Out of Norm Travels

I have been wanting to take this trip to witness the for the past 3 years so I was elated when I found a travel companion 1.5 weeks before the annual Rocket Festival started at Yasothorn, Thailand over the weekend of May 10-12 that I booked my air ticket and made the overnight bus ride down to this unusual and truly unique experience. As in many Thai festivals, the festival varies from year to year due to Thai lunar calendar calculations but understand that essentially it's held during the weekend of the 2nd week of May.  Thailand Rocket  Festival, also known as Bun Bang Fai is one of the most explosive and unusual festivals in the Thai calendar. A must-visit event if you happen to be up in the  Isaan  (northeastern) region of Thailand.   According to www.wherethailand.com, this festival is based on an old folk belief, every May local farmers look to try and coax the gods into the romantic mood needed to produce rainfall by sending huge phallic-shaped rocket...

Kuala Lumpur or better known as KL has provided the usual activities for me personally i.e. shopping & eating but in my recent trip down to KLr, I was shown a different side to this all too familiar location.  A few hours away from KL city centre (specifically Lata Berembun Kuala Lumpur), there is a lovely waterfall that cascades down into a pool. This welcome sight only comes in after a back breaking and knee jerking an hour's journey on an open-top jeep. I have been on jeeps in the past but never in conditions that involved a trip into potholes & extremely muddy conditions. I consider it a natural roller coaster ride. At the end of the trip, I had sore muscles from all the holding onto the bars (to prevent falling off the 4WD cos one can be easily thrown out of the car as it navigates the terrain) and a new high from breathing in of the fresh air.  Would I do it again? Perhaps so but i have to forget the pain for this trip & only remember the high...