There are millions of books out there marketing as life-changing books these days.

Not sure which ones are worth your time or if they will change your life?

Here are some recommendations that you might enjoy! 

• Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
• The Fifth Agreement: A Practical Guide to Self-Mastery (A Toltec Wisdom Book) by Don Miguel Ruiz
• The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
• The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chavalier
• Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella

I love reading. I read a lot during my travels, on the plane, on the beach – pretty much whenver I have the time.

Not that I was hoping that reading books can change my life, but miracurously and unexpectedlly, it often does turn out to have life-changing power.

Of all the hundreds of books that I read, I have to admit that only a selected few changed my life, my narrative, and how I see things.

Some books have led me to make life-changing decisions.

If you have an Amazon Kindle or its Kindle App, you can easily get these books online in just one click.
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I have linked them here as well. Check it out, download, and enjoy your reading right away! 

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Easily made the top of my travel book list. 

I have read it three times since I first got it in 2011. Bought multiple copies for my friends, and three copies for myself so I have it available in all my homes and apartments!

Elizabeth Gilbert is a gifted writer.

It’s so  beautifully written you will love every single sentence that she writes.

I meditated for the first time in a long time because I read her book, and it sort of got me on a spiritual path. Her stories resonated with everyone at some point in their lives.

If you’re healing from a broken heart or learning about self-love, definitely one I’d recommend!

The Fifth Agreement: A Practical Guide to Self-Mastery (A Toltec Wisdom Book) by Don Miguel Ruiz 

This book was recommended to me by one of my favorite yoga teachers in London.

It will change the way you see yourself and the world. It emphasize so much on how your perception makes your reality.

Everything about your “assumptions” matters.

It’s soothing, calming and philosophical. It is spiritual and life-changing without being dogmatic.

This book is a sequel to the Fourth Agreement. You can just jump to reading this one as most of the texts is kind of a repetition. 

The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chavalier

What I love about Chavelier’s work is her talent in making an object come to life by adding stories and meaning into it.

This book is about a historical masterpiece – a tapestry. The tapestry is already beautiful to look at.

But it becomes so magical and enchanting once you are able to imagine how so much effort and struggles went behind it

It was an artwork that took years in the making.

I never look at historical arts the same way again after reading this book.   

The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo 

I read all of his books; all of them are spiritual and life-changing books.

But the Alchemist is his best-seller and justifiably so.

It’s about following your heart, trusting in signs from God, and taking that first step of faith. A contemporary spiritual classic book.
 
Twenties Girl & The Shopaholic Series by Sophie Kinsella

To say it's life-changing might be an overstatement. But I absolutely adore Sophie Kinsella’s work.

I actually read all of her books because her writing is magical.

It’s contemporary writing with the storylines that are simply addictive.

So charming, witty, and humorous. I recommend getting one to read on a long trip, and you will not want to put it down!
 
That's it for now for my travel book list.

Oh, and I’d totally recommendgetting an Amazon Kindle, if you don't already have it. 

It’s one of the best investments I’ve made.

I bought mine three years ago, and it still stays strong.

I’m using it almost everyday. It’s friendly to the environment. And I love how I can change the fonts! 

 I’m writing this from the balcony of my hotel room at U Jomtien Pattaya. Everything around here is so alive. The smell of the ocean. The sea breeze gently brushing against my skin. The sound of the sea waves crushing against the sand. The sight of the glistening turquoise water and the blue sky. The seagulls flying past.The silhouette of the mountains lining the horizon, embracing the vast ocean as it flaunts majestic grandiosity.

This trip is slightly different from how I ususally do it.  My vacation often tends to be about action: wandering around to see places, checking out attractions in the neighborhood, and looking for things to do. 

But in this trip, it’s pure relaxation at this Pattaya beach hotel.

I have to admit: it’s quite nice.

Starting from the wonderful breakfast. As I stepped into the dining room, I was greeted by friendly staffs who brought me to a table next to the window where I could have full view of the ocean. The breakfast buffet was delicious. I ordered an eggs benedict, and helped myself to pastries, cereals and a nice cup of cappucino. The coffee was so delicious and fragrant that I had to look up what the brand of the coffee machine was.  Their tea selection was an amazing collection of Dilmah. The peppermint tea was so soothing. This place knows how to perfectly pamper their guests!

As the sun got stronger into the afternoon, I came back to the hotel and basically lounged around in the hotel rooftop almost all day. Thanks to whoever so brilliantly designed the place, it has the perfect rooftop bar where I could sit in the shades looking over the infinity of the ocean, and read a good book. When it got too hot, I simply jumped into the pool.

Hours easily flew by. And before I knew it, the whole day had gone by.

I watched the sky changing colors from pale blue to soft pink before the sun disappeared into the horizon, leaving me to the darkness of the night. The ocean became littered with green lights from fisherman boats. And I was just lazily lying in my beach couch before falling asleep to the ocean breeze, only waking up minutes before the rooftop bar closed for the night.

I packed up my stuff, came back to my room and retired to bed.

I woke up to the soft ray of the sun and the sound of the sea.

That pretty much summed up my beach vacation in Pattaya at U Jomtien. 

Perfection is simple. 

Who doesn't love to travel? But as college application deadlines are approaching, with so little time, how can you afford to travel? 

But maybe you should! 

I wanted to travel the world too when I was in high school. While grades are undeniably important, your essays will be a big part of your application. And travelling can be a great way to help you form outstanding college essays that will get you into top colleges! 

Your essay shows who you are as a person, what you've experienced, and what your worldviews are!

And there are many destinations to choose from!

It's also very easy to find the right destination and accommodation these days. There are many travel resources that are available just clicks away. 

This post will show you how I turned my travel experience into powerful travel college essays that got me into an Ivy League school.  Here we go! 

After 15 hours on the plane, I'm finally here! Spain here I come! 

As a solo female traveler - and on budget - I decided to choose to stay at Hostal Oriente located right next to Opera Metro Station. I never stayed at a hostel before, but this one definitely surpassed my expectations! It's more like a boutique hotel, really. The room was so beautiful and cozy it reminded me of home.

There was a private bathroom too. I paid 140 Euros for my 3-night stay, I have never been happier with my hotel choices! I definitely will keep a more open mind when choosing lodging for my next destination!

Hostels are great!

I took a quick walk from the hostel to Plaza de Sol, very lively with lots of shops and restaurants.

Spanish people are very friendly. I asked them for directions all the time, and even though they didn't speak English, somehow we managed to communicate through sign language and lots of smiles!

One time, I asked a guy and he didn't know where the place was; he literally stopped a police car that was driving past, and asked them for me! When the policemen didn't know it either, they opened a map to figure it out. Like an actual folded paper map, not one on the smartphone. I was so grateful and overwhelmed by their kindness!

Is Spain safe? As a solo female traveler, I was worried too before I embarked on this trip to Spain. But being here, I felt very safe. 

And I was falling in love with Spanish people and the city by the minute!

Toledo
As I was exploring the city, I was handed out a brochure of a tour company close to Plaza Oriente. I decided to show up at their office at 8.30 am in the morning and see if any tours were available. I ended up buying a full-day trip to Toledo. Looking back, it was a bit impulsive, and booking in advance might be a better option as I'd have more time to check the reviews and see if the schedules suit me. 

Toledo represented so well the integration of many religious beliefs. There are Christian cathedrals, Muslim mosques, and Jewish synagogues - all in the same city! Some stones were 1000 years old. Can't believe I actually walked on them!

There were about fifteen people on the tour, which was nice because we all got to talk to one another. There was a couple from New Mexico celebrating their 30th anniversary whose daughter is a dancer for Madonna. The wife was so happy, lively and fun you couldn't tell she was in her sixties.

There were a few solo travelers just like myself from Germany and Puerto Rico. The German guy was in Spain to learn Spanish because he planned to travel to South America by himself next year. I thought that was very brave to be travelling alone to a place you don't speak the language! It was so interesting to hear stories and experiences of people whom you would never have met otherwise. 

​When you're all by yourself, travelling the world, it actually makes you realize that - outside the fierce meeting rooms - there is so much love, joy and kindness in this world. Friendships formed within hours: laughter and storytelling just went around as though we were old friends reunited. Before the tour was over, we even exchanged hugs! Isn't it amazing? That concludes my "solo" trip for today! ​

​Avila and Segovia
Before I went on the trip, I already booked a full-day tour to Avila and Segovia online through Viators.com. I was very happy to find out that the point of meeting was actually 5 minute walking from the hostel. By the way, when you buy tours in Spain, there are rarely hotel pickups; you have to meet them at their tourist offices. Oh, I forgot to mention: after my Toledo trip the day before, I finally got myself a SIM card. It cost only 15 Euros (be careful though, at the airport, there was a booth that sold the exact same SIM card for 90 Euros! Don't buy it there! ) It was very helpful for someone who has no sense of directions such as myself. I simply let Google Maps guide me. I never had to ask for directions again in the remaining days in Spain :)

The tour was organized by Julia Travel. It must be quite well-known because there were like a hundred people on this tour. The guide was amazing. She has a degree in art history, and could speak four languages! And best of all, she made history come to life!

The first stop was Avila. I loved how the city was walled. But, really, after you had been to Toledo, it's hard to find a place that can match its astounding beauty. We went to the Catedral of Avila.  It was amazing to finally visit the place where St. Teresa had once lived in  - after having read her book in college. The weather was quite chilly today, about 2 degree Celsius.

On the way back to the tour bus, as I was looking at the Cathedral in awe, one of the guys in the tour asked if I would like a picture with the place. I said sure, and the conversation started from there. He was from Mexico but worked in the States. It was quite cool that he was travelling alone as well and was basically in Spain only for a soccer match! I would never travel so far just for a sport event - or for a concert or anything whatsoever. But we had some very interesting conversations and exchanged Linkedin contacts. Another friendship formed :)
 
Then we went to Segovia. This city is breathtakingly beautiful. I loved every minute of it! There were many shops and restaurants. I could easily spend the whole day here. But since I was with a tour, I had only a few hours to rush through places. The best part was the Roman Aqueduct, 2000 years old. The majestic formation of this architecture just makes you feel so small as you stand underneath it, looking up. 

Retiro Park, Museum de Prado, Palacio de Cibeles, Temple of Debod

​Yesterday I switched to another hotel about 20 minutes from the center of Madrid. The place is called Hesperia Madrid, a five-star hotel. I booked it based on the many great reviews on many websites. It really was comfortable and luxurious. 
 
Well, I could only try so hard to blend in with the locals... I don't speak Spanish and basically I am an Asian... in a bus of 30 passengers, I was the only one with dark brown hair.

I spent 6 years in New York, and had never felt this self-conscious before.

Anyways, the metro system in Madrid is very efficient and simple. It costs 1.5 euros for each ride.

There's a screen at the platform telling you precisely how many minutes until the next train arrives and the destinations. It's the same system for bus stops as well.

​With such a friendly system, even I managed to get around the city by public transportation quite easily, and did not get lost even once.

My first stop today was Retiro Park. I got there by metro and the park is right in front of me.

This was one of the most beautiful parks I have ever seen! There was a big lake with a small plaza of its own. The best part was the Crystal Palace; kind of like a green house with no plants in it.

​It was so ethereal that the word Paradise came into my mind as I looked at it.

​Then I walked to Museum de Prado. Quite a painful trip! It was 40 minutes of walking from the Crystal Palace while the temperature was 5 degree Celsius. Maybe there was an easier way, and Google Maps took me through detours; but with my sense of directions - i.e. non-existent - I'd rather follow the Maps like a religion...

Looking back, I could've saved myself the time and energy by getting on one of those hop-on-hop-off buses, and also enjoyed the view of the beautiful city, but oh well.... 

The Museum was worth the pain though! I had no pictures of it as it was a bunch of paintings, and no photos allowed inside (also, no selfie sticks). I visited an exhibition of portraits by Jorge Ingles, a Spanish painter from 15th century. I had always loved arts; but his works took my passion to a new level!

He was commissioned by many high status clients. His portraits were... alive... you look at their countenance and expressions, then suddenly, you are transported back in time; suddenly it was as though you were an invisible observer watching them in their unguarded moments. You could feel their characters.

It was a surreal experience. I spent hours just in this exhibition alone. Thanks to my Art Humanities class in college, my experience was tremendously enriched!

The next destination was Palacio de Cibeles.

Inside, there was a rooftop restaurant. Other floors were something that looked like libraries with cozy reading corners. Anyways, this is where you can see the view of Madrid. It costs 2 euros to go up to the rooftop; it was so worth it!
 ​

​If you have a long layover in Bangkok, you might want to consider a day trip into the city. Or if you have a few days in the country, and would like to spend one day visiting main attractions in Bangkok, this is for you as well. As a local, let me guide you to some of the places worth visiting so you get as much out of your one-day trip as possible!

How to get into the city center:
Once you manage to get out of immigration, the fastest and cheapest way is by taking the Airport Link . There is only one line and I’d recommend you get off at the very last station: Phayathai station. The station is connected to the BTS (Skytrain) which will branch out and you can go to many touristy places.

Bangkok traffic can be very unpredictable, so if you’d like to be able to budget your time, taking the Airport Link is a great option. It should take you less than an hour to get there. If you’d like to take a taxi, it should take around 40 minutes and up to 3 hours of travel time (not joking!) when the traffic is very heavy and it’s raining.

If you’re pressed for time, at least on your way back to the airport, please do consider taking the Airport Link.

Places to visit
Most of the cultural places are, unfortunately, not along the BTS lines. So, the best way to get there from the Phayathai station is to take a taxi. You can use Grab taxi, Line taxi, or hail a taxi from the street. I have found the metered taxi hailed from the street to be quite cheaper than getting one from an app, BUT you need to make sure they turn on the meter, or they could charge a ridiculous amount for travelers!

To be safe and preventing the language barrier, using an app could be a great option.  If you’re more into shopping, I have written about shopping malls in Bangkok along the BTS lines.
 
Taking a tour is also another great option! When I travel solo, I often buy tours to save myself the headache of organizing everything myself. I often meet interesting people and hear their stories in many of these tours as well.
 

​The Grand Palace 
A must for all travelers visiting Bangkok! The palace is rich with history, and is Bangkok’s number one attraction. In the past, the palace used to be home to the King. But nowadays, it was mainly used for royal ceremonies. Because of its sacred status, visitors are not allowed to wear shorts or tight jeans. If you happen to wear shorts, they have long pants for rent, but the line can be long and you don’t want to waste your precious visit time. You can check out their website for dress codes in detail.
 
Also, the palace is located near the Chaopraya River, with the gorgeous view of Wat Arun. There are along the river area for you to enjoy the delicious food and the nice views. It’s a perfect place for evening chill-out both for locals and travelers alike!
 
Address: Na Phra Lan Rd, Phra Nakhon, Bangkok, 10200, Thailand
Admission: 500 Baht
Opening Hours: Daily 8:30am-3:30pm
Website : https://www.royalgrandpalace.th/en/home

Wat Phra Kaeo / the Emerald Buddha Temple 
It’s literally a 2 minute walk from the Grand Palace, so it’s super easy to visit.  The Buddha is made of jade, dates back to the 1400’s and is housed in the main prayer hall. You can watch and worship from the distance. It can be crowded so it’s not quite an ideal place if you look for quiet meditation as there will be tourists walking in and out. 
 
Address: Na Phra Lan Rd, Phra Nakhon, Bangkok, 10200, Thailand
Admission: 400 Baht
Opening Hours: Daily 8:30am-3:30pm

Wat Pho 
Also in a very close proximity to Wat Phra Kaeo, Wat Pho is a very short trip away with less than 10 minutes’ walk. Wat Pho is also known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha.  The reclining Buddha is a 46 meter long gold plated figure and is 15 meters high. The statute represents the Buddha passing into Nirvana. This place is also known for its massage school!
 
Address: Phra Borom Maha Ratchawang, Phra
Nakhon, Bangkok 10200
Admission: 100 Baht
Opening Hours: 8am-5pm
 

Wat Arun 
Wat Arun, also known as the Temple of Dawn, is located on the other side of the river from the Grand Palace. So, you need to take a ferry to cross. The pier is a short trip of around 5-minutes’ walk from the Grand Palace. If you do have the time into the night, I totally recommend having dinner on the other side of the river to enjoy the full view of the temple at night; it’s absolutely breathtaking, so it’s a spot you definitely should not miss in your short travel in Bangkok!
Address: Bangkok Yai, Bangkok
Admission: 50 Baht
Opening Hours: 8.30 am-5.30 pm
 
This should keep you busy for your one-day trip with lots of photo taking opportunities. Feel free to leave a comment below and let us know what you think. Enjoy Bangkok!
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Khao Yai National Park is one of the most-visited national parks in Thailand. It's also one of the most popular weekend getaways from Bangkok for locals. But quite underrated among tourists and travelers. There are many activities and fun things to do at the park and around the area - from enjoying the beautiful nature to hiking along the trails. There are many hotel choices for travelers to choose from - many of which are highly instagram-worthy!

Here are some of the best instagrammable hotels in Khao Yai. 

​You can click on the resort name to book your vacation.

U Khao Yai

U Khao Yai is a dream come true. You will feel like you have been transported to another world - one where the view is incredibly breathtaking and you're living in a castle. 

Everything about this hotel is gorgeous: from the minute you step inside the lobby, the rooms, the restaurant and, of course, the hotel grounds! 

The rooms have large balcony where you can take in the fresh air and the view of the lake during sun rise or sunset. The hotel offers spa and massages, so you can pamper yourself with a relaxing massage to end your perfect day at  U Khao Yai.  

It just doesn't get better than this!

Thailand 

Thailand is also known as the Land of Smiles, and it should be on top of solo travels' list! It's affordable, especially if you're coming in from Europe or America. You can buy a meal for just 1-2 dollars! So, you can comfortably live here for a while on a minimal budget. 
 
The country also offers wide ranges of lifestyle suited for everyone. From staying on budget at a hostel to living a 5-star hotel lifestyle. From having delicious local street food to dining on the rooftop savoring the view of the city. Whether you're a college student taking a gap year, solo traveler, retiree, yoga junkie (like I am!) or traveling with friends, Thailand has it all for you! 

Looking for solo vacation?
​Check out list of weekend getaway destinations from Bangkok here

Not to mention the variety of experiences you can have here: city, nightlife, beaches, mountains, waterfalls, yoga retreats... the options are just endless. 

Whether you're a traveler based in Bangkok, here for a business trip, or an expat living in Bangkok, there are many weekend getaway options that are quite close to the city.

Here are the best destinations - both for travelers and locals alike!

While you can get to these places with public transportation, having a car to drive around can be very convenient. Buses run on schedule and in some region, it's not that frequent. 

I'd recommend renting one. Check out your car rental options here

Pattaya 

One of the favorite getaway destination for locals and very popular among tourists visiting Bangkok! Pattaya offers a wonderful beach vacation experience only 2 hours away from Bangkok. 

There are plenty of activities and things to do in Pattaya - from swimming in the sea, sunbathing in the beach, to visiting a zoo! There are lots of seafood restaurants that offer fresh seafood. In fact, as you walk along the beach, there'll be people selling fresh seafood for you too!  Pattaya is no doubt my number one getaway from Bangkok! 

If you're looking for a place to stay, there are many fantastic hotels and resorts at various price range. For solo travelers who'd like to keep the budget under $100 a night, you can see some great hotel choices here.