Hello & Goodbye

For most of my travels, I rely heavily on the friendly travel forum TripAdvisor for the reviews on places to go, things to do and especially on the rankings of recommended hotels. I find it extremely useful looking at travellers’ photos to get a sense of what the hotel looks like rather than surfing the ‘management provided photos’.

As such, to pass it on, I’ve started contributing reviews (slowly but surely and as best to my memory) to the site. I actually find myself liking this writing of reviews on hotels I’ve stayed in and sharing little tips. It feels as if I am helping someone make that informed decision as I have with their help.

This trip is dubbed our luxurious – “don’t care about the $$$” trip. One of our main criteria in choosing the hotel was that they must provide breakfast (the BF’s criteria). After reading reviews from Tripadvisor, we settled on Pathuwam Princess . I would recommend this four-star hotel to anyone looking for a hotel that is reasonably priced, suitably convenient (it is linked to MBK which is linked to the BTS Station – National Stadium), very clean and modern.

The room was nicely decorated. They provide basic amenities like soap and shampoo (from their in-house spa) and all as well as drinking water in the bathroom for you to use to rinse your mouth. A glass panel separates the bath room and the bed but for those who likes privacy, there is an automatic curtain that you can draw. For those who prefers to shit / bathe without someone else peering in =)

One thing though, while they provide enough pillows – the pillows weren’t too comfy for both the BF and I. It was a tad too soft for our liking but the extra pillows was good as bolsters and extra support.

Let me introduce a very important item for this trip – our trusty new luggage – aptly named Ah Mus. Because of him, we spent an hour searching high and low, digging around Mustafa. It was his first trip abroad and to commemorate, here’s Ah Mus in his haven for the five days.

We made use of some of the facilities of the hotel on one of the days – tired from shopping. We tried out their world class gym, comparable to Fitness First in Singapore. A well-equipped gym with alot of  new equipments, trainers around to help and teach you how to use the equipments. There were about 15 of threadmills and bicycles each – more popular among the ladies so I suppose there wouldn’t be a queue for the use of one on a busy day. They even have various aerobics classes which you could join. Be sure to pack in gym wear and shoes if you were to stay at this hotel. You can’t miss out trying the gym. There are other activities too – tennis, badminton, squash and even a jogging track – you can rent the necessary at their sports area. Anyway, check out the gym at The Olympic Club.

After our short gym session, we headed to the lap pool for a swim. We were actually goofing around more than swimming. We found two float boards and the BF was showing off his surfing skills while I was trying desperately to stay afloat and upright. We also had a relaxing dip in one of two jacuzzi pools, enjoying the night breeze and the romantic aura with live music from the restaurant and the sounds of Bangkok.

The International breakfast spread was good, they do pretty good eggs and I love, love their pancakes, french toast and waffles with all the different condiments – berry compote, whipped cream, maple syrup, chocolate/vanilla sauce – fantastic. If you know me, you’ll know I love my bacons and I had them every single time and with almost every helping (except the fruits). The bacons were so nicely done – so crispy and sooooooo extremely yummy. Oh, I miss the daily dosage of bacons =( The other food was pretty good too and the BF likes the hot dishes – the fried noodles, rice, potato and porridge. The salad bar was a nice touch – very fresh vegetables with no raw vege taste.

The hotel room was so convenient and comfortable, we found ourselves heading back to it more often just to rest, have a shower and for little naps.

All in all, I think it was money well-spent for the hotel. I would definitely rate it a 4 out of 5 stars. Or perhaps, I have been short-changing myself with less worthy hotels =P

This must have been one of our most last-minute planned trip. We booked and confirmed our trip only two weeks prior which means only one thing – there weren’t many cheap flights left. I was a little upset that we had to pay so much per person for the tickets but I supposed the initial un-excitement added to how nicely the trip panned out to be.

Anyway, after a little sourcing around, we booked a SQ flight since it only cost slightly more than the budget airlines and even cheaper than Tiger =_= I was way excited!! It was going to be my first SQ flight!!! I know.. very mountain tortoise.

The journey there and back was real smooth and the meals were fantastic. Whoever complained about airplane food (or was it about hospital food?) obviously have yet to try SQ’s. For our flight there, I had the omelette with cheese and ham while the BF had the pineapple fried rice (obviously?) and both were really good. On our journey back, I had the fried noodles with black soya chicken and he the fried fish with Thai Sauce. It wasn’t anything like stale, microwaved food. It was really tasty.

The service was not as impeccable as I thought it would be, but I guess the smiles made up for it.

My only gripe?! I couldn’t finish one movie for the journey since it was such a short flight. Argh!!

It's nice to have boarding passes

I wish my trainer  for the course I’m on for these two days would talk less about himself and his life story and get to the real gist of the course – how to conduct a bloody interview.

When he finally touched on the important points though, it was all vaguely familiar. I really have given back whatever I’ve learnt in my 3 years uni to my lecturers. Tsk tsk…

The saving grace is that the food provided at the hotel was pretty good! I had a good tea-break (love the samosa) and the buffet lunch was not too bad. (In fact, it was much better than the hi-tea I went previously). My only gripe is that being with some new acquaintances, I couldn’t eat at ease or as much as I would have loved too =(

I drank way too much tea – 3! all in the hopes of keeping awake.

Oh yes and I miss the BF! Had a rather splendid weekend and a relaxing one at that. *Reminder to write more

One more week to go…

Why are money changers mostly Indians? I wonder. The one thing I hate about making a trip to money changers is that they intimidate me and scare me off. They are rude – case in point, I tried to negotiate better Aussie dollars rate by saying I was going to change alot of money – SGD7000+, well seems alot to me – but the man was like how much you changing? 10,000? 20,000? I was so pissed I walked away. No way am I going back to that money exchanger again. That was rude.

For this upcoming trip, I was really pretty stressed as I had to make an exchange for so much money – for ALL five of us – that I had to make a trip to the bank and ATM several times to withdraw the right amount. I had to make sure I act all normal, that I don’t have nearly 8k in my little handbag and make a trip to the land of money exchangers – The Arcade. I set off on a little quest to find the best rates, message everyone to get their confirmation,  spend  15 mins at the queue. As I handed my money over to the Indian man over the counter, I saw that they were changing the rates on the computer screen – I was so worried they would charge me the worse rate but thankfully not! I nearly walked away from the counter without collecting my Aussie dollars, thank god for honest Indian man. It was then another furtive walk back to the office, where I finally locked my money away.

No doubt, a holiday is something to look forward to and gives you that bit of an adrenaline rush but the preparation for one could be equally stressful. I feel there is always a list of tasks to complete prior to one and worse when you are traveling in a group because now you have to include the rest in most major decisions.

I don’t know about you, but for me, from the point of booking the air tickets to <<insert holiday destination>> the below tasks (or most of them) need to be completed and checked.

Shortly after booking the air tickets:

1. Read websites for reviews on accommodations
2. Confirm and book accommodation
3. Renew passport (if required – which I did! I now have a spanking new biometric passport – cool!)
4. Apply for Visas (if required)

3 weeks prior to holiday (most of the time)

1. Plan itinerary – read one thousand and one websites on the places of interests, restaurants to go, shopping areas etc
2. Start thinking of what to bring but never really getting down to it

2 weeks prior to holiday

1. Start drawing up a to-do-list for the trip (thinking only)
2. Check out FX rates and pray that the rates are good
3. Withdraw money and make the exchange at money changers
4. Check toiletries inventory at home
5. Go to cheap stores at Toa Payoh and/or Chinatown to buy toiletries
6. Start thinking of what clothes to bring (how to mix-and-match) – better yet, to try them out
7. Go for a haircut
8. Bring out the luggage
9. Check “first-aid” supplies
10. Stock up on “first-aid” supplies

1 week prior to holiday

1. Start putting aside the clothes you want to bring into the luggage
2. Pack innerwear – lingerie and other female required items
3. Go for facial – or plan a facial session after your trip
4. Make sure passport, air tickets, hotel bookings and all other travel items are in order and placed neatly in a folder/envelope/bag
5. Do necessary grooming to self – i.e pluck eyebrow, shave legs (eeks! To have hairy, stubby leg on a holiday!)

Day prior to holiday

1. Continue/start packing/folding clothes into luggage
2. Make sure the most important items are in bag – passport, money, flight itinerary and glasses
3. Try to sleep and less toss and turn

I am so not a light traveler – I often cannot decide which top to bring or how I want to match my clothes and end up bringing both. Hehe, and I have a whole load of essential items to bring along:

• Another set of contact lenses – in case something happens to the one I’m wearing
• Glasses – MOST important, everything else can be bought but not glasses
• First aid supplies – medicinal oil (my favorite – “pooo de yi shen”  Ru Yu Oil), must-have po-chai pills (saved my life in Vietnam), Zam-bak, charcoal pills (if available), panadol
• Shampoo, shower foam, facial wash
• Camera, handphone charger
• Shaver – no hairy pits for me!
• Personal items – deodorant, moisturizer and other stuff (a girl’s needs)

That’s why before a trip, I am never too excited for there are tones of things weighing on my head – what have I NOT bought, what should I bring etc. It really must be due to my worry-wart character that’s why. Geez, if only I was as nonchalant.

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Actually I have nothing to blog about but I am so bored. The weather is such a killer, the pits are getting sweaty and I think the face is oily enough to cook an egg! Geez.

Anyway, from clothes to now books! I just purchased a second hand book when I chanced upon an online books exchange site. I have been searching for this book – “Not without my daughter” – ever since Jchan raved about it. Can’t wait to get my hands on it. It has been a long time since I touched a book.

Did I mention I finally watched “P.S I love you” the other night? I think I never stopped crying for more than 5 minutes. I was dry from the crying and woke up with a severly swollen eyes. I looked like a toad. My sister can testify. I absolutely loved the movie and recommend all girls to watch it.

Caught yet another movie last night – The International – with the BF. The movie was good though I did fall asleep at one part when it was a lil’ slow. (snooze factor: 1.5z). I don’t know but there is some sort of a conspiracy theory that the show aims to bring across and an interesting perspective to war and the links to business world in general.

I finally got my procrastinating ass moving and went to take a photo for my expiring passport and I look like crap or very aunt-ish crap in the photo. I meant to post it here, but I don’t want to scare people off with that hideous picture. Sianz, I will be an “ugly” traveller for the next 5 years forth. Darn.

The randomness has to end, ta.

It sucks to be back here again. I had a good time with the BF, just the BF, these past five days and it sucks to have to wake up without him at my side and in my own bed – alone.

Not much shopping done this trip around and it was relatively easy for us to do our packing. It was a more relaxed trip, much less chiong, chiong, chiong than before.

Alas, I was pretty sad yesterday when I had to return back here, back to reality.

And it SUCKS. Big time. DARN.

I will do a proper update once I fight the sleep and lethargy monster.

Missed me much?