Exploring the little red dot - The Green Corridor

2015 has been a good year in Singapore because we were blessed with many long public holidays weekend. Since the husband took up photography as his hobby, we have been exploring more places in Singapore for him to practice taking pictures. 

A few weeks ago in July, we decided to explore our little red, and off we went to The Green Corridor. Layman people like me, will know it as the Railway mall. I only knew about the actual name when a friend told me about it. How embarrassing. In short, the name Green Corridor came about because the railway land connects 6 main green areas together. 

Despite being a student studying around that area for about 4 years, I did not know that this was the Green Corridor, and this was the past railway tracks. Thanks to the husband, I am now "more educated" about this location. 

And no, I did not walk the entire railway tracks. It was way too hot for any leisure walks. All we did was, to park our car at railway mall, and walk just this part of the tracks to take picture. Even that, the weather was killing us. So please enjoy the pictures and if you would like to know more about the Green Corridor, click on the hyperlink above!

outfit from: mdscollections 

Travelogue: Hong Kong (6 Aug 2015-9 Aug 2015)

Been wanting to update this space, but recently I have been too caught up with watching my Kdrama. You see, every day, I only have about 2 hours of free time to myself. I reach home from work at about 730pm. After eating my dinner and bathing, it would probably be about 830pm on good days, and to bed by 1030pm. So time is really precious!

So anyways, was in Hong Kong on 6 Aug- 9 Aug, during the long long weekend. Bought the tickets when the government announced that it would be a public holiday on the 7th Aug, in view of the national celebration of our 50 Jubilee years. So I rushed to the website immediately and snapped up 2 tickets to Hong Kong, before any price hike! The husband and I were deciding whether to go Hong Kong or Taiwan, but we chose to go Hong Kong in the end, because it had been about 5 years since he went there. Biggest regret of 2015; too hot, and too crowded and too fast paced. I felt like I could suffocate to death anytime. 

We stayed in Standford Hotel which was "conveniently" located at Mong Kok, but it was not so convenient after all. It took us about 10-15 minutes to reach our hotel from the MTR station. Imagine us lugging our luggages and wrestled our ways to our hotel, fighting the crowd.

The hotel was pretty value for money. The only grouse I had with it was that it was too far away from the MTR. The room was decent, and it was not tiny-ly small like other hotels in Hong Kong. There was space for 2 medium size luggages, and still plenty of space to walk around for the both of us. If you are claustrophobic like me, you can consider Standford Hotel. 

After depositing our luggages, we wasted no time in finding food to fill up our tummies! But first, let me take a picture of myself! :) 

We initially wanted to eat at Tsui Wah, but we combed the streets of Mong Kok, but couldn't find any! (we later passed by so many branches in Mong Kok!) 

We couldnt stand the heat and the hunger anymore, so we settled for some Cha Chan Teng.

This was the husband's beef fried rice, which tasted pretty alright. Mine was Char Siew Rice, which was extremely disappointing. I did not even bother to take any pictures of it. 

After lunch, we chanced upon Yee Shun Milk Company which was supposedly famous for its milk pudding. We ordered one original one to share, but we both disliked it. Eews. 

Next up was 許留山 which I had almost every single day.Really is #fatdieme.

It was a must to have it everyday, to combat the heat in Hong Kong. 

We roamed around, combing the shopping malls in Mong Kok. There was no specific agenda during this trip. We just walked, eat, and shopped at whichever mall we could find. 

During my previous trip in 2013, I enjoyed shopping at Mong Kok Argyle Center. Bought many clothings for work and also casual so we decided to go there again.

Disappointing. Nothing much to buy. 

But I managed to find this popular must-go shop at Argyle Center, 百味食品 . It was like a packet of cold noodles, and you can choose your own toppings to add to the cold noodle. Think I chose quai eggs, corn, and I dont know what else. Not exactly cheap in my opinion. Taste-wise, it tasted weird as as all the ingredients were cold. I ate a few bites and threw the rest away. Don't understand what the rave was about. 

We ended the day taking my #ootd #wiwt for the day. 

Good shots by the husband! Totally captured the neonlights of Hong Kong and depicted the fast-paced of Hong Kong.

After a good rest, we went for a hearty, but stressful breakfast at Australia Diary Company. If you can't read chinese, I would advise you not to patronize this shop. The waiters here, were the most unfriendly, hostile and impatient lot. Probably because the business was soo good. Do not be deterred by the long queues, it probably only took us about 15 minutes to get a seat. 

We were pretty sure what we wanted to order, until the waiter came along and confused us. So we went along with what he wanted us to order. and here it was. 

Ham and macaroni, toast and fluffy scrambled eggs, french toast and 2 cups of milk tea (one of which we did not recieve, but paid anyhows, because we were too afraid to approach the waiters. haha). It was too much for us, but we tried our best to finish it. 

The scrambled eggs were the nicest, I think, according to the husband.

Next up, was tea-break at Harbourcity. Ever since we fell in love with IIao IIao, I have been on the search for yummy yogurt. Googled, and it was said that we have to try Smile Yoghurt. Can't remember what I chose, but I think it was some banana chocolate and I would say, it was quite nice, but the husband preferred IIao IIao. 

Next up, was Mak's noodle. We went to the causeway branch's but they have several branches around Hong Kong. There was one just next to Austrailian Dairy Company. In my opinion, Mak's noodle is a MUST TRY. I fell in love on the first bite! The broth was so flavourful and the noodles were so QQ. 

Although there is a branch in SG, I think they don't taste as nice as the one in Hong Kong. 

Took my #ootd #wiwt at several random places. The husband is getting good huh. 

I can't stand this Hong Kong Travelogue, it seems like everything is about food food and more food!

In 2013 when I came to Hong Kong with the bestie, we chanced upon this cafe( oops. I can't rmb the name now! Check my Hong Kong post in 2013)

In my opinion, I think they serve the nicest Char Siew. There was also a promotion for half a chicken, and of course we got that as well. Can't remember how much we spent in the cafe, but it was really affordable.

After dinner, we went to Tsim Tsa Tsui's Victoria Harbour to look at the night view.

Pardon the not-so-clear photo Took this using my iphone. 

On our third day, we woke up bright and early for breakfast at Lan Fong Yuen. 

They only open at 1030am, and when we arrived before 1030am, there was already a queue forming. Shows how popular the cafe is!

Reviews said that the Pork Bun was good and so we ordered it. Didn't disappoint but portion was pretty small though. I finished it in a few mouthfuls and was still craving for more!

Then it was shopping again and finding more spots for #ootd #wiwt. Because it was our country's Jubilee Birthday weekend, of course I had to pose with a book about Singapore. 

Because I was really really enjoyed my lunch at Mak's Noodle, we decided to have wanton noodle again for lunch, but this time at Ho Hung Kee at Causeway bay, Hsyan Place. This is a 1 Michelin star restaurant. 

We ordered the wanton noodles each, and some dim sum (which we regret), but the wanton noodles was still very very yums!

After lunch dessert was Oddie Foodies 鸡蛋仔 and ice-cream. Be warned that this shop is pretty far away from the MTR station. We walked for probably 15-20 minutes under the BIG HOT SUMMER sun before reaching. 

Love the 鸡蛋仔 in Hong Kong, because they are so crispy on the outside and so soft in the inside, totally unlike Singapore's. Looking at this picture now makes me want to go back to Hong Kong, for the 鸡蛋仔!

It was not uncommon for us to head back to the hotel in the afternoon for a good shower, because we kept perspiring under the hot sun. 

We rested in the hotel for a while, and then had a change of clothes to head to Lan Kwai Fong. Both of us have been to Hong Kong before, but we had never visited Lan Kwai Fong at night before. 

This was probably the only couple picture we had in Hong Kong. The rest were just food and my ootd pictures. Haha. 

#ootd #wiwt while trying to locate Honolulu Cafe for our dinner. 

We wanted to visit Honolulu Cafe for their egg tarts, but they were already all sold out when we reached. Such a mood-spoiler! 

But we stayed on for dinner because we were too tired to look for other cafes for dinner. Cash was also running out so we needed cheap meals to fill our stomach!

Can't remember what we ordered but it was nothing to be raved about, honestly. 

On our final day, we took it slow and tried to avoid the sun as much as possible, because I didn't want to be sticky and disgusting for our flight at night. 

Alright, this has been a pretty long post, and I shall end it here with my #ootd and some profile shots that the husband has taken. 

BKK Travelogue 2015 (6 March-9 March)

It has been around 2-3 years that I haven't stepped foot in the Land of Smiles, hence when there was a  Jetstar promotion end of last year, I seized the opportunity and got myself a pair of tickets to BKK to celebrate the husband's 30th birthday!!

So this was our tired faces at 6am in the morning. I have a thing about morning flights, like 7am flights. My theory is that we need to make use of all our time when we are overseas, hence we need to reach our destination as early as possible. BUT, I always regret my decision when I have to wake up so early on my flight days. Totally not an early morning person. 

After a 2 hours flight, we finally reached BKK at about 10am and went to the hotel to deposit our luggages.

Here's a view of our hotel. I had booked the hotel under Agoda and paid about $100 per night. Totally worth every cent of my money. It was near the Platinum Mall and Pratunum market (impt point because we needed to travel to and fro from the hotel to the malls because we would be carrying so many plastic bags). The hotel was not only accessible to many other malls like Siam and Central World, it was also very very clean (2nd impt factor!).

Centera Watergate Pavillion 

567 Ratchapraprop Road

Makkasan, Rachathewi, Bangkok 10400

As it was still early for us to check into our hotel when we reached, we deposited our luggages with them and off we went to start our day!

For our first stop, we went to grab some food for our growling stomach. This is the famous Sab Sab wanton noodles which we had to queue for a while. And this was the "chef"! 

Sab Sab Pratunam Wanton Noodles

4/32-33 Soi Petchburi 19, Pratunam, Bangkok Thailand 

Opening hours: 9am-4pm daily

Sab Sab wanton mee was different from SG's wanton mee, because they did not have the black sauce that we have in SG. Despite that, the wanton mee was nice and cheap, only B$50. But the portion was really really small, and we wished we had order 2 bowls instead. 

After our breakfast fuel, we went to shop around Platinum Mall and the nearby streets, until it was time to check in. 

I had arranged to bring the husband to Chocolate Ville for dinner, as I was told that the ambience was really nice. However, when I called in to book, they were fully booked for the night! We then decided that we should have an early dinner at 4pm to avoid the queue. Fortunately for us, when we reached, there were still many seating places. Chocolate Ville has a seating capacity of 500, so it's a super huge place, but please book advance if you would like to visit!

Chocolate Ville

351 Khan Na Yao, Bangkok 10230, Thailand

+66 83 077 3738

From our hotel to Chocolateville, we were quoted B$400 because it was located pretty far away, and we took about 30-45 minutes to reach, with minimal traffic jam. 

Here's the view in Chocolate Ville. It's almost like a European village, and every single corner is beautiful. Too bad I didn't make reservation early enough, because it would look even prettier at night with all the lights lighted up!

Food wise, we ordered quite a bit. I ordered my Tom Yum Gung, the husband ordered Fish&Chips and we ordered fried soft shell crab with garlic and buffolo wings to share. The bill came up to about B$1000. 

Honestly, the food was mediocre. People definitely came here for the sights not the food. I probably wont come back to Chocolate Ville again in my future trips back to BKK. 

Lucky the sights made up for the food and we spent quite a bit of time taking #wefies. 

That was pretty much the end of our Day 1, and we spent most of the time in malls after our dinner. 

Afte a well rested sleep, we woke up early on Day 2 for Chatuchak Weekend Market. Our couple #ootd #wiwt for day 2. On me, I was wearing an agneselle tube top which I had bought many many years ago, and it had never seen the light until this BKK trip. Benefit of being a clothes hoarder. I can always find old but new clothes to wear!! :) 

I suggested to have our breakfast at the food court at Platinum Mall because I remembered they had a lot of variety of food (but still not to the husband's liking).

But anyhows, this was our breakfast. Roast duck rice for him and shark fin's soup for me! Mine cost B$195, not sure if its genuine shark's fins or not, but I could taste the sharkfin so I hoping that I got the real deal. 

This this this egg... I had so badly wanted to eat it, but it was a total disappointment. Looked so nice but it was so cold and tasteless. Sigh, I could have save that B$40 or B$50 for other yummy food!

After breakfast, we were off to Chatuchak in a tuk tuk!

Since I'm on the topic of tuk tuk, please allow me share my opinions on the transportation BKK. 

Generally, I don't take their MRT because I felt it was a waste of time, and since taxis are so cheap in BKK, I should just travel in comfort. So taxis and tuks tuks are my main forms of transportation in BKK. 

Between the 2, I prefer tuk tuk more, because they drive faster and the excitement of being in a tuk tuk despite having all the dirty air blowing onto your face. Also, tuk tuk drivers are generally more "honest". Of course, they try to rip you off when they first quote you a price, but after you put your negotiation and bargaining skills to use, they would keep to the price that you have successfully negotiated. 

But for taxis, I had encountered one taxi driver, who had on his meter when we got into his taxi, but when we alighted, he quoted us double the amount shown on the meter! And when I questioned him, he just kept quiet. On hindsight, I should have just paid him that B$56 only. 

Also, a lot of the taxi drivers won't drive you to the door step of your desired location. They would drop us along the road, and both of us had to figure our way to the place. Super pissed off! I had chosen to take taxis instead of MRT because I did not want to figure out my own way!

See my cute husband! He was pursing his lips so tight so that the dust and the dirty polluted air would not get in to his mouth. A total cleanliness freak!

Was searching high and low for this coconut ice-cream at Chatuchak Market. There are many other stalls who was selling coconut ice-cream as well, but I insisted on getting the "genuine" one. Look out for the stall where they put a flag on the ice-cream and also additional cup of coconut juice. In my personal opinion, the coconut ice-cream tasted better when it was slightly melted. The coconut taste was stronger when it was melted. We paid B$35 for this, super reasonable I think!

And this! This was my favourite drink in BKK and I had it everyday, on some days 2 bottles. Pomegranates are really hard to find in SG and I was glad that I could find this drink along any streets in BKK, and they cost B$40 which I find a little expensive. Drinking this everyday, hoping that it will give me good healthy skin! 

After about 2 hot hours under the scorching sun and stuffy lanes, with a few news buys in tow, we retreated back to the hotel to freshen up ourselves. And here is me, with 2 of my new buys. My top which can't really be seen from here (regretted not buying this in other colours) and my cute hair band! The cute bow on the hair band can be moved around and it cost me only B$130 after some bargaining.  

Then we headed out again for our lunch at Grey Hound Cafe located at Siam Center.

The husband said it was THE BEST meal he had in BKK, which I agreed to. 

We ordered prawn bisque, greyhound famous fried wings, bacon olio pasta, and my tiger prawn tomato pasta. Every dish was exceptionally good (missing my prawn bisque and the fried wings already) except for my tiger prawn pasta. The tiger prawns were fresh, but I didn't like the spagetti. It was "glue-y". No idea why but as soon as I put it in my mouth, it gave this sticky feeling in my mouth. 

This was not going to be our last visit for this BKK trip, and we visited Greyhound for a total of 3 times (2x greyhound cafe, then 1x Another Hound cafe). We spend about B$1000 for this meal, and we felt that it was reasonable given the quality of food ! Totally recommended!

After shopping for a while (can't remember exactly where we went), we settled for dinner again, this time at Pla Tong Mookata.

Pla Tong Mookata

Tanon Phaya Thai,

Bangkok, Thailand 10400

This mookata was probably famous among the locals, because it was one of those places where our taxi driver actually stopped right at the door step. 

It is a pretty huge place and it only cost B$159 per person. Super cheap okay! But the only gripe was, they didn't serve seafood at all. So it was just rows and rows of meat, all kinds of different meat.

Not very impressed by the standard of mookata, given that it is the homeland of mookata. I think I still preferred Tom Yum Kungfu mookata in Singapore, though its a little expensive. 

You would not believe what we did after mookata!

We cabbed to Siam and queued for After You desserts. We managed to finished both desserts despite being very very very full. 

That was also the night where I had lots of difficulties sleeping and woke up 2 times to vomit. I guess I had eaten over my limits and hence the indigestion. :( 

This was probably the first time ever in my life that I had felt sick because of overeating. #firstworldproblems

On our third day, we woke up pretty late because we did not have a good night the night before. I felt better but the stomach was still feeling a little queasy. 

But nevertheless, we headed out to have our brunch at Roast Coffee.

Roast Coffee

251 Thonglor 13 Alley, Khlong Tan Nuea, Watthana

Bangkok 10110

When we arrived at Roast Coffee, there was alr a long queue of people in front, which means this place is highly sought after!

We had to wait for about 40 minutes for our turn, so turn up earlier if you want to avoid the queue. 

Also, we concluded that this was a place for chillaxing for Caucasians because many of them just sat there for a chat even though they had long finished their food, and thus the long waiting queue outside. 

My stomach wasn't feeling too well, and I had wanted to eat something light. But there was nothing light in the menu. Major sigh. 

I ordered American Pancakes in the end and the husband ordered a breakfast set for himself which came with 2 free drinks (coffee and orange juice). I did not manage to finish my pancakes because of my stomach, but the hubby gobbled up everything on his plate, even though the serving was really huge!

oh, and please order their Hot/Iced Chocolate because it's really delicious! One of the best Hot chocolate I've ever drank!

And here's a picture of us acting goofy in the taxi for our last shopping!

And hours later........ meet my husband, aka The Slave.

After leaving our bags in the room, we headed out again to Siam Paragon for our lunch at Another Hound Cafe.

We ordered the same appetizers (my prawn bisque and the fried chicken wings), and I ordered some thai style fried prawns rice which was quite yummy, and the husband ordered Aglio Olio which he said was not as nice as GreyHound Cafe. The bill came up to approximately B$1000 too. 

Since it was our last night, we decided to pamper ourselves and go for Thai body massage at Healthland.

Healthland (Asoke)

55/5 Sukhumvit 21 Rd (Asoke)

Khlongtoeinuea, Wattana

Bangkok 10110

Tel: 6622611110

Healthland has many branches in BKK but we went to the Asoke branch as it was the nearest to our hotel. 

Definitely need to make an appointment before you go, because Healthland is pretty famous and lots of tourists go there for massage. 

Both of us were pretty shocked when we arrived because the building looked so atas and there were a total of 8 floors! And we chose probably the cheapest massage which cost B$500 per person for a 2 hour thai massage. Super shiok!

We finished our massage at about 1030pm feeling all stretched but pains all over our body. Good experience! But I guess we both preferred Balinese massage where it's less painful and more relaxing. 

Our last day in BKK saw us doing our last last minute shopping at Platinum Mall (again!). 

This was the floppy hat I bought for my upcoming honeymoon trip in Greece. Can't wait for it already!

And before we flew back to Singapore, we had our lunchner again in Greyhound Cafe. 

I know, we are super boring people who eats the same food everyday. 

Mine tasted yucky, I couldn't even finish it. Lucky I had my prawn bisque and my fried wings.

As they were having a buy 1 get 1 free dessert, the cheapo us had desserts too. But in my honest opnion, I say don't try. Not very fantastic. 

And this, Mr Jones' Orphanage, was our last stop in BKK. 

Went to get more desserts after our Greyhound and I ordered a mudpie, and it was disappointing too honestly.

Didn't taste like normal lava cake, and more like the Huat Kueh we have in Singapore. 

Was planning on getting their strawberry shortcake, but decided not to after trying their mudpie. 

Yup, so this is the end of our 4d3n BKK trip to celebrate the husband's birthday. 

Throughout the trip, the husband had been a real darling. Even though it was his birthday trip, he accompanied me to everywhere I wanted to go, shopped where I wanted to shop and even though he was really tired, he continued too. Extremely grateful for this husband of mine.