#ChiangMai - The Arrival

It's been a while since I back from my short trip from Chiang Mai! I was too obsessed with the International Chopin's Competition and I was ''chopinized'' after that, and practiced my Chopin piece like a crazy pianist. Only today, I feel like taking a night off from my practice, I'm certainly not a sane woman am I not?

A few clips from the competition for you if you're interested! 

Alright, back to my Chiang Mai trip! We were taking AirAsia, and we paid additional 165 MYR for one luggage (20 kg) seat and a set meal. 

Ordered this meal online beforehand! 12 MYR for Mee Mamak and Teh Tarik if I'm not mistaken.

Just so so, it was tastier before.

Self in-flight entertainment- Running Man!

Upon arrivals, we were greeted by this friendly guy from http://www.chiangmaiwheels.com/. We rented a Toyota Vios for our 4D3N trip in Chiang Mai! It was only 990 THB per day, by far the cheapest that I could find. We made the booking on their website before our trip, then paid deposit of 5000 THB and handled him a photocopy of passport and Malaysian's driving licence when we meet. 

Tadaa! Our ride for 4 days!

Car inspecting is the guy's thing, I suppose.

The feedback of the car? 

New and good condition car of course, but it doesn't have a reserve sensor! The only cons of the car is the tint, the car were overly heavy tinted which made our night drive difficult. We had to window down to drive at night cause we could barely see! It was too dark!! 

We settled our first meal in Chiang Mai with a random restaurant outside our hotel.

The meal was quite a disappointing one, nothing much to talk about.

Move on to our first night stay in Chiang Mai!

Victoria Nimman hotel.

Love their welcome drinks- Mango juice.

We booked the hotel at Agoda with only 70.44 MYR/ night without breakfast (after tax). 

One double bed + one single bed.

I only expected a double bed, the single bed was an.....extra? The bed is quite soft and comfy, and it's much spacious than we expected. 

A huge closet with a large mirror.

Perfect for #ootd pic.

Bathroom is basic, and simple.

The living room is a bonus for us!

TV is rather small....

The hotel provides a plentiful of car park space!

Frankly to say, the hotel is beyond our expectation, given the amount of money we spent. Enough of car park space, spacious room, comfy bed, bathroom with heater, etc. They have two blocks and a swimming pool which I didn't have the time to swim due to our tight itinerary! For the first night we barely have time in the hotel so our requirement is rather basic, clean and comfortable are the two things we were looking for.

Address:

108 Soi 17 Nimmanhaemin Sirimanklajan T.Suthep A. Muang, Nimmanhemin, Chiang Mai, Thailand 50200.

Cons of this hotel? 

• a little inconvenient for travellers who don't drive, it's located in city, but restaurants and convenience store are not in walking distance
• no kettle is available in the room, even after we requested for it, they sent a huge boiler to us instead

Travel tips:

• Book vehicle online if you plan to drive, it's so much cheaper. The airport charge at 1430 THB for the same Vios.
• Request for vehicle with reverse sensor and lighter shade of tint, if you're having issue driving with dark mirror at night, or if you plan to drive a lot at night.
• Better let a very experience travel buddy to drive in Chiang Mai, the wheels in the city is no fun! I wouldn't dare to drive at all.
• It's very difficult to get a proper place for parking in the Chiang Mai city! The road is sometimes very narrow too! Again, please don't drive if you're not an experience driver.

My Acne Battle

The haze was/is (not sure is it really over yet) quite bad lately, had a really bad throat and flu for more than a week during the hazy month. Well, not only my body suffers, my skin doesn't react so well to the polluted air too. 

My poor skin encountered lots of acne and breakouts and it doesn't stop at all. I was so frustrated and didn't bare to look myself in the mirror. When I thought they're gone, they came back again. The cycle repeated for almost 3 weeks. :(

Here is my story of my acne battle, it was a tough one, really.

Skincare

I used the most light-weighted and natural skincare products that I have, 

Kiehl's Cucumber Herbal Alcohol-Free Toner

Cucumber has calming effect to the skin and it doesn't clog pores. Meanwhile it's very gentle to my problem skin. 

Belif The True Cream- Aqua Bomb

By far the lightest moisturizer that I've tried, made with natural ingredient. Its apothecary herbs has pore minimizing and antioxidant effect too.

Mask

I used this deep cleansing mask from Mary Kay to clean my pores, thrice a week. It works very well in removing my black and white head but for acne/ breakout, it's different story. Still I insisted in doing it for cleaner pores on my skin.

Tea Tree

I used both pure tea tree oil and acne path with tea tree in it too. 

Tea tree is very well-known for acne skin. The antiseptic effect will help to sooth the breakouts/ acne while preventing the new formation of acne. 

Apply with a cotton bud directly on the problem area.

Or sometimes I use this patch when I want the acne/breakout the be covered.

I apply tea tree oil/ acne patch at least 3 times a day for antiseptic purpose, or more when I feel it's necessary.

Despite I was very careful in choosing the product to use, they just don't stop. They recovered and reborn again and again. It was crazy, I never encountered a bad skin like this before. Usually only a few hormonic pimples will pop during the menstrual cycle.

Until one day, I discovered this....

BBs

It was before my piano performance, my skin was bad and I remember there was a big breakout under my chin! I had to conceal and covered it, it was a courtesy. So I covered my blemishes with Laneige Watery Cushion Concealer, then I gently stamped on some Laneige BB Cushion Pore Control on my face(full review is available on my previous post, or click here to read on). Miraculously, ALL BLEMISHES gone forever and ever after just one light makeup with BBs. 

Then I remember, I experienced the same thing LONG AGO, with Kate's BB Cream. Apparently, BB cream stands for blemish balm, blemish base, beblesh balm, and beauty balm. The coverage is often mineral-based, and is intended to both cover and treat blemishes such as acne, sun spots and age spots. It also has anti-wrinkle, anti-inflammatory and soothing effects. (extracted from wikipedia) .

In my case, the BB cushion and BB cream dries up the acne! So magical but it works! :D

Please take care everyone! Stay hydrated and wear a mask whenever necessary!