你的緊張在意 讓我覺得安心
從你某個角度 我總看見自己
到底你懂我 或其實我本來就像你
Thursday, September 18, 2014
My 33rd birthday. why i so old
#Throwback
#birthday
haha.. this was even before our Bangkok trip.
i find that i do not take as many photos as i used to. Last time, i everything also wanna snap a photo. Maybe cos i blogged frequently, lol..
Now old liao. Guess it's more important to be in the 'now' rather than concentrating on taking photos and missing out on the experience real-time.
Nah.. probably i'm just lazy.
On my birthday, i wanted to give myself a treat.
Took a day off, got FAR away from work and pampered myself to what i love doing most.
Lol...
bf wasn't able to take leave, so we only made plans to meet for dinner in the evening.
And i was perfectly fine with the arrangement.
cos i booked a slot at Arteastiq to paint!
Yea, I wanted to treat myself to some me-time.
Like at one corner, doing my thang. haha. and it makes me happy.
Arteastiq is a cafe that has a Art-jamming corner whereby you get to do acrylic painting.
For the two times I was there, i've never stepped into the cafe, though i read reviews saying that the ambience and food was good.
My aim isn't for the food and all. It really was just for the painting, haha.
A 3-hour slot ($48) gets you a drink, a 50 x 50cm canvas, one set of brushes and tubes of acrylic paint at your disposal.
I spent quite some time deciding on the picture i wanted to paint. I googled it.
I love Manga and this looks quite difficult, but i wanted to challenge myself.
My dad told me beforehand that i shouldn't be too ambitious cos i'm still a noob when it comes to acrylic painting.
Anyway, i will just treat it like it's poster colour, ahha
I saved the picture in my thumbdrive and the very helpful lady there helped me print it out.
Because it was my birthday, they gave me a 1-for-1 treat, meaning i get 2 sessions for the price of 1. So i booked 2 slots at one go. I'm quite sure i wont be able to complete my painting in 3 hours.
I think the face is the hardest to draw, and i made sure i get it perfect before moving on to the rest of the drawing.
Pencil sketch is done! It looks slightly different from the print-out, but i drew it my style haha.
I bought an additional tiny paintbrush to paint details, like the eyes and lip colour
Close up.
I painted half of it in the 3 hours. Was really enjoying myself haha.. Love alone time like this!
i'm so anti-social!
The art jamming place is like a gallery and people can see what you are painting from outside through the glass. One angmoh lady knocked on the glass and typed on her handphone, "Do you sell this?" Lol...
i didn't know how to react so i just shook my head. She looked disappointed and clasped her hands together, and said, "please?"
i shook my head again and gave her a sheepish grin. Omg, how to sell and how much to sell man...
in the end, she just took a photo of my half-painted drawing and left. haha..
I'm finally done after 5 man hours. Honestly, i'm proud of my work and i'm so glad it turned out nicely, ahhaa...
Changed abit of the background and added in red instead. Nice?? hee...
Took a photo of the canvas on the easel.
i requested the staff there to help me take a photo of my art work, cos once they packed it, you won't be able to open it again easily. They will pack it by stapling the wooden canvas frame.
The girl who helped me take the photo said it's very nice, wahaha... *blushes*
After painting and collected my additional rose tea drink, i left for home to wash up.
It was already 4-ish.
Dinner was a surprise. Sam didn't want to disclose where he was taking me.
But when i reached, i was shocked.
Shocked cos i booked the exact same restaurant for his birthday 2 days after!
ARGHHHHHH.....
we got so 心灵相通 anot....
And he was darn happy that my birthday came first and he brought me here first. So too bad, i have to cancel my reservation and book another venue. Damnit!
And the whole time i was cracking my brain to think of a new place. D:
We reached the 55th level.
There was a rose on the table :) He said he made special arrangement for the rose. lol
why i so fatty ;(
Appetizer: Seared foie gras
Appetizer: glass crab omelette
His main, roasted barramundi
This is the first time i'm eating Waygu beef.
He still ordered 2 sides, truffle fries and grilled mushrooms. We ended up not being able to finish all the food :(
After that, he gave me my present, yay ^^
There was a pair of diamond ear studs and a necklace with a heart-shaped pendant!
Thank you for all the diamonds, hehe.. :)
And a cake :)
The staff helped us take a photo and printed one and put it in a card for us too! :)
Thank you bb for everything.
Much love
xoxo
#birthday
haha.. this was even before our Bangkok trip.
i find that i do not take as many photos as i used to. Last time, i everything also wanna snap a photo. Maybe cos i blogged frequently, lol..
Now old liao. Guess it's more important to be in the 'now' rather than concentrating on taking photos and missing out on the experience real-time.
Nah.. probably i'm just lazy.
On my birthday, i wanted to give myself a treat.
Took a day off, got FAR away from work and pampered myself to what i love doing most.
Lol...
bf wasn't able to take leave, so we only made plans to meet for dinner in the evening.
And i was perfectly fine with the arrangement.
cos i booked a slot at Arteastiq to paint!
Yea, I wanted to treat myself to some me-time.
Like at one corner, doing my thang. haha. and it makes me happy.
Arteastiq is a cafe that has a Art-jamming corner whereby you get to do acrylic painting.
For the two times I was there, i've never stepped into the cafe, though i read reviews saying that the ambience and food was good.
My aim isn't for the food and all. It really was just for the painting, haha.
A 3-hour slot ($48) gets you a drink, a 50 x 50cm canvas, one set of brushes and tubes of acrylic paint at your disposal.
I spent quite some time deciding on the picture i wanted to paint. I googled it.
I love Manga and this looks quite difficult, but i wanted to challenge myself.
My dad told me beforehand that i shouldn't be too ambitious cos i'm still a noob when it comes to acrylic painting.
Anyway, i will just treat it like it's poster colour, ahha
I saved the picture in my thumbdrive and the very helpful lady there helped me print it out.
Because it was my birthday, they gave me a 1-for-1 treat, meaning i get 2 sessions for the price of 1. So i booked 2 slots at one go. I'm quite sure i wont be able to complete my painting in 3 hours.
I think the face is the hardest to draw, and i made sure i get it perfect before moving on to the rest of the drawing.
Pencil sketch is done! It looks slightly different from the print-out, but i drew it my style haha.
I bought an additional tiny paintbrush to paint details, like the eyes and lip colour
Close up.
I painted half of it in the 3 hours. Was really enjoying myself haha.. Love alone time like this!
i'm so anti-social!
The art jamming place is like a gallery and people can see what you are painting from outside through the glass. One angmoh lady knocked on the glass and typed on her handphone, "Do you sell this?" Lol...
i didn't know how to react so i just shook my head. She looked disappointed and clasped her hands together, and said, "please?"
i shook my head again and gave her a sheepish grin. Omg, how to sell and how much to sell man...
in the end, she just took a photo of my half-painted drawing and left. haha..
I'm finally done after 5 man hours. Honestly, i'm proud of my work and i'm so glad it turned out nicely, ahhaa...
Changed abit of the background and added in red instead. Nice?? hee...
Took a photo of the canvas on the easel.
i requested the staff there to help me take a photo of my art work, cos once they packed it, you won't be able to open it again easily. They will pack it by stapling the wooden canvas frame.
The girl who helped me take the photo said it's very nice, wahaha... *blushes*
After painting and collected my additional rose tea drink, i left for home to wash up.
It was already 4-ish.
Dinner was a surprise. Sam didn't want to disclose where he was taking me.
But when i reached, i was shocked.
Shocked cos i booked the exact same restaurant for his birthday 2 days after!
ARGHHHHHH.....
we got so 心灵相通 anot....
And he was darn happy that my birthday came first and he brought me here first. So too bad, i have to cancel my reservation and book another venue. Damnit!
And the whole time i was cracking my brain to think of a new place. D:
We reached the 55th level.
There was a rose on the table :) He said he made special arrangement for the rose. lol
why i so fatty ;(
Appetizer: Seared foie gras
Appetizer: glass crab omelette
His main, roasted barramundi
This is the first time i'm eating Waygu beef.
He still ordered 2 sides, truffle fries and grilled mushrooms. We ended up not being able to finish all the food :(
After that, he gave me my present, yay ^^
There was a pair of diamond ear studs and a necklace with a heart-shaped pendant!
Thank you for all the diamonds, hehe.. :)
And a cake :)
The staff helped us take a photo and printed one and put it in a card for us too! :)
Thank you bb for everything.
Much love
xoxo
Wednesday, September 03, 2014
Bangkok trip 2014
i'm back to blog again.
Hotel was Centara Watergate Pavillion Hotel Bangkok.
Name sibei long.. zzz
Sam was in charge of booking the air tics while i chose the hotel. Cos he claimed i was more particular when it comes to hotel stay.
And i guess he is right :)
Reaching BKK.... can u spot the tiger's wing? haa
This taxi driver was trying to tout for customers at the airport and he agreed to go by meter when we asked him.
After he loaded our luggage up his taxi and driving off, i asked why he didn't turn on his meter. He said, "400 baht" (which was 15 SGD).
Didn't know what came over me but i was pissed and raised my voice, saying NO. How can he go against his words. i insisted that he go by meter and he finally relented but obviously super buay song.
Not a good way to start our BKK experience. *rolls eyes*
Reached the hotel finally. The taxi driver didnt know where the exact location was so he made a few extra rounds. Centara Grand was at central world but this is Centara watergate, i believe from the same hotel chain. It's a relatively new hotel. Probably 2-3 years old.
We stayed at Hotel Muse last year and it was pure luxury. Didn't go back there this year even though Sam said we could if i really liked it. I thought we should leave the memory as it is, heh..
Hotel muse will always remain that fantastic hotel for our 1st trip together ♥
Moreover, there should be other hotels in Bangkok that are as awesome.
And Centara just proved that right :)
The check-in reception is on the 9th floor. Staff were really attentive and friendly. They dealt with each customer with professionalism.
Lobby lounge area.
There is a connecting glass door to the outside.
Look at this!
Too bad it isn't a swimming pool, haha.. Yah sadly, the hotel doesn't have a swimming pool, but it does not matter cos we wouldn't go swimming also.
We arrived at the hotel quite early cos of our morning flight, and the room could only be ready at 2:30pm. We requested for a high floor and were given Room 1811 (on the 18th floor! :)
The hotel has 20 floors and the highest was some roof-top bar which we had forgotten to visit during our 5 days' stay there.
We walked to Platinum Fashion mall since it was a stone's throw from Centara. Around 10 minutes walk. But need to climb overhead bridges if you don't wanna risk your lives to jay walk.
Platinum is our favourite place for shopping. We went there to shop like 3 out of 5 days last year. Chatuchak or MBK cannot compare with Platinum.
The clothes like Far East plaza kind. Chatuchak clothes are not as nice...like bugis village maybe?
I had claypot Kuay Chap at their Food court on Level 6. Not so fantastic. Their kuay is very interesting de. It's rolled up like a popiah so it can taste rather bland when you bite into it.
Sam's favourite Thai dish- The Pad Thai. I lost count of how many times he had this dish throughout the trip. i think everyday he will eat at least once. haha..
We had Oyster omelette which i didn't take a photo of.
Dessert was chocolate waffles :)
Sam bought a canvas rucksack, which in my opinion was rather cute, haha..
Soon, it was 2.30pm and we walked back to Centara.
Given our room assess cards and do take a look at HOW AWESOME THE ROOM IS! ♥♥♥
Booked the Deluxe room, which was probably bigger than the Superior room?
Super chio right?
I'm super in love with the aquarium-looking bathroom which had a rain shower.
Basin area
Desk area.
I don't like the chair though cos it has protruding metal base stands that i kept kicking into. Damn painful.
We dragged ourselves out before evening to go to the tailor. Sam comes here every year to restock his shirts for work.
Last year, he tailored 5 shirts and 2 pants. This year, another 5 more shirts, a pair of pants and a suit.
i helped him choose the cloth and material together with some recommendation from the tailor.
Love doing it. I think i no design clothes is a waste cos i'm so passionate about it. wahaha...
And Sam totally gave me 101% empowerment in choosing for him. He so look me up lor. Lol...
*Hugs*
Tailor is 'Boss Avenue' at Nana BTS station. (119 Corner of Sukhumvit Soi 7, Sukhumvit Rd., Bangkok 10110)
Thumbs up for their customer service! Workmanship is good too, but sometimes the shirts may have slight inconsistencies though given the same measurement.
A 2-ply cotton shirt costs 1,300 baht (S$50).
A pair of pants costs 1,500 baht (S$57) and a whole suit (blazer and pants) costs 5,000 baht (S$200).
Sam made one suit in Singapore for 400 dollars, so this is like half the price back here.
Total cost at the tailor = 13,000 baht (SGD500)
After that, we walked over to Central World for dinner.
Dinner was at Taling Pling. One of our favourite restaurants in BKK. We had meals at this place twice last year.
Sam had pad-thai as usual (so no photos, haha)
I was craving for Sambal fried rice. The menu has this dish called fried rice with spicy sauce or something, so i assumed it was sambal.
It turned out not to be sambal, so i had this weird tasting dish with uncooked vegetables at the side instead. It was still tasty but probably not to my liking.
We will order this at every Thai restaurant even when in Singapore. Thai fish cake. YUMS!!
How can we not order Tom Yum soup when dining in Thailand?
Dinner was so late. By the time we finished, it was 10 plus almost 11pm and we were dead tired.
Bed was so comfortable we had a well-rested night :)
Missed hotel's breakfast on the second day cos we weren't sure what time the breakfast buffet ends.
Turned out to be from 6:30am to 10:30am, and we were too late by the time we washed up and bathed :(
Headed out to fill our empty stomachs right away.
Sam was saying there's this very famous Wanton mee stall near Platinum mall so we went in search of it.
We failed to find it the day before when we touched down, this time we were determined.
Managed to Google it and found the directions from some blog.
It is actually at Soi 19.
Just right next to Shibuya mall (the side lane nearer McDonald's).
There was a long queue outside and it was drizzling... but fortunately, we didn't need to spend much time queuing. Probably 15 minutes or so and we were quickly ushered in :D
This very stylo-milo man cooking our wanton mee. He looks like he rides a Harley Davidson bike.
Our wanton mee! Very small portion, so if you are really hungry, go for 2 or 3 bowls. If not, add a plate of braised pig trotters rice. SUPER DELICIOUS de.
Wanton mee was nice. Something like our Pontian, but this has fried pork oil cubes that i love!!! Unhealthy but i like, ahha..
The shop has, i think 70% Singaporeans in it, lol....
After lunch, we went to Platinum mall for this!
I had Banana-chocolate crepe (cold), and Sam had the crispy Nutella+banana crepe (hot).
I like this! It has fresh cream which is super fattening as well. But we just kept eating this every time we were at Platinum. Eat until the lady at the crepe stall also recognise us.
I haven open my mouth to order she already say, "Banana and Chocolate?"
hur....
We gotten bermudes and 3 tees from a shop called Portrait on Level 4. This shop sells quite nice and good quality men's casual wear.
Cutting is quite nice. Something like what u can find in our edit. stores. But edit. sells bermudes at $59.90.
Over at Portrait, 2 pieces and above wholesale price is at $18+ each.
We adjourned over to Central World again this time to meet one of our ex-colleagues, F, for an early dinner. He just touched down the night before. It was such an coincidence that we visit bkk at the same time. Actually Sam bumped into a few friends here. haa.. now is a popular season to fly over.
There was a cosplay fiesta at CentralWorld. We were here last year and there was some cosplay event too.
See. Sailormoon(s), haha.. so cute de.
Dinner at an atas seafood restaurant together with F.
Their famous fried fish that was oh-so-good!
F recommended this as well. Salted egg with squid.
We had oyster omelette and sambal morning glory as well. No photos taken.
Delicious :)
After that, F left for the tailor at Boss Avenue, and Sam & i went to have desserts at AfterYou Dessert Café.
This is very popular as well.
I had mud brownie topped with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. SLURP!!
Nutella thick toast with ice-cream for him. This is very yummy as well!
Some breath mints i bought for my colleagues.
Interesting.
The mints has this rubbery outer covering and when you bite into it, the inner core bursts and some very refreshing liquid oozes out, making your breath so fresh. haha
We went to the tailor for Sam's fitting in the evening again.
Made some alterations to the sample shirt, pants as well as the blazer before heading back to the hotel.
There was a Pratunam market near our hotel and we had some cheap buys there, hehe..
i got myself 3 tops for $5+ each! *Happy*
Also personalised a T-shirt for my nephew :) i think the person who inked the alphabets onto the t-shirt is quite amazing. How he can stamp and overlap 2 layers of the ink so nicely on the cloth without misalignment?
And it's darn cheap. 120 baht (SGD 4+)
Customised 2 passport holders, hehe
Nice right? haha...
It looks like this on the inside.
We had something like Roti Prata with banana and chocolate. it's darn oily but tasty, haha
Condensed milk is dripped on it too.
It suddenly started drizzling so we quickened our steps back to the hotel. Thankfully, our hotel was just around the corner at the next lane.
Day 3 :)
Woke up earlier for hotel's breakfast :)
The omelette was really good which is not in this photo, haha... Missed out on the cereal though.
We went shopping at Platinum mall again and met one of Sam's friends, N.
We had ice-cream float at Swensens before heading to the wanton mee stall again. Yums!
This time round, Sam had pig trotters rice. He fed me 2 mouths of it which was darn delicious, heh...
After lunch, we went on separate ways. We were going to Siam Paragon, cos my sis-in-law wanted something from Innit. Some Thai designer shop. You can check out 'innitbangkok' on instagram. They got 20k+ followers haha...
Me on BTS platform with my Naraya bag.
Talking about Naraya, i visited 3 different shops (1 at Central world, 1 at Siam Paragon and 1 at Asiatique).
Sam cannot understand all the hype about Naraya cos he reckons the designs are hideous. And is bewildered by the fact that all Naraya shops are sooooo crowded with tourists snapping the ugly bags up..... but i still wanna buy. Lol
When walking to Siam square, we found this!!!
Mango Tango, haha..
when we came here last year, Mango Tango was at another location. Now, it's in 2 different containers, haha.. One to order your dessert, the other to sit-in and enjoy your mango.
While waiting for our mango desserts..
Love this photo hehe..
Really meh?
I thought mangoes are so heaty. Eat one a day confirm keep going to see doctor de lor.
My mango sago. Not a fan of mangoes, but love sago!
Sam had this. Fresh mango, sticky rice (it was really nice!), mango pudding and a scoop of mango ice-cream :p
After our desserts, we went in search for the shop, Innit.
It is in the middle of Siam Square Soi 2, level 2.
I didn't know their clothes are so expensive, omg.
The top my sis-in-law asked me to buy, i got a similar piece from Platinum mall for only $10 the year before. But this was selling for 2,950 baht (S$115)!
She didn't reply me on whatsapp so we left the shop. But came back to buy it 2 days later since we were around the vicinity, haha..
Sis-in-law says it's handmade or something, thus the price.
But i really don't understand the hype about this innit too, haha.. like how my boyfriend doesn't understand Naraya =/
but i agree that this top is nice. maybe not for the costly price-tag
We went back to the hotel to drop our shopping loot and headed out to Asiatique The Waterfront.
Asiatique is actually a riverside night market.
We took the BTS to Saphan Taksin station before going on a free boat ride across the river.
There isn't much things over at Asiatique. We had some Thai cuisine.
Curried fish cake again!
Sambal stir-fried morning glory (kang kong) again!
Sam's Pad-thai a.g.a.i.n.
I also keep ordering tom-yum soup for almost every meal. but he more jialat. Pad-thai for all meals (if he is not having it, it only means the restaurant doesn't sell it). haha
Tom yum soup
The presentation is just weird.
I was still laughing at the other table who ordered this before us, and i asked Sam whether it's a dish or isst people finish eating the prawns liao throw the shell into the coconut.....until the waitress came over and placed the exact same dish on our table -_-
NARAYA, wahahaha....
Pardon my shagged face. Focus on Naraya's newest limited edition design, the strawberry tote bag i've gotten!
This is the only design Sam said "Pass". It's really cute, haha...
F came to Asiatique and we shopped around the stalls before heading back home on a cab cos it started drizzling again. We bought some tidbits like my favourite Tao Kae Noi Tom Yum Goong seaweed and his Glico Pocky Choco Banana biscuit sticks.
We alighted at Pratunam market. We bought street snacks like Satay and chicken rice together with some beer back for supper.
Sam's favourite satay stall just opposite Amari watergate hotel, which is very near to our hotel as well.
The EXTREMELY delicious chicken rice. 60 baht ($2.30) for the big portion and 40 baht ($1.50) for the small one. SLURP! We had this 2 nights in a row, haha... very unhealthy.
Got 2 keychains for our friends.
Very pretty right?? It is the same stall that we got our passport holders :) i think the girls will love it! Can't wait to pass it to them, hehe..
It then started raining quite heavily and we ran back to our hotel with all our food. YUMMY
Day 4
After breakfast, we went shopping again.
Bought some jerseys, haha... Sam wears them for his weekly soccer games.
i also got one jersey of the football club he's rooting for- Arsenal. Lol.
i know nuts about soccer but boyfriend loves it.
We then went to Platinum to shop again and eat crepe! This time Sam got his work ties as well as my clothes. I got 2 high-waisted skorts, one baseball tee and one pullover. That's about all i got.
Oh yah, i also bought 2 boxer shorts from a roadside stall at $2+ each.
We went back hotel to unload our shopping bags (that's the advantage of staying so near to platinum mall, hehe) and i took this photo in the hotel's bathroom to send to bff, Esther. I ask her want buy Naraya anot, wahaha..
After that, we took the Tuk Tuk to Nana for Sam's second fitting at the tailor. He doesn't understand why i wanna sit the Tuk Tuk when the air so polluted by the congested traffic.
i like.
After fitting, we took the BTS to Chit Lom and walked to Erwan Shrine.
After that, we attempted to walk to Siam. Stopped by Central Embassy. Some very atas mall that sells branded stuff.
Cute gigantic Harrods bear.
Blur de photo but still posting it up. Bear in Scottish tartan skirt.
We ended up taking the BTS to Siam because it was just too far...
We had Mango Tango again and went to Innit again to buy the top for my sis-in-law. Lol..
Lunch was at Somtam (aka. Papaya Salad)
Crispy fried chicken
I wanted to eat fried fish again. I had this last year here too..
As usual, Sam's P_ _-T_ _ _ (fill in the blanks). haha
Somtam. This place is famous for their papaya salad. We ordered the original one with shrimp. But it was spicy and sour. I'm not a fan of unripe papaya / mango.
After dinner, we went walking around Siam centre, paragon (got my Naraya bags again for the 3rd time, haha) and headed back to Nana at night to collect Sam's clothes from the tailor.
The suit which fitted so nicely ^^
The rest of the shirts were good except for one which the tailor didn't sew properly, no choice had to alter and only send via airmail back to Singapore, cos it's our last night here in bkk.
We wanted to go to Chinatown to eat bird's nest but it started pouring :(
So we bought supper, headed back to the hotel to pack our luggage.
Last night liao, must do a shot like this every time. (p.s. I purposely take until the bathroom there cos i wanna remind u again that the shower area is mad love! Must show-off! haha)
Close up of my loot... (actually not much)
and Sam's
Day 5
We woke early at 7am cos we wanted to go Chinatown to buy some local food produce.
After breakfast, we took some photos at the outdoor seating area cos it's our last day. Don't take no more chance liao..
♥♥♥
Time to go Chinatown!
It was quite hard to get cab drivers who were willing to go by meter. If we met those honest drivers who were okay to charge by the meter, we usually gave them more $ to show our appreciation.
We wanted to come back to freshen up before check out cos our flight was at 8.05pm. We requested for late check out at 1pm :)
After we checked out of Centara, it was last minute shopping again. I bought one ah-ma top from the street shops for my grandma :)
We went back Platinum mall. Hahaha.. keep going platinum mall.. and yup, we had Crepe again. omg.... we kept eating fattening food. Go back Singapore must diet liao..
Sam got 3 more tees and i got another 2 more skorts.
Also got these japanese Le Sucre stuffed bunnies, hehe... Singapore sell very expensive lor...
Last year, i missed buying them. This year, i'm gonna get them. You need to buy 3 in order to get them at wholesale prices.
Wholesale price also not cheap lor. Usual price was $15 each, wholesale price is $9.50 for the big one and $7 for the smaller one. I gave the small one to Sam despite how reluctant he was. haha...
i also dunno i buy these for what. But they certainly can remind me of our AWESOME bangkok trip!! :)
Yeah. That's all.
I've spent 9 hours blogging. haha.. Well done.
back to work tomorrow. darn it.
Hopefully it's not a one time affair in half a year again, lol...
i reckon this blog will gonna be dead very soon. O well..
I'm just back from Bangkok last night. I thought i should blog about my trip.
Reasons being:
So i got some info to refer to when we go back there again.
Secondly, i wanna remember the details just in case i forget, given the short-term memory me.
Thirdly, it was such an awesome trip (like our first trip last year on the exact same day) that i needed to blog about it.
So here goes.
We went with Tiger airways this time round cos it was the cheapest. Only applied for my leave 4 days before flying off. So air tickets and hotels were booked very last minute.
Hotel was Centara Watergate Pavillion Hotel Bangkok.
Name sibei long.. zzz
Sam was in charge of booking the air tics while i chose the hotel. Cos he claimed i was more particular when it comes to hotel stay.
And i guess he is right :)
Reaching BKK.... can u spot the tiger's wing? haa
This taxi driver was trying to tout for customers at the airport and he agreed to go by meter when we asked him.
After he loaded our luggage up his taxi and driving off, i asked why he didn't turn on his meter. He said, "400 baht" (which was 15 SGD).
Didn't know what came over me but i was pissed and raised my voice, saying NO. How can he go against his words. i insisted that he go by meter and he finally relented but obviously super buay song.
Not a good way to start our BKK experience. *rolls eyes*
Reached the hotel finally. The taxi driver didnt know where the exact location was so he made a few extra rounds. Centara Grand was at central world but this is Centara watergate, i believe from the same hotel chain. It's a relatively new hotel. Probably 2-3 years old.
We stayed at Hotel Muse last year and it was pure luxury. Didn't go back there this year even though Sam said we could if i really liked it. I thought we should leave the memory as it is, heh..
Hotel muse will always remain that fantastic hotel for our 1st trip together ♥
Moreover, there should be other hotels in Bangkok that are as awesome.
And Centara just proved that right :)
The check-in reception is on the 9th floor. Staff were really attentive and friendly. They dealt with each customer with professionalism.
Lobby lounge area.
There is a connecting glass door to the outside.
Look at this!
Too bad it isn't a swimming pool, haha.. Yah sadly, the hotel doesn't have a swimming pool, but it does not matter cos we wouldn't go swimming also.
We arrived at the hotel quite early cos of our morning flight, and the room could only be ready at 2:30pm. We requested for a high floor and were given Room 1811 (on the 18th floor! :)
The hotel has 20 floors and the highest was some roof-top bar which we had forgotten to visit during our 5 days' stay there.
We walked to Platinum Fashion mall since it was a stone's throw from Centara. Around 10 minutes walk. But need to climb overhead bridges if you don't wanna risk your lives to jay walk.
Platinum is our favourite place for shopping. We went there to shop like 3 out of 5 days last year. Chatuchak or MBK cannot compare with Platinum.
The clothes like Far East plaza kind. Chatuchak clothes are not as nice...like bugis village maybe?
I had claypot Kuay Chap at their Food court on Level 6. Not so fantastic. Their kuay is very interesting de. It's rolled up like a popiah so it can taste rather bland when you bite into it.
Sam's favourite Thai dish- The Pad Thai. I lost count of how many times he had this dish throughout the trip. i think everyday he will eat at least once. haha..
We had Oyster omelette which i didn't take a photo of.
Dessert was chocolate waffles :)
Sam bought a canvas rucksack, which in my opinion was rather cute, haha..
Soon, it was 2.30pm and we walked back to Centara.
Given our room assess cards and do take a look at HOW AWESOME THE ROOM IS! ♥♥♥
Booked the Deluxe room, which was probably bigger than the Superior room?
Super chio right?
I'm super in love with the aquarium-looking bathroom which had a rain shower.
Basin area
Desk area.
I don't like the chair though cos it has protruding metal base stands that i kept kicking into. Damn painful.
We dragged ourselves out before evening to go to the tailor. Sam comes here every year to restock his shirts for work.
Last year, he tailored 5 shirts and 2 pants. This year, another 5 more shirts, a pair of pants and a suit.
i helped him choose the cloth and material together with some recommendation from the tailor.
Love doing it. I think i no design clothes is a waste cos i'm so passionate about it. wahaha...
And Sam totally gave me 101% empowerment in choosing for him. He so look me up lor. Lol...
*Hugs*
Tailor is 'Boss Avenue' at Nana BTS station. (119 Corner of Sukhumvit Soi 7, Sukhumvit Rd., Bangkok 10110)
Thumbs up for their customer service! Workmanship is good too, but sometimes the shirts may have slight inconsistencies though given the same measurement.
A 2-ply cotton shirt costs 1,300 baht (S$50).
A pair of pants costs 1,500 baht (S$57) and a whole suit (blazer and pants) costs 5,000 baht (S$200).
Sam made one suit in Singapore for 400 dollars, so this is like half the price back here.
Total cost at the tailor = 13,000 baht (SGD500)
After that, we walked over to Central World for dinner.
Dinner was at Taling Pling. One of our favourite restaurants in BKK. We had meals at this place twice last year.
Sam had pad-thai as usual (so no photos, haha)
I was craving for Sambal fried rice. The menu has this dish called fried rice with spicy sauce or something, so i assumed it was sambal.
It turned out not to be sambal, so i had this weird tasting dish with uncooked vegetables at the side instead. It was still tasty but probably not to my liking.
We will order this at every Thai restaurant even when in Singapore. Thai fish cake. YUMS!!
How can we not order Tom Yum soup when dining in Thailand?
Dinner was so late. By the time we finished, it was 10 plus almost 11pm and we were dead tired.
Bed was so comfortable we had a well-rested night :)
Missed hotel's breakfast on the second day cos we weren't sure what time the breakfast buffet ends.
Turned out to be from 6:30am to 10:30am, and we were too late by the time we washed up and bathed :(
Headed out to fill our empty stomachs right away.
Sam was saying there's this very famous Wanton mee stall near Platinum mall so we went in search of it.
We failed to find it the day before when we touched down, this time we were determined.
Managed to Google it and found the directions from some blog.
It is actually at Soi 19.
Just right next to Shibuya mall (the side lane nearer McDonald's).
There was a long queue outside and it was drizzling... but fortunately, we didn't need to spend much time queuing. Probably 15 minutes or so and we were quickly ushered in :D
This very stylo-milo man cooking our wanton mee. He looks like he rides a Harley Davidson bike.
Our wanton mee! Very small portion, so if you are really hungry, go for 2 or 3 bowls. If not, add a plate of braised pig trotters rice. SUPER DELICIOUS de.
Wanton mee was nice. Something like our Pontian, but this has fried pork oil cubes that i love!!! Unhealthy but i like, ahha..
The shop has, i think 70% Singaporeans in it, lol....
After lunch, we went to Platinum mall for this!
I had Banana-chocolate crepe (cold), and Sam had the crispy Nutella+banana crepe (hot).
I like this! It has fresh cream which is super fattening as well. But we just kept eating this every time we were at Platinum. Eat until the lady at the crepe stall also recognise us.
I haven open my mouth to order she already say, "Banana and Chocolate?"
hur....
We gotten bermudes and 3 tees from a shop called Portrait on Level 4. This shop sells quite nice and good quality men's casual wear.
Cutting is quite nice. Something like what u can find in our edit. stores. But edit. sells bermudes at $59.90.
Over at Portrait, 2 pieces and above wholesale price is at $18+ each.
We adjourned over to Central World again this time to meet one of our ex-colleagues, F, for an early dinner. He just touched down the night before. It was such an coincidence that we visit bkk at the same time. Actually Sam bumped into a few friends here. haa.. now is a popular season to fly over.
There was a cosplay fiesta at CentralWorld. We were here last year and there was some cosplay event too.
See. Sailormoon(s), haha.. so cute de.
Dinner at an atas seafood restaurant together with F.
Their famous fried fish that was oh-so-good!
F recommended this as well. Salted egg with squid.
We had oyster omelette and sambal morning glory as well. No photos taken.
Delicious :)
After that, F left for the tailor at Boss Avenue, and Sam & i went to have desserts at AfterYou Dessert Café.
This is very popular as well.
I had mud brownie topped with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. SLURP!!
Nutella thick toast with ice-cream for him. This is very yummy as well!
Some breath mints i bought for my colleagues.
Interesting.
The mints has this rubbery outer covering and when you bite into it, the inner core bursts and some very refreshing liquid oozes out, making your breath so fresh. haha
We went to the tailor for Sam's fitting in the evening again.
Made some alterations to the sample shirt, pants as well as the blazer before heading back to the hotel.
There was a Pratunam market near our hotel and we had some cheap buys there, hehe..
i got myself 3 tops for $5+ each! *Happy*
Also personalised a T-shirt for my nephew :) i think the person who inked the alphabets onto the t-shirt is quite amazing. How he can stamp and overlap 2 layers of the ink so nicely on the cloth without misalignment?
And it's darn cheap. 120 baht (SGD 4+)
Customised 2 passport holders, hehe
Nice right? haha...
It looks like this on the inside.
We had something like Roti Prata with banana and chocolate. it's darn oily but tasty, haha
Condensed milk is dripped on it too.
It suddenly started drizzling so we quickened our steps back to the hotel. Thankfully, our hotel was just around the corner at the next lane.
Day 3 :)
Woke up earlier for hotel's breakfast :)
The omelette was really good which is not in this photo, haha... Missed out on the cereal though.
We went shopping at Platinum mall again and met one of Sam's friends, N.
We had ice-cream float at Swensens before heading to the wanton mee stall again. Yums!
This time round, Sam had pig trotters rice. He fed me 2 mouths of it which was darn delicious, heh...
After lunch, we went on separate ways. We were going to Siam Paragon, cos my sis-in-law wanted something from Innit. Some Thai designer shop. You can check out 'innitbangkok' on instagram. They got 20k+ followers haha...
Me on BTS platform with my Naraya bag.
Talking about Naraya, i visited 3 different shops (1 at Central world, 1 at Siam Paragon and 1 at Asiatique).
Sam cannot understand all the hype about Naraya cos he reckons the designs are hideous. And is bewildered by the fact that all Naraya shops are sooooo crowded with tourists snapping the ugly bags up..... but i still wanna buy. Lol
When walking to Siam square, we found this!!!
Mango Tango, haha..
when we came here last year, Mango Tango was at another location. Now, it's in 2 different containers, haha.. One to order your dessert, the other to sit-in and enjoy your mango.
While waiting for our mango desserts..
Love this photo hehe..
Really meh?
I thought mangoes are so heaty. Eat one a day confirm keep going to see doctor de lor.
My mango sago. Not a fan of mangoes, but love sago!
Sam had this. Fresh mango, sticky rice (it was really nice!), mango pudding and a scoop of mango ice-cream :p
After our desserts, we went in search for the shop, Innit.
It is in the middle of Siam Square Soi 2, level 2.
I didn't know their clothes are so expensive, omg.
The top my sis-in-law asked me to buy, i got a similar piece from Platinum mall for only $10 the year before. But this was selling for 2,950 baht (S$115)!
She didn't reply me on whatsapp so we left the shop. But came back to buy it 2 days later since we were around the vicinity, haha..
Sis-in-law says it's handmade or something, thus the price.
But i really don't understand the hype about this innit too, haha.. like how my boyfriend doesn't understand Naraya =/
but i agree that this top is nice. maybe not for the costly price-tag
We went back to the hotel to drop our shopping loot and headed out to Asiatique The Waterfront.
Asiatique is actually a riverside night market.
We took the BTS to Saphan Taksin station before going on a free boat ride across the river.
There isn't much things over at Asiatique. We had some Thai cuisine.
Curried fish cake again!
Sambal stir-fried morning glory (kang kong) again!
Sam's Pad-thai a.g.a.i.n.
I also keep ordering tom-yum soup for almost every meal. but he more jialat. Pad-thai for all meals (if he is not having it, it only means the restaurant doesn't sell it). haha
Tom yum soup
The presentation is just weird.
I was still laughing at the other table who ordered this before us, and i asked Sam whether it's a dish or isst people finish eating the prawns liao throw the shell into the coconut.....until the waitress came over and placed the exact same dish on our table -_-
NARAYA, wahahaha....
Pardon my shagged face. Focus on Naraya's newest limited edition design, the strawberry tote bag i've gotten!
This is the only design Sam said "Pass". It's really cute, haha...
F came to Asiatique and we shopped around the stalls before heading back home on a cab cos it started drizzling again. We bought some tidbits like my favourite Tao Kae Noi Tom Yum Goong seaweed and his Glico Pocky Choco Banana biscuit sticks.
We alighted at Pratunam market. We bought street snacks like Satay and chicken rice together with some beer back for supper.
Sam's favourite satay stall just opposite Amari watergate hotel, which is very near to our hotel as well.
The EXTREMELY delicious chicken rice. 60 baht ($2.30) for the big portion and 40 baht ($1.50) for the small one. SLURP! We had this 2 nights in a row, haha... very unhealthy.
Got 2 keychains for our friends.
Very pretty right?? It is the same stall that we got our passport holders :) i think the girls will love it! Can't wait to pass it to them, hehe..
It then started raining quite heavily and we ran back to our hotel with all our food. YUMMY
Day 4
After breakfast, we went shopping again.
Bought some jerseys, haha... Sam wears them for his weekly soccer games.
i also got one jersey of the football club he's rooting for- Arsenal. Lol.
i know nuts about soccer but boyfriend loves it.
We then went to Platinum to shop again and eat crepe! This time Sam got his work ties as well as my clothes. I got 2 high-waisted skorts, one baseball tee and one pullover. That's about all i got.
Oh yah, i also bought 2 boxer shorts from a roadside stall at $2+ each.
We went back hotel to unload our shopping bags (that's the advantage of staying so near to platinum mall, hehe) and i took this photo in the hotel's bathroom to send to bff, Esther. I ask her want buy Naraya anot, wahaha..
After that, we took the Tuk Tuk to Nana for Sam's second fitting at the tailor. He doesn't understand why i wanna sit the Tuk Tuk when the air so polluted by the congested traffic.
i like.
After fitting, we took the BTS to Chit Lom and walked to Erwan Shrine.
After that, we attempted to walk to Siam. Stopped by Central Embassy. Some very atas mall that sells branded stuff.
Cute gigantic Harrods bear.
Blur de photo but still posting it up. Bear in Scottish tartan skirt.
We ended up taking the BTS to Siam because it was just too far...
We had Mango Tango again and went to Innit again to buy the top for my sis-in-law. Lol..
Lunch was at Somtam (aka. Papaya Salad)
Crispy fried chicken
I wanted to eat fried fish again. I had this last year here too..
As usual, Sam's P_ _-T_ _ _ (fill in the blanks). haha
Somtam. This place is famous for their papaya salad. We ordered the original one with shrimp. But it was spicy and sour. I'm not a fan of unripe papaya / mango.
After dinner, we went walking around Siam centre, paragon (got my Naraya bags again for the 3rd time, haha) and headed back to Nana at night to collect Sam's clothes from the tailor.
The suit which fitted so nicely ^^
The rest of the shirts were good except for one which the tailor didn't sew properly, no choice had to alter and only send via airmail back to Singapore, cos it's our last night here in bkk.
We wanted to go to Chinatown to eat bird's nest but it started pouring :(
So we bought supper, headed back to the hotel to pack our luggage.
Last night liao, must do a shot like this every time. (p.s. I purposely take until the bathroom there cos i wanna remind u again that the shower area is mad love! Must show-off! haha)
Close up of my loot... (actually not much)
and Sam's
Day 5
We woke early at 7am cos we wanted to go Chinatown to buy some local food produce.
After breakfast, we took some photos at the outdoor seating area cos it's our last day. Don't take no more chance liao..
♥♥♥
Time to go Chinatown!
It was quite hard to get cab drivers who were willing to go by meter. If we met those honest drivers who were okay to charge by the meter, we usually gave them more $ to show our appreciation.
We wanted to come back to freshen up before check out cos our flight was at 8.05pm. We requested for late check out at 1pm :)
After we checked out of Centara, it was last minute shopping again. I bought one ah-ma top from the street shops for my grandma :)
We went back Platinum mall. Hahaha.. keep going platinum mall.. and yup, we had Crepe again. omg.... we kept eating fattening food. Go back Singapore must diet liao..
Sam got 3 more tees and i got another 2 more skorts.
Also got these japanese Le Sucre stuffed bunnies, hehe... Singapore sell very expensive lor...
Last year, i missed buying them. This year, i'm gonna get them. You need to buy 3 in order to get them at wholesale prices.
Wholesale price also not cheap lor. Usual price was $15 each, wholesale price is $9.50 for the big one and $7 for the smaller one. I gave the small one to Sam despite how reluctant he was. haha...
i also dunno i buy these for what. But they certainly can remind me of our AWESOME bangkok trip!! :)
Yeah. That's all.
I've spent 9 hours blogging. haha.. Well done.
back to work tomorrow. darn it.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)