Just Us to Bangkok, Day 1 Part 2

I thought the hotel is a new(er) hotel but I was wrong. I am never a fan of big, luxurious hotel anyway, but I cannot speak the same for Daddy Lim and the kids. They whined when I put them in cockroaches hotel and hostel with small towels. Lol. 

The room was decent. Good size for 2 pax. Yay, we are 2 pax! The toilet was irritating though, the shower head was not holding up properly and the warm water comes and goes. 

I cannot help but showcase our 战利品. 

Daddy Lim's.

Mine.

What we bought for the kids. 

Daddy Lim said that he doesn't have anything in mind that he wanted to buy but ended up buying the most. He now tells me that he needed new berms. Zzzzz. Lol. 

We didn't stay long in the hotel and got a Grab to the Jodd Fair Markets. The nice thing about Grab is that the price is made known upfront - no extra charges, no need to bargain or worry about the driver driving us to some jade shop. It cost us THB 227 from the hotel to the market and it was very jam. 

Hello Jodd Fair Market.

The sign board gives me an Aussie Market feel. The moment we entered, there was little carts selling beer and food. There was also a sitting area set up. The vibes feel good. 

However, the other parts of the market was just very crowded. 

I had thought that there would be interesting shopping to do but the merchandises were similar to what we saw in the Platinum Mall but more expensive. There were many food stalls though and that suited us. It was dinner time! 

There are 4 things on my "I wanted to eat" list: 1. Grilled Pork 2. Banana Prata 3. Fried Pork 4. Mango Sticky Rice. We saw the prata and mango sticky rice earlier in the afternoon but didn't try as we were too full. Interestingly, the 1st food item that we tried was this Thai pancake bcos they looked so cute and hot from the oven. They were warm, sweet and crispy. Very nice. 

I wanted to find my Thai grilled pork but ended up with chicken, pork and beef satay. 

There were many stalls selling proper dinner food but I wanted to walk and eat the many 小吃. There were many stalls selling non-Thai food, Chinese, Japanese, Korean. So many food. 

After that, we had the roasted pork. This one looked better than it tasted. I find it gelat after a while bcos there was so much fats and it wasn't warm. Daddy Lim got to benefit. 

Finally the mango sticky rice. We ordered a small one bcos I 吃不下 already. 

Daddy Lim continued with his grilled squid. 

Then a taro and coconut milk desert to put out the 'fire" bcos the chili on the squid was damn spicy and the stall owner was super generous on the chili. 

There were many interesting and weird looking food too. Not sure what was this. Some kind of seaweed? 

The recently legalised.

Then, this new craze about eating raw prawn/ squid/ I don't know what else. 

I didn't let Daddy Lim tried any of the raw stuff, just in case it gives him bad stomach. 

We were ready to leave at about 8pm after all the yummy food. Then we found the grilled pork. Must buy even when I was damned stuffed. Very nice. 

There were many other food that I wanted to try but there is very limited stomach capacity. We will bring the kids back here in June, with more stomachs, we probably can try more variety of food. 

Trying to get a grab back was difficult. We didn't know where to wait and when we finally got a Grab, the roads looked so jam that the driver would probably take a long time to get to us. In the end, we "flagged" a taxi. It was actually waiting for customers to bargain with it. We bargained down from THB 300 and paid THB 250. Grab would have cost us about THB215. 

It was wonderful to finally got into the taxi. Air con! We needed air con! It was so warm. 

I had wanted to go massage. Daddy Lim was too tired and promised to bring me the next day. Ok lah. My legs were so tired from all the shopping and walking. Hoho. 

Mummy Lim

Just Us to Bangkok Day 1 Part 1

Yes, after so many years, we finally earned for ourselves a kids-free holiday. We have never traveled without the kids for leisure. That is to say, the last couple trip has to be 16 years ago. 

Traveling without kids is one of my to do list. Daddy Lim had a small break before he took on a new adventure and asked that we do this trip. We had to convince the kids. Once Nana Oked the notion, it was easy to get buy-in from Zaky. 

Why Bangkok? Bcos we only have 3 days and it is the only city that I think we don't have to think too hard and there will be plenty for us to do as a couple. Plus, we are bringing the kids to Bangkok in June and getting buy-in is easier. 

The air tickets were expensive, which explained why I was only willing to fly budget. Nana said that we have to take many pictures and I also have to blog promptly so that she gets a good update on our trip. Yes mdm. 

Our flight was at 10.15am, just enough time to get to the airport after Daddy Lim sent the kids to school. The departure was scheduled at T4 bcos it is budget airline. I remembered T4 to be really empty and literally fringe free. 

It was a breeze printing the boarding passes and to clear the Immigration. Singapore boleh!

Daddy Lim said that we must find food bcos there was no flight meal and he hadn't taken bfast. 

T4 isn't as bad as I had remembered. There were quite some things to shop and see. 

We didn't had much time to spare and not long after, were ready to board. Our mini plane..

The last photo to update the kids before taking off. 

Oh yes, we got ourselves a huge pack of M&M. Daddy Lim pretend only; he was the one who wanted to buy the big pack and ate alot of it. 

The flight wasn't too bad. It was bumpy at times but tolerable.  We were sitting amongst a huge young adult group (probably in their 20s). They were happily chit chatting away and I was reminded of the days that I used to travel with friends too in my 20s. That was so long ago. 

The seat was tiny and the leg space miserable. I refused to pay more for extra leg space bcos the tickets were costly enough and it is only a 2.5 hours flight. I managed to nap a little but ended up with aching back and neck. Kena unglam shots. 

Landed! Hello to the Land of Smiles!

The immigration took a long time though. We were in the Q for a good 30 mins at least. Then, it was the traffic jam. Zzzzz. 

I was very excited when I saw the Victory Monument bcos it means that we are in Bangkok City. 

We were from taking videos to show the kids, to chit chatting to Daddy Lim taking a nap and we were still not there. Unglam shots revenge. 

It was almost 2pm when we reached the hotel - Vince Pratunum Hotel, that is tucked in some back lane. No wonder the hotel is very nicely priced. 

The room wasn't ready and we headed straight for lunch and shopping. The hotel has a buggy service that drives hotel guest to the near the main road. From there, we walked for about 5 mins to the Platinum Mall. The weather is 热到.... 

We were hungry. Lunch time was over and we were very happy to find food stalls lining the outside of the mall. Bcos we were hungry, Daddy Lim went for the 1st thing that he saw - Tom Yam Seafood fried rice. Not bad, not bad, very Thai.

But no meat and I got dumplings to add on. 

The food were really expensive. Each of them were THB200, which is like S$8. We suddenly think that we didn't bring enough $$. 

With a filled tummy, we started our shopping battle. Hohoho. The mall is as huge and crowded as what I remembered it to be. After a while, we realised that the stalls were selling similar mechandise. Never mind, never mind, still plenty to shop. 

We decided to head back at about 5pm, after 3 hours of shopping and with a big haul. On the way, we caught the Thai dragon dance. 

We had to stop to take pictures and videos for Nana. 

Finally, back to the hotel and we got our room. 

Mummy Lim

Aggro Skate

For the longest time, when Daddy Lim and the kids do their aggro skating, I would either do my rollerblading, clocking distant  or watch them under the shade. Did I think about joining them? Not at all actually. Their falls look really painful and I lost count of the number of blue-blacks and abrasions that they had. Nana even fractured her ankle recently when she fell into the bowl. 

I don't know what made it suddenly clicks. Maybe bcos of the proximity of the new skatepark. No sports is easy, every sports = hard work and endless hours of practice. Maybe the idea of making time to travel to some faraway skatepark puts me off. I don't know lah, suddenly, I just thought that I would try. 

Zaky is outgrowing his skates again. Those are barely a year old. We talked about Zaky passing his to Nana and I inheriting his 1st pair of skates from Nana. With Nana out of the action, I didn't even have to wait for Zaky to outgrow. 

On Sunday morning, I had my very 1st try at the LS skatepark. I made sure that I covered as much skin as possible, both to protect from the sun and from possible abrasion. Daddy Lim and Zaky said that I looked like a bigger Nana. Hoho. Other than the wrist guard, every other skate/ guard is Nana's. 

I fell a couple of times when I thought too lightly of the obstacle. That slope looks so easy and innocent. I also lost my balance and almost fell many times. Each time that happens, I think I lost part of my soul. 。吓死我了!

After 2 hours at the skatepark, we decided to leave. It was so, so hot. We were sweating through our underwear literally. It was good fun though. I didn't try anything too daring but think that it was a good start. So much so that I allowed Daddy Lim to bring me to Kallang skatepark this morning. 

I fell so many times at Kallang and some of them were totally unexpected and whipped the breathe out of me. Damned pain. One of the achievements was to climb up the "big" (big in my perspective) ramp. 

Then I attempted to skate down and of course I fell bcos I didn't commit to skate down but was ready to fall. But I didn't anticipate how hard I would fall and the backwards impact made me knock my head on the floor. I don't think I had a concussion but that knock did give me a scare. 

We didn't stay long too, about 2 hours. It was so hot again, we were dripping sweat. Now I understand why Daddy Lim and the kids rest so much when they skate. I had a good time on the half pipe though. I actually  enjoyed pumping on the half pipe. I didn't look forward to the time where I can actually make it onto the platform bcos I don't dare to skate down, but the pumping was quite fun. 

Daddy Lim helped me to take several videos. I felt that I had skate quite fast and felt quite pro when pumping on the half pipe but when I looked at the videos, I was so slow and sometimes look like an old popo. Lol. 

That's it, my weekend of aggro skating. My badge of honor is a small blue-black on my right hip. I also got muscle ache on my back and shoulder. Why ah? I don't think I skate very hard leh. Hoho. 

Mummy Lim

The Pai Ka

Last weekend, we decided that the clutches wouldn't work. Not only is Nana moving very slowly on the clutches, she complains that her armpits hurt with prolong use. We don't see how she can move around in school properly with them. 

We found wheelchair for rental and a rental place right in IMM. Zaky was very excited to push Jiejie. 

While we were sorting out the payment, he was racing Jiejie in the corridor outside. *palm-face* With the right "transportation tool", Nana is now able to move much faster. We even ran a couple of errands in IMM. 

I have told Nana that I wanted to be the 1st to ink her hard cast but she had her hard cast while I was in India. No chance. By the time I was home, it was almost completely covered, even her toes. Zzzzz...

She said that cast and wheelchair are such novelties in school. Everybody wants to draw/ sign on her cast and everybody is helpful and wants to help push her on her wheelchair. Plus, her classroom is on the 6th floor and she gets the privilege to use the lift, Suddenly, everybody wants to help her carry her bags and all, so that they can all use the lift togerher. Very helpful. Lol. 

There is only space at the sole and hind of the cast. I can imagine how she cant flip herself in school thus the space. That is where I sign. She has to 趴 on the floor for me to ink. 

At least I got to ink her cast. Hoho. GWS.

Mummy Lim