Happy anniversary hubs!!!

Today is our 18th anniversary! Well, after 2 kids and a furkid, I sure hoped that our love would keep going strong until the day we die........

Happy Birthday Mom!

Image Googled

A very happy birthday to mom! Many happy returns of the day! Hope that all your wishes come true!

A yearly excursion to Cameron Highlands.

A quick throwback to our recent trip to Cameron Highlands. One, to celebrate mom's 70th birthday. Two, dad's 6th memorial anniversary. We've gathered on Saturday to celebrate mom's birthday first. Good food and great company... such a blessed and thankful evening to be with family.

Headed to Cameron Highlands the next morning after breakfast. Surprisingly, it was terribly jam! No school holidays nor public holidays... harrumph! Anyway, we had a lovely time visiting dad's site and family quality time! Another year has passed... it's an early one this time as we were hoping to avoid the rainy season but got into the peak period instead. Will see how again next year... until then...

FIL's memorial 3rd anniversary

The Phang's family yearly excursion to Pulau Pangkor for Father-in-law's memorial via speedboat, albeit a belated one this year. It's his third anniversary and this time around, we did stop by the island for a sumptuous seafood lunch with such a breezy and sunny weather to boot! 

We were too famished hence the missing food photos! Rest assured we had loads of fresh yummy seafood with refreshing coconut water! Yummy in my tummy!!!

Until then, see you again next year, Father!!!

How old is my dog in human years?

Someone shared this in Facebook so it's more for my record... to take note of my dear Minnie's age. She's 9 this year and of medium built meaning she's 56 in human years!!! OMG! She's older than me LOL!!! No wonder she behaves like an old lady sometimes! Oh well, she'll always be my baby pup :-)

Happy Birthday Hubs!!!

A very Happy Birthday to my soulmate... my best friend... my hubby dearest!

P/S: so happy we could celebrate it with Angels this time around albeit an early one! I know they have enjoyed planning and surprising you!

Last day: Malacca

Day 2 or rather our last day in Malacca... we had breakfast at this simple hut but the food was awesome! Authentic local food with magical taste! Definitely worth discovering this neat food stall!

After breakfast, sis, her boyfriend and bro Chris had to head back to Singapore so leaving mom, bro Ryan, his wife and us to roam around Jonker Street before heading back to KL!

Last but not least, we found pork satay to satisfy our palate! That's it! A very short one as we headed back to KL before the traffic jam picked up! I can't recall the places we went to as I didn't note it down but most of where we went, it was highly recommended upon Googling. So I guess it's safe to just ask Mr. Google, you can't go wrong here.

Day 1: Malacca

Finally a short trip with mom and siblings over a weekend! We didn't plan to go far so Malacca it is since it's 'central' between Selangor and Singapore LOL! Anyway, I'll let the photos speak for itself, though not many, so here's day 1 of food galore!

Entrance to Jonker Street with that huge bird greeting us while otw to lunch upon arriving!

A must! Chicken rice balls for lunch @ Hoe Kee Chicken Rice!

Another a must! Ice kacang for dessert!!!

A first for us... cruise the river... we can bring Angels to experience this the next time. Thankfully not crowded too, perhaps due to the hot weather!

Then it was time to go check-in at our Airbnb plus shower and catch some 40 winkers before dinner! Yeap, since there were 8 of us, Airbnb is the ideal and cost-effective choice.

Finally, a Nyonya dinner at Nancy's Kitchen before another walk at Jonker Street. After the long walk, it was time to hit the sack since it has been a tiring day of walking, shopping and eating...

Next: day 2.

Last day: Phuket

Princess had wished that our holiday will never end. Well, I did wished for the same too but then reality beckoned with all those mountainous bills and debts to be paid, sigh! Our gloomy, sad last day in Phuket. As there's nothing much going on, we decided to spend the last day at Jungceylon mall after breakfast. After much walking and window-shopping, it's time for lunch and we had it at the food-court downstairs! It was definitely a good, well rounded meal with awesome Thai iced tea!!!

Dessert was ice-blended and ice-cream! OK, we forgot to snap our ice-cream LOL! Yummy in our tummy!

I've just realised that I've forgotten to share this earlier... another steam-punk interior of the hotel we stayed in... Forty Winks Hotel... plus the cool room label which I really liked!

Simple yet attractive!

As our time was limited for this trip, we didn't plan for any sea or island hopping activity hence the simple itinerary LOL! Perhaps for the next round where we can plan better with longer stay and not as rushed. Also ensuring no more disturbance from the likes of Mount Agung if we do plan for Bali again eventually LOL!!!

Anyway, time to board the flight back to reality! Au revoir, Phuket, until the next time we meet again!

Day 2: Phuket

It was such a blessing that our travel this time beckons sunny weather! Unlike the previous times, we encountered rainy weather! I guess it's both Angel's luck lah bringing good weather on this trip! Anyway, this will be a photo filled post so I'll just let them speak for themselves LOL!

First, our hearty breakfast which was included in our hotel room package. Simple yet fulfilling!

Then, a walk to the mesmerising beach! So sunny and bright! FYI, we were tanned even though we were sitting under shades of trees!

After a stroll at the sunny beach, we went for lunch at Burger King, Jungceylon Mall. Can you believe it that it's non-halal and has more varieties of burger?! Definitely yummy too than those in Malaysia!

I just had to share this of the hotel we were staying in, Forty Winks. For a start, we thought these books were for real... but then alas... it's all fakes!

Anyway, some of the funky, steam-punk designs which I liked!

Simple yet captivating!

This is actually Starbuck's Christmas tree which I just had to share lah...

After all those walking, we hurried back to the hotel for some dips before dinner. Tyger was especially ecstatic to be in the pool again! Dinner was just a 2 mins walk from the hotel, around the corner, by the roadside...

Simple rice noodle soup which was truly yummy!

After dinner, we headed to Jungceylon again because of this nightly event. A water fountain documentary of their beloved King at 7pm every night.

Can see the faded documentary?

After that, it was Bangla Street time! Definitely an eye-opening experience for Angels LOL! Princess kept commenting that she has to wash her eyes with clorox!!! Well, only innocent photos shared here...

All in all, a tiring yet fulfilling day 2 in Phuket! Walked a lot! Ate a lot! Seen a lot! Walked some more! Laugh some more!

Next: last day in Phuket

Day 1: Phuket

We were supposed to go to Bali for our first ever family trip overseas! Unfortunately, Mount Agung begged to differ and didn't allow us entry sigh! Thankfully, after all the refunds and whatnots, we were able to re-book to Phuket instead. So here we are... our first ever family trip to Phuket and here's day 1... waiting to board our early flight!

Upon reaching Patong, we decided to head to Banzaan Market after checking in to the hotel for lunch as we were so famished! Loving all those fresh, yummy seafood at such an affordable price albeit the haggling!

After having our tummy filled to the brim, we walked around Junceylon Mall.

By evening, Angels were excited to head back to the hotel to go for a dip in the swanky hotel's pool!

After a refreshing dip and freshening up, we headed to the night market outside Banzaan Market for dinner! There were many local varieties including Khao Kha Moo, chicken rice, seafood, etc... so we tapao and ate by the veranda like how the other locals did LOL! Unfortunately, no photos as we were struggling to eat and hold our styrofoam boxes with care... except for dessert, this knocked up mixed ice-cream!

Once we were done checking everything here, we headed back to our hotel as we were just too tired then. This time around, we stayed at Forty Winks Hotel. A quaint, steam-punk design hotel with friendly staffs. FYI, we booked our rooms via Agoda. When we arrived, we were upgraded for free as apparently the rooms we wanted were fully booked! We were so grateful for this! Though small, they also have a 'working' swimming pool which was a huge plus point! I was so in awe with the unique facade and design... especially our room as you can view the photos below! Another plus point, it's just a 10 mins walk to Jungceylon and 15 mins to Bangla Street! So convenient, no hassle to roam around the busy town by foot! I may be singing praises here of the hotel but rest assured, it wasn't because of the free upgrade. The hotel itself was truly great overall and I liked it a lot!

Next: day 2 in Patong

Bangkok: last day

This post consists more on rants ya...

Nothing much on the last day as always. Well, we have to take the cab to Don Mueang Airport by 12.30 pm so we had only like 2 hours max to roam around. After packing, checking out and leaving our luggage at the concierge, we walked to the nearest mall i.e. The Street for a last minute shopping. When we finally got a cab to the airport, I was feeling nostalgic... having to leave so soon... my holiday is ending... etc...

And then cab driver had to being cunning lah... trying to squeeze more money from us =.= Really?! On our last day?! Well, he claimed if we do not follow the meter, his flat rate would have been 300 Baht and he'll pay the tol. BUT as we wanted meter, upon reaching the tol, we paid 70 Baht. And then upon reaching the airport, meter showed 159 Baht and hubby gave him 200 Baht to keep the change. Instead, he INSISTED we pay him another 30 Baht!!!  Bloody hell!!! At first we didn't get it as we were dead tired. And then I realised, he wanted to make it up to his 300 Baht flat fee!!! BUGGER!!! We just had to meet a dishonest Thai on the last day of our trip! Definitely a turn off! As it is, we were already not feeling as much fun and excitement from this trip... so this definitely had us thinking of going to other places instead. No more Bangkok, maybe for another few years or so. Just stick to Phuket or the likes. Really... jeez!

The main thing we learned from this trip, try to stay nearer to the places we want to go to. Spending unnecessary money on the trains, though small, were actually a lot plus tiring plus time wasted. If we did not stay at Palazzo Hotel, perhaps stay somewhere in Pratunam or Sukhumvit area then we don't need to waste time taking the MRT. We can just take BTS to wherever we wanted to go. Definitely a lot of time and money saved. Well, the only reason why we stick to Palazzo Hotel is because of Lemongrass and Huay Kwang night market. I guess we have to change if we decide to go to Bangkok again in the near future.

The one thing I've observed, not sure if it's due to the poor currency, everything seemed more pricey. Food is still cheap but accessories, clothes, souvenirs, etc are expensive. I could easily get a dress for around 100 Baht previously but it's 200 Baht at least this time around. Mind you the local ones double the price ya. Also I kept converting it to RM so it's actually extra more pricey! This time around, I honestly can't shop as freely like the previous trips with everything so expensive with average to poor quality. I became more picky and spent more on worthy, quality stuff! In the end, our luggage was pretty light as we didn't buy much LOL!

A lot has changed since the last time we came to Bangkok. As mentioned before, more pricey, more tourists, over-commercialised, over-saturated and even night markets were different and expensive! Bangkok has evolved into a city of lights of some sorts, making it less localised and more westernised or touristy. Even this time around, we have chosen to walk more at the malls... well, aside from the heat, it seemed more safe and comfortable. We have always been to the streets and markets but seldom malls. So this time we walked until our hearts content in the malls LOL! Maybe as we grow older, malls are better options too... cooling as compared to outdoors with many sitting areas.

I guess we need to target other places aside from Bangkok from now on... need to save more $$$ to travel further! Japan? Australia? London perhaps?

So, until the next time we travel...

Bangkok: day 3

This was a much disappointed walkathon at first as I actually have a shopping list for this day especially stocking up for my bazaar and crafts. I had planned for Platinum Mall and then Palladium Mall. After which we could dropped by Dasa Book Cafe before heading back to the hotel. Unfortunately, it all went south.

Platinum Mall has changed into a tourist destination with much touristy appeal. I could not locate much local products as it was 99% from China plus the prices have increased tremendously! Nothing wholesale was as cheap or affordable anymore. Also it was so crowded, filled with so many tourists especially from China buying China made products in Platinum Mall Bangkok. Hmmm... how weird is that! So in the end, we left empty handed, can you believe that??? Platinum Mall = empty handed!!!

Anyway, we didn't even go to Palladium as it's on the opposite side of the main road and we have to cross the busy intersection so in the end, we scraped that off purely for our safety and we were darn tired. We switched to Central World as we find it more appealing for us and there seemed to be many bazaars outside the mall which turned out for the positive... loads of local food and some local products... nice to browse through though a little too hot.

The plus point here which I truly liked was the overhead walk path connecting from the Chit Lom BTS station to all the shopping malls! That had me in awe! No need to cross the busy streets below, no need to rush for the tuk tuk, no need umbrella! Just walked across the overhead path in peace and shaded! So I was wondering when they will connect it to Palladium so that we don't have to risk our lives crossing that busy intersection!

Some photos here taken from that overhead walk path:

So near yet so far... passing by Palladium from opposite after exploring our options and decided not to cross...

We had lunch at Platinum Mall's food court first before crossing over to Central World. Though no more free tissues with high level of noisiness, the food is still good and is the cheapest amongst the food courts we have been to.

Platinum Mall food court

We had these yummy, fresh grilled prawns at the Central World outdoor bazaar!

After checking out the bazaars outside and filled our tummy with fresh prawns and coconut water for tea time, we went inside Central World and another walkathon ensued until we noticed the cinema! Spider-Man, here we come! You can read my full review of the movie here:
http://www.sholee.net/2017/07/mpov-spider-man-homecoming.html

Spider-Man: Homecoming @ SF Cinema, Central World

Central World sure is a big mall! We didn't finished walking after the movie and just looked for dinner. In the end, we settled for MOS Burger as we never had it before and it's not available in Malaysia. It was steep in pricing compared to McDonald's but the burger was awesome! Crispy salted fries with fresh tasty patties, it was definitely way better, really delicious and good!

MOS Burger, Central World

All in all, it ended on a high as Central World made up the boo hoos we had. Also, we went to Huay Kwang night market before going back to the hotel. After a good walk and some supper, we hit the sack, not looking forward to the next day which was our last day in Bangkok. Sad but true.

Next: last day