Thailand
Published on 12 August 2012
I never did blog where Cammy and i stayed in Bangkok when we went there for a girlie trip last April. I just reread the posts i wrote and miss Bangkok now!
Miss the anticipation of eating Thai food and the smell of chili.
Miss my heart thumping excitedly at the sight of new Thai trends in Chatuchak market.
I miss Bangkok!
Back in April, we stayed at the luxurious Maduzi Hotel, situated right in the heart of Bangkok. Our stay was made possible because of The Luxe Nomad – my friend Steph Chai‘s new travel start-up. It’s because of The Luxe Nomad that i’ve been staying in some 5-star hotels like Maduzi, and Sri Panwa in Phuket!
The Luxe Nomad is Asia’s first luxury hotel bookings portal, and they have tempting flash sales on luxury hotels every week – at up to 70% off (and cheaper than anywhere else because it’s a members-only site). Currently Maduzi is on sale but you have to be quick as sales only last about 7-10 days. Oh, and membership is free, so you can just sign up and check out the prices!
Anyways – back to my stay at Maduzi!
This is Cammy and i in their mirrored elevator on the way up to our room. Maduzi Hotel has 40 rooms across seven floors.
Described as a private oasis in the heart of the city, Maduzi Hotel is a conceptual hotel that promises complete privacy by only accepting guests with reservations and prohibiting walk-ins. They emphasize greatly on privacy so that guests can feel as comfortable as in their own homes.
They never give out names of their guests and instead, have a ‘Guest Code’. If i wanted friends to be able to visit me in our room, i’d have to come up with a code like ‘Fairy’, which friends would state to the concierge downstairs to be allowed up. Cool ey!
The bed was so big and comfortable, it was a godsend for us after walking around Bangkok every day. We’d snuggle up in bed and flip channels on the 42″ flat screen before falling asleep.
Personalized note and welcome plush ox
All rooms come with business facilities like work desk, complimentary WiFi, and fax/printer/copy machine. Not like we used them cos we were on HOLIDAY!
There’s even a sexy espresso machine and mini-bar.
This, was Cammy’s and my favourite room – the dressing room! We just ended up spending a lot of time there as we washed up in the mornings, chit chatted, or made up to go out at night. The lounge next to the window, huge dressing mirror and table, and walk-in closet allowed so much space for the both of us to get ready together. It was MADE FOR GIRLS! We even had Tina and Elicia over one night to get ready, so i know it can comfortably hold four of us.
Read this
Published on 21 April 2012
Erh this was a few weeks ago… i have so many things to blog about, and my blog can’t keep up with my life. Can’t complain there.
After THAT night we didn’t go out, Cammy and i woke up pretty early to tackle Chatuchak market. We took our time having breakfast in bed, then getting ready and before you knew it, it was noon. Was intensely hot in Bangkok. It’s like the haze and pollution TRAPS all the heat into the city’s bubble. I came prepared for the weekend market and brought my tiniest shorts and top to sweat in.
We split up with the other girls cos maneuvering 9 girls shopping would be impossible. As it is i’m usually a lone ranger when it comes to shopping. So ’twas just Cammy, Elicia, Tina and i meeting up to have lunch in one of those awesome tiny cafes in the middle of Section 4/5 (can’t remember, i usually eat there before i start my shopping). Cheap Thai food and the fact it’s filled with Thais only makes it a good sign for us to chow down there too. Had the best spicy pork soup which we slurped quickly, salads and fried chicken.
Comfy silk polka dot flats for 220 Baht / RM22!
A snack of strawberries + chili
Tina. We were at this store selling shirts for 100 Baht / RM10.
After shopping for 7 hours we went back to Tina’s bro’s place to chill and wait for the others to finish their massages.
I love the African masks Chris has!
Read this
Published on 8 April 2012
I’ve gone to Bangkok many times, with either 1 girl friend, or a group of friends; but i never attempted it with a group of girls before and i don’t know why! Bangkok is the PERFECT place for girls to holiday at together… it’s all SHOP + PARTY + EAT.
We bumped into some acquaintances at the airport.
“Where you girls going?”
“Bangkok. Bachelorette party.”
“Girls… go to Bangkok for a hen’s night? I thought it was just guys…”
Wow so sexist! Why can GUYS go to Bangkok for a stag’s night (ala The Hangover) but girls can’t? Noone says we can’t. And we all definitely say WE CAN.
I was gonna be rooming with Cammy for the trip and we were kinda each other’s ‘buddy’ as well. Too many girls.
I was not looking nor feeling my best thanks to the Topshop event the night prior. Some of the other girls started early on the plane…
Practicing my paparazzo shot
Couldn’t help taking these pictures cos i was just APPALLED at how dirty the plane was. All i can say is we did NOT take Air Asia. Probably should have.
Cammy and i stayed at Maduzi (which i’ll blog bout later!), while the other girls stayed at Tenface, or with family in BKK.
We bought 4 bottles of bubbly between the 9 of us, and Jacie popped the first bottle with her famous words – “Why not now?! I thought the champagne is for moments. And THIS is a moment.”
It’s a HOLIDAY when you have bubbly and it’s light out!
How long does it take for 9 girls to constantly meet up and get their butts out to somewhere? A pretty long time. Tina’s bro cracked me up when on the last day he called and said, “Late again ar? Sure late la. So many girls.” He’s based in BKK and knew of all our going-ons most of the time.
Cammy tryna keep her locks under control in the tuk tuk
We went to Healthland Spa for massages, which is the biggest spa i’ve ever been to. Even the building looked surprisingly regal from the outside, that i didn’t guess it was the spa we were heading to at first! They’ve got a system where you choose your treatment, pay at cashier then wait for your number to be called. The massages were insanely cheap in such a nice place (300 baht for 1-hour Thai massage) and really good too. They’re quite popular so if you go, you should call and book beforehand. I wanted the Ayurvedic massage but it was fully-booked so went with the Thai one. Considering i’ve tried Thai massages a handful of times and still prefer other types, i have to add that the masseuse did her job very well!
After the massage we went to Ruen Mallika for dinner (which i’d totally recommend to anyone, especially if you’re in a group). Huge Thai restaurant that serves authentic Thai cuisine for a reasonable price (don’t think about street food price ok).
We ordered all sorts of dishes – lobster tom yam, catfish salad, steamed fish with lime, glass noodles, salads, roasted pork. In hindsight we ordered too much, cos one would expect the pictures in the menu to turn out 1) smaller or 2) the size you expect, in real life. But this was an exception. All the dishes came out a lot LARGER than i thought @_@
Picture of me since i took the group shot
Oh i’m so grown up.
After dinner we returned to our respective places we’re staying at to ‘see if we felt like going out’ and get ready. When we reached our hotel room, Cammy put on a bathrobe and snuggled in bed. I looked at her and said, “Oh no… this means we’re not going out.”
“I’m sooooo tireddddddd”
“Yeah i know… we’ll urm chill for half an hour and see how.”
After THREE HOURS of messaging the other girls, we obviously were not going out at 2am so we just stayed in, showered, and laughed till 4am. I even had to say to her: “Stop. Just stop talking. If you think something is REALLY funny, TELL ME TOMORROW. Else we’re gonna DIE shopping and partying all day tomorrow! We need to sleep NOW!”
Published on 4 February 2012
The next morning, we walked to the restaurant to have breakfast instead of calling for a tuk tuk. Our villa was really near the Baba Poolclub anyway.
I have to mention that their tuk tuk service is impeccable. We’d call for a tuk tuk and one would appear on our doorstep a mere few minutes later. Once, one of the staff apologized for making us wait, when we had been waiting for like… 30 seconds? You see how spoilt i got when i was there. I was allowed to be impatient if i wanted! Bad Joyce.
The tuk tuk service even went so far as to fetch us from our doorstep to the doorstep of the bars OUTSIDE the resort that we explored at night. Then when we wanted to come home, the bar owner would call the resort and they’d send a tuk tuk to take us home… back to our own doorstep. So spoilt, i die.
The lane in front of the villa
Baba Poolclub is a 5,000 sq. m. four-story building with Cooking School, Hot Pot, Pool Bar, 25-metre infinity lap pool, the Baba88 disco and seven new pool suites. Not to mention heaps of other facilities surrounding it like the fitness centre, tennis courts, game room, beach pool, private beach, business centre and Cool Spa. It’s just insane.
The Pool Bar
Their concept of pools and water everywhere was gorgeous. I couldn’t get over how much blue i was seeing – the pools, the sea, the sky!
Our view during breakfast.
Breakfast was a lavish affair that offered an extensive selection for both Western and Asian palates. Namely Clem’s and mine. He can’t fathom how i can stomach savoury spicy food first thing in the morning, but hey, i am not sorry for being Asian!
Food, as all my friends know, is of UTMOST importance to my holiday, my life, my BEING. I’m happy to write that everything i ate there was delicious (the only food i recall not being up to par was the one i cooked for myself in their cooking class.) There were so many things i could have for breakfast… that i ended up having a few dishes and feeling like a complete pig after. Also mixed with those guilty emotions were that of ‘yes, i now feel i AM on holiday!’ which is when i eat till my utter contentment.
After a huge breakfast, we took a tour around the resort. Good idea to do so anyway… to walk off all that food!
This is the entrance to Cool Spa
Even the spa looks like a piece of paradise on its own!
That’s me chilling at the spa pool!
Cool Spa offers every exotic body pampering treatment you can imagine, from Tamarind Body Scrubs and Pumpkin Body Cocoons, to Neem Black Clay body treatments. Massage types range from Swedish, Thai and Balinese, to a mixture of all!
After getting all excited about getting a massage later on in our stay, we hopped on the tuk tuk and went to Baba Nest – another huge building of its own.
The place is so pretty you can’t take a bad picture no matter where you turn
Even the view out the window is postcard-worthy!
This is Sunset Lounge – where guests come for evening cocktails and tapas while enjoying what is reputed to be the BEST view in Phuket.
It’s so freaking beautiful! Okay just one more picture of the Sunset Lounge then i’m done, promise!
We also had a look at what the 2-bedroom villas look like, some consisted of 2-stories!
Just when i thought *our* living room was huge…
Next post will be more fun pictures of our stay at Sri Panwa 
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This trip was made possible by Luxe Nomad, a soon-to-be-launched website dedicated to traveling the world in luxury and style. Sign up for member-only rates at TheLuxeNomad.Com. Membership is free.
Published on 1 February 2012
Clem and i stayed at this spectacular villa in Phuket last month… I would have blogged about it earlier if there weren’t SO MANY CRAZY BEAUTIFUL pictures i took! Finally edited them, which will all be up in the next few days.
To get to Sri Panwa, we took a flight to Phuket. Seeing we arrived really late the first night, we stayed in the town before checking in to the resort the next day. It took us about an hour by car to reach Cape Panwa, which is on the South-Eastern tip of Phuket.
We couldn’t see much when we arrived at Sri Panwa. The car drove us in to the check-in lobby, which is really one building by itself. I should know next time that when you don’t see much, it’s because the estate is so huge that the buildings and villas are hidden from view by trees everywhere!
In total, Sri Panwa has 52 villas on their lush estate of 40 acres. The villas range from 1-bedroom to 5-bedroom ones, all strategically built over 40 metres above sea level. We received a little guide when we checked in – showing us a map of the whole place. I was hoping we wouldn’t have to walk everywhere! Luckily we didn’t… we had shiny red tuk tuks to fetch us at any time from our villa to the restaurants
Besides the little guide, Kun briefed me about a schedule the resort had prepared for Clem and i lest we get bored! We had options to take cooking classes, sightsee around the island, get massages at the spa, etc. Very exciting! Suddenly 3 nights didn’t seem enough!
A few minutes later we were zooming down a lane hugged by greenery to enter our home for the next few days. As Kun showed us around our 1-bedroom villa, i looked at Clem, looked at her, then said, “Tell Kun Clare (whom had arranged our schedule) to cancel everything. We’re not leaving this place.” She laughed. We laughed. However… I was not completely joking!
When i entered the main door of the villa, to the right was the living room, kitchen, verandah, shower and bathroom:
Living Room #1 (there’s another in our bedroom)
View from the Living Room #1, looking at our bedroom
This was our bedroom, and you can see Living Room #1 across the little courtyard
Living Room #2 is in front of the bedroom
In between both little buildings in our villa, are the stairs to the infinity pool which encircles our entire bedroom villa
Main bathroom
Steam room and shower #2
Shower #3 is outside. I love showering outside! Feels so NATURAL. Except it got a bit cold when it was windy!
We chilled in the villa on our first evening, and Clem found his ‘spot’ on the verandah. He loves balconies. Every time we’re in an unfamiliar apartment, the first thing he’d do is check out the balcony.
It was going to storm that evening, and simply marvelous to just sit there. Watch the clouds roll by. Smell the storm coming. Stare at the blues and purples changing.
Clem had a drink while he watched me sketch the rolling sky and sea with pastels i’d brought.
Later that night, we went to Small Bar, which deserves a post of its own because it is that awesome.
I assumed that the blogpost featuring pictures from our villa would be the best one out of all. But wait till you see the pictures of the resort that will go up later this week!
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This trip was made possible by Luxe Nomad, a soon-to-be-launched website dedicated to traveling the world in luxury and style. Sign up for member-only rates at TheLuxeNomad.Com. Membership is free.
Published on 2 April 2010
“I must have seen 8 pairs of tits on the way here,” i told SarChan when i found her on Raleigh beach in Krabi
Just the night before, we were both talking about our separate skinny-dipping experiences
and not like i really wanna skinny-dip here,
but i do wanna even out my tan on areas i can’t do by the pool in KL.
After one big bottle of Chang,
i mustered up enough courage (comes free with beer)
to simply remove my bikini top.
I felt so free after that!
Simply blahing around the sand and sea
drinking beer
only putting it back on when running to buy more beer!
I think we were the only Asian couple basking in the sun
save for another Jap couple.
Drank heaps of beer today
(yesterday was spent having vodka + pineapple and talking rubbish outside our rooms)
Went for a 1-hour coconut oil massage + 1-hour foot massage + pedicure
for 800 baht yesterday
Wasn’t too chuffed when lady broke my blister on my foot (thanks to pole-dancing class day before)
Today we tried a much nicer-looking place
Classy and urban design
But still ridiculously cheap…
2-hour aromatherapy massage + 0.5-hour foot & back massage
for 1000 baht
Costs only slightly more,
but SO much better.
To the point i passed out
and tipped the massage lady extra after.
SO going back there tomorrow after island-hopping!
* Reggae bars here are like… not authentic reggae bars la. If you know what i mean.
