I went to Bangkok last week with Sarah and we took up Clouds’ and Jan’s mum’s offer to stay with them. Thanks Aunty! I’ve met Cecilia and James before as they’ve taken me out for dinners during my previous trips in Bangkok, lucky me. I’ve eaten some memorable meals with them, and last weekend’s dinners added more to the list
It was Nat’s 16th Birthday last Saturday, and his mum made the happy choc cake above. I asked him what he got for his birthday and he gleefully said, “Money!”
Jan on Facetime so everyone in the family is involved for Nat’s birthday, super cute.
Nat and James.
I’m still at a tug of war within myself whether to call Claudia’s dad ‘uncle’ or not. He’s told me before not to, so… i’m trying not to! But it feels weird, not to mention Sarah calls him uncle anyway. Hmmm i think if my friends’ children grow old enough to talk, i *don’t* want them to call me aunty (i’m trying to put myself in James’ shoes here).
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.
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’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!”
During one of my weekends in Bangok,
QueenKanch + i were invited to Pak Chong to chill out at a house party. Pak Chong is about 3 hours drive from Bangkok,
and i was stunned as to how the drive there was a VERY STRAIGHT road.
It wasn’t like highways in Malaysia or Indonesia where it curves and goes around hills.
This was literally a very straight, flat road for 3 hours.
We arrived at a sprawling countryhouse,
which was owned by Ooh’s family.
She said one room was for one family (since her grandparents have 3 children).
QueenKanch and i got a huge bedroom to ourselves.
With one king-sized bed each.
0_o
Gila a lot of space wei,
so we both shared one bed :p
Oh yeah, before i go on,
SO MANY people/strangers asked whether she and i are a couple!
I usually laughed it off,
but she was quite emo when a guy (from another time and place) playfully punched her for dating me. Kanch: WTF WHY IS HE HITTING ME! Me: Urm, i dunno, you want me to hit him back for you? Haha…
Okay i digressed.
Back to Pak Chong,
we arrived at dinnertime,
and met the whole group through Rafiq (through Kubhaer)
One of my favourite pictures from that countryside trip – Ooh hugging her golden retriever, Sunday, just before bedtime.
The next morning, i was able to marvel at the huge garden and sniff the fresh cold air.
It kinda reminded me of Surrey!
Jak + Rafiq
Jak has the Olympus Pen too!
He’s a photography enthusiast, and i thought he was mad creative for hand-making leather covers for all his cameras…
Mad creative, and mad semangat!
Raf having alone time + playing music
QueenKanch + i drove out the next day to explore the district.
Our main destination was to find a couple of vineyards there.
At one of the vineyards, we took a tour for 50 Baht a person.
Too bad the entire speech was in Thai -_- so i made up some story about trolls coming out to play as we went along.
+ + +
Adv: Tweet Via SMS
I’ve been Tweeting religiously from wherever i am,
so if you wanna follow me, check it out at twitter.com/joycethefairy
If *you* wanna Tweet as well but don’t have a phone with internet connection (nor want to)
fret not, for as long as your hp can SMS, you can Tweet Channel X is now providing a service where you can tweet from your phone via SMS for supercheap!
This is the first service in Malaysia whereby you only pay RM1 per week for unlimited Tweet SMSs
Which is way more worth it than what i used to do…
I think i paid RM1.20 sending an SMS to the Twitter # provided cos i was so gian to Tweet last time!
QueenKanch was away on a company trip last Friday,
and i thought i’d surprise her by getting a Christmas tree for the suite
seeing it’s December and all!
ClaudiaOnCrack’s mummy told me to go to Sampeng in Chinatown to get cheap Xmas deco,
so i traipsed there by myself via 2 trains, foot and a tuk tuk.
There were a few shops selling Christmas deco,
and i checked most of them out for the one with the best and cheapest stuff.
That’s diligence for you, haha.
Was tremendously drawn to a particular store with everything i was looking for at decent prices,
and it was super packed with people, obviously -_0
After i picked out a wee tree, i moved on to picking out lots of decorations for it.
Santas, reindeer, acorns, teddies.
I think i got carried away… cos i ended up with more deco than i needed.
So i decided to upgrade to a bigger tree to hold all the deco i wanted
After purchasing everything, i realised “WHAT HAVE I DONE”
cos i conveniently forgot that i’d have to lug everything back by myself.
Point to note: 5’3″ person should not lug back 4′ tree + bagful of decorations halfway across the city during peak hour.
After carrying the tree in all sorts of ways,
and stopping every now and then to rest,
i found out the best way to carry it was to HUG IT.
So there i was.
Hugging a huge box at the train station which was freaking crowded with people.
I don’t remember the last time i was in such a long human queue!
Even overhead someone saying they’ve never seen the BTS station so crowded before.
Great.
I choose a day and time to take the train
WHEN it’s so crowded
and WHEN i have so much stuff with me!
And you know what was more malang?
I had to queue up THREE times to get my train ticket!
I’d almost reached the end of the first line i was in, when the machine went out of order!
Everyone dispersed from it to quickly join other lines, as did i.
Then after queuing up in the 2nd line… the same thing happened again!
Kan tragic -_-
By the time i was in my 3rd queue, i was so tired and didn’t care if anyone thought strangely of me resting my face on the box.
Anyway, i finally got everything home and got really excited!
Since we have a tree, we’re planning to throw a Christmas party
Kanch: How many people are we inviting?
Me: I don’t know… how many people do we know in Bangkok?
To get you all in the Christmas mood like me(!)
here are some of my favourite Christmas songs
You don’t have to watch it, just listen!
Do They Know It’s Christmas for Band Aid, 1984
Performers: Bananarama, Bob Geldof, Culture Club, David Bowie, Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Heaven 17, Human League, Kool and the Gang, Midge Urge, Paul McCartney, Paul Young, Phil Collins, Spandau Ballet, Status Quo, Sting, The Style Council, U2, Wham!
The song shot to #1 in Britian and US, and sold 50 million copies. [Source]
