Bangkok Trip with Le Hubby

Le hubby had to go to Bangkok for business for a few days so I tagged along! Heh heh! I love tagging along on his business trips. ^_^

 

Four Square check-in upon arrival in Bangkok!

The last time I came to Bangkok was with Le hubby last year January 2012. That was our first overseas trip together and where he asked me to be his girlfriend. :) Read about it here.

I love the multi coloured taxis in Bangkok, especially the pink ones!

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Bangkok Siam.

Complimentary coffee, tea & 2 bottled of waters per day.

There's no bathtub but the bathroom was big and very clean.

A lot of people go to Thailand for shopping.. but I prefer shopping in angmoh countries like Australia & USA, UK because they have my size. In Bangkok it's mostly small sizes or 'free' sizes so I am not really interested in going shopping. Instead of shopping, we went eating!

Local food FTW!

Fried noodles, duck noodle soup, pork belly rice and strangely.. takoyaki!

Supper in our room! :)

I love thai chendol! Yummy!

Mad love the Mango Sticky Rice! So different from Singapore's version.

It was so nice I tabao more from the hawker on the street!

Actually I can't eat mango cos I was having a really terrible cough. We flew to Bangkok just 1 day after returning from Hong Kong, and I fell sick the night before we flew back.. the cold and cough I had that (might be the cold weather, but Wany said I ate too many mango desserts there..) mutated into something worse while I was in Bangkok. The copious amount of Mango Sticky rice I ate made my condition worse... but somehow miraculously I recovered on the last day before I flew back to Singapore! LOL! Fight poison with poison!

To prove my point.. EAT FRENCH FRIES!

Huge Mcdonald's french fries!

SOOO BIGGGG!

I didn't know how big the fries were.. the countergirl asked if I wanna "Upsize" and I said "Ok". Little did I know that it's soooo big! LOL!

Le hubby is a Mcdonald's fanboy. He must eat it once whenever we visit another country. Must must must. Even in Japan where there's so much yummy food to choose from, my hubby insist in having Mcdonald's for dinner. -_- He said it's his dream to try all the Mcdonald's in the whole world. Hahahahhahaa...

A visit to Bangkok is never complete without having a meal at one of my favourite steamboat restaurants!

The roast duck is so damn good. Omg. So good.

Le hubby with the mushroom plate!

Same one we had last year! Heehee!

The Christmas decorations are up in all the shopping mall!

On a more serious note.. the demonstrations in Bangkok are heating up.. One day when Le hubby had to go to the factory to view some machines, I decided to take a cab to Central World shopping mall for lunch. The bellhop told me that it will be faster to walk as "the roads are closed". He did not tell me there was a protest going on.

So I walked from our hotel to Central World.. which was around 15mins away by foot. I wanted to take a cab cos I am a lazy pig. It was so warm! Especially when I just came back from Hong Kong where the weather was so cooling!

Since I seldom go to Bangkok, I don't really know the place well so instead of using the skybridge, I walked along the main road. While walking, I saw a crowd upfront where the roads were closed.

I thought it was some daytime pasar malam where there's food stalls and also stalls selling Thailand flags for souveniers. Obviously I am someone who do not read the news because at the moment in time I had no idea there was a political unrest in Bangkok. 

The food trucks were handing out food for free because there's no money involved and I see people queuing up and taking bowls of food and just walking away without handing over any coupons or money. 

I realized it was no ordinary event when I saw someone giving a speech on top of a lorry, and when the crowd responded very enthusiastically whenever he said something that seems very forceful. Like "Blah blah blah blah.. BLAH BLAH BLAHHHHHHHH!!" and the crowd will cheer, blow their whistles and wave the Thai flag.

Video #1

Video #2

After seeing someone attempting to cut off the power lines that belonged to the Thai Royal Police Headquarters did it finally dawned upon me that I am in the middle of a demonstration and things could get ugly and I might die or something in the worst case scenario if I get caught between crossfire. No one can save me because the local people are storming the police headquarters! If the policemen are being attacked, who's gonna protect the tourist who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time?

I know the Thai people has a reputation of being kind, warm & gentle.. but you have not stood in the middle of a protest where the feelings of resentment is so strong that even I, a foreigner who doesn't know the language or shit about what's going on can feel it...

Have you ever heard of "Herd Behaviour"? Read more about it on Wikipedia here. Things can turn violent with a simple spark.. and there's really nowhere to run.

While taking the video above, someone came over to me and started yelling at me in Thai. He's super fierce and super aggressive. Then another person handed me a flag and yelled "GO THAILAND!" in my face and I just waved the flag and walked quickly towards the shopping mall so I can be safe from the protest, waving it frantically everytime the speaker yell something loudly in Thai and the crowd cheer.

Fucking scary shit.

Le hubby wanted to meet me at the shopping mall cos I was so traumatized, but since all the roads were closed I decided to tabao food and walk back to the hotel. On the way back I made sure to sure the sky bridge so I can avoid the crowds below. In case of stampede, at least I am safe from any cross fire and I can run away quickly in the opposite direction.

Below are some pictures I took from the skybridge.

I went to read on the reasons behind the demonstrations and realized it's not as simple as it seems.. a lot of other government buildings are also being surrounded by the protesters who are trying to force the Prime Minister out of office. I believe the protest will continue on until early next year, so I think now is not the best time to visit Bangkok. In fact, our Singapore government has issued a statement urging Singaporeans to avoid travelling to Thailand unless necessary.

About me not reading the news.. I don't like to read news because it's full of negativity. Disasters, murders, rapists, economic downturns, fare hikes, yadah yadah yadah. All sad shit.. or just a load of propaganda nonsense. I'm not really one of those people who has to be "in the know" with the happenings of the world.. I only read the news when I absolutely have to or when I am extremely bored and there's nothing else to read.

Anyways, other than the scary protest that I stumbled into accidentally, the trip went well without any hiccups. The only thing I hate about Bangkok is the taxi drivers.. scumbags who overcharge a few times the normal fare! Isn't there any regulatory system in Bangkok to enforce the rule that all taxi drivers MUST use the meter to charge the fare? Compulsory metered taxis are one of the reasons why I love living in Singapore. I hate haggling with scumbag taxi drivers who tell you "Same same" when they want to charge you THB200 for a THB60 ride. Seriously!?!?! Go to hell lah.. You wanna overcharge tourists just to make a living.. fine. But don't overcharge so much! It's daylight robbery!

I think the best solution is to stay in a good location where you can either take the train or walk to the shopping malls.. do not rely on Tut tut and taxis!

Wedding Video: Childhood montage + Story of how we met

Our graphic designer is a young & very talented lady from Malaysia. She designed our church wedding invite, church program, wedding poster and also created our childhood video montage + an animation on how we met. 

The video was shown during our wedding dinner on 29th September 2013 at Grand Hyatt Singapore before our 1st march in. I think it's very important to have a proper video done for your wedding guests because most of them might not even know us personally as they are our parents' friends, so it's good for them to know a bit of a back story. At least they won't feel like they are at a wedding where they don't know anything about the couple at all.. it's good to feel involved. :)

Click to watch the video! :)

We also used her designs for our photobooth!

The vendor for our photobooth is Baicapture.

Chee Ching is extremely patient and efficient. She was willing to make edits until we were satisfied and she always replies to her emails/whatsapp messages on time. Do consider her if you are looking for a graphic designer. You can communicate with her via email/whatsapp and do the payment via paypal or bank transfer to her Malaysian bank account. 

Highly recommended! :)

Visit her website for more information and also to view her other works!

http://www.cheechingy.com/

Our wedding videographer - Aaron Wende (Aaron Lim)

We received the final edit for our wedding video from our videographer and Le hubby posted it on Youtube! It includes both footage from Day 1 & Day 2 of our wedding weekend on 28th & 29th September 2013.

Our videographer Aaron is really talented and he managed to capture all the important moments of our wedding and highlight them all in a beautifully edited video summary.

I am not sure how he managed to do it because there were so many footage to choose from and digest before editing them into a 12mins44sec video! I couldn't have done that myself.. Well, that's why we hired a professional! Haha!

He gave us all the raw footage from both days which are over 80GB worth! That's a lot of videos and I am glad he took so many so we can look through the videos at our own time because the wedding weekend just flew past so quickly and we couldn't be everywhere to see everything that's happening during the wedding.

Many people ask me "How do you choose your videographer?".

Well, you really have to do your homework. You cannot just choose someone based on reviews you see online, or what is the biggest mistake that most people make.. based on the price.

Expensive doesn't guarantee a good product. Cheap doesn't mean it's lousy. There are many videographers out there so how do you select yours? Do your homework! Watch their works and view their portfolio to understand their style and vision.

I watched hundreds and hundreds of wedding videos before we chose Aaron. Literally hundreds and hundreds.. during my breaktimes at work, when I am travelling in the train, before I sleep, while cooking.. just squeezing in time to see other people's wedding day videos so I can see what are the "style" of the videographer who filmed it and if it's what I wanted for our wedding.

Please don't listen to your friend/relative/neighbour and choose your videographer based on what other people say. You cannot redo the wedding video if it's not done properly. There is no NG scenes and "Take 2" chances.. If your videographer sucks and produce a lousy work.. too bad. Cry & beat your chest for the rest of your life.

Aaron is our cellgroup leader Wei Hao & cellgroup mate Annette's wedding videographer. We first saw his work when they shared their wedding video after their wedding in November last year. After seeing all his work then, I shortlisted him in the top 3 as our videographer, then I showed Le Hubby samples of his work and the two other videographers I shortlisted.. before we both decided on Aaron. Then we met up with him to see if we have the "chemistry" with one another before confirming and booking him for our wedding.

One very important advice is to meet the videographer before you confirm him/her for your wedding.

If you don't feel comfortable with him/her, it is very difficult to trust that he/she can do a good job. You have to leave everything up to your videographer as you will only be seeing the morning highlights during the dinner cos there is no time to see the video (you will be too busy doing other stuff). Though if you are really OCD you can ask him to show it to you before the dinner, but what can you do if you don't like it? There's not much time for him to edit it anyway right?

So....... morale of the story is, do extensive homework before choosing your videographer then trust that he will produce a good job (hey, you chose him/her right?) and let him/her do their job without interfering or controlling them.

Choose wisely so you can relax on the actual days. :)

If you are a bride/groom-to be and is searching for a good videographer, do consider Aaron as he is very meticulous & good at capturing emotions. You can view all his works on his Vimeo account.

My previous roomie happened to be his schoolmate and she sang high praises for him when she saw him at my church wedding. She did not know Aaron was my videographer until the very day and she said we made a good choice + his rates are reasonable for his standard. When we met up with Aaron, he shared with us that my roomie Sharon is a very respected DOP in the industry.. 高手 praising 高手.. Haha!

All of my wedding vendors entries will be labelled under #Wedding Vendors. I will update more on the other vendors soon! :)

Chloe's crazy run

You might get a headache cos she's running everywhere so quickly.. :)

Fireworks in Taiwan

31 December 2010

It's New Year's Eve and my guide and driver decided to drive us to a deserted field to play with fireworks! :D

Look at all the fireworks and firecrackers!

The driver has bought the fireworks in bulk so our customers can save money in buying from him... We set up a mini stall at my seat and our customers will come and choose what they want and buy it from me..

It's super windy and cold outside so I hid in the coach.. Moreover both my guide and driver are very cheeky and they like to disturb and tease me and scare me with the fireworks so it's safer to hide in the coach.. Haha!

This is the video I took on NYE at the deserted carpark.

This is the video I took at Shangrila Farm where me and a couple, Carol and her hubby bought some fireworks and played with it at the carpark.. which was not deserted.. hahaha! So any moment the cars are in danger of being destroyed by the fireworks.. Hahaha!

Winter in Korea [26Nov-04Dec2010]

I am the tourleader for a group of 42 people for a tour from 27Nov-04Dec for Namho's 8 days Korea Winter Ski with 2 nights stay in Jeju Island.

10 months hiatus from being a tourleader! Kinda nervous!

I flew into Korea on 26 November, one day earlier than the main group cos the flights were full on 27Nov and there's no way I can arrive later than the group.

Initially I didn't want to take this tour because I don't like Korea. Seriously. It's too cold in the winter, I don't like Korean food, there's nothing for me to shop there, there's no Disneyland! I am not a Kpop fan, nor am I a Korean drama fan.. So asking me to go Korea is just a big YAWN to me. I requested to go to Japan, but my boss insisted that I try out their Korea tour to see if it's comparable or better than CTC's standard.

Good luck gift from Welly & Santi!

I was very sick before I flew.. I had a bad cough and flu, and I know the cold is going to aggravate my condition.. but I had to suck it up and fly there because work is work and everything has been pre-arranged. I just need to pray hard I recover early.

Breakfast onboard..

Lunch onboard.. The usual boring stuff.

I had to take a bus from the airport to my hotel.

My first time being alone in Korea and I had to go and search for the bus! OMG. 

Luckily I am not that stupid.. managed to find the bus stand and went to purchase my bus ticket from the counter.

It's 10,000Won for 1 way, approximately SGD12. 

Much cheaper than taking a taxi.

You hand your ticket over and they will tear a stub to tie it to your luggage to identify it as yours. When you arrive at your location, just hand them the orange ticket and they will carry your luggage our for you.

Feeling so proud of myself for getting on the right bus! Haha!

The journey was around 1hour.. I got bored and decied to take a video. Haha! This is my first video posted on my blog ok! The volume is very soft because I was kinda whispering and did not want my neighbours to notice me.. Hahahaha!

The weather was brutal. It was minus 10 degrees Celsius and the winds.. the winds were so strong I had to push myself against it and cover my eyes to avoid the flying dried leaves.

I reached the hotel, Best Western Premier around 4pm++. Checked in and went for a quick shower before heading out! My free and easy time before I start work the next day!

My room!

It's very tiny cos it's a single room for single occupants.

This was my outfit of the day and I loved it!
I bought the jacket from G2000! It's around SGD200 and it's so pretty!

 I decided to go to Lotte World by train!

Planned to go to Myeongdong but it was too cold and I didn't have the mood to shop. Feeling so sick and miserable (yet refusing to sleep early. Irony).

While walking to Lotte World, I spotted Krispy Kreme! Woohoo!

I bought some to munch on. Yum Yums!

 The sugar glazed donuts.. OMG. To die for!

 Outdoor castle at Lotte World

 The famous Carousel

 The Mascots

 Bought strawberry milk to drink!
One of the very few things I like about Korea is their strawberry milk.

 Heading back to the room after a tiring evening. Lotte World is 1hr++ from my hotel! OMG. Mad tired walking up and down the stairs.. some of the tunnels are so cold cos there's no heater.. Nearly froze to death waiting for the trains. -___-

 My dinner and supper combined! :)

Caramel Ice Blend & Cheesecake!

Cough still drink ice blend in minus 10 degrees weather.

I am mad. Yes I am.

Crazy amount of tidbits in my bag. Yes, I am sick yet I am snacking on junk food.

That concludes Day 1, 8 more days to go!

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I may or may not post in chronological order.. 

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 Kimchi making is such a boring and stupid activity.

Seriously! I don't know why people go through this shit. Take the sauce and rub on the cabbage.. Kimchi is not made this way please! They say they will "donate" the Kimchi you made to less fortunate orphans. I wonder how true is that.. I am being skeptical cos there's no proof! Honestly, skip this nonsense if it's an "optional" in your tour. My tour includes this activity so customers need not pay extra for it. But most agencies charge around 7000Won for this. Please spare yourself and don't do it. Lame like hell!

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Da Chang Jing Village

To me it's just a deserted old abandoned film set (if it's even the original filming location in the 1st place). It's so.. boring. Omg. Maybe fans of the show will like it. 

 No one around except for our tour group. 

And it's December, a peak period for tourists. Nuff said.

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Finally something fun! Strawberry picking!

 Surprisingly sweet and yummy!

Each of us are restricted to 4 strawberries..

I took 10. Serious. I took 4 and my guide & photographer gave me the rest. 

Haha!

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Ocean Suites Jeju Hotel

 Our 2 nights accommodation in Jeju Island

 Love the bed! Mad comfortable!

Ice cream before bed! Yums!

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 Songsan Sunrise Peak

How many times must I come here.... -___-

 They added a new UNESCO sign at the entrance.

Didn't noticed this the last time I came.

 Same old souvenier shops selling the same nonsense.

Jeju Chocolate? Seriously? IT IS NOT NICE!

Whenever my customers ask if they should buy, I will shake my head discreetly in case the boss sees me and get angry because we are supposed to promote the chocolate to boost local sales. Not nice means not nice! Why must I cheat my customers to buy? I am a super honest tourleader which some guides and local bosses hate because I don't cooperate with them to upsell their products. Oh please.

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Something new for me cos CTC doesn't have ATV rides in their itinerary. I did not join in cos I didn't wanna get dirty.. the track had wet mud puddles.. Urgh.

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Ok, sounds like I am complaining and complaining. I did mention that I am not a Korea fan. Moreover I've been to these places a few times, going on the almost identical itinerary for a few times.. So it's very repetitive and boring for me. Though there are fun moments and a job is a job. Complain here but I was very professional during the tour.

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Famous Jeju Black Pork

Which came from these black pigs..

All tour groups go to the exact same restaurant in Jeju for the Black Pork BBQ buffet.

To prove my point, I met my ex-colleague from CTC there!

His name is Kelly and he is also leading a 8days Korea Tour by CTC.

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Jeju Teddy Bear Museum

There are 2 Teddy Bear Museum on Jeju Island. Which one you go to depends on the tour operator. But it's the same lah.. Bears are bears are bears.

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Ginseng Chicken

We did not go to the famous one in Seoul. 

Had this dish in Jeju.. Super meh.

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Flew back to Seoul and stayed in this super dodgy hotel. It looks like a "Love Hotel".. you know the ones where couples go to have secret sex rendezvous. Yes, those kind.

At least they have a nice large bath-tub for me to have a soak!

It also has interchanging "mood lights". -__-

Bubble bath sachets! Yay!

Bubble Bath Timeeeeee! Mad love!

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Yeoju Premium Outlet Mall

It is an outdoor mall and it was so freaking cold!

I hid inside the foodcourt and had tea with burger instead..

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Brought the customers to Sinchon, women's street.. Weather was made cold so I hid in Coffeebean! See the pattern here? Weather cold = find place to hide = eat.

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Vivaldi Ski Resort

So cute!

Worst room out of the entire 8 nights.

The smell was... OMG. The toilet so dirty! Urgh.

Not only my room had problem, half of my group had issues with their rooms!

Avoid this resort at all cost!

View from the room at night

Next day is Ski time!

Brought our customers up the mountain to play with snow before coming down to the beginner's slope for them to learn skiing.

Super systematic and fast!

Locker room to keep your stuff..

I had snowboard shoes on cos I am not skiing.. 

I had to help and teach the customers how to ski. 

Fubu ok. Mai siao siao.

Waiting for the customers to finish playing..

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On the 30th November, we went to Everland! This is my 5th visit to Everland and it has not changed much.. First time I went was 10years+ back and that was the last holiday (other than stupid Genting) I had with my parents and siblings as a complete family unit.

Leather boots plus winter coat is such a beautiful combo! :)

Nothing much as changed.. looks the same as before to me.

Lots of Chrtimassy performance and decorations around...

The Everland Christmas tree! :)

Here's a video I took while relaxing beside the "Avatar Christmas Tree" while enjoying my Churos before a big group of tourists swarmed past me..

My meal coupon which entitles me to a free meal at the cafeteria.

I got the guide ID ticket, which means I have access to unlimited rides but guess what? I didn't go on a single ride. LOL.

I was quite bored, cos it's not fun taking amusement rides on your own. It's damn boring and I rather walk around taking pictures and window-shopping in the souvenir shops. I didn't buy much though, cos the items are always the same boring old stuff... But I did have fun taking photos of all their cutesy hats! ^^

Penguin! So cute!

This is my guide, Ms Jang! Her daughters are a bit older than me, so she treat me like her daughter and was very nice to me. :) She kept giving me skin care advice! Haha!

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I bought Krispy Kremes for my group members! :)

None of them heard of Krispy Kremes before! T_T"

After they tried it than they fell in love with it! Hahahahahaha! I wonder why they call it doughnuts instead of donuts.. Hmmm. Is it a British vs American spelling?

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Went to the Imperial Palace and froze my ass off. Mad mad cold.

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Lots of information on Korea history, past and present

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12 zodiac statues. I am a tiger!

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Lotte World with the customers!

Waiting for the night parade to start..

My Guide sticker gives me unlimited rides.. I took 2. Haha!

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Look at the number of stuff I bought in a week!

Stickers!

Cutesy Korean Souvenirs!

By now, I've lost this mousepad.. I dunno where it is. LOL!

Love this iPhone cover! Super cute!

Pretty handcream from Etude House~

Bought plenty of masks! Hair masks, hand masks, feet masks and face masks! ^^

LOOK AT THE NUMBER OF RECEIPTS!

I spent almost half million won (Around S$600) in my 9days there in Korea and this is just cash. I did not even count the credit card receipts.. T_T"

We actually did much more stuff than what I blogged about.. all the usual touristy stuff that I'm so sick of. 

I really enjoy leading this tour cos the people are very nice and almost everyone treated each other like family.. Other than one guy which I will not mention by name who has complaints at every stop, meal and hotel.. Everyone was great! There were also two little children, a boy and girl who are really cute that I enjoy playing with.

Though I had fun, it was really boring going to the same place, seeing the same thing, hearing the same stories. I am going to request "No more Korea tours" from my boss. Let my colleagues who are Korean fans to go on the tour instead. Give me Japan anytime! I will even take Taiwan over Korea.. at least it's not so cold and there's lots of yummy food there! ^_^

I am going Japan and Taiwan and China in the next few weeks! Hope my subsequent tours will be fun too! :)