://www.kasemkij.com/ckmagazine/Issue1/index.html)