Bangkok – Visit Many Countries in ONE DAY! (7 September 2022)

Our Youtube Channel
Breakfast buffet, Holiday Inn

Breakfast buffet at Hotel Inn again. It’s chicken porridge and I just had to try it. I conclude I prefer their prawn porridge more. I tried their plain butter croissant but didn’t like it as it wasn’t crispy. It’s more like a soggy croissant which makes it difficult to chew. Their pain au chocolat tastes better though the pastry was kind of soggy too. Wished they could help toast a little to make it even more perfect.

San Fransico, the highest level in the mall

Took BTS to Terminal 21, a themed shopping mall. Each level is a different country and you’ll get to be whisked away whenever you step onto an escalator either going up or down. It’s a very interesting shopping mall which kind of made me look forward to which country I would be “visiting”. It’s a very Instagram-worthy mall, very suitable for those social influencers to visit.

We were looking for some bath bombs since the day we arrived because our hotel room has a bathtub, perfect for soaking in. But sadly, we didn’t manage to find any since we arrived. All we could find was bath salt from the nearest mall and it wasn’t cheap. Thankfully, there are a few shops at Terminal 21 that sells bath bombs. And we bought them from Khas as they were having some promotion, buy 2 get 1 free. Though it will be our last night in Holiday Inn, at least we managed to get the bath bomb and enjoy a relaxing soak before we checkout the next day.

Boardgames

As we slowly head down towards the basement, we came across a board game event happening at the mall. Boardgames were on sale too but most of them are in Thai, making it difficult for us tourists to purchase though the price was tempting. Dear took a while to explore the area as she was communicating with her closest friend who is keen on board games as well. Since I have no interest, I got distracted by the nearby store that was selling donuts. No, I didn’t buy any because I managed to resist the temptations.

Ikan Bilis

Since we were still early for our lunch reservation, we continued shopping at the supermarket. Saw a packet of flavored Ikan Bilis that looked nice and decided to buy it. It was amazingly yummy and thankful that I managed to buy the last packet off the shelf.

Took a bus ride to our next destination which was around 3 bus stops away. You don’t pay the fare to the bus driver, instead, you take a seat after you board the bus, and a bus conductor will approach you. We asked how much will it cost to get to our destination, paid the fare, and were given the bus tickets. Both the bus driver and bus conductor were helpful to us as they both informed us when it was about time to alight.

Niku Sho

We walked towards Niku Sho from the bus stop, a place where Dear made a lunch reservation. Dear’s mum and sister recommended it and so we’re here. It was a Japanese BBQ restaurant. We were taken to a private room for our meal even if it was just the two of us. After looking through the menu, we ordered what we wanted and what Dear’s family recommended we try.

The garlic fried rice was one of the dishes Dear’s sister said to order. It’s not on the menu and we had to ask to make sure it’s available. It came in a hot plate kind of bowl and the staff helped you to stir and mix the rice well right in front of you before serving it to you. I didn’t enjoy it as I find the rice was too mushy for my liking. The taste was alright but not fantastic. I’ve had nicer garlic fried rice, so to me, this was just average. Their beef don was good though and I’m impressed. Weirdly, the rice wasn’t as mushy as the garlic-fried rice. The portion was a little too much, but thankfully I’m sharing it with Dear.

Ordered some meat for the bbq. It wasn’t fantastic, especially the marinate. I personally think the Yakiniku Go that we usually frequent in Singapore is so much nicer, even the quality of the meat. Then we had the beef shashimi which Dear’s mother and brother-in-law were raving about. I didn’t find any wow factor it in and didn’t really enjoy it. At the end of the meal, Dear said she spoilt us with nicer food and this was just average for us despite the good reviews. Oops.

Since we had the energy and were a few BTS stations away from On Nut, Dear decided to head over to the lotus supermarket. We love grocery shopping and when there’s an opportunity, we wouldn’t say no even when we’re overseas. I’m not sure if it’s just me, but I feel that the lighting at Lotus was very bright! It was a nice change of grocery shopping as most people visiting Thailand would want to visit Big C which made it a little too crowded.

After Lotus, we head back to the hotel for a rest before dinner. Dear decided to bring me to Jodd Fairs as it’s a newly opened night market. It was crowded and the majority of the stalls there sells food. The weather wasn’t kind to us as it started to rain when we just got there. No shelter and seats were available, so we decided to order takeaway and return to the hotel for a meal.

Our dinner from Jodd Fairs

We might have overbought our dinner. There’s rice, noodle, baked potato, beef skewers, Taiwanese pancakes, and mango sticky rice. It was a nice spread of dinner, and we both were full at the end of it. We love almost all the food we’ve ordered, and we’re quite surprised by the Taiwanese pancakes.

Taiwanese pancake – custard boba

There’s this particular flavor, custard boba that I ordered. It’s mainly for Dear as she loves custard, and I didn’t think much of the boba. But there’s actually a boba pearl in it! It’s chewy and it goes well with the custard. Quite an interesting flavor and I would highly recommend you get it when visiting Jodd Fairs.

Bangkok – The Holiday Begins (5 September 2022)

Our Youtube Channel

I have no idea where we’ll be staying on this trip or what time our flight is. I used to panic and kept checking on the details to make sure we didn’t leave out anything. Maybe it’s because we haven’t traveled for two years due to the pandemic, I am kind of lost on what to expect. Thankfully, Dear took care of most of it, and I just followed along.

Got up at 5 am as our flight was at 8:20 am. Prepared and check on what to bring before we leave home. I booked a grab car and am amazed at how smooth and fast the ride was. We arrived at the airport earlier than expected. Checking in our luggage was a breeze without any delay. It’s an automated self-service kiosk now for Scoot. Or at least that’s what I know.

Once we entered the immigration checkpoint, we headed to Killiney for coffee and breakfast. It had a long queue as the other stalls around it weren’t open yet. Dear was disappointed that her eggs were cold, her kopi c kosong was lukewarm. My kopi o kosong was hot so I didn’t have any issues with my coffee.

Luggage zip that looks like darts.

Head off to our boarding gate after breakfast. Toilet break and empty our bottles before entering. We had a small piece of luggage to carry with us. As we went through the security check, they asked if we brought darts. Clueless, we opened our luggage to check what item of ours that looks like darts on their screen. After scanning our luggage again, all of us realised it was the zips on the luggage. It was a funny moment for us and the security officers. Mystery solved.

Dear’s seat on the plane got exchanged as someone was already there. He explained that his seat was taken so he took the next empty seat he saw. And since my row got another empty seat, we took it. The air stewardess knows about it so we’re all good. Got me a window seat and managed to video take-off and landing for my travel video.

Arrived in Bangkok ahead of schedule according to the pilot. The airport’s aircon was cold and we didn’t bring a jacket. So we shiver and head out to the immigration checkpoint. Went up to level 4 in search of Klook’s counter to collect our Thailand sim card and off we go! But first, brunch at the airport’s Macdonald’s.

First meal in Bangkok, Thailand

I couldn’t decide what I want and asked Dear to surprise me. And yes, my pork samurai burger was good! Dear enjoyed her truffle burger but I didn’t. Not a fan of truffles, the smell and taste are too strong for me. It’s just like how some couldn’t stand the smell and taste of durian. We had youtiao dipped in condensed milk as dessert and it was surprisingly good! Recommended if you visit the land of smiles, go try the youtiao!

Token as MRT train ticket

In Bangkok, they have MRT and BTS. It is like our MRT and LRT, same same but different. Head off to their MRT station at the airport, used their ticket machine to purchase our tickets. Apparently, the amount we put in didn’t reflect on the screen and it cheated us some money. However, the staff that helped us didn’t understand English and we couldn’t really communicate so we decided to just let it go. The journey to the hotel required us to change from MRT to BTS. It’s quite convenient in my opinion and fast. I guess taking the train is much faster in Bangkok if you want to beat the horrendous traffic, especially when we arrived in the morning where most locals are heading off to work.

Holiday Inn Bangkok

We will be staying at Holiday Inn which is right next to Chit Lom BTS station. It is also within walking distance to Big C and Central World. It’s a very good location if you want a more central area for your shopping needs. We forgot to bring our credit cards, but thankfully they allowed us to put a 1000baht deposit in cash. When we arrived, our room wasn’t ready yet and so we left our luggage with them and head out for quick shopping.

Karun tea comes in a nice paper bag

We stopped by Gaysorn Village which is just next to Holiday Inn to buy us Thai tea that my sister-in-law recommended. It’s called Karun and it’s located at level 2. You get to choose how sweet you want your tea to be. It is already pre-brewed and bottled. But the option for sweetness is, 100%, less sweet and not sweet. We bought two bottles of less sweet, a milk tea and a red tea to try.

Visited Big C and of course, it’s filled with humans! Tourists are busy buying goodies in bulk to bring home, either for their own consumption or to distribute to colleagues and friends. They do prepare masking tapes and scissors to pack in carton boxes that were provided near the cashier. We did buy a few stuff for our own consumption while we were in the country. Queues were extremely long and it does really test your patience and endurance for the legs.

The tea comes in glass bottles.

At 3 pm, we started to make our way back and check into our room. Finally, get to rest after all the traveling and walking. Drank the tea we bought from Karun and we think it was nice. Personally prefers milk tea more than red tea. Sweetness-wise is just right for their less sweet version. But if you are someone that has a sweet tooth, you can try their 100% sweetness and let us know how they taste.

We decided to head towards Central World for dinner. It is within walking distance from Holiday Inn! The best way to get across without crossing their road is to head up to the BTS station and use their overhead bridge/walkway. It will take you directly to Central World. Crossing their road with heavy traffic requires courage. It can get scary!

Dinner at Somtamnua

Dear decided to have dinner at Somtamnua, located at Central World level 3. Ordered a few dishes that were highly recommended online after reading the reviews. I think the food is good but a bit on the high side for Thai food as it’s located in a mall. The staff doesn’t know English, so communication can be difficult for us.

While walking around Central World after dinner, we came across Uniqlo and decided to enter and have a look at their jackets. We didn’t bring our jackets as we planned to get ourselves new ones. I let Dear choose as I know I can only shop in the kids’ section. Somehow, the adult jackets were a little too big for Dear and we both ended up getting our jackets in the kids’ section instead. After trying out the different colours available, we both decided to get the same coloured jackets. Finally a better fitting jackets for us.

I’ve been having craving for mango sticky rice and Dear decided to bring me to another place for dessert. Mr. Mango Tango is located about 900m away from Central World. Although it’s a 900m walk, we were tired from all the walking. The path wasn’t even which makes walking a little tiring. We’re spoilt by the nice pathway that Singapore has. Thankful for what our government did to make life easier for us.

The dessert was amazingly delicious. We ordered a plate to share which consist of fresh mango, sticky rice, mango pudding, and mango ice cream. Basically, everything mango. It was good! The ambiance of the store makes it enjoyable to have our dessert. Craving is definitely satisfied. Mango sticky rice has always been my favourite Thai dessert and a must-have when we’re in Thailand.

After dessert, we head back to our hotel and called it a day. Although it was tiring from all the traveling since our flight, it was an enjoyable first day of the holiday since the pandemic. A long waited holiday that we both definitely needed to get recharged physically and mentally.

More blog entries about our trip will be coming soon. Still new to journaling down our travels and hopefully I’m doing good so far.

Cruise Tips & Personal Opinions

After I uploaded my short videos about our cruise adventures on our Tiktok account and Youtube channel, we got some questions from possible future cruise adventurers and I’ve decided to list them down on a whole new blog entry because I realized I didn’t jot it down on the previous entries. Oops~

As this is my first cruise and wasn’t sure of what to bring or do, we did consult Dear’s sister who gave us some nice useful tips. So it’s my turn to share as well after my experience.

What to bring:

  • Passport – Very important because you’re heading out of the Singapore water territory. Some doesn’t know you need a passport when going on a cruise.
  • Bedroom slipper – The cruise doesn’t provide any. It’s good walking around the stateroom in it, especially when your stateroom have a balcony.
  • Toothbrush & toothpaste – Not provided, so bring yours for the trip.
  • Shampoo & body soap – They do provide, but it depends on individual. We prefer the ones we use at home, so we’re always bringing ours instead of using the ones provided.
  • Towels – This is also optional. But we do bring ours cos Dear have sensitive skin and can’t use the ones they provide.
  • Wet wipes – To wipe down the seats and table at the balcony before use.
  • Lanyard with card holder- To put your stateroom’s key card. You need to use it often if making purchases onboard the ship or when you’re debarking the ship to explore the port of calls. Easy access to the card is good and a lanyard comes in handy.
  • Travel adapters
  • Sports wear and shoes – For sports activities
  • Swimsuits – For water activities

But of course things to bring is up to individuals. So bring what you need, but there are things they prohibit onboard. Such as extensions and mini cooking pots. Was told these will be confiscated during boarding and you can get it back before you debark the ship.

We didn’t purchase the WIFI plan onboard the ship because we think we didn’t need it. Besides, we bought the Malaysia SIM card to be used when we arrive in Malaysia’s port of call. But you can purchase their WIFI plan if you need to be connected to the world. Here’s a heads up, connection is really poor even with our Malaysia SIM card when we arrived at our port of calls. For better connection, sit at your balcony or head up to the outdoor areas. Sometimes its good to just relax on a vacation and be disconnected away from the world.

Room upgrade!

We have a few netizens asking us how to get the room upgrade. Well, you need to bid for it on their website, under the RoyalUp. After you’re done with the bidding, the rest is just wait and may you be the lucky one.

Do note that once you got the upgrade, you can reject it but there won’t be any refund. So I would suggest to just go with the upgrade and enjoy your voyage with Royal Caribbean. But after our stay at the Junior Suite, we realized that we’re happy enough with our initial stateroom with balcony though it’s good to experience a room upgrade too. I mean, there’s no harm moving to a bigger room.

Activities wise, there’s no longer much covid restrictions, so go ahead and have fun! But of course, the swimming pool area can be crowded as families with kids are usually there for some water fun activities. We enjoyed the cruise experience more than we though we would, and we hope you will too.

Royal Caribbean, Spectrum of the Seas – Day 4 & 5 (10 & 11 July 2022)

Egg Benedict

Woke up, looked out of the balcony and we’re sailing on the vast sea heading back to Singapore. Breakfast at Main Dining Room where I ordered their plain pancake while Dear had the egg benedict. And yes, the egg yolk does ooze out. I’m not a very breakfast person, usually I skipped it unless I’m really hungry. I didn’t finish my pancake although it’s just two slices.

It’s back to stateroom for a rest because very tired and have no energy for anything. We wanted to join some onboard activities, but sleep monster says no. So it’s practically a eat and sleep day onboard the ship. Ever since we recovered from Covid in February, we became easily tired and it’s like our stamina dropped.

Passport Collection

After our rest, it’s lunch at Silver Dining then it’s back to our room for a rest again. Before which, we went to join the queue to collect our passports back from the Royal Caribbean. We didn’t like how the lady in front of us treated the staff. Like us, she had her stateroom changed. She got agitated when the staff was trying to find hers and her friend’s passport after she’s given him their stateroom’s number. I mean there’s a lot of passports and of course it will take some time for him to find the right one. I guess maybe the lady didn’t work in the service line before and doesn’t know how to treat service line workers with some respect.

Went for Harry Potter Trivia. Was a little late, but we managed to find us a seat. Had to get a piece of answer sheet and a pencil from the stage to jot down my answers. It was fun and surprised to see quite a few young Potterheads being as excited as I was. There were a few questions that stumped me but after the session, I’m glad that I got majority of the answers right. Maybe I should read the books again as an adult, probably I’ve a whole different perspective of the series. (Might make a slide video of the Harry Potter Trivia for those who are interested.)

Farewell at Main Dining Room

We sort of idle away our day on the cruise. It’s like we’ve already maxed out our energy the past few days exploring the ship and Penang that we’ve no interest in other activities available for the day. Dinner at Main Dining Room after a rest as Dear wanted to try their aged beef. A wrong move for us as we both ordered the same and didn’t really enjoy it. It’s not as wow as we thought and the portion was rather huge for me. What I enjoyed most during the dinner was their mini farewell “concert”.

We did went for two shows that night. The Silk Road and Show Girls, no videography or photography is allowed. It’s free seating so go early if you want the best seats. We had restricted view when we went for The Silk Road, but we had the a better view when we went for Show Girls. If you were to ask me which shows are worth going, I would say Show Girls. Apparently the Show Girls that we went were their debut night for the performers. Lucky us! It’s fantastic and they’ve put up quite a show!

Baby Shark~

Waited for 10:30 pm before we head over for the Virtual Fireworks Party! It’s like a child friendly clubbing experience for us. It’s fun for all ages though Dear didn’t enjoy it when the Baby Shark songs was played. Wait for the virtual fireworks to “boom” before we called it a night.

Sunrise view from our stateroom’s balcony

Set the alarm clock to get up early because we’re still confused about the timing to disembark the ship. Got welcome back with a beautiful sunrise at Marina Bay Cruise Centre which wraps up our nice voyage with Royal Caribbean, Spectrum of the Seas. After we’re done washing up, we packed our stuff and head out to join the other adventurers to alight from the ship. Holiday is over but we went back with a nice memorable experience.