Jet Setter - A Girl's Guide to Travel & Style

Pack It - Travel Ready Chic

Sarah's to-do-list for Thailand has us ready to hop on the next plane. Time to escape from work and play a little. Need that Me-Time. We're heading to Japan soon and hope to bring back lots of wonderful stories and start working on our 2nd print issue.

Of course getting ready for any trip...the task of packing is always a chore - how do you pack the right clothes that look good and travel well i.e. don't take up much space and don't require alot of maintenance? So with Memorial Day just around the corner, here are our picks for a Travel Ready style that just pops.

Lucy Adventure Dress - We love this dress, because for one thing it doesn't wrinkle easily, so you can fold it tightly. The gathered sleeves add a simple touch of style.

You'll want to check out the wash and go drying hooks that you can buy with it. The dress has specially designed eyelet holes that fit the hooks.

We took the dress everywhere - roadtrip, in a carry-on bag on a flight to the West Coast from Dallas for a weekend. Get it in black and you up the fashion factor by 10!

You'll also want to pair it with black Bliss Hi-Wedge Keds, your favorite black handbag and a vintage Pan Am Explorer carry-on that has "jet setter" written all over it. HAPPY TRAVELS!

THAI TALES by SARAH EDELSTEIN - Pai

The unofficial motto of this small northern village is “Do Nothing In Pai.” While plenty of activities can be launched from here, one of the pleasures of the town is its relaxed atmosphere. Many people have come to visit for a couple of days and end up staying much longer than anticipated.

Formerly a farming village which began attracting artistically-inclined Thais and foreigners about 15 years ago, Pai grows more popular every year. Whereas the primary visitors used to be of the backpacker-free spirit varieties, Pai has recently seen an increase in more conventional Thais from Bangkok and Chiang Mai visiting, especially in the coolest months of December and January. This leads to a mixture of accommodation styles, from simple bamboo guesthouses to high end resorts.

Activities such as trekking, rafting and caving can be organized with reputable companies in Pai. Or explore the countryside on a bicycle or motorbike. Hike through bamboo forests to waterfall. Take a dip at the pool, where you can also listen to good music and order delicious food and drinks.

Pai is also a haven for a range of artists such as painters, jewellers, dancers, fire-spinners, and generally crafty types. Local musicians have loads of talent, as do many travelling musicians; you can hear them perform at the many live music venues in town.

There are a number of good foreign food restaurants, including excellent pizza at Amido’s, great Middle Eastern dishes at TTK or Mama Falafel, and fresh pastas at Da Christina. There are of course plenty of great Thai food options, from the ever popular Na’s Kitchen to many food stands and local restaurants.

Photo Credits: Golden Rice Fields in Pai by Sarah Edelstein.

THAI TALES by SARAH EDELSTEIN - Chiang Mai

 

CHIANG MAI - Things to Do

You can easily fly from Bangkok to Chiang Mai on Thai Air, Bangkok Air or budget airlines like Air Asia or Nok Air. Make sure you know whether your flight leaves from the international airport Suvarniphum or the domestic airport Don Muang. You can also take an overnight sleeper train or bus.

Transportation in Chiang Mai is slightly frustrating as there are few car taxis on the streets and virtually no bus service.

There are too many tuk-tuks, the open air motor taxi that are very noisy and frequently try to extract high fares from visitors.

There are also trucks with benches in the back that act as the primary transportation in Chiang Mai.

If you want to see several areas, it may be worth your while to a hire a taxi for a half day or full day at a set rate.

Temples- Many beautiful temples (wat in Thai) are dotted throughout Chiang Mai, especially in the old city. Visit one of the most revered temples, Wat Doi Suthep, on the hill outside Chiang Mai.

Sunday walking street: Great place to shop for handicrafts, clothing, purses, and much more. Tasty food stands throughout. This market appeals to locals and visitors. Thais are the main customers, so you don’t have much tourist inflation. Groups of Thai students sing in the streets.

Blind musicians play for donations. Massage stations are set up on street corners so you can refresh your feet after perusing the market. Starts at 4pm and goes until about 10pm. Worth spending a Sunday in Chiang Mai to go to this market.

Massage Schools and Thai Cooking Classes: Many people spend some time as a student in Chiang Mai. Choices abound for both massage courses and cooking classes.

Nimmanhaemin Street – If you want a taste of Thai hipness, Nimmanhaemin street has plenty of good cafes (like Wawee coffee, a great local chain), boutique shops, a plethora of art galleries on soi 1, a retro style hotel, and even a health food store. Plenty of students and professors from nearby Chiang Mai University keep this area hopping all day and into the night.

The Chedi Hotel: - situated on the riverbanks with a fabulously elegant atmosphere, the building was the former home of the British embassy. In the old days elephants were kept in the courtyard.

Nowadays The Chedi is an impressive hotel with several restaurants and bar areas. Worth visiting for a drink, or stay here if you feel inclined to live in the lap of luxury while in Chiang Mai!

Photo Credits: All photos by Sarah Edelstein except The Chedi Hotel by The Chedi.

THAI TALES by SARAH EDELSTEIN - Bangkok

BANGKOK - Things To Do

Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew (with the Emerald Buddha, most revered in Thailand) – Beautiful temples, palace buildings, and Buddhas. Go in the morning to beat the crowds and the heat. Wear ankle length pants or skirt and a long sleeved shirt or they will ask you to change clothes.

They provide appropriate clothing to borrow, but this means standing in line, which eats into your time. If you’re too hot to wear pants all day, take an ankle length sarong to wear there. The ticket also includes entry to Vimanmek Teakwood Palace, a huge gorgeous former royal residence in a different location to the Grand Palace and well worth visiting.

Chao Praya River – take a break from the bustle and heat and see Bangkok from the river boats. There are many options, from local ferry service to tour boats to private longtail hires to dinner cruises. Several large hotels line the river. They run their own handsome wooden boats from the dock near the BTS (skytrain) station at Saphan Taksin (the end of the line next to the river) to the hotel. At night, have a drink or dinner at one of these hotels and gaze at the boats with pretty lights as they skim along darkness of the river.

Afternoon tea at The Oriental Hotel – The Oriental is the original grande dame of the majestic old hotels. With a tea service worthy of a fine English manor, one can bask in the elegant atmosphere while imagining the adventures of the renowned people who stayed here in the last century.

Choose from one of several high-ceiling rooms, with bright natural light, sumptuous fresh flowers, and historic photographs of the Thai royal family. The tea menu offers a large selection of teas and excellent coffee as well. The full tea comes on a triple-decker tray filled with amazing cakes, scones and sandwiches.

Shopping Malls – There are a plethora of them in Bangkok, and they all seem busy. Siam Emporium is one of the fanciest, with many upscale chain stores. The more casual MBK has large and small shops carrying everything from cell phones to luggage to allegedly brand name jeans. All have food courts where you can find a variety of food at reasonable prices.

Also all have good coffee shops and restaurants. The movie theatres are ultra-comfortable and hyper air-conditioned (bring a sweater). Stand at the beginning when they pay tribute to the King with a short film that shows a lot of raindrops as background to photos of His Majesty. A Thai friend explains that the raindrops evoke fertile Thailand and the King’s concern with the environment and agriculture.

Chatuchak Weekend Market – take the BTS skytrain there and be prepared for sensory overload! A warren of stalls covers a huge area. Good shopping for anything from clothing to home decor to fuzzy dogs. Everything is open-air; go in the early morning or late in the afternoon to avoid the heat. Bargaining expected. Watch out for pickpockets. Fun but exhausting too.

Arab quarter Sukhumvit soi 3 – This area has restaurants with good Middle Eastern food and shisha (tobacco water pipes). Muslims from all over the world come through this 2 block radius. For local Muslim culture, the Haroon area near the Chao Praya river is an old Thai Muslim neighborhood in the middle of bustling Bangkok.

Food - Thais love to eat and good food is available day and night from street vendors on up to five star restaurants. Be adventurous and enjoy the bounty of Thai cuisine and the international offerings too. If you are really into Thai food exploration, find a local source who can tell you their picks. Street stalls may look humble but they can also serve some of the most delicious food, often specializing in just a few dishes. Locals will seek out their favourites with the dedication of a disciple following the guru.

Massage - Massage is widely available in Thailand, and at very reasonable prices. Like food stalls, you can find massage chairs set up streetside at weekly markets as well as in massage shops, spas and hotels. Thai massage is somewhat like a yoga class where someone else manoeuvres your body into various positions. It involves plenty of limb stretching and muscle kneading. I like it a lot, though some find oil massage more relaxing. Try both!

Photo Credits: Thai girls by Sarah Edelstein; Thai crafts by "© Ron Sumners | Dreamstime.com;" Thai Massage by "© Vangelis | Dreamstime.com."

Music for a Beautiful Spring Day - Destiny by Zero 7

Zero 7 is one of our favorite bands from the UK. Check out one of our all-time favorites.

Thai Tales - How to get a dream job as an editor

Sarah Edelstein is the editor of an English-language newspaper in Pai, Thailand. Originally from San Francisco and an avid photographer, we caught up with Sarah to get the scoop on how she got this dream job and suggestions on what to do and where to go for a trip to Thailand.

Sarah says:

A string of setbacks at home finally convinced me that much as I love my family, friends, and hometown, I really wanted to test-run a lifelong dream of living abroad. I traveled to Thailand, a region that had fascinated me when I traveled there years before.

Shortly after my arrival, I went to the northern city of Chiang Mai. I was drawn there both by a strong hunch that I would like it there and by two contacts who were willing to meet me. One of the contacts was a successful travel writer living there. He is also an avid musician. Our first “meeting” took place at the Rasta Art Bar in Chiang Mai where his band played regularly.

I introduced myself to him after their set. We drank whiskey with the band and the dreadlocked Thai guys who run the bar. I returned several nights that week and got to be friendly with people there. Two weeks later was New Years Eve and the band was playing in Pai, a northern town that several people back home had raved about.

On December 31, I had dinner with an aging hippy who goes by the name of an Indian god. Then we went to the Be-Bop bar where my friend’s band was playing at midnight. Outside the bar, people mingled in the cool mountain air. My new friends from the band were chatting with the editor of the local English newspaper. The newspaper was started a year ago by the travel writer/musician with the band and two others.

Soon I left Pai to volunteer with a tsunami relief project in the south. I kept in touch with the editor via chatty emails. Truthfully, I had developed a crush on him and hoped to enchant him with my flirtatious prose.

One day he responded, “You’re a good writer. You could write for the newspaper. You could be the editor for that matter!” He was disenchanted with the job and was leaving soon. It wasn’t quite the effect that I envisioned, but the job sounded interesting. I decided to meet with the owners to discuss the possibility. And the rest is history!

You Were the Last High - The Dandy Warhols

Check out this two-year-old tune by the Dandy Warhols. They are from Portland, Oregon and their new album "Earth to the Dandy Warhols," is coming out in May.

The video for the Last High is wacky but we love the song - See You Tube! And take a look at their My Space for updates.

THE MAKE INU (Loser Dogs) by CATHY CHE

Japan labels unmarried women over 30 "loser dogs"

Cathy Che, MOLI web's contributing Travel & Leisure editor has been traipsing around Asia and gave us some insights into Japanese culture that kind of shocked her. It's about Japan's "loser dogs," - single and childless women. And it's interesting, just today, CNN was reporting on a new phenomenon in Japan of male hosts, geisha guys. Check out the story here!

Japan's always intrigued with its cultural complexity. Hmmm. Over to Cathy.

"...I have to comment on the phenomenon in Japan of the make inu. First a disclaimer of sorts: I admit, I do not have a deep or profound understanding of gender roles in Japan. From what I do know, young women from good families often enter the workplace with the expectation that they will leave once they find a husband and get married (which is in part why companies in Japan still don't take women's careers seriously and rarely promote them)."

"The 20-something years for these women are also marked by a sense of freedom — they take lovers, they travel, they buy frivolous things and some experiment with drugs or indulge in other obvious signs of rebellion, like dyeing their hair hot pink — with the expectation that all of this will soon come to an end with marriage. And after marriage, they will somehow live happily, keeping a tidy home and raising children, in the suburbs."

"The thing that's striking about this model is that it's not that far from American society and its expectations for women pre-1970s. And in fact, there are still women who grow up wanting to live this model of womanhood (though it's more and more rare that a woman of any marital status in the U.S. can stop working, even if she wanted to, simply for economic reasons)."

"But I was shocked to find that Japan is actually running its own smear campaign against working unmarried women who buck tradition and stay in their jobs past the age of 30. Enter the make inu. The literal translation of the word is "loser dog," and it's the term used to insult any woman over 30 who is single and childless. There are those who claim the translation is actually a little bit gentler and akin to "underdog," but it's a stinging insult all the same."

For more on Cathy's insights, read here!

Cool Hotels - An African Villa, Cape Town, South Africa

One of our favorite hotels. If you're heading to South Africa and looking for a guesthouse experience - modern African chic and a truely comfortable atmosphere. You'll want to spend a few nights at An African Villa.

An African Villa is "halfway between the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront and Table Mountain Cableway in a quiet residential quarter with a lovely 'village' feel within a short stroll of the centre of Cape Town and a large number of its best restaurants."

Here's a link to some reviews on Trip Advisor.

Wrap It Up - Travel Blanket Sleep Pack

We've been searching for a handy travel pack that scrunches together nicely inside a carry-on. But keeps us warm inside those chilly airplanes and gives us a chance to snooze in comfort.

Finally found it.

Check out the travel blanket sleep pack - includes a plush blanket, sleepmask and disposable pillowcase.

Love the colors too! You can pick these up online at Wrapables.com.