Get Up Close and Personal with Turtles and Dive into Cenotes in Tulum

In my previous post, I talked about the accommodations and restaurants of Tulum which you can read right here.  Additionally, if you’re looking for tips on how to avoid scams in Mexico, you can read that right here.  But right now in this post, we are going to be talking about the things I did in this trip that you can also add to your itinerary when visiting Tulum.

I personally think that staying in the resorts is of itself an activity you should spend some time enjoying rather than just treating it as a place to stay.  Not only are there usually different activities to do, but there’s like spa/massage or yoga that you can participate in as well.

But of course outside of the resorts, for this trip, we went to five(!) different cenotes, swam with turtles in Akumal Bay, visited one of the new seven wonders of the world Chichen Itza, and also checked out Tulum Pueblo and took some photos at some touristy spots. Continue reading Get Up Close and Personal with Turtles and Dive into Cenotes in Tulum

Taste and Luxe: The Most Amazing Hotels and Most Awesome Food of Tulum

Tulum: A Tropical Paradise You’ll Never Forget! -> I’ve been trying a lot of stuff for ChatGPT, whether it’s for writing lyrics, asking history questions, and helping me write blog posts.  So a bit of the stuff you’ll find might be more “ChatGPT” voice, but I’ll include any details where I think it’s missing from my own experience and emotions.  ChatGPT is here mainly to make the language more colourful and to provide more facts and information that pertains to each place of interest where I myself am too dumb to know all of it, that way as a reader I hope you’ll also get more insight to what the place is about rather than just rather I like it or not and why.

This post will focus mainly on our hotel resorts and food/restaurants.  For things that we did in Tulum and car rental, click hereTo read about how to avoid common scams in Mexico (car rental, gas, driving tips), click here.

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised by Tulum. I didn’t expect it to be as vibrant as it is, but the endless sandy beaches and crystal-clear waters were a sight to behold, not to mention all the water activities this place offers. It reminded me of Bali, a place I cherish very much, and I couldn’t help but feel like I was back in my favorite tropical paradise. As much as I loved Tulum, I was surprised to find that it’s quite pricey. Even more so than what I’m used to paying back in Hong Kong! I was also surprised that it was getting pretty hot at the end of April as well, around 30 degrees I believe. But don’t let that dissuade you from enjoying all that Tulum has to offer.

My trip to Tulum didn’t start that smoothly. I missed my flight to Cancun due to unforeseen traffic on the road the morning after the Coachella festival. This left me with a stressful and frustrating two-three hours of trying to book the next flight at lightning speed. We even almost purchased a flight that departed at 12:30pm/1pm (original flight was like 10:30am) through the phone (since the flight didn’t show up online as it was cutting close to departure) but the man at the check-in counter told us that 5 minutes before check in closes, we had to have paid the flight otherwise it would have been too late and we would have paid and not get on board, so that was another stressful 45 minutes that resulted in us giving up at the payment step.  We ended up missing out on all the flights that day and had to take the one that departed that night at 1:30 am! We had to cancel our first night’s lodging (successful) and rearrange our car rental pick up for the second day. If only we had gone to the airport earlier. Live and learn, right? Continue reading Taste and Luxe: The Most Amazing Hotels and Most Awesome Food of Tulum

Try To Stay In The Hotel Zone in Cancun

We arrived in the evening to Cancun from a 3 hour drive from Chichen Itza, spent the next morning in Akumal Bay then afternoon and evening at Cancun, and the day after, morning till early afternoon at Cancun until we had to go to the airport.  I guess adding it all up, we spent roughly two days in total in Cancun, which gave us a good feel of what Cancun had to offer.

And while most tourists have the option to neglect the main areas of Cancun and only dine, shop, and party around the Hotel Zone, we opted to stay in the Downtown area. We did so not for the purpose of trying to understand what real Cancun is like, but merely just for a cheaper accommodation.

Still, I was glad to get a feel of downtown Cancun because of where we stayed, but I would still recommend everyone to try to stay in the Hotel Zone just because it’s just a much nicer area in general, from hotels to the roads.  Downtown Cancun is much more run down than hotel zone.

Continue reading Try To Stay In The Hotel Zone in Cancun

I Got Pulled Over By The Cops TWICE Within 15 Minutes in Tulum! (And Other Tips You Should Know)

The first time I was pulled over by the cops, I was paranoid. It was literally my first day ever in Mexico. Even though I only had one cocktail in Arca a few hours before driving, which would have been way below the alcohol limit of .08 in Mexico (equivalent to about five drinks), I was still in fear. Would I need to be in jail? Or would I need to bribe them? They stopped our car, looked around the back, asked for my driver’s license (gave them my international one), and after a few minutes, let me go and said it was a “precaution”. Maybe they were just picking on me for looking Asian and touristy, maybe they were attempting to be bribed but realised I might either be too savvy or too stupid to do so. In either case, I was relieved I was let go soon after without any repercussions.

Driving in Mexico is definitely quite an experience. People are driving twice the speed limit at times, the lines indicating the lanes will sometimes just “disappear” or “merge” into the next one, leaving you little time to react to switch to another lane, and police is rampant, especially at night. Most police were holding rifles, reminding me of my experience in South Africa.

This post will give you all the tips and advice I have researched and experienced so that your time in Tulum and Cancun can be even more smooth sailing. I will talk about the scams in rental car agencies and gas stations, police bribing, and of course driving in Mexico and other tips you should be aware of. So if you’re planning to visit the Riviera Maya of Mexico, read the whole post so that I can help you (and at the end I will talk about my 2nd time being stopped). Continue reading I Got Pulled Over By The Cops TWICE Within 15 Minutes in Tulum! (And Other Tips You Should Know)

16 Music Festivals To Go To In 2016

It’s 2016 and what better excuse to travel to different places by attending different music festivals around the world?  There are so many different music festivals, with different atmosphere, differente venues, different genres, different people, and of course different artists, that each and every single one of them can bring you a unique experience.  Here are 16 music festivals you should go to for 2016 (in alphabetical order): Continue reading 16 Music Festivals To Go To In 2016