Bangkok Valentine's Weekend: Day 1

We left the hotel around lunch time. We took a cab to Terminal 21, the airport-inspired mall in downtown. We had lunch at The Terrace, a Thai restaurant. We had pad thai, tofu, tom yum. I think all of those cost us around ThB 900. Since I wasn't able to have my peso changed into baht, I just withdrew from the ATM. Luckily, there's an AEON branch (with ATM machine) in Terminal 21 that I was able to withdraw in baht without extra charges. Before doing so, I actually searched online for banks that do not charge for transactions of international cards, and so I found AEON, which I have first encountered when I was in Japan.

Tokyo bathroom

After lunch, we did a bit of shopping. We found nice coats on sale! Got mine for ThB 500! :) Then we took the Sukhumvit line from Asok to Siam. There we went around multiple malls namely, Siam Paragon Mall, Central World, Platinum Fashion Malls 1 and 2, and other nearby malls. We loved Platinum for lots of cheap yet awesome finds. There we bought a pair of flats for ThB 250 and colored pants for ThB 500. Actually, there were a lot of stuff to choose from. Had I brought a lot of money, I would've shopped clothes and resell them in Manila haha!

spotted a Crossfit box! :)

My name just means Royalty :)

a day after Vday

Siam Paragon

this is like the Thai version of grotto

awesome shopping spot!

yummy milk tea

After shopping, we headed back to the hotel where Dr. Sopon (my Thai friend) picked us up. We walked to his nearby office and toured around. There we found campaign materials 'cause apparently, he was also running for Bangkok Governor in the upcoming elections. Anyway, he took us to Central Plaza, a nearby mall, for dinner. We had a hot pot dinner at MK Restaurant. We had so much for dinner, and the best part was, it's free!:)

After dinner, we were off to Asiatique, hangout place by the bay. It's like their version of San Miguel by the Bay behind Mall of Asia. There were a lot of different shops (clothing, food, pets, toys, etc.), bars, and restaurants there. Plus there's a huge ferris wheel! We were there to meet with Narid, a Thai friend of mine, and her Chinese husband. They treated us to drinks at Checkmate, a restobar. The place has got a nice ambiance, plus there's a live band playing good Thai music. The singer was one of the last few contestants of "The Voice" Thailand. The place also serves sumptuous dishes. But the best part for me was we were able to try Hoagaarden Rosee for the first time! It's a cherry flavored beer and it really tasted good. I'm wondering why I couldn't find one in Manila.

we kept spotting Happy Lemon in every Asian country we visit :))

historical spot

LOLing at this :)))

new coat and new flats haha

artists

an artist with a unique style in his works

This photo grabbed our attention that's why we stopped by this artist haha he was with Mario Maurer in Jandara's (movie) premiere. Anyway, while the artist was talking to us, he was actually quickly drawing us on a piece of paper. He gave it to us and he asked for donation after. Oh well, we gave him 20 baht.

We had a great time catching up with my Thai friend and her hubby. She's still so fab and pretty that I don't feel she's getting old. Just before midnight, they brought us back to the hotel with their cutie white Mini Cooper. Well they're so blessed for living a perfect life, but the best thing about them is, they're very down to earth. You know, it really pays to keep in touch. It was in 2009 when I first met them and this time was just the second. I'm so happy having met such nice foreign friends.:)

Thai music

Hoegaarden Rosee for the ladies! Cheers!

awesome night :)

Since it's always our habit to have a central fund every trip (and I'm always the one handling the money), our summary of daily expenses would always mean that it covered 2 pax. Here's an estimate of how much we've spent:

1. Lunch - ThB 900
2. Transportation - ThB 300 (incl. toll fees - to avoid traffic)
3. Dinner - FREE
4. Snacks - Thb 200
5. Drinks - FREE
TOTAL: ThB 1,400 or PhP 1,950 (Php 975 each)

xoxo,

city girl

Autumn in Beijing Day 1 - COSMO

Part of our first day in Beijing was getting lost somewhere in Wangfujing and accidentally ending up at one of the most popular shopping places in Beijing, the Oriental Plaza. There we encountered the 2nd Beijing Wangfujing International Brand Festival. There were a lot of shops, and a lot of items on sale. However, we were not really up for a shopping spree since we're on a budget. Though fall and winter clothes were kind of expensive since the season was on transition from summer to fall.

 welcome arch

 the long shopping strip

huge golden abacus

At the end of a long day of walking around Beijing, we spent some time at the hotel lobby to use wifi! Facebook and Twitter are banned in China but good thing I got those uploaded as my mobile apps in my Blackberry, that's why I was still able to use them. I finally got in touch with my friends in the Philippines as I got my BBM and email working too.

this aquarium was so relaxing 

 outside the elevator doors

 reading the hotel rules

After relaxing for a while in our hotel room, we're off to have dinner at Houhai Lake. But before that, we headed first to Xidan Shopping Mall and shopped for scarves and shirts from H&M. It's the usual thing we do every time we go to a country with H&M, since we don't have one here in the Philippines. I just hope we can have it here soon!

 encountered these Kung Fu performers at the hotel lobby on our way out

 walking on a really cold weather

 huge overpass/walkway

 they said that's the longest escalator in Asia

It was so hard to find a cab so we decided to just take the train from Xidan to Ping An Li. Just by referring to our map, we walked to find the Houhai Lake. We knew we were there when we found this map:

We were at the Northwest part of the lake. Our friend Pam couldn't remember what side of the lake they went to the previous night so we just kept walking. we walked southward on the west side of the lake. However, when we couldn't see much bars, restaurants, and lights on that side, we went back up north and decided to walk southward on the east side of the lake. We kept on walking even if it's drizzling because we were so hungry and we just wanted to arrive to the cosmo place. Then we finally found a series of bars and restaurants. We chose to have Thai Food at Lotus Blue.

 service was fast and dishes were yummy

 dinner was quite expensive compared to our previous meals in the city

After dinner, we walked for a bit and tried some street desserts: fruits on stick coated with sugar and huge cotton candy. Then we all got sugar rush! haha!

Starbucks Chinese Version

Then we headed back to the hotel. However, it was so hard to find a cab because there were a lot of people waiting for a cab also, and there's no line...well yeah, we did it the Filipino way. But the worse was, no cab wanted to take us back to the hotel because it was kind of far from the area plus they couldn't understand us. Even if we're showing the business card of our hotel (with map), they still wouldn't take us there. It just so happened that there's this private car driven by an old man with his wife on the front seat, offering to take us back to the hotel. However, he's offering an expensive rate. We didn't agree, and we moved farther from them. But he didn't leave. He approached us again and bargained. Finally, we agreed to a certain rate and we finally got a ride back to the hotel.


We got home before midnight because we needed enough rest for our next day's destination: Great Wall of China.