Will anyone...

Please buy me a new phone?!!

Actually I've always been a Samsung mobile phone user. It has been years ever since I spotted a Samsung e700 in 2004 in Hong Kong. My dad bought me my first Samsung, and then somemore Samsungs, and all the way till today. I've owned a e700, d500e, x820, and the latest that I'm using is u600 which is kinda outdated. I actually liked Samsung for its sleek design and beautiful screens and of course the familiarity of use.

Mom forbids dad to buy us anymore handphones. Her reason: "working already still want daddy to buy?!!", "why must change handphone every year?!!", "your handphone not yet spoil" and "I don't understand why you all like to play with handphone?!!"

And thus that u600 would be the last phone I owned without having to pay a single cent. That's why the phone never got upgraded till today! I've always been using a phone with the basic functions and I thought why don't upgrade to one which enable me to do more than that?

So it's down to either

NOKIA E71

or

Blackberry Bold

Yiling loves the E71. I love it too especially the black one with the red keyboard that I've yet to see someone using it. Either that or I can consider a Blackberry Bold. I have a friend using the Blackberry Storm and I try it and don't really like the touch screen. Last time, I used to raved about the iPhone but then I don't really like it now (unless it's free!).

I wonder what is the difference between the Nokia E71 & Blackberry Bold? Which one is a better choice?

I think it's my Christmas come early wishlist! Anyone would like to give me yours if you happen not to want it anymore? I'm really broke...

Lek Seafood @ Bangkok (Bangkok Trip Part VI)

After a round of exhaustive shopping at Platinum Mall, we wanted to have our dinner at Lek Seafood thanks to the recommendation and extensive research by Ziling. From Platinum Mall, we had to get to the Silom BTS Line to take the skytrain to the dinner venue. And since we can't get any pink cabs, we settled for tuk-tuks. After hearing so many stories about being conned on tuk-tuks, we asked for the price first before getting onto that thing.

It was a hell of a scary ride. They drove like mad people and whizzing past all the big cars and vehicles made me dizzy. For a while there, I thought my life would be such a waste if it ends there! After about 15 minutes, I'm glad we were getting off.

Greg running for his life while Jasmine gave a peace sign.

Lek Seafood is located just right under Chong Nonsi Station (on Silom BTS line). To change from Sukhumvit Line to Silom Line, we took the skytrain from Siam station which is just located outside Siam Paragon shopping centre. The food outlet is just a few doors away from McDonalds.



Lek Seafood might have a dingy set up and it's actually no different from the normal "tai-chow" stalls we have in KL. I don't really mind because when we're in Bangkok, we just want to eat all the street food! They do have a menu with English translation so you don't have to worry about being not proficient in Thai. The menu is also extensive with seafood varieties to meat and vege.



The first thing on our mind was a cool glass of Coca-Cola. I seldom drink soft drinks but made an exception for this because it was freaking hot! Their Coca-Cola comes in 1 liter glass bottles! How cool was that?!! And how could a dinner in Bangkok do without a pot of Tom Yam Goong?!! It was so good because the tom yam was bursting with flavours and it wasn't as spicy as I thought. Other than that, we had our favourite melon tip (or paku-pakis vege). Then we had a plate of pork ribs.



That was not all. We were so hungry, we could eat a cow! So we called for "hor chien" which is oyster omelette, grilled squid, broccoli with prawns and a plate of pork with onion. These aren't very special dishes as most "tai-chow" places would be serving them but the experience of eating these cooked by a Thai is indeed special.

The total bill came up to about 1000 baht for 6 of us including 2 pots of white rice. I think it's rather cheap considering we had the tom yam, grilled squid, oysters and broccoli with prawns which would have cost quite a fair bit in KL. That's less than RM20 per person!

It's not exactly a very special place to dine but it's worth every penny.

LEK SEAFOOD
156 Soi Phiphat, Narathiwat Ratchanakharin Road, Silom, Bangkok
Below the Chong Nonsi Skytrain Platform
Tel : (02) 636-6460, 636-6054

Other reviews : Neptune's Feast - Lek Seafood

Heineken Night in Rome

I was at the Hap Seng Star Mercedes-Benz Autohaus opposite ShangriLa Hotel last Saturday for the Heineken "A Night in Rome" event where they are giving a party for drinkers out there to try their luck to win an all-expense paid trip to watch the Champions League Final in Rome.

Photo taken by Horng

I'm not much of a football fan but was kindly invited by Huai Bin himself to join him for a night of fun and beers. The event was hosted by Heineken with emcee Marion Caunter, fashion/hair show by Redken and spins by Joey G with Maria Raiz, Bumblebeez (Colonna and his sister Queen ViLa) and local DJ, Lap Sap.

We were siting outside the show room and the weather was freaking hot. Even the cool Heineken beers wouldn't do the trick. We had buckets and buckets of never ending beer thanks to Desmond (was it his name? Sorry I forgot). And as VIPs, we also get to gain access to the VIP toilets - ze best and also some finger food.

From left: KY, Cindy, Horng, Robb & Huai Bin.

The event wasn't so happening after all besides all the free beer. For others, they have to pay for the beer which is RM15 for a bottle and RM60 for a bucket. For every bucket, there's a chance to win the Trip to Rome! After a few beers, we all decide to head to Metropols @ Menara Hap Seng to continue our Heineken party. It was a relieve once we were inside because there's air condition and comfortable cushioned chairs! At about 12.30am, I decide to leave and send Huai Bin home because I was the one driving. If Huai Bin was to drive, I'm sure we can't get to the event in no less than 1 hour!

Photo taken from Simon Seow.
From Left: Suanie, Stephenie, me and Cindy.

And there was also a set of 4 awesome tall Heineken beer glasses as door gifts for the bloggers.

Playing Mom

And so while mom is in Abu Dhabi, I have to play mom once again. Coming home from work, I had to water the plants, collect the mail, put the clothes into the washing machine, cook and hang the clothes dry. This has been my routine for sometime. But nowadays, Ziling & Yiling don't come home until it's pit dark and thus I don't cook so regularly anymore. We rather have our own meals outside.

Nevertheless, the other day Ziling wanted to drink some soup and thus I boiled her our fav - the ABC soup! I've boiled it so many times that I think I can even do it blinfolded! Lol...

Eiling's ABC soup.... no different from others.

The tofu with pork marinated with soya sauce.

My favourite long beans omelette.

Sambal & dry shrimps with Okra (lady fingers)

If you're wondering or even doubting my cooking skills, I can tell you that besides it's fit for human consumption, it's delicious!!! These dishes aren't difficult to cook. It's simple and nutritious (I think) because I make sure every meal is equipped with protein, carbs and vege.

My Newfound Interest

I've found that besides cigars, I do love pipe smoking.

Smoking pipes is really all about relaxation. There are really only 3 ways to smoke tobacco: cigarettes, cigars, and the pipe. According to some sources, the tobacco pipe is the only option which gives the smoker a lasting sense of pleasure and a total state of relaxation.

There's an art towards pipe smoking. First of all, you need to get a nice pipe and then source your tobacco. After that, you'll need to learn how to pack the tobacco into the pipe. And while you smoke, you have to pack the tobacco with a pipe tamper and lastly you must have a pipe lighter. Pipe lighters differs from the normal lighters and cigar torches. With all these equipped, you're ready to enjoy a pipe! A little troublesome compared to sticking a cig into your mouth and flick the lighter but the pleasures from the pipe is far more than a cig.

Anyone want to give me a pipe that your grandpa might not want anymore?

Allergy

I think this is the first time I'm posting gross pictures of meself. And in this case, I'm posting up the pictures of my leg, showing effects of allergy.

It was worse than this when I woke up this morning. Just went to a doctor and she gave me a jab which made me very drowsy. Initially, I thought I can still attend my meeting in Genting Highlands this noon but the doctor asked me to stay on the ground as going up to the higher altitudes can be dangerous for me today.

She asked me on what I ate yesterday and I told her it couldn't be the sharks bone soup or the seafood because I have no allergies on seafood. It could actually be the alcohol that I'm taking. She told me that it could be the certain brand of alcohol that I'm allergic too. But it's wine! I've no problems with wine! My friend was telling me that maybe I'm allergic to recessionary wines... Lol

So, I'm now on MC on doctor's advice and I was told to be a vegetarian for the next 5 days and no alcohol! How?!! I've got a food review tomorrow and a Heineken party on Saturday!!! Does that mean I can only eat vege at the restaurant and drink orange juice at the party?!! Oh no.... This is like a torture to me!

I'm so drowsy (same effect as taking alcohol) now that I need to retire to bed. Ciao.

La Maison du Whisky

Where can you find a whisky heaven for whisky drinkers?!! I think there's none yet in Malaysia but I managed to find one in Singapore! It's La Maison du Whisky located at The Pier @ Robertson Quay. When I walked into that shop, I know it'll be my favourite whisky shop!

It is a French family owned company with outlets in France and they carry premium whiskies from Scotland, Ireland, US, Japan and Canada. Marlene Leon is the manager of La Maison Du Whiskey, carrying possibly the largest range of single malt whiskies in Singapore.

The Macallan

The Macallan 1928 Sherry Cask which is a rare collector item is available here for SGD30,000.

The selection is endless. There's the usual famous brands like Glenfiddich, Macallan, Highland Park and Glenlivet and not so common labels like Auchentoshan, Lagavulin, Laphroaig and lots more hidden gems. There's also my favourite Port Ellen with a few different bottlers. Besides the usual whisky, you'll also find Japanese whiskies like Ichiro.

Ichiro Malt
The Ichiro's Malt has a rather cunning modus operandi which is to release and market a wide range of individually branded but very limited bottlings. You could call it the "Pokemon" card approach to whisky selling.

The Interior

The prices are not that cheap simply because it's the duty paid retail selling price and they have quite a number of rare collection. I'm actually eyeing on a bottle of Benriach 1984 Single Cask which is retailing at SGD298. Why? Cos it's my birth year!

It's not a whisky bar but you can get on their mailing list for whisky tasting sessions of rare and interesting whiskies at very reasonable prices.

La Maison du Whisky

Singapore

http://www.whisky.sg/

Soi Cowboy (Bangkok Trip Part V)

I know that my Bangkok trip posts had been a lil' too much but this post has got to be describing the most interesting encounter I had in Bangkok! I don't party much when I'm overseas because I usually go with a friend or for work but this time I have 6 party animals there so why not check out some bars?!!

The first one that came to mind was Soi Cowboy since it's near to the hotel and we haven't been to any of the Go Go bars or stripper clubs. Soi Cowboy is located just off Sukhumvit Road between Soi Asoke and Soi 23, within easy walking distance of the Asoke Skytrain station. Stein was kind enough to lead us through a journey we would never forget! It's memorable because of a few events.


First: INSECT DESSERTS

Look at Greg's facial expression!

While we were strolling the streets of Soi Cowboy, Yiling spotted some insect delights which we've heard so much but yet to try! So, she's got this brilliant idea of why not try eating some insects?!! Some of us were excited and some weren't. Telling from facial expression, Greg wasn't delighted!

Look Mom, I'm eating a grasshopper!

That picture wasn't just for show purposes. I really ate that damn thing! And I ate a few of them. Actually it was tasty because it was fried and crispy. But it can be very annoying once you stared at the grasshopper's head with the eyes attached! Eeewww... I felt like I'm on a fear factor show except the insect tasted better dead and fried rather than alive and wet!

However, Yiling was unfortunate that she was too excited about the insects that she forgot to ask for her change when she bought it with her 1000baht bill. The insects were 100-200baht 20 baht. When she returned to ask for a change, the seller refused and told her that he did not receive any 1000baht bill from her. I felt like showing up that grasshopper up his asshole! And so my sis got 980baht conned! So this is a warning to some of you whom is forgetful after paying.


Second: UGLY GIRLS

She definitely doesn't belong to the gorgeous girls category.

This is definitely a farangs' place. I would NEVER EVER want to go there again!

You'll be shocked at the amount of ugly girls on the prowl. We actually went hopping from bar to bar to look for one that we would like to spend the night in and seriously I found none! Every bar is almost the same - with girls dancing on the bar tops and tables. Some bars features pole dancing and stripping and some don't. We went to one who has girls dancing on the tables in front of us with super mini skirt and nothing underneath while we were sipping our Singha beers. It was awkward and I'm not used to drinking in front of a butt with an ugly face. Some were fat too! But it's only 130 baht for a beer and free show. What can I complain about?!!

Next, we went to a stripping bar where there were girls dancing and stripping on the main table in the middle. This is more fun as there were more action than just some butts gyrating in front of your face! There's some pole dancing and some stripping but I get bored after a few rounds. It's like if you've seen once, you've seen all!

I read somewhere that in some Soi Cowboy bars, the girls attack you like flies with 4-6 at a time trying to touch you, massage your penis and whatever they can to get your interest. It is a bit overwhelming and you almost need a fly swatter to narrow down the choices because there were simply too many of them! I'd say, take none. They were all too ugly!

You can actually take the girls out - be it for supper or a supper in bed. First, you would have to pay a "bar fine" of 300-500 baht so that you can take her out. Then you have to pay a fee separately to the girl. They are usually happy with 1000 baht for a 2-hour session.

After checking out this place, I thought to myself and said "Gosh, I would be over-qualified to work here!"

Ms Clarity Cafe @ Purvis St Singapore

Where do you go when you want to have wagyu beef, korobuta pork, foie gras, truffles or lobster without dressing to the nines? And these exquisite food be it a 5 course gourmet meal or even a 26 dish epicurean spread will not burn a big hole in your pocket or pants! And sorry, this place is only available in Singapore.

On Friday night, I went for a dinner with my usual suspects @ Ms Clarity Cafe on Purvis St. My dear friend arranged a dinner at a recessionary venue but not a recessionary budget for food. It was also an experience of a lifetime for me, having a 6-course gourmet meal at a cafe where no wine is served and it's concept is ala Secret Recipe. There is a variety of eating places on Purvis from pocket-burning-restaurants like Garibaldi and Gunthers, there's also cafes and famous beef noodles.

See what I mean by fine dining experience in a cafe?!!

Chef Jonathan Koh is a talented chef specialising in Southern French Cuisine and has cultivated a fine culinary repertoire from 3-star Michelin restaurant Le Jardin de Sans in France,Raffles Grill, San Marco, Saint Pierre and Le Saisons. He has also been working under celebrity chef - Chef in Black Emanuel Stroobant whom makes foie gras rocks! Thus we were delighted that Jonathan was willing to do a special menu for us at Purvis St instead of us going to the other restaurant in Upper Thomson Rd. Ms Clarity Cafe is named after his niece.

Chef Jonathan with his staff showing us the hay roasted chicken.

My friend gave him a budget of around SGD150 a pax and he organised the menu for that night for us. It's a 5-course dinner with an appetiser and dessert.

Appetiser : Salmon tantare with Tomato Jelly
1st course : Potato with egg confit and caviar creme
2nd course : Foie gras with glazed beetroot
3rd course : Lobster with turnip in sweet and sour dressing
4th course : Bamboo clams mediteranee
5th course : Slow hay-roasted chicken with onion fondu, apple celery creme and truffles shavings
Dessert : Chocolate gratin with mixed berries



Jonathan was a great chef. He managed to pair a contrast of tastes and texture into his dishes beautifully. I had a great time trying the wonderful dishes which I've not tried before. I enjoyed the bamboo clam a lot and I forgot to snap a picture of that dish! The foie gras was special as it was cooked at low temperature unlike the pan seared foie gras that I always had. You know how fussy I am when it comes to dessert but he did well using the white Valrhona chocolates!



Besides the good food that we had, my friend brought 4 bottles of wine for the dinner. We have been drinking way before dinner actually. That evening, we have had 3 different champagnes before we come for dinner starting with Bollinger, GH Mumm and a Spanish Cava. At dinner, we started off with a Burgundy of Chateau de Saint Cosme 2006 Gigondas which is listed in the Wine Spectator's Top 100 list of 2008 and 92 points. Even though it was recommended o be drunk from 2010 to 2015, it is drinking very well now. After that we had the La Dame de Montrose 2000, a 2nd wine from Chateau Montrose, followed by a Haut Bateilley 2005 and Giusto di Notri 2002 which is a Super Tuscan.

It was indeed a very new experience for all of us as my friends don't usually dine in these places. I must say that although ambiance plays a very important role in a dining experience, the taste of food is actually a priority in my dinners. Afterall, you're also paying for the ambiance so the better the ambiance, the much higher the prices are. The cafe was buzzing with customers as some of the tables had 3 turnovers that night. It's as popular as a "Kim Gary" outlet! Their normal menu is really affordable and it tasted very good to according to my friend.

We were so fortunate to be able to taste Jonathan's culinary skills before he goes upmarket to set up a fine dining restaurant in which we might not be able to afford! After dinner at about 12 midnight, we adjourned to my friend's cigar lounge ROBUSTO @ Que Pasa and have a puff before adjourning for bar hopping. We went to Brix @ Hyatt, then Firefly and lastly The Living Room @ Mariott until 4am! I've had 5 glasses of champagne, a glass of Bowmore, 4-5 glasses of wine, 2 glasses of Lychee Martini and a Vodka Lime from evening till morning!

Ms Clarity Cafe
www.msclaritycafe.com

Blogging Threat

"The government is not looking to find fault with bloggers and other internet users but would like them to follow the law to ensure they did not misuse it."

Haha... another one trying to pose some threats into bloggers hoping that they will shut their big mouths and accept whatever information that they want us to believe. Minister of Information, Communication and Culture Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said, "we would like the right of the people to be guarded by the relevant authorities and the law. Our aim is to see the IMalaysia concept succeed. However, in order to succeed, the facts must not be twisted or misinterpreted by some until it raises racial sentiments."

I wonder who is he referring too. Often or not, it was the politicians that raised racial sentiments in trying win votes or incite anger among us. They think that we are idiots, believing every word they say without sieving through the information presented to us everyday in those made believed stories in main stream medias! We have our own minds for heaven's sake and we are capable of knowing what is true and what is not.

I think if they ever want to achieve the 1Malaysia concept, they have to start with themselves. our politicans are all way too childish. Time to grow up guys.

Villa Danieli @ Sheraton Imperial KL

A dinner in a restaurant in a hotel is never cheap. Sometimes, I would rather pay that price elsewhere and have a better food and service. To sum it all, Villa Danieli is a place that I would go once but I wouldn't fancy going twice. The service wasn't very good and even with an extensive wine list, I couldn't find any wine that I would like to drink. Prices are steep too.

You can read Kampungboycitygal's review here as I didn't bring my camera to capture the pictures. The set up and ambiance is impressive but the food was rather a letdown. I had the beef cheeks with polenta and tomatoes. At RM90 a plate, the portion was big but it didn't taste as good as Max's. My friend and I had ordered 2 bottles of wine. To start off with, we had a bottle of St. Supery Cabernet Sauvignon 2001 from Napa Valley.

The nose was good with hints of berry and briar, enhanced by expressions of licorice and coffee bean. On the palate, it has a toasty charred oak flavour with some spices. It has a firm tannin structure combine for an elegant and refined finish. It's good after it's been decantered for at least 45mins. This bottle costs around RM350 at the restaurant whereas you can get it in US for USD30!

The other bottle that we had was the Giribaldi Barolo 2003. It was my choice because I wanted to drink a Barolo. It was commendable and not really up to my expectations even at a price of RM350. I still prefer a Pio Cesare Barolo Ornato 2004 anytime!

It was just 2 of us and we drank a bottle each! This morning, I woke up with a headache. I guess it must be the wines. I've drank more than this before but I had no problems waking up in the morning. Maybe its the quality of the wines... Gosh, I've gotta train my body to accept lower grade wines or else I'll be suffering in times to come. To sum it all, a dinner at Villa Danieli for both of us came up to over RM1k and I'm not truly satisfied!

Food @ Chatuchak (Bangkok Trip Part IV)

There were actually quite a number of foodstalls @ Chatuchak to feed your hunger after a long walk. My sister and I actually tried many of the food offered at the market and we were having so much fun trying as much food as possible! No wonder the expanding waistline during the recent trip.

Some Iced Strawberries with salt anyone?
Why we don't have this here?!!

Firm and delicious sausages.
So unlike the sausages here which is so "lembik".

Satay Babi.
The most awesome satay meat around!

My sister's favourite Orange/Tangerine Juice.
It's 100% juice and not water, sugar added with 1 orange!

Teh tarik in Bangkok?

A unique juice stall serving vegetable juice?!! Hmm.. something refreshing.

Spicy beefballs. It's really too spicy for me.

There's many more other food to try at Chatuchak. Probably it would be good if you go there without breakfast so that you can have more space for more food. So far, I've not experienced any food poisoning from eating at these stalls. It's either my stomach is immune to dirty food or the food isn't that really dirty. Lol...

You can read my shopping at Chatuchak here.

Chocolate Overdose

There's been so much going on for the past few weeks that I'm beginning to feel exhausted. I had not been posting for the past two days to due a full day sales & marketing conference and KPI training in Shah Alam. Right after the conference on Wednesday, I took my colleagues out for a dinner at Cubes in Jaya 1. And yesterday after the KPI training, I was invited to have dinner at an ex-minister's villa. The dinner was simple but the villa was magnificent. I also went for a ride in his small yatch around the lake. Such a luxury to be enjoying the night view while sipping on some Chilean wine. It's not my type of palatable wine so I just had a glass or two.

Back to the subject, after having just launched the Chocolatease bar range a month ago, I had to plan for the launch of another 2 more range of chocolates this year. My on-going product development project seemed never ending. But I was glad that Chocolatease was featured in The Moodie report last week. Read here.

So, you can imagine with so many product development going on, there'll be endless tasting of the chocolates before it's put onto the shelves. Besides being able to choose the chocolates I wanted to launch, I'm also one of the guinea pigs to be tested on for every new chocolate creation. I think very soon I'll suffer from chocolates overdose. So can you imagine that I have to taste 12 different chocolates at one go? And after each chocolate tasting, I have to cleanse my mouth with water and then move on to the next one and repeating the same steps all over again.

This is just for one of the new range. can you imagine how many more I would need to taste? Gosh, I need some salty food here!

One of the chocolates that I really like from the tasting is this round wonder which I've just named it Cocomary.

Living on Debt

I think I'll be in heavy debt until May is over. At the rate that I am going, I've already used up my May quota. Applying the credit card system of borrowing next month's limit for this month's use is doing no good to me. The temporary credit limit increase is a temptation to indulge more than one's capabilities!

And I'm talking about my debts of drinking and cigars. Am not in monetary difficulties but is currently facing an overcharged monthly quota of 4 cigars and 2 glasses of wines per dinner. Now I know why resolution are meant to be broken.

Had been drinking since Friday night at the Enrich High Octane Party @ Pavilion with Wei Mei drinking GH Mumm Cordon Rouge in plentiful glasses (only me drinking and Wei Mei watching) with the presence of Farah Khan, Dato Raja Nordiana and other "powderful" people. It was also my first time having a front row seat at a fashion show! (*gasps*) On Sat, I was at Luna with Emily and Yiling and we met two Scottish guys whom can speak cantonese and malay! Woot! And Monday, yesterday, I was at GYT and had been drinking Chateau Lascombes, Sarget de Gruaud Larose, and Pio Cesare Barbaresco. While I thought Mondays are always blue, it turned out to be really colourful!

Actually I wanted to blog about the foodstalls at Chatuchak but the pictures are in another computer which my sister had switched off a while ago and I'm too lazy to switch it on again. So, I had no choice but to do a filler post about my drinking 4 days in a row. Anyone want to lend me your drinking quotas or perhaps let me use your livers?

My Miniscule T&Co

I've just spend some big bucks on some tiny earrings which nobody knows it's a T&Co unless they squint their eyes real hard at my earrings. Well, I don't think anybody would have squinted on somebody else's earrings unless they looked like the ones that your boyfriend bouught the other day but you realised it was not for you!

Anyways, I'm glad the earrings arrived safely in the parcel delivered from US. Thanks to Calvin whom has been so kind to help me purchase them from the Tiffany & Co website. This has yet to be the most expensive and the tiniest earrings I've ever bought!

The earrings are so miniscule even I have a hard time not to loose them!

Chatuchak Weekend Market @ Bangkok (Bangkok Trip Part III)

It would be an exaggeration to say that if you have been to Bangkok and you don't know what Chatuchak is! It's the world's biggest weekend market with 9000-10000 stalls to boot. Though there are many markets throughout Bangkok, Chatuchak Weekend Market is still pretty much the undisputed king of them all. The range of products on sale is extensive, and you probably can find everything under the sun which includes fashion accessories, household accessories, handicrafts items, religious artifacts, art, antiques, live animals (which unfortunately are frequently caged in cruel conditions), books, music, souvenirs, clothes, food, plants and flowers etc...

All you should know about Chatuchak before going there physically...

The official opening hours are from 9am to 6pm but some only only open at 10am. I recommend that you get there early. It's not only to make sure you have enough time to cover it all, but also to get a head-start before it gets too crowded and hot. Firstly, to get yourself prepared for the streams of crowd and hot weather, wear absolutely nothing (just kidding) light clothing as in something that is cooling. Dress preferably for ladies so that you can slip that pair of pants on easily when trying on the clothes. Don't carry anything more than what you need because you'll be definitely carrying a few bags after that!

You have to be very mentally prepared. This advice has to be for the guys! (your girlfriends might be the one buying and you carrying) One of our friends there ended up buying a big backpack after buying loads of things and wasn't prepared on how to carry the many plastic bags of shopping!

Better to BYO shopping bags.
Chose the big ones that can be easily folded!

There are two ways to approach the shopping excursion:

1. To get a free map from one of the information kiosks and (try to) plan your adventure through the never-ending maze of crowded, narrow alleys that are, surprisingly, numbered. But, it's so big that even with a map you might find yourself going around in circles.
   
   
2. To just follow my own instincts and leave it all up to luck. Either way, it's virtually impossible to see it all in one day - and even more unlikely that you won't find something to get excited about.

But I prefer the 2nd approach. trust me, if you plan your shopping, you'll find that you will also end up buying many things you wouldn't expect to. My ultimate aim was to buy fashion accessories but I ended up buying clothes, shoes, hats and kitchen utensils!

All the accessories your money can buy!
If you don't want to sweat it out at Chatuchak, you can click here to buy.

I love the white shirts/dresses stalls the best! They were just so many different designs of white tops that you can choose from. It's about 250baht per piece. maybe if you were to buy more, they can offer a better discount. If bargaining is an adrenaline rush for you, please do because bargaining and negotiating for a good price is mandatory here! Start with the usual "Sa wa dee ka" (greetings) and then "gee baht?" (how much). If you can't understand the numbers, they will show you the price on the calculator. Always start at 30-50% of the price and work your way up.

From top left clockwise: The white shirts, the bags, the decorative lights & boxes stalls.

Me and my sister love the flower shop where they sell all the fake flowers from all colours and sizes. Although we had no idea what to do with those fake flowers, we ended up buying a bag of it! The handmade cards were equally attractive! Maybe I'll stop buying birthday cards and make them my own.

Of course besides the shopping, there were lots of foodstalls. You'll never run out of things to eat in Chatuchak. In fact, there were a few things that we had during our trip there and I'll cover them in the coming posts.

Yummy...

View from Mo Chit BTS station

One could take either the skytrain (BTS) to Mo Chit station on the Sukhumvit Line or the metro (MRT) to Suan Chatuchak station. It's just a 5 minute walk to the market from the BTS station and if you don't know how to head there, just follow the crowd! Alternatively, many buses go past here: Ordinary buses 3, 8, 26, 27, 28, 34, 38, 39, 44, 52, 59, 74, 77, 96, 97, 104, 108, 112, 134, 136, 138, 145 and air-con buses 2, 3, 9, 10, 12, 13, 29, 38, 39, 44, 136 and 138.


Now wouldn't you wanna go Chatuchak too?!!

Related Post: Food@Chatuchak.