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We curate the best Lake Tahoe area deals such as:
Top picks for lift ticket deals and season pass deals
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Yearning for a well deserved vacay from the hectic Western lifestyle where each day flashes by with little in the way of cultivating our inner soul and playful spirit?
When was the last time you’ve enjoyed some quality personal time at a writers’ retreat to tap in to your creative side or a yoga retreat for some much needed rest & relaxation (R&R) and meditation to rejuvenate?
Or if food is your motivator, treat your palate to a Thai foodie adventure and add a side trip to learn how to cook Thai dishes.
Where can you find a warm sun drenched tropical beach town away from the main tourist destination where your dollar goes a long way?
Beach town balmy Prachuap, Thailand offers one of the best value off the beaten path vacation getaway.
Prachuap Khiri Khan, a scenic beach town 4.5 hours by train from Bangkok, checks off our list of requirements:
✔ Off the beaten tourist path
✔ Swaying palm trees
✔ Scenic beaches and warm ocean water
✔ Tropical climate in an exotic locale
✔ Peaceful, relaxing setting
✔ Inexpensive lodging (unbeatable price value comparatively)
✔ Inexpensive Thai food with availability of Western restaurant options
✔ Local small beach town charm
✔ Outdoor recreation: scuba, snorkeling, water snow sports, hiking, biking
✔ Lively Night Markets Offering Good Eats and Local Artesian Products
✔ Open air farmer’s market with fresh tropical fruits, vegetables and made to order good eats
✔ Fun live music scene entertainment
✔ Enjoy inexpensive massages ($5 foot massage to relax tired feet from a day of touring) and spa treatments (facials, manicure, pedicure, Thai massage & other “me time” pure bliss relaxation spa treatments) for a fraction of the price in the USA.
Enjoy a sun drenched tropical getaway destination that’s easy on the pocket book and also makes a great foodie adventure combined with a yoga retreat to destress and rejuvenate.
Especially enticing if you live somewhere cold like Chicago, New York; West Virginia; Washington; Buffalo; Detroit; Louisville; Nashville; Milwaukee; Kansas City, Kan.; Des Moines; Minneapolis; Denver; and Boise, Idaho or in Canada like Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City.
For a $1,000 USD monthly vacation getaway budget; this rental in Prachuap, South Eastern Coastal Thailand checked off all of our requirements in addition to being inexpensive with prices starting at $21 USD per night so a one month stay (31 nights) would cost $651 which leaves $349 for food, entertainment, and Thai massages, etc. In terms of food cost, a meal of savory grilled chicken or fish with sticky rice plus freshly made to order papaya salad and Thai iced tea will set you back only $3.50 USD.
If a non-touristy small beach town appeals to you, balmy Prachuap is that place.
This vacation rental retreat aptly named Baan Aomjai (which means “home of warm hearts” in the Thai language) is located in Prachuap Khiri Khan, a beach side town in Thailand accessible by daily air conditioned deluxe express bus directly from the Bangkok International airport. Upon arrival at Bangkok International Airport (aka Suvarnabhumi Airport code: BKK) you can choose to take the express bus to Prachuap or alternatively take a taxi/Uber into Bangkok then take a scenic train ride from the Bangkok Train Station – namely the Hua Lamphong Railway Station to the beach town of Prachuap.
Baan Aomjai is available as a nightly rental or long term vacation rental; great for all travelers, digital nomads and writers. This beach town is a perfect retreat getaway from the busy city life in Bangkok. “Baan Aomjai consists of just five unique boutique holiday rentals, varying from a petite 15 square meter studio to a spacious 80 square meter 2 bed, 1 bath unit, all equipped with WiFi, air-condition and modern amenities.”
Fully air-conditioned apartments features free WiFi, a mini-fridge, towels, bed linen, terrace, free parking, washing machine and flat-screen TVs. Enjoy their relaxing patio aka sala equipped with an opened kitchen, brick pizza oven and dining area. It is a very relaxing location surrounded by swaying palm trees. There’s also a swimming pool, gym and restaurant within 5 mins walk of the guesthouse apartment and the scenic Ao Manao beach is within a 20 minutes bike ride.
If you’d like a change from the local Thai food, there are excellent Western food options such as pizza, pasta (Italian), German and French food available in town.
The owners are helpful in getting you acquainted with Prachuap and can help you pick daily activities to enjoy your vacation or relax at scenic beach near by and go for a swim, get a tan or kick your feet up and relax under a palm tree reading your favorite book.
Prachuap is a scenic beach town for those seeking an alternative vacation destination to noisy city life in Bangkok. Added perks include inexpensive Thai massages in town that start at only 150 Baht (which equals to approximately $5 USD) and enjoy night markets for good value tasty eats and a great place to buy local artesian souvenirs for friends and family.
This is a newly built August 2016 vacation rental; the property is well maintained with daily maid service. A great place to stay for couples, solo adventurers, business travelers, and families with or without kids.
For freelancers, digital nomads, those looking to retire or live a life of an expat, Prachuap is one of the best expat options because of the (1) inexpensive cost of living (2) modern healthcare system where many doctors are trained in the UK, Australia and the USA (3) safe with significantly low incidence of crime (4) modern transportation infrastructure with easy international airport, train and modern bus connections (5) high speed internet (6) availability of many food options including Western styled restaurants and (7) abundant indoors entertainment options and outdoor adventures, and (8) Bangkok is the inexpensive travel hub for Southeast Asia where you can hop on an inexpensive flight to explore other regional destinations like Penang, Malaysia, Ankor Wat in Siem Riep, Cambodia, Saigon aka Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Bagan Myanmar, Coron, Philippines, Bali, Indonesia, Luang Prabang, Laos and Singapore among other South East Asia travel destinations.
YouTube Video from a tourist who booked a stay at Baan Aomjai:
Scenic aerial view of the beach town Prachuap:
Baan Aomjai’s Vacation Rental Photo Gallery
Foodies, explore and enjoy some of Thailand’s best street food; your palate will dance happily.. for reference: $1 USD = 30 Thai Baht (as of November 2019); a bowl of Tom Yum Shrimp noodle soup will set you back about $2.50 USD or about 80 Baht; a freshly made to order Papaya Salad (som tum) will set you back about $1.25 USD or 40 Baht.
Can’t wait to start making some Thai dishes; try out recipes from the cookbook, “A Culinary Odyssey: A Cookbook Diary of Travels, Flavors and Memories of Southeast Asia” by Andrew X Pham – This is the culmination of a lifetime of passionate eating, traveling, writing, and cooking: 45 favorite and simple recipes from the cuisines of Thailand and Vietnam, then and now. “It’s so much more than a cookbook. It’s love, it’s life. It’s about living, culture, and food from the land of my birth and my chosen home for the past decade.” – Award wining author Andrew X Pham
Here’s what a Thailand Foodie Adventure looks like:
Before you go, read up on Conde Nast Traveler’s list of “The Best Street Food in Bangkok” which serves as a handy guide to what’s best to eat while touring Thailand.
Getaway to Thailand on your bucket list? Here’s why it should be:
If you plan to go, key resources to check out:
+ Browse airfare pricing from Google Flights from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Bangkok (BKK), Thailand.
+ Browse airfare pricing from Google Flights from Toronto, Canada International Airport (YYZ) to Bangkok (BKK), Thailand.
+ Scenic Train Ride From Bangkok, departs from Hua Lamphong Railway Station to Prachuap:
Click on the map below for real-time Google Map Directions from Bangkok main train station to Prachuap:
+ Express Airport Bus to Hau Hin (check-in airport counter on Level 1, Gate No. 8), a beach side city close to the beach town of Prachuap. Check out the bus schedule and info at http://www.airporthuahinbus.com/V2/airport-to-huahin/
Watch the video below for the key attractions and things to do if you’re planning a Thailand vacay getaway and aiming to check off traveler’s top ten to do list:
“Thailand, also known as the Land of Smiles, is a jewel of Southeast Asia. Developed enough to provide most comforts yet still wild enough to offer off-the-beaten path adventure, Thailand is a country ripe with opportunity for once-in-a-lifetime travel experiences. Whether you start with the scenically stunning world-class beaches in the south or the mountain villages in the north, Thailand will not disappoint.” -planetware.com
A side-trip to consider:
If you’ve seen the movie,’The Beach’ starring Leonardo DiCaprio filmed in Thailand, you might want to visit the famous FILM SET of Maya Bay on Ko Phi Phi Lay, an enclave of paradise on the coastline of Koh Phi Phi Leh in Southern Coastal Thailand. Imagine a stunning beach cove, located 30 minutes away from a populated island. A cove whose crystal blue waters are almost glowing (swim, scuba, snorkel to your heart’s content), the sand silky soft dancing between your toes, the surrounding cliff faces beautifully dominant in a protective hug and where the surrounding choppy waters protect the enclave from human invaders.
“You fish, swim, eat, laze around, and everyone’s so friendly. It’s such simple stuff, but… If I could stop the world and restart life, put the clock back, I think I’d restart it like this. For everyone.” – Alex Garland, ‘The Beach’.
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By Vicki Olds, aka Shibumi – “Snowpals Reporter At-Large”
SnowPals is making a difference; saving our planet and particularly the Lake Tahoe Basin, one ride-share at a time.
“Did you know there are 1 billion cars in the world? Unfortunately, we’re set to double this in the next 10 years. Each shared car takes 13 cars off the road (on average). You can make a difference by sharing a car.” — getaround.com
Since 1999, SnowPals members have ride-shared from the Bay Area to Lake Tahoe and back at least 5,100* times (this is a conservative estimate*). For an average 400-mile round-trip to/from Tahoe in a vehicle that gets 28 miles per gallon average highway miles will burn 14.3 gallons of gas. A gallon of gasoline burned releases 20 pounds of CO2 into the air. By carpooling, each rider, in addition to the driver, represents 14.3 gallons of gasoline saved from being burned — or 286 pounds of carbon dioxide per round trip!
“Let’s break down how CO2 is produced: a gallon of gasoline weighs about 6 pounds. Roughly 90% of that mass is carbon or about 5.5 pounds. When that carbon is burned one atom of carbon, C, combines with two molecules of oxygen, O2, to form carbon dioxide, CO2. One molecule of CO2 weighs about 3.5 times as much as an atom of carbon, so that 5.5 pounds of carbon burned results in about 20 pounds of CO2.”
High Five yourself, SnowPals’ rideshare participants. Together we have saved the planet from 1,458,600 pounds of carbon dioxide pollutants!
To calculate how much carbon pollution you contribute to the planet, annually, use the energy calculators at Infinite Power (gee, those Texans are really serious about oil): http://www.infinitepower.org/calc_carbon.htm
Plus, think about how much you have saved in gasoline expenses by offering to share your vehicle with a snow rider or two. At 5,100 SnowPal ride-shares, times 14.3 gallons, times the price of a gallon of gas … that’s no small change. In fact, that would be $218,790 in total per snow season that did not go to Big Oil if you had paid $3/gallon at the pump.
And, how many of us have made friends along the way? Or shared a meal and a drink, or two, after the slopes … That’s the non-tangible perks of ridesharing so we at SnowPals encourage you to rideshare / carpool to and from Lake Tahoe resorts as much as possible and to forward this piece to folks you know who goes to Tahoe often but mostly drive solo – advance thanks in helping us preserve our natural environment for ourselves and for generations to come.
* Median of 15 ride-shares/wk; with New Snow this shoots up to 30-35 ride-shares/week. We’re saying that at least 4x/season when there’s a surge of snow riders looking for new snow.
Help keep our planet green, save money and expand your circle of friends by joining SnowPals to ride share to Tahoe area ski resorts and snow destinations beyond (SnowPals members’ in past years joined forces and resources to organize ski and snowboard trips via carpooling/ride sharing to Colorado, Utah and even British Columbia ski resorts).
Are you a local business? Please consider partnering with us to help increase awareness of SnowPals’ rideshare / carpool to help people pool resources to drive together to and from Lake Tahoe.
SnowPals’ mission is to enable SF Bay Area residents to pool resources to ride share/carpool to Tahoe resorts to reduce impact to our environment. We kick off the ski season with annualKickoff Parties around the SF Bay Area.
We invite businesses to partner with us to help bring awareness to our ride-sharing offerings, and to encourage people who might otherwise drive solo to use our services to make new friends and to reduce their carbon footprint.
Individually we each can make slight carbon footprint reductions, and together we can make significant reductions that will help preserve our natural environment. Please consider partnering with SnowPals and we can also help local businesses with its marketing exposure.
