Monday 23 September 2013

Guide to BANGKOK and random updates

Posted by Unknown at 01:20 1 comments
Hi guys! I know it's been a long time since I've last posted. Work got busy all of a sudden, had friends visiting, went to Bangkok, and after that, my grandma fell ill for the last month or so, so my time was divided between work and the hospital. My dear grandma peacefully passed away last week, and it has been a trying week, and I thank all my friends and family for their support during this time. I wrote an ode to my grandma on my personal blog, so if you are interested (or are my sister or family), you can check it out on my blog. Didn't want to sound all emotional and sad on this post. Anyhow, I'm feeling better now, so I thought I'd blog about Bangkok before it's nothing but a distant memory.

This was my first time to Bangkok (I know, ridiculous at the age of 30), so I had been researching on places to go when I was there. Luckily, I had the pleasure of having the best, nicest, most easy going travel mate, Diane, so it was a really fun, relaxing trip. I did try to find some places with the best food and everything, and this is my account, but to be honest, I have to say that Bangkok is one of those places that the best food is found in small food stalls outside malls and along roads, instead of high-end expensive restaurants. Of course, I'm talking about traditional Thai food. If gourmet food is your goal, this is not one of those trips. 

I asked a dozen of friends what to do in Bangkok. I pretty much only hear four answers. Eat. Shop. Massage. Club. That's pretty much it. It's amazing how my sister, who has probably been to Bangkok like 20 times, still stuck to the same routine everytime she goes! I guess once you find something you like, you stick to it. 

Places to go visit and shop:

1) GRAND PALACE

We stayed at the Novotel above Platinum mall, so the grand palace was a 30 min taxi ride away in traffic. It was totally worth it though, even though the entrance fee was something like USD15 bucks. It is just so spectacular. 

And everything was so sparkly! I love shiny things!




Inside this temple is the Emerald Buddha, which is a jade statue of Buddha. You might ask, why not the Jade Buddha? Apparently legend has it that it is such a deep hue of green that it was mistaken for emerald at the first glance. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but I assure you that it is worth a look.  

Cam-whoring in front of the temple.



The whole estate was HUGE, and we took a few hours to go through everything. Everything was so intricate and elaborate and beautiful! Apparently, this palace was built by the royal prince for his parents, to show his fillial piety or something. Man, I wish I was a Thai princess! 

Anyway, I know all these facts about the palace by snucking behind chinese tour groups, and pretending I don't understand Chinese (Diane was good to be the decoy partner in this case. Hehe.).

2) ASIATIQUE:

This is currently the newest "night market" in Bangkok, and I put the quotation marks because it is more like a night time open-air mall more than the traditional night market. There is a high amusement park on one end, and loads of high end to moderate restaurants on the other side, and in the center, a gazillion tiny shops to shop in. 

The cool thing is that you get to this market via a ferry, and it takes 30 minutes to get there. You can see the mall from the ferry, and it looks pretty romantic at night, a bright jewel in the middle of darkness.
                                     
I would recommend this place for families or couples, since it has a romantic, magical vibe to it. We thought it was pretty cool, but I wouldn't go back there. Not enough good for value shopping, plus no local cheap fare. Hehe.

Funny sign pointed out by Diane. 

3) CABBAGES and CONDOMS

This is a restaurant that serves traditional Thai fare with the notion of promoting safe sex. The creator of this popular restaurant believed that condoms should be as common as cabbages in the market. 



They have condom costumes all around, and around the restaurant, you can find an exhibition of condoms from all around the world! I wasn't too blown away by the food, but I thought it was an interesting place to check out. Cool place to go if you want to check out the sexy side of Thailand but not to the extent of going to ping pong shows ;)

4) FOOD: 

Of course, this was the main focus of my trip right. So, after researching on food, I realized that the best food are the ones I just stumbled across on the street.

Like this. Looks delicious? It was just like 50 cents, if even that. It is a tasty sausage with glutinous rice stuffed in it. Contrary to popular belief, the food stalls weren't that dirty. I didn't get any stomach discomfort. I guess you just have to pick the clean looking ones.
This tom yam soup with rice was our first dish of the trip, and it was really good. Spicy, with really tender fresh seafood. Courtesy of a food stall outside the mall next to Platinum Mall.


Surf and turf cafe:

I had this basil pork in this dusty looking cafe and Diane had a green curry, and it turned out to be one of the best meals of our trip! The pork was quite spicy, and tangy sweet, and the basil was soooooo fresh.

Platinum Mall Food Court Chives Dumpling stall:


Looking at these emerald chives dumplings, I can't help but salivate once again. These are the BEST chives dumplings I have EVER eaten, and they were so goddamn cheap! And they come in this sweet spicy soy sauce. Mmmm! I ate 20 of them within a 6 hr time frame. Took 8 to go for the airport and ate them up before my flight. Amazing........slurp. Just go to the top floor of Platinum mall, and this is part of the food court. Super awesome.

Thong Lo (Soi 38) Market:

This came up as one of the top food markets. I have to say that upon reaching, I was a little disappointed because it wasn't as big or bustling as I had hoped. Regardless, it was fun just eating there and experiencing the culture.


I had pretty amazing stir fried noodles from a stall where an old uncle is just stir frying noodles in this gigantic wok.

Thip Samai

This was recommended by Luyi to be the BEST pad thai in Bangkok, and it was really good! Apparently, the prime minister who coined the dish "Pad Thai" thought it was the best Pad Thai in Bangkok as well.  

 We got there just on the dot of 5 when they opened. It was almost immediately filled by 530pm!



The noodles were sticky and chewy and a tad on the sweet side, but it was in all, a really solid dish.

5) SHOPPING:


 A) Platinum mall: Divided into two wings, the right one being the cheaper older side, and the left being the more atas side. I spent most of my time on the cheaper side, and came up with a couple of nice $6 dresses. It is quite cluttered and full of small shops, so if that's not your kind of thing, don't bother.

B) Terminal 21: I like this mall. Even though the shops are typically small Bangkok style, they did a good job of spacing the shops up. And I like the idea of them naming every level a different country, and the whole mall is a big airport sorta. The shops here are more upscale than Platinum Mall, and I LOVE the accessories they sell! I bought like 6 pairs of earrings, and they were of such great quality and only like 6-12 bucks!



One of the pairs of earrings. 

6) CLUBBING:

We went to Falla Bella only. It was fun, but only if you 1) like really tasty kebab sticks of bbq meat 2) like Mink 3) like thai live bands. We had a great time only because the bartender was sooooooo nice! :D




Us looking pretty for the cam!


The best bartender EVER. We bought a couple of shots and talked a bit and he was super nice! Came up with a series of burning/ flaming shots for the rest of the night....


It was a crazy night, I think we might have had all kinds of alcohol all in one night. Absinthe, champagne, vodka, tequila, rum, whisky etc. Thinking about it still makes my stomach lurch a little.

This shot is called Monkey brain, and it was indeed the shot that did us in. Order at your own risk!

One of our last drinks that night.....

GENERAL TIPS IN BANGKOK:

1) Do not take the tuk tuk when there's heavy traffic unless you are going like 5 blocks. We were stuck in traffic for like 40 min and we were dying from the exhaust fumes.

2) Always haggle with the tuk tuk or taxi drivers if they ask for a flat fee. You should first insist on the meter. If they want to stick to a flat rate, then you haggle. Always go like 50% of what they ask, and settle at 70%.

3) If you want to be part of the local thai atas crowd, go to Falla Bella. If you want to meet other international travellers who actually dance, and drink, go to RCA. Trust me.

4) If your taxi driver asks if you would like to go on some sightseeing tour or some river boat thing, say NO. They usually take commission and drive you to their partner tour vendors, and it is quite the scam.


I fell in love with Basil Pork so much that I decided to try to cook my own. It's really a ridiculously easy dish to cook!



Ingredients:
String beans
Baby corn
cherry tomatoes
Chilli padi
Basil Leaves
Pork

1) First, fry the chilli padi in oil. Be careful about the amount you put it, go according to your own spice levels. 

2) Add in pork, add fish sauce and sugar to season. Add the rest of the veggies except for the basil leaves. Add basil leaves 5 minutes before you are done (otherwise they shrivel).


 And tadaa there you have it.

I am going to end today's post with my baby pictures. Came across them while looking at old pictures at the wake.....

My sister says I was super "act-cute". Ha.


And this post is in loving memory of my dear grandma.



 This was the ONLY picture I could find of her smiling. She's a cool one. Rest in heaven Grandma.


















Sunday 25 August 2013

Clio Gelpresso Waterproof Pencil Gel Liner Swatch + review

Posted by Unknown at 06:29 0 comments
I am in love with the Korean brand CLIO professional because they do the best makeup, of all that I have tried so far I love their eyeliners best. Today, I will be doing swatches of  CLIO Gelpresso Waterproof Pencil gel liner plus letting you guys know how they wear.




Sunday 11 August 2013

Marvin Lee, for Augustman!

Posted by Unknown at 19:29 0 comments
Time flies! It's already August, and this month, we are interested in the Augustman "A-listers" competition!

If you don't already know about the Augustman magazine, it is a luxury men's magazine based in Singapore and had many celebrities like Ken Watanabe and Anthony Bourdain grace the covers before. Since the name of the magazine IS augustman, they hold a competition in August where they scour the streets for the most eligible bachelors and pick the best of the best!

This year, they managed to sink their paws on one of our fellow scholar friends Marvin Lee. We are lunch buddies and he is my BGF (best guy friend), so I decided to promote him a little today!

Marvin had a prestigious educational background, being schooled in Hwa Chong JC, and Imperial for undergrad and Oxford for his Ph.D. You can read more about his aspirations at the link below, but I don't want to bore you with boring questions today! 

So, I asked him a few fun questions, and it is my hope that you can see what a fun guy he is! He is always thoughtful and sensitive, and humorous as well, and I think he IS the most eligible bachelor in Singapore. And if you think so too, or like what you see and read, please vote for him at the link below. I know he will appreciate every single vote! 



Etude House dual show volume mascara review + random life updates

Posted by Unknown at 08:22 0 comments
Hi Guys,

So so so so sorry for being MIA life has been too hectic! I swear I will be updating quite a bit because I have lots and lots of things to share with you guys, so please don't leave and keep reading us at foreveerr29.blogspot.sg.

I came back from Korea a week and a half ago, just to give you guys an idea of what kind of beauty reviews to expect, this is how much stuff I purchased from Korea:



plus all the samples kindly given to me by the sales assistants, rest assure you will be getting Korean beauty products review galore. :)

The first beauty product I want to share with everyone today is a mascara from Etude house called the Dual Show Volume Mascara.

Wednesday 24 July 2013

Why you should trim your guy's eyebrows. Or...guys, trim your eyebrows!

Posted by Unknown at 00:09 0 comments
Hi guys,

I know, it's been like an eternity since I have last written. I blame it on the two almost back-to-back trips in the last two months mostly, but I have also been kinda lazy since I got back last week. Hehe. Anywho, Nicole is out of town having fun in Seoul, probably wearing her "Sunny in Seoul" lipstick and whatnots, so I'm here to hold the fort while she is gone!

Today I'm not going to talk about my usual food. Okay, maybe just partially, but the focus of this blog entry is to tell you ladies out there: Trim your guy's bush....y eyebrows! Especially worth it for girls with super low-maintenance boyfriends. Girls can enhance their looks with make-up, but for guys, there's really limited options. A new wardrobe is too much money (Guy's clothes are so much more than girls, I guess they charge by yard of cloth, but still!), and guys can't really wear make-up (not unless you are korean or japanese anyway...).

So, try it! It's really not that hard.

I started experimenting on Wenqi's beau Michael by luring them to my lair with home-cooked brunch one weekend, and I really have to say that I am quite impressed by my handiwork. Hehe.

 Unsuspecting couple. Mwahahhahaha.


 

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