Kids or parents?

Was having brunch at a cafe at Jurong Regional Library this morning. A little boy (maybe 8 years old) came by wanting to share the table with us. He asked with his most gentle and innocent look, "Is... anyone... sitting... here.. ?" I was impressed! Happy with his good manners and courtesy! He made my day :)

It's been some time since I've met any kid so well-mannered. Most of the times, yes, unfortunately, these were what I've seen:

1. Kids rushing into MRT to get seats

2. Kids with shoes standing on MRT seats

3. Kids raising their voices at their parents/ elders

4. Kids who hit their parents/ elders

5. Yelling kids or kids crying to get attention

6. (Reasonably grown up) Kids getting seats in MRT/ buses instead of parents or (aging) grandparents.

I'm sure there are more.. Do you blame the kids or the parents? I blame the parents. Ooppsss ;p

Why, why & who

Took a bus ride to town today. 106 passes through the Holland and Orchard area before reaching Raffles City, my destination. Made many interesting observations on the way. If you like, you may attempt to answer some of my queries below but no crap answers please... so Mr 'boliao' Eng, you are banned! Hahaha!!

1. A girl board from opposite Singapore Poly. I presume she's still a student. She was sitting in the seat in front of mine. Saw her dark, black, curly, fake eyelashes. I wasn't sure at first until I saw her real eyelashes. Imagine two layers of eyelashes. Anyway, my question: do students nowadays put on such heavy makeup for school?? I can understand if one's attending party or perhaps has landed herself a role in a wayang theatre. But a student??? And she was dressed more formally than I am haha! If my girl becomes like this in future, I'd cane her hahah!! Joking!

2. Passed by Tanglin Mall and saw long queue of expats queuing for taxi. I've always noticed expats like to patronise Tanglin Mall. Why ar?

3. Saw a Porsche car plate number SJG1S cruised down Orchard Road. I don't know what model it is but I believe any of it is probably enough to last me half a lifetime??!!! Hahah!! Anyone knows who the owner is??? Argghh!! Tsk tsk tsk!! I'm envious! Ok, actually I'm jealous hahaha!! Kidding! ;p

Bangkok shop, eat, shop & eat! (2-5 May)

This is my 4th time in Bangkok, twice for work from my previous events job. Brought a big luggage thinking I'd be shopping big time in Bangkok but chey... I only bought for myself ONE miserable t-shirt.. so sad :( Ok, here goes about my trip in Bangkok:

Airport transfer
Turn left after you exit from Arrivals and look out for a big sign that says "Public Taxi". Those are the official taxis which charge by the meter so you are in safe hands. Join the queue and tell the in-charge your destination. Then they will hand you a white slip of paper where they write the taxi number and in case of bad service or cheat drivers, you can use it for complaint against the taxi driver. So, don't pass the slip to the driver hoh... hehe..

Just note that other than metered fare, there will be airport surcharge of 50bt, on top of toll charges at 25bt and 40bt (there are two toll gantries). My fare to Sukhumvit cost 290bt including these surchages.

(Conversion rate: S$1 = approx. 23baht)

Accommodation
Citadines Sukhumvit 16 http://www2.citadines.com/en/index.html - chanced upon this on Mavis's Facebook and after reading great reviews about the place, we booked the one-bedroom apartment hotel (owned by the Ascott group) which is a short walk (slightly less than 10min) from Asoke BTS.

Well, nice place but not an ideal place to us. There's only a 24-hour supermarket nearby the apartment. Also, my hubby didn't like the fact that there wasn't provision for full set of toiletries. Other than towels, there were only conditioning shampoo and shower gel - no toothbrush, no shower cap, no comb etc. Any additional requests for towels and floor mat will be chargeable. Fortunately, no charge for additional rolls of toilet paper hahah!! Nonetheless, the kitchenette is quite well-equipped.

Dinner 2 May @ Suam Luan Market

My hubby has relatives in Bangkok and so this group of young 20-ish cousins brought us to Suam Luan Market. Ok, don't mistake this for Suan Lum Night Market. They are different. These yummy dishes cost abt 620bt for 6 of us.

- minced meat with fried egg

- fish

- vege with prawns

- tom yum gong

- crab meat with scrambled egg

Then, they brought us for dessert: local ice-cream served in a variety of choices including corn, atap chee and even on sticky rice! If I remember correctly, it's 20bt per serving.

- ice-cream on sticky rice

Chatuchak (or JJ Market) on 3 May

Took BTS to Mo Chit Station where the market is after a short walk along with all the other tourists/ locals heading towards the market.

Brunch @ JJ Market: kway teow soup - 30bt each bowl but small portion.

After 3 hours, very tired, no place to sit so just sat on the steps in an alley haha!! Experience - priceless. Eating fried chicken - 50bt.

Dinner on 3 May @ Chinatown

Have been raving about the yummy seafood in Chinatown the cousins brought us to. It's some roadside stall so there's no name to it. I can only tell you it's under a big Rado watch signboard, beside a building called 成发兴大金行. Or look out for the nearby hotel name 白菊大酒店.

The following dishes for total of 1,000bt. Special mention - fresh oysters at 40bt per pc. Served thai style: you add fried shallots, some green garnish, lime and its chili sauce. It was the first time I ate raw oyster and I fell in love with it!! Couldn't help but asked for a 2nd one!! Not enough actually haha!!

- Raw oyster

- Sotong

- big head prawn
- BBQ thai escargot

- mussels

Then, we had local kway chap in pepper soup base. Other than the usual innards/ intestines, they serve it with crispy roast pork too! SEDAP! Err.. this place is another street away from where we had seafood. Sorry, don't know where it is. We just follow blindly hahah!! Oh, forgot how much it cost.

Then, we had toasts. You can choose any kind of filling ranging from condensed milk to kaya and chili paste! 30bt for these. (I just realised there's a small Singapore flag on the uncle's cap hahah!!)

Platinum Mall on 4 May

Platinum Mall is a mega wholesale 6-storey shopping centre. Lots of clothes, bags and accessories. Mainly casual stuff, so I didn't manage any clothes meant for work loh... *sigh*...

Lunch at the food court in the Mall: you have to buy a card (notice the green card in the 1st picture below) from the counter at the food court to make payment for your meals. There's no deposit required and you can refund any unused amount. Anyway, the food wasn't nice but the mango sticky rice (90bt) was good haha!!

Dinner on 4 May @ MK Restaurant

We had steamboat at this restaurant right next to Siam BTS. It's served ala carte. 6 of us ate about 1,000bt worth hehe.. No pictures here cos busy eating lah...

Entertainment

Went for a movie at Siam Paragon - watched Iron Man. Each ticket cost 140bt.

- fighting to pay for movie tickets haha!

- our cute cousins. the two on the right are twins ;)