![Poster c/o Nomad Manager
Come join us for a garage sale for travelers, by travelers on:October 6, 2012 (Saturday), 11AM-6PMVenue: Moonleaf Tea Shop, Maginhawa Street, Teachers’ Village
Organized by yours truly (as a result of brokeness from my 2.5-month solo trip around Asia, and prevention from falling into debt after my Dumaguete-Bacolod and India trips this October), this Travelers’ Garage Sale gathers together 5 traveler-bloggers, Nomad Manager, Wanderrgirl, Thysz, Walking Lens Cap, All Things Artspiring, on a noble quest to fulfill our passion for travel, while providing you with lots of cheap options for clothes, books, bags, cameras, film, suitcases, and other things you might find useful for your travels as well. :)
Here’s just some of the items I’ll be selling.
BUT WAIT, there’s more! :D
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Help us spread the word and get a free Moonleaf drink of your choice and P250 worth of garage sale shopping credit! Just join the Rafflecopter below. :)
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Only entries made from October 1-5 will be accepted.Three (3) winners will be announced on October 6 by @nomadmanager via Twitter.For obvious reasons, prizes may be only be claimed at the Travelers’ Garage Sale.
Click here to confirm your attendance!Good luck and I hope to see you there! :D
Jen
Follow my tweets • Find me on Facebook • Sign up for my newsletter • E-mail me](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mb72chx6j51r0u81eo1_1280.jpg)
Poster c/o Nomad Manager
Come join us for a garage sale for travelers, by travelers on:
October 6, 2012 (Saturday), 11AM-6PM
Venue: Moonleaf Tea Shop, Maginhawa Street, Teachers’ Village
Organized by yours truly (as a result of brokeness from my 2.5-month solo trip around Asia, and prevention from falling into debt after my Dumaguete-Bacolod and India trips this October), this Travelers’ Garage Sale gathers together 5 traveler-bloggers, Nomad Manager, Wanderrgirl, Thysz, Walking Lens Cap, All Things Artspiring, on a noble quest to fulfill our passion for travel, while providing you with lots of cheap options for clothes, books, bags, cameras, film, suitcases, and other things you might find useful for your travels as well. :)
Here’s just some of the items I’ll be selling.
BUT WAIT, there’s more! :D
![Mint House: My Home in Chiang Mai, Thailand
July 23
When I parted with my sleeper train friends and one-night-only Chiang Mai roommates, Justine & Michael, I proceeded with a series of failed attempts at attending a yoga class and felt more lost and dejected than ever in my entire trip.
Little did I know that my arduous yoga-seeking trek would land me not too far away from what would be my home in Chiang Mai.
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[With Nui & Thai, the warm and friendly staff of Mint House]
Not to sound too new age-y or self-help-y, but sometimes, failed attempts at getting to a certain point really can be what bring you to better things, things that you really need instead.
First Time Dorming
Since the dorm wasn’t co-ed, I decided it would be safe enough, and while there were no lockers for belongings, I did have a lock for my bag (which I always secured upon leaving). I would also later find out that my roommates didn’t really care much for my stuff, and we can be overly paranoid about these things (but better to be overly paranoid than otherwise). But I think people really opt not to touch other people’s stuff out of respect and desire for their own stuff not to be touched either (rules of karma at work).
I forgot to take a picture of the room before leaving :| Suffice it to stay that it was a very basic room, but clean, with decent mattresses and pillows. And the dorm’s shared bathroom was really clean too. (And they provide 1 roll of toilet paper every day - the little things matter)
Living Cheaply in Chiang Mai
Saw the above photo? Yep, those are the prices for Mint House’s rooms, and as you now know, I chose the cheapest one. FYI, it’s 30THB to $1 and 1THB to 1.33PHP. So, my 100THB room can be converted to $3.33 or 133PHP. Because I stayed about a week, I was even able to haggle it down to 90THB. :D
They also provide hot and cold drinking water (which 1.5L of costs 13THB at 7-11), and a common fridge you can keep stuff in.
About a minute away from Mint House, you can also score unbelievably cheap vegetarian meals from here:
How cheap?20THB - 1 viand + 1 rice ~ yep, that’s $0.66 or 26PHP25THB - 2 viands + 1 rice ~ WTF
If you want to “splurge”, you can also get a 50THB breakfast across the above cheap-ass Chinese resto.
Productivity-conducive workspace
They didn’t pay me for this post, but I could really picture myself staying there a while especially for my airy and green rooftop workspace…
…where I also opted to do cost-free yoga instead with my Made for Movement yoga travel mat (because I was usually the only one maximizing the rooftop - I found this hard to believe, but appreciated the fact).
I also met a few people there, who I sadly didn’t get to talk to until the latter part of my stay.
[My Chinese roommate April]
[Neil, Nui’s english tutor :)]
So yeah, great price, clean rooms and facilities, hospitable staff (unlike the unpleasant woman at my previous Chiang Mai guesthouse), free water, tour/bus arrangements (they took care of booking my trip to Pai), awesome workspace, proximity to cheap eateries and other “places to go”…and a really soft and fluffy house cat, Latte. There’s absolutely no way you could go wrong here.
When I pay Chiang Mai another visit, Mint House will be my obvious choice for accommodations. And I hope to be witness to Nui’s improved english by then. :)
Missing the people at Mint House,Jen
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Mint House Guesthouse & Restaurantwww.chiangmaiminthouse.com (I don’t think this is really updated though)80-82 Prapokklao Road (Soi 5)Pra Sing, Muang, Chiang Mai(+66) 87-9303110, (+66) 86-2531743, (+66) 82-6941421info@chiangmaiminthouse.com](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8257lQ0ws1r0u81eo1_1280.jpg)
Mint House: My Home in Chiang Mai, Thailand
July 23
When I parted with my sleeper train friends and one-night-only Chiang Mai roommates, Justine & Michael, I proceeded with a series of failed attempts at attending a yoga class and felt more lost and dejected than ever in my entire trip.
Little did I know that my arduous yoga-seeking trek would land me not too far away from what would be my home in Chiang Mai.
![Deconstructing The Lotus Seed: My Cheap Cambodian Thrill
I find joy in the simple things, and I hope my boyfriend agrees with me when I say I’m a cheap date. And while eating a lotus seed might not seem exciting to most people (particularly to Cambodians), I feel it is deserving of its own blog post.
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July 18
After my first encounter of lotus flowers / pods with seeds being sold on the street while on my arts and crafts walk, I hadn’t seen them again. It didn’t help that I left town for Hariharalaya for close to 2 weeks. But when Hanne and I went back into Siem Reap, I finally got my chance. :)
Hanne purchased 4 flowers / pods for 2000 riel, I think. Or half a dollar. Super cheap thrill! :P
After running an errand, we then picked a spot by the river to rest and partake of the much anticipated lotus seed, but not before camwhoring with the flower / pod for a bit.
Those are just cement elephants behind Hanne, by the way, just in case you were wondering. :)
[Posing Koreana-style]
Step #1: Rip the lotus pod open and take the seeds out.
Step #2: Peel the seed. Hanne ate her first one with the skin on. Not advisable. Hehe.
You might notice that there’s a rather bitter taste to the seeds. If you are bothered by this, which I was, you may deconstruct the seed even further and proceed to the next step in my process.
Step #3: Half the seed (with your teeth), and take out the green shoot in the middle. In my scientific study, I have found that that is what makes it bitter.
Ta-dah! And that concludes Lotus Seed-Eating 101. Bow.
I’ll have a more substantial next post, but humor me on this one. :P
La-la-la-lotus-loving,Jen
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Deconstructing The Lotus Seed: My Cheap Cambodian Thrill
I find joy in the simple things, and I hope my boyfriend agrees with me when I say I’m a cheap date. And while eating a lotus seed might not seem exciting to most people (particularly to Cambodians), I feel it is deserving of its own blog post.
Now, I know I’m just gloating, but here is a picture of my 15-Day Unlimited Pass at Urban Ashram Manila which I scored on Deal Grocer for only P500!
I’m sorry. I will take it upon myself to share this information when you guys can still actually purchase the coupon next time.
Likewise, if you know of any other irresistible deals for yoga, please give me a heads up as well! :D
I already started using my coupon last Thursday and got to attend the classes of 2 different teachers already (Tricia and Eileen), and am scheduled to attend Kundalini Yoga with Dharam Kian Gaur today. Will definitely blogging more about my yoga experiences and the different teachers I encounter.
‘Til then,
Jen
