Bangkok, Thailand - 2012.

First day upon reaching, we headed to Chatuchak market which is a place where they always sells cheap  and reasonably priced goods and a heaven for affordable food :D went there to shop for a bit since its the weekend and Chatuchak only opens during the weekend, managed to try the unique foods available there aka that's the pink color pressured ice-cream from Japan, but its also available in Singapore since I saw it there :). It pops out the moment you cut the tube and it keeps flowing out non-stop until you see a small plastic tube inside; and the sweet potato balls was so tangy I love em' so much. I did not enjoy the white color coconut dessert as the taste of the coconut , very really different. More like a roast coconut dessert and imagine how weird the taste would be as coconut is supposed to be all sweet and milky but adding a roast burnt taste to it is totally, killing it. 


As for dinner, we researched on the internet that one of the best place that offers good authentic Thailand food is Cabbages & ; Condoms. I know as cliche as it can be for its name, this place actually offers really awesome and authentic thai food compared to those I've tried before. This place was built because it supposed to be a restaurant which serves food with a motive of educating the younger generations of practicing safe sex thus they actually sells various sex related souvenirs and also offering condoms instead of mints to the guests. They even have human size figurines all around this place with condoms covering them as added presentation. Oh, totally must try out their food here, especially the Grilled Pork Neck was our favorite among the rest. Price wise, it is quite reasonable for a restaurant. Highly recommended place to be and I will always go back there if I have the chance to someday.


On the second day, we headed to the Southern bus terminal to explore the floating market in Thailand. The most famous floating market which is the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market was a merely 2.5 hours journey away from Bangkok city itself. The ticket costs us approximately RM20 (200 baht) per person both ways.


Upon reaching Damnoen Saduak, the bus driver dropped us off at a place where you can charter a boat to explore the floating market. We paid about RM80 for 2 person (800 baht) as we chartered the entire boat to ourselves for about an hour after bargaining. The price was higher but it is advisable to bargain as much as you can and be there as early as 9am to get to explore the place at its best as anything later than that will delay your journey as there will be more boats and jams along the river. Well, what we experienced there was basically seeing people selling fruits and clothes on board the little small boats and tasting food but some things here are overpriced as it is a tourist visiting area, thus always remember to bargain each time you want to purchase anything- even food items! Oh, you can also pay in RM if you ran out of thai baht because their money changer is really limited.  I love how colorful everything is over there, totally an eye opening experience and we tried the fish noodle and the famous glutinous rice and mango. I really enjoyed eating the mini sized coconut pancake served on a banana boat leaf, and it was cheap! RM 2 (20 baht) for 8 pieces :D and saddest and yet funny thing was we ran out of cash by the time we needed to pay for a bowl of RM 5 (50 baht) noodle just because we did not change and expect to use so much more thus we got freaked out for a little bit there until we found the money changers, and luckily a bank at such remote area :D never imagine that we can be that broke during the second day of our trip but nevertheless that's what  makes this trip more fun and memorable.

We took so much of the public transports available there that I think we actually took every single transport available there in just four days. Since we headed to Damnoen Saduak earlier in the day for a half day visit, we came back to exploring the street markets nearby our hotel by the road side which sell delicious yet super cheap food for our dinner. Our favorite got to be the bird egg and soy sauce pancake roll  which was only RM2 (20 baht) for about 6 pieces. As an additional things, we got pork legs and some vegetables and other stuffs from the food stalls that cost us only about RM10 (100 baht). Unbelievable. 


Later in the evening, we walked merely 5 minutes to a nearby mall which has a unique theme - Haunted Mansion 7. Actually this place was newly opened, and a disappointment to me because I was hoping for it to be a huge shopping mall but it was actually just a factory size mall with a haunted house and some arcade games, restaurants with few clothes boutiques in it. However, since the theme made it unique and special so we end up taking lots of haunted scary pictures and no, we did not went into the haunted house because I was a chicken  girl with no guts :D the boyfriend thought we should head to the pub and get us some alcohol drinks and by then I will be daring enough to go in but heck no, I was still the same before drinking and then we left. Oh well, teehee.

The very next day, we headed to the Sai Tai Mai bus terminal and purchased our ticket to Hua Hin. Interestingly, our cab driver dropped us off at the wrong bus terminal and we end up paying extra cab fare to get to the right bus terminal. It got our mood really down because it was annoying how the people there doesn't understand English.  We went to the nearest 7-11 and bought our breakfast to be consume during the trip. Those croissants and puffs are fresh and relatively cheap we had like 4 pieces each. Our bus moved around 9am and we reached Hua Hin after a 3.5 hours ride. This time, we were really lucky because we do not know where the bus will stop so I was just keeping an eye all the time on our whereabouts while the boyfriend was asleep. At one point, I woke up and was looking coincidentally at the place we wanted to visit and immediately we alight. We visited Plearnwan, which was located just right beside the opposite road .

Plearnwan is a place with an old vintage theme to it. What a good place to relive the old times.It's like a small shopping areas featuring lots of vintage items and of course in a unique setting. Seeing shops that sells old vintage items mixed with the relatively modern items,  and the things there instantly brings us back to the fond memories as a little kid buying cheap snacks from the little van who visits our neighborhood, and also having stalls that sells candies and bubble pop bottles and more; we couldn't help but was so amazed that some things still exists since our childhood and being sold there.

Food was unique but not exactly reasonable. It is a tourist place after all. We had fish noodles that costs RM5 (50 baht) and the round rice ball thingy that is not-so-nice and I loved that blue and transparent white wrapped up dim sum kinda thing, don't know what they called it in Thailand but its filling was the sweet peanut sauce which was to die for and it only costs RM2 (20 baht)! They had this little ferries wheel that we thought we could sit on but it was closed since forever. Oh, and if you're looking for souvenirs this place offers a variety of unique souvenirs such as the dried / fried chili items like the soft shell baby crabs that we bought or sweet items like coconut candies that tasted like candle wax to me :/

Later in the evening, we were supposed to get a ride back to Bangkok. So we waited by the road side to get a tuk tuk because there were no cabs to the bus station and we couldn't get any until we walked for about 10 minutes to a place where there is a police guarding some house and sought help. He flagged us a tuk tuk within minutes and managed to ask the driver to drop us at the bus station. The bus station is actually an old shop which has only a counter for selling tickets and a few rows of chairs to sit. It's kinda creepy if you ask me but at this point, we totally bought it seeing its a small town , what to expect? I forgot how much was the tickets but I know we ran out of cash as we overspent at Hua Hin buying souvenirs and food tasting again :p  had to wait till about 8pm till the money changer reopens. Again reminder; keeping to your budget is important! Since we had like 2 hours to spare while waiting for the money changer to reopen, we end up exploring what Hua Hin night market has to offer. It was like a night market selling what Chatuchak sells, at a higher price as it is a tourist destination after all. Had awesome dinner at one of the shops there, very hearty authentic thai meal yet again, it was really cheap and delicious. I finally get to try out my Nutella crepe cake which I wanted to try out since earlier of this year when I was in France but didn't get to because I got freaked out when the person before me's crepe cake got burnt right in front of our eyes , and I don't trust them to make my crepe cake anymore. However, this did not disappoint at all,  tasted fan-ta-bu-lous and it only costs RM3.50 (350 baht)!

There's the handmade heart shape lollipop and the handmade wooden key-chain the boyfriend got us as a souvenir for ourselves from Hua Hin. He got me the bubble pop thingy too so I can blow bubbles, just like a kid again ;D

On the last day, we signed up for tours visit to various temples around Bangkok city. Our driver came to the hotel and fetched us to the first temple we went to which was the Wat Traimit Wittayaram, and met up with our tour guide. I couldn't recall her name. She was a friendly lady, quite talkative and a very curious type of person, but she was very informative.Wat Traimit Wittayaram attracts tourists because of its Golden Buddha which is the largest golden Buddha image in the world and it was made with pure gold weighing 5 tonnes!  She took us to Wat Pho which is the largest temple in Bangkok to witness the famed gold plated reclining Buddha measured 46 meters long and covered in gold leaf. Another uniqueness of the Buddha is that its legs are made of mother of pearls. Really unique and interesting to look at it just right in front of your eyes. Did a little donation as we are grateful for the things we have and how smoothly our holidays end up at the temple where the boyfriend bought me a bowl of coins and asked me to toss it into the stretch long of bowls along our way and recite what I'm thankful for. It was fun. There was this 12 animals donation box too, and we don't know what is it for but we donated to our animal sign anyways - the Snake.

Sennheiser - Early Christmas :D

Look what came in today :)

an early Christmas present from the Boyfriend :D

According to him,

he has been wanting to get me one since forever because the Apple earphone I used previously has no mic,

and it absorbs all the noisy background sound so its kinda annoying.

It got me wondered how he stand the noise all these while. 

I can't even stand annoying sound more than 2 seconds.

Oh well :)

we both are happy after trying it out this afternoon through all the annoying updates from my parts,

finally it works well and improved the sound quality :D

thankyousomuch! :)

xx 

On a totally unrelated note,

revamped my blog with a simple layout and banner today.

Determined to start blogging again but perhaps not too soon,

we shall see.

Till Then.

Forlino Restaurant Sunday Brunch @ One Fullerton, Singapore

That Sunday morning was a lovely laid-back Sunday and also the day we bid each other adios. Just perfect to how I would want to spend my weekends, just chilling and relaxing even if it meant just doing something simple. Bryan and I had breakfast at Burger King. No idea why we had burger king that morning, but just merely after 1 hour of burger king we had brunch at Forlino with my sister and Alan. Imagine how much we both can eat!

Forlino is a classic Italian fine dining restaurant that is located at One Fullerton, or better known as the Fullerton Hotel Building just across Marina Bay Sands which has the most awesome-st view of the iconic Esplanade building, Singapore City Center and of course the Singapore Flyer. 

The Forlino restaurant seats only 80 persons and it's chef Patron Mario Caramella is the pioneer to his signature style of cuisine which combines classical Italian flavors and ingredients with contemporary presentations and modern cooking techniques. He focuses on bringing the  "timeless" appeal of his homeland cooking to the world.  - by means food that undergone intense preparation and of highest quality and to be partaken only on special occasions as an integral to a memorable meal.

Indeed, the food did not disappoint at all. 

First to serve on the table was, 

this bread on our side plate.

I love how the texture looked like, golden and crispy yet fresh, bread.

next came our main courses , which consists of 

 Pan Roasted Halibut Filet with Fennel and Citrus Sauce

I had this and to me the first impression when I looked at it its just like a piece of salted fish being served on my platter but do not let it underestimate its specialty. The Halibut Filet was pan roasted until it has the texture of golden yellow crisp and yet the flesh was still soft and easy in the mouth.

Crisp Duck Leg with Caramelized Shallots and Marsala Wine Sauce

Had bites of the Crisp Duck Leg and the meat was unimaginably soft and tender its so easy to eat and of course the sauce matches the duck leg perfectly as wine sauce are always a good match to meat items.

Wagyu Beef Cheek with Red Wine and Aromatic Potato Mash

Among all the main course, I would highlight the Wagyu beef and reckon is it the best among all that we ordered. Bryan gave me pieces of it and it was our first time having it and I seriously had not idea how tender was a wagyu beef until I got to try it myself and now I truly understand why cows are treated so well just so they are able to produce super tender yet juicy meat. Not to mention, how the marble fats doesn't even give you the goo-ey feeling when you chew it. Now I understand why people would pay such a high price just for such a small piece of this heavenly meat to be serve on their platter.

For desserts, we had their signature dessert which is the 

Molten Lava Chocolate Cake with Banana Gelato and Rum Sauce

I cannot help it with I see the chocolate melts out of its shell like a lava and quickly put it into my mouth as I felt the warm chocolate melting on my tongue. To mix with the Banana Gelato which tasted like vanilla and the rum sauce just explains why this is their signature dessert.

Chiacchiere was served with coffee and tea after that :)

That's us with our happy-filled-tummy smile.

Until Then.

Largest Observation Wheel - The Singapore Flyer, Singapore

Bryan came down for just a short visit/transit last Saturday. That night we headed to the largest observation wheel in the world - The Singapore Flyer , seriously it is bigger than the London Eye. The view up there was superb breathtaking. Tickets can be purchased online or via the booth counter available there and opt to print it yourself or collect it there. It costs $29.50 per person and we were given a $16 food voucher to use at the food court "Food Trail", thus we decided to just have dinner there after our ride . Since we went up around 9pm, the queue was considered short :/ and the ride took us 30 minutes for a complete circle. The nearest MRT station to get there would be Promenade which is at the yellow line and then you'll have to exit at exit A.

The tickets.

Pictures taken before the flight.

Few pictures taken during the flight.

The view was superbly amazing, and of course the experience of being up there was so different compared to being on the Eye of Malaysia. The observation wheel was more solid build and no one should be afraid of getting up there because its very safe :P ( exception unless if you're afraid of heights teehee). I remembered feeling a little scared going up on the Eye of Malaysia but not this :S

Food Trail's Sugar Cane with Sliced Lemon drink, Fried Oyster Omelette, and Bak Kut Teh. Well, basically this place has a lot of local Chinese foods and it has the theme of the 1920's ambiance to it. Perfect for people who loves to reminisce back to things in the past.  Though it's a bit pricier but that just cause its a tourist attraction area. 

Till Then (:

1 year and 1 month.

and still counting (:

seeing him tomorrow after 3 months (:

*current mood : listening to helium hearts, after shower. had apple for dessert and now contemplating if I should watch another movie.

caught Friends with Benefits ft J.Timberlake and Mila Kunis. Love it.

Till Then.