Cookie travels

I was browsing thru a travel application website yesterday and didn’t notice the time as I was deeply absorbed looking at the travel photos and reading travel journals of travelers who have been to places like Sweden, Rome, Morocco, Argentina, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Norway, and more.

I’d like to pick one destination from this website for this post, a country officially called the Kingdom of Morocco. It is a country in North Africa but is the only African country that is not currently a member of African Union. Interesting. It has international borders with Algeria, Spain and Mauritania so you can travel to Morocco thru these countries.

I haven’t traveled to this country yet so let’s see what’s in this travel journal. According to the travel summary, the traveler took a ferry from Tarifa, Spain to Tangier, Morocco and spent a week in this country. The trip itinerary listed 11 destinations. Can’t picture out where it is? Don’t worry coz on the right you can see an interactive map of Morocco where the 11 destinations are numbered according to the itinerary. I clicked on the 8th destination, Merzouga (see photo). It then showed on the right side a photo and the journal entry. If you want to see more photos or videos in this particular destination, just click on the tab Photos & Videos. That’s what I did after reading the journal, and saw more pictures of Merzouga: a desert area where you can ride a camel.

If you want to share your travel experiences, this site is something I would like you to try. You can post your trip summary, trip itinerary, trip journal, travel photos and videos, tips and reviews of places you have been to. Readers can also leave a comment. This site is a traveler’s complete resource for recreating that memorable trip experience, which starts from planning a trip until the trip is over. Next time you embark on a destination, try Sosauce Travel. It’s free.

I visited the beautiful country of Malaysia last year in one of my travels. It was a seminar and study visit with a group of delegates from Bangladesh. Incorporated in this trip was a chance to see the scenic wonders of this country. Genting Highlands was among the places we visited.

Genting Highlands is located on a mountain peak at 1700 meters above sea level. Our hired bus took us about an hour’s drive from Kuala Lumpur to reach this place. Genting Highlands is also known as the “Las Vegas of Malaysia” or the “City of Entertainment” where you can find the officially authorized land-based casino in this country, in other words this casino is legal.

Me and my colleague didn’t want to miss the chance to see what’s inside this so called Las Vegas of Malaysia, so we made this Las vegas our first stop when we arrived Genting Highlands. At the entrance you can see that the security was tight and you should be properly dressed. There were some tourists who were not allowed inside but we passed security check and happily walked in. Just think, we were properly dressed .

A lot of visitors were playing inside. You can see customers playing slot machines and other casino games like poker, blackjack. I observed that the Poker Tables were definitely of good quality. I wonder where they were ordered.

Our trip inside the casino was short. We didn’t even walk further down the room. We went in halfway, looked around and decided to leave. We didn’t play. We would rather spend our few hours in Genting Highlands for sightseeing.

What’s up? Tinkering with my new computer. Now I have a better machine to work with. No more sudden shut down nor freezing screen. Also joined MyBlogLog and BlogCatalog. Add with it my journey to get rid of spam in my blog’s ‘Comments’ section.

As I was blog hopping, I noticed that some bloggers are using Akismet to catch spam as shown in the Akismet counter they placed on their template which displays how much spam Akismet has caught.

So I did my research about Akismet. I found out that it’s totally free for personal use. And it’s also one of the default plugins if you are using WordPress. You only need to activate it and enter your WordPress API key. Since I’m using WordPress, I tried activating Akismet the other week. It did wonders in removing spam. You also have the option to de-spam comments caught by Akismet which you think are real comments.

However, there are still some few comments that are left untouched in my ‘Comments’ section prior to activating Akismet. They are awaiting moderation. Here are few of these comments said to come from hotels, casinos, forex. I’ll post them here for my remembrance…hehe…

These comments are familiar. I’ve received them before.
-my kid would find it stupid
-i’m not really sure it’s the right kind of stuff 4 my grandpa
-A mate of mine sent me a link to this story and I told him I really loved it. Great work - keep it up!!! 

There are also nice comments….
-What an exceptional blog.
-That’s an ultra gorgeous article, thank u for sharing your idea!!

So if you’re an experienced blogger what do you think of these? Approve or delete?

Anyway, for those WordPress users experiencing so much spam in their comments, activate Akismet now. It saves a lot of your time deleting all the spam you receive.

Update on my Akismet spam catch: 95 spam caught since I first installed Akismet on 5th Sep.

What To See
Si Satchanalai Historical Park in Thailand is home to 140 documented sets of ruins including old walls, pagodas, stupas, gateways, moats, kilns and more. Some important temples you shouldn’t miss during your visit are: Wat Khao Phanom Ploeng, Wat Chang Lom, Wat Chedi Ched Thaew, Wat Suan Kaew Utayan Yai, Wat Suan Kaew Utayan Noi, Wat Nag Phraya, and Wat Phra Sri Rattana Mahathat.

Sightseeing Modes
Visitors can hire bicycles at 30 Baht (about 1.00USD) a day. However, if you want to take a more relaxing tour, a tram service is also available at the historical park that would pass through a hilly terrains marked with ruins. Elephant rides in the vicinity are also available at 100 Baht (3.00USD) per person per 30 minutes.

Kids on bike at Si Satchanalai Historical Park

Opening Hours and Admission
The Si Satchanalai Historical Park is open daily from 8AM to 5PM but according to some websites it is open daily between 8.30AM to 4.30PM. Admission fee is 40 Baht (about 1.20USD) for foreigners and for Thais it is 10 Baht (0.30USD). For more information, you may call 055-679211 or the local TAT office on 055-252742 to 3.

Getting There
If you want to visit Si Satchanalai Historical Park by car, take Highway No.101 to Km.64, turn left and cross the bridge over the Yom River, then turn right for another 2 kms.

If you want to take the bus, the trip takes about an hour leaving from Sukhothai’s main bus terminal between 6AM and 5PM to the historical park. For current timetable details, you may contact 055-614529 (+66 country code if calling from abroad).

Related Posts:
Si Satchanalai Historical Park, Thailand
The Charm of Si Satchanalai Architecture
Must-See Temples At Si Satchanalai