Bangkok: 04 - 06 Sep ~ Food

09 Sep 2012 (Sun):

This is a post on food. Nope, not a chef recommending the most delightful meals available but what we had on our trip.

Our 1st lunch @ Siam Paragon. Pictures were always so deceiving & yet, I can never take my eyes off them. Cripsy shrimp omelette rice, how does this name sounds? Normal? Mouth watering? Okay, so i thought its does sound nice. I got a shock when my order came. A few pieces of tiny shrimp cut into bits; note: not even a whole prawn or two. And the mentioned crispyness? Boo hoo hoo, its actually fried eggs. You know, the kind you get inside some fish soup. And yes, i paid 55baht for that. Well, what the heck? Its only SGD$2.20....

Daddy & the kids ate pineapple fried rice instead & it cost 60baht per order. I tried one mouth & I almost puked. Horrible! The rice were soaked in pineapple juice & it was sooooooooooo.... SOUR!!!!

We booked our show with dinner via the internet. Okay, so there were many reviews on the food. Yes, negative ones. But, I thought i should ignore those reviews & hopefully, the food gets a 2nd chance. Nay, who am i kidding? Congrats to all those who wrote the negative reviews on the forums & websites. I am defintely on your side.

This was the seafood dinner we had on the 2nd evening. We ordered Coconut Cream Paste Seafood Soup, Asparagus with Mushroom, Grilled Tiger Prawns & Sweet & Sour Fish. All for.... ready... 3378baht ~ SGD$135. Gulp!

Okay la, to give some credits, the ambience was great & the service provided was good .

Lunch on our last day was at ( opps, I've forgotten to jot down the name of the restaurant). However, the place was great & the scenary was so blissful. Food was not too bad either. And, i apologise, i cant remember the price at all..

And this was our dinner at the airport prior to our departure back to Singapore. See the words on the collage? Yup, you get it. There were defintely other restaurants, cafes, diners to settle your dinner. Forget about this one. 635baht for some roasted pork & veggie dinner? That's SGD25, my friend!

Bangkok: 04 - 06 Sep ~ Transportation

09 Sep 2012 (Sun):

Bangkok has many different forms of transportation to get you to different areas. public buses, BTS, MRT, railway, river cruises, tuks tuks, taxis, etc..

With a map in our hands, we tried the BTS from Siam Station to Asok Station, and from there, we interchange from the BTS to their MRT, heading towards Bang Sue Station. Where were we going? We were heading towards Thailand Cultural Centre where we would be watching the Siam Niramit Show.

From Siam Station, the fare is 25baht per person to Asok Station. We alighted & went down on their escalator. Following the directions to Sukhumvit, we bought ticktets for Thailand Cultural Centre @ 20baht per adut & 10baht per child. You have to buy the ticket for the child at the Passenger Service Counter. The ticket machine do not dispense child tickets.

Tuks tuks are a common sight in Bangkok but you have to bargain ( agreed) on a price before boarding. They do not run on meter, unlike the taxis. We took a tuk tuk from Platinum Shopping Mall to Somboondee Seafood Market on the 2nd night. As it was drizzling & the mall was closing, Daddy decided to have seafood dinner. Just so happened, a tuk tuk driver approached us & asked where we liked to go. We hopped onto his vehicle & paid 30baht for the trip. Cheap? We realised this fellow may have earned commission from the seafood restaurant as no tuk tuk or taxi would take us back to Pratunam for the same price we paid. Since it was starting to rain heavily again, we had no choice but to take a taxi back @ 100baht. ( the driver refused to switch on his meter)

Other mode of transportation we tried was their Airport Link. But that is for another post.

Bangkok: 04 - 06 Sep 2012 ~ Hotel

09 Sep 2012 (Sun):

Unlike all my previous post, I will blog about our trip part by part instead of the usual day by day. This 1st part will be about our hotel.

We stayed at Grand Diamond Plaza Suites Hotel. Address:  888 Petchburi Road, Rajthevi, Pratunam, Bangkok, Thailand.

We had a room on the 20th story, overlooking the city. All rooms in the hotel comes with mini kitchenette, living area & bedroom

The kids were excited to see such a big bed & they immediately jumped onto it with glee. Even the bathroom were huge with a standing shower & a bathtub on either sides. We wasted no time in exploring the city after checking in. But we made a stop at a travel agency located right next to the lobby on the tours available.

English Review

01 Sep 2012 (Sat):

Following Lionel's Math Test results, this is his English recap of what he has done so far on the Stellar Worksheets.

Topic: Lazy Duck.

Maths Test

01 Sep 2012 (Sat):

Lionel showed us his test results for Maths. Daddy told him before if he doesnt score full marks for his test, no Bangkok holiday. ( Haha... we are not such mean parents by the way. All Daddy wanted was Lionel to do well. This is just a boost for Lionel's morale.The air tickets & hotel accomodation were already booked anyway)

Topic tested: Number 1 ~ 40.
Inclusions: Additions & Subtractions, Number Pattern, Written Numbers & Words, More Than / Less Than & Problem Solving.

Way to go my little prince! Good Job!!!

Mushroom Cycle #3

30 Aug 2012 (Thurs):

This is mushroom growth record cycle #3. If you have missed the 1st 2 records, it is here & here .

Our harvest from cycle #3 did not yield as much mushrooms as from the 1st 2. One of the logs had only produce from the top & as little as 2 sprouts from the sides.

We harvested all dated 26 Aug 2012 ( Sun), glad wrapped & kept both logs in the storeroom.
I am not sure if there will be cycle #4. The next record will start on the 04 Sep but as we will be away, so most probably it will be push forward to 08 or 09 Sep 2012.

JCube Ice Skating

20 Aug 2012 (Mon):

Selamat Hari Raya. :)

We went to JCube Ice Skating Ring this evening for a little experience & fun. Poor little ones kept on slipping & falling. Even Daddy fell as well. Mummy here was the only one who managed to keep her balance throughout as she has the " know how " .

Picture taken from above the skating ring @ Manhattan's Fish Market where we were having our dinner.

The operating hours for the ice skating ring.

There are many different combos to choose from; from boots rental to purchasing of socks and/or gloves.

This is the penguin skating aid where children below 1.2m in height can use.

$10 per 2 hours. I got that for Rachel.

There was an incident which happened. We saw police officers walking into the admin office & i thought a fight may have broken out or something. I mean, why would a skating ring " invite " police officers.

Shortly, paramedics followed & i realised someone may have hurt himself/herself. True enough, we saw this man in his 40s, i supposed, on the stretcher, in a sitting position, His left arm was in a sling. Could have fractured his arm upon falling.