Monday 14 March 2016

Memorable trip to Bangkok and Pattaya





Bangkok Day1:
We took Jet star flight at 7.10am and reached Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport by 9.30am BKK time. We like the Jet star flight...it is always good.

Visa on arrival - This is very easy and quick process. Fee is 1000 bhat per person. I had forgotten to carry my passport size photo which is required for visa on arrival. However, there is instant photo booth available (200 bhat for 6 photos).

Sim card : We purchased True sim card for 299 bhat, 1.5 gb data and 100 bhat calling time. This lasted us for our 6 days of stay. I used this to call India numbers.

Public taxi: We took public taxi (metered yellow green) from Level 1. There is no need for pre-paid taxi.They charged us 600 bhat from airport to our hotel Berkeley.

Hotel Berkeley:
This is quite nice and well maintained hotel. We stayed in the Luxury main tower on the 28th floor. Rooms are big, spacious, clean and well equipped with all necessary things. The bath had a big wooden window opening into bedroom. We found this little strange and uncomfortable. We closed all the windows throughout our stay. The buffet breakfast spread is very nice.

Berkeley Hotel - Deluxe Room
We checked into our hotel by 12.30pm. Before that we visited Platinum mall (5mins walking) and had breakfast at McD and visited nearby shrine area. Shrine was very beautiful. You can see such shrines in every street. The whole area has lots of small shops and street side shopping.

At around 2pm we took a Tuk tuk for "Chatuchak weekend market" for 150 bhat and it took 30mins. It is a very huge market with so many different streets full of goodies. You can do some bargaining too here.
After doing some souvenir shopping we took Tuk tuk for Siam Paragon mall for 200bhat. The tuk tuk dropped us at Siam centre instead. We had lunch at the food court (not good) and then went to Siam paragon. This was really classy and well decorated for Chinese new year. We had coffee here and took some nice photos near the fountain. We took return tuk tuk for 150 bhat to our hotel.

For dinner we went to nearby Indian restaurant Bombay Palace (10mins walking). The food was not that great..it was just ok. It serves both Indian veg and non veg food.
The entire street till our hotel had night market with streets full of small shops selling clothes, bags, souvenirs etc.

Bangkok Sight Seeing - Day2:
After having our yummy buffet breakfast at our hotel, we booked a full day taxi for 1200 bhats (11am to 7pm) from taxi counter just outside our hotel. Our taxi person gave us some discount as he asked us to visit some Gems shop on the way so that he will get free gasoline and we readily agreed :)
We first went to The Grand Palace. This palace and temple is really huge and has many beautiful temples and beautiful architecture. It was very very crowded since it was Chinese New Year day and too many tourists all around. You need to be appropriatley dressed to enter the temple. Both men and women ,if not wearing full length trousers or jeans, will have to rent out sarong type of cloth.  Entrance fee was 500 bhat per person. Since the queue for sarong/shawl was too long, we didnt visit inside the temple. We took a lot of snaps outside the temple area on the green beautiful parks and with chinese new year decoration.

Next we went to Wat Pho - temple of reclining Buddha - this was my fav one! It is very close to the Grand Palace. Entrance fee is 100 bhat per person. Queue was normal and moving fast. We had to take out shoes in a bag. This is such a BIG golden statue of reclining Buddha..its just awesome..we clicked a lottt of photos again :)
Wat Pho

After roaming around the remaining part of this beautiful temple we had delicious sweet Thai coconut water -very refreshing and roamed the street opp the temple. It has lots of shops and small eateries. We had thai food for lunch - Spicy chicken with cashew chilli paste with rice and Tom Yum curry ..which was ok.

From there 5 mins walking is the river ferry point which takes you to Wat Arun. Ferry charges are 2.5 bhat per person one way. Its only 5min ride. It gives you a quick feel of Chao Phraya river ride.
Wat Arun is also very bful and typical Thai temple.
Back from Wat Arun, our taxi took us to MBK mall. This is really very huge and meant for shoppers who want less expensive non-branded stuff. We had coffee and cheesecake in The coffee bean and tea leaf - good!

We were back to our hotel by 7pm.

Tip: You can take tuk tuk to go to Grand palace and then cover all the 3 temples on foot as they are very close by.

We went to Soi Cowboy street at around 9pm..we took a tuk tuk for 150 bhat. The street is very very small and we felt it lacked all the action that we saw in Phuket bangla road :(
We just took a quick 15min walk and crossed the road to  visit Terminal 21 mall. Its huge and very good. We checked some on-going cinemas at SF cinema but didn't opt for it.

From there we took the skytrain from Asok to Phoen Clang for 25baht per person.
It was a fun ride to experience their skytrain...very similar and user friendly as in Singapore!

We later took a taxi and went to Sanjha Chulha Indian restuarant at Indra regent. This serves really tasty and authentic Indian food..we just loved it! We walked back to our hotel visiting the night market on the way and buying some souvenirs :))

Travel to Pattaya - Day3
By morning 11am we took a taxi from our friend for 1500bhat for pattaya. It took us only 2hrs to reach Pattaya. It was such a amazing sight to enter Pattaya city with beautiful beach..it just looked sooo lovely.We checked into Holiday Inn at beach road.

Holiday Inn - The entrance and Reception looks very modern and classy, very well kept.
Even after repeated requests we were given room at 9th floor :(
But the room was very nice, clean, well kept and beach facing...so it was niceeee :)



 
After check-in, we roamed around the beach road and went to Shahi Indian restaurant for lunch. Food was nice and price was nominal although its a small place.
You have many Indian eateries on Beach road and lanes next to it but food is not great.

After lunch we roamed around different lanes and saw the venue for Alcazar show which was 15mins walking from our hotel. We also booked a private car for our next day for full day trip for 800 bhat(cheapest we could find!)


 
Alcazar show

In the evening, we had coffee at nearby restaurant on beach road..it was nice. Then we went for the Alcazar show. There was a lot of crowd from many tourist buses for this show. Show started at 8pm and we had got a good seating. We had booked tickets through hotels2thailand.com and got cheap rates.The show is a cabaret with different musical performances by ladyboys. The overall presentation, sets, costumes, performances were very remarkable! My partner didn't like it as there was no introduction of the overall concept for the audience.


We had dinner at Crown of India, near alcazar street. Food was good.
We then got into tuk tuk to walking street. Every journey is 10bhat per person.
We walked the entire Walking Street. It was the full of neon lit shops with scantily clad girls and guys asking customers to see some adult shows. We sat in I bar club for sometime and had soft drinks and enjoyed the time.


Pattaya Sight seeing Day 4:
After a nice n heavy buffet breakfast at Holiday inn...we took our private car for full day sight seeing trip.
We 1st halted at Pattaya view point...a hill from where we could see the entire beach area and view of pattaya. From there we visited Big Buddha...wat khao phra yai. It was a very beautiful and big idol of Buddha ...on a elevation of stairs wt golden dragons. It was very sunny and we had used umbrella.
Then we headed to Nong nooch garden. We bought ticket for garden+thai show+elephant show for 800 bhat per person.
Garden is very very big and beautiful wt carved green trees...animal structures...etc.French garden is very picturesque so please do visit that spot.

Thai cultural show was good. Elephant show was just ok and more for kids.
From there we went to Floating Market which was just 20mins drive. Entrance fee without boat ride was 200 bhat. We fidnt take the boat ride. Water is very muddy. Area has lotts of shops. We clicked lott of pictures.

We were very tired by end of floating markrt and came bk to hotel to relax.
In the evening we visited Central Festival mall in pattaya beach road. We took tuk tuk for 10bhat per person. We had coffee there in Black canyon coffee shop..it was nice. We roamed around that mall and had indian dinner at Shahi Indian resruarant.


 Pattaya Koh Larn Trip Day5:
We started at 9.30am and were picked up in taxi by our friend Mr. Vilat and taken near by for Koh Larn island tour ferry point.
We took the speed boat and there were 20 people. The speedboat first took us to Parasailing pier. This was just 5 mins away from pattaya beach. We were very excited as my partner was trying this for the first time and was little nervous too :)
The team there was very effective and quickly made us wear the belt with hooks, life jacket and set us one by one for our parasailing ride. It was a nice breezy ride high above ..being pulled by a speed boat.Thankfully our speed boat operator dint make us dip in the water..so we were back to pier all dry and happpyy:))
The next stop of our speed boat was at a small beach side island 10 mins away for snorkelling, jet ski and banana boat. We had not taken these options so we roamed around that beach and took some pics and did some swimming.


After this we were taken in speed boat to different pier for Under water Sea walking. We were trying this for the first time and were very excited. We were asked to climb down ladder at the edge of pier and dip ourselves till neck in the sea. Then our head was covered with a glass bowl helmet with attached oxygen pipe and we were pulled slowly into deep water by a scuba diver. This was a scary part for us. The scuba diver then passed us to another scuba diver who held us and took  us to the under water site where we were made to sit on the sand in kneel down position.

There were lotts of fishes swimming all around us and some coral rocks..we were being given bread by scuba divers to feed the fishes. There were so many scuba divers all around us that I really felt very safe. We were there for 10mins and enjoyed the entire experience. They also clicked our under water photos n video :) Even 10year old kids were doing sea walking and its not scary..so go for it for sure!

After this we were taken to the Koh Karn island. Lunch was provided by our travels group. They served plain fried rice with egg, Thai local fish fry, Oyster in shells, fish cutlets, thai veg curry. The island was very crowded and little congested with lots of shacks. The beach was good and clean and we were in the beach for almost an hour. We returned back by 4pm to pattaya and were given free CD of photos/video by our travel group (this is included in tour price).
In the evening we had delicious Thai dinner at Gullivers on beach road and then watched late night show of "The Revenant" at SF cinema in Central Festival mall.

Return to BKK & SG - Day6:
This was a relax and back to Bangkok day. Had a nice, relaxed, long breakfast at our hotel, checked out by 12pm and deposited our luggage in the hotel cloak room. We then relaxed at the hotel pool side, roamed around at beach road, had thai lunch at Red Steps and were back to hotel by 4pm. We took taxi from our friend for 900 bhat till Bangkok airport.
All in all one more enjoyable and adventurous trip ticked 'completed' in our holiday list :))


Tips & Help Pointers:
  • Carry 3 passport sized photos per person
  • Ensure that all the travellers have travel insurance policy
  • Check weather forecast before you start your journey
  • You can take tuk tuk to go to Grand palace (Pattaya) and then cover all the 3 temples (Wat Pho and Wat Arun) on foot as they are very close by.
  • For visit to Grand palace, carry your own shawl/wrap skirt if you are wearing shorts, so that you can skip the queue for collecting shawl
  • While at Bangkok, you can contact Mr. Hong (Bangkok mobile: 0870001799) for all your day tours. Mr Hong is a sincere, non-fussy guy.
  • While at Pattaya, Contact Mr. Vilat at local Pattaya number (0854335744). He is the nicest travel agent and honest one too. You can contact him for all the day tours to local places of interest, island tours and taxi service to return to Bangkok. He will give you the most economical packages of all. His agency name is "V V Services" and its address is: 436/1, Moo 9 beach road, North Pattaya Banglamung, Chonburi 20150.

Monday 14 September 2015

Super star Gemini Cruise Trip




4 days 3 nights – Super Star Gemini Cruise

Dates: June 28th to 1st July 2015
Duration: 4 days 3 nights


Package: SIN-PENANG-LANGKAWI-SIN
                                
We went on Superstar Gemini for 4 days 3 nights trip from Singapore to Penang & Langkawi. This was my first cruise trip and it was a wonderful experience all along!


Price: We booked only 1.5 months before the trip. So the price was 620 SGD per person. We booked Ocean View Window Cabin. (Tip: Try to plan and book well in-advance, preferably Balcony class..look out for cheap deals/offers)
Check-in and Boarding: Boarding was a little chaotic because the Ferry terminal was overcrowded due to boarding of two large cruise liners on the same day. Getting our boarding passes took hardly 15mins and even luggage check-in was very quick. But actual boarding took almost 30-40mins of waiting time in long serpentine queues.


There were welcome drinks and party organised by staff during on-boarding…unluckily we missed the welcome drinks due to delay in our boarding :(

Auditorium
About Rooms: We had booked the Oceanview Window room. Rooms were clean and quite comfortable for 2 people (definitely stuffy if you have a kid). The room had 2 separate single beds,  sofa set near the nice, big window. The bath was small similar to the ones in aeroplanes, but  had amenities like hair dryer, towels etc... Our room was on deck 5 and well located.












Facilities: They had a normal sized pool, Jacuzzi, Spa, Parlour, Gym,KTV/Karaoke Lounge, Children’s activity centre and 2-3 Café and Bars.

There were different restaurants – Blue Lagoon, Oceana (BBQ/Indian), Dynasty (Chinese), Mariners (Indian) & Our most favourite Bella Vista (Fine Dining Western).
 
Staff was very nice always and prompt with service.There were many activities happening throughout the entire day.  Cruise provides itinerary called “Star Navigator” for the next day was sent to every room so that we could plan our day in advance.
 
DAY1:  Boarding started at 11am at Harbour front ferry terminal. We grabbed some quick breakfast of sandwiches at Mccafé located in Harbour front Mall level#1. The cruise departed by 3pm from Singapore. Most of the time was spent exploring different decks, enjoying breath-taking view of the vast, blue sea and attending the welcome party and game shows organised throughout the evening.
The cruise also organised a Bollywood disco nite priced at 12sgd per person from 10pm to 12am which was fantastic and the in-house DJ played some latest, peppy dance hit songs.


DAY2 - Initial half of the day was spent roaming around the different decks, attending dance classes, doing some fun photo sessions and then getting ready for Penang. The cruise reached Penang at 4pm on Day2 and we opted for sightseeing on our own as Penang doesn’t have major attractions to be seen. We could bargain and hired a taxi. The taxi driver was very friendly and explained us details of the various heritage buildings and history of the place. Driver’s name is Syed Ali is 017 41 40435 (Penang number)


We visited the reclining Buddha temple, which was already closed by the time we reached (6pm) but still we got the glimpse from outside the door. This was a beautiful temple.
And then we went to a famous beach which was nice and many people were doing parasailing and Jet Ski etc. The water sports were comparatively cheaper here.


We were back to the cruise by 8pm and went for dinner and then attended the  juggling show which was very entertaining and hilarious. It’s a Must watch :)
Till late night we roamed around the deck and it was very beautiful!


DAY3 - Early morning by 7am the cruise was already in Langkawi. We left by 11am after having breakfast and hired a taxi and went first to Eagle Square. From there we went to Pantai Cenang beach. It is a beautiful area with a lovely beach and lane full of small souvenir shops.We enjoyed delicious coconut water, ice candies and bought some cute souvenirs (Langkawi T-shirts and fridge magnets). Langkawi is a great place that you should plan a separate trip to enjoy this city. It has lovely beaches and one of the most happening places in Malaysia. Couples planning for honeymoon can consider it as one of the options.


We returned back to the cruise by 3pm and had lunch in the cruise. After a short rest, we got ready for ‘Gala Dinner’. Before the dinner we also attended Captain’s Gala Cocktail Party….followed by “Sparkles” – special Broadway-type performances by cruise staff and external theatre performers. The show and dances were spectacular – great choreography, costumes, and performers!


Sparkles Broadway Type Show
Gala Dinner is a special and formal dinner where you are expected to dress in your best formal attire, seated royally at reserved tables for your group. Men can dress up in blazer, shirt and trousers. Ladies dress up in formal dresses suited for the occasions like these one.  Lot of people do dress in casuals but appear to be different in the crowd who have come formally dressed.


Gala Dinner at Bella Vista


Food was similar to what was served to us on other days too. But still this is very well arranged. There was a dance performed by that restaurant staff which was very appreciable. There are two time slots for the gala dinner in two different restaurants. We attended the 9.30pm slot. We also had a meet the captain session before the dinner and got a chance to click photo with the Captain!!


An adult dance show was performed at 11pm. Tickets were priced at 50sgd per person for normal class, 80+ sgd for VIP class (first 2 rows). The show was quite ok.


DAY4- This was the last day of our trip L We had late breakfast, some photo session around the cruise, lunch at our favourite Bella Vista, High tea again at the same place and finally checkout by 5pm. Bill settlement can be done at the reception in the morning. After 2pm, they set-up settlement kiosks in the auditorium and there was  long tiring queue to get the dues cleared and get our passports back…still overall smooth and effective process! Checkout was done from rooms by 5pm. We roamed on the deck till 7pm and finally off-boarding was done by 7.30pm :(((
These 4 days got over so soon...lovely trip..lovely memories!


**Special Mention - Excellent customer service and management by the ever-smiling and helpful Cruise Staff all through-out the trip. Hats Off to the entire team..worth experiencing! Please note that couple of staff members speak Hindi as well. It helps many of our Indians who may feel comfortable conversing or asking questions to the crew staff.


Tips & Suggestions:


  • You DO NOT need a Malaysia visa for this trip. If you have a valid multiple entry Singapore visa, it should be fine.
  • Book as early as possible. Remember, you may not get tickets even 2 months in advance.
  • Carry some water bottles before boarding the cruise as the complimentary ones provided in cruise are very small. Buy water at every halts as buying water on the ship can be expensive.
  • Remember to register for “Gala dinner” on 1st day itself because list gets full very fast
  • Do some research and try to opt for self-designed tours at the destination spots rather than the one organised by cruise.
  • If possible settle your bill early on checkout day (last day of the cruise), else this might take long waiting time. The cruise accepts multiple currencies.
  • You can hire a photographer to click your photos all over the place. You would have to pay a moderate price for it.
  • For foodies, there are many options and plenty of food available throughout the day. You may choose to eat at any of the restaurants of your choice at the times mentioned.
  • Wi-Fi on board is slow. You may use it in case of emergency but do not keep high hopes on the speed.
  • (For Girls) Avoid wearing very short dresses for the temple visit. Dress decently.
  • Cruise is very punctual with boarding timings at its destination points, always take care and be on time.
 If you are planning to book for the cruise, feel free to leave a comment here. We will be more than happy to help as much as we can.

Monday 5 January 2015

Trip to Phuket...to be cherished (Part-1)

My beautiful partner and I just completed one of the most wonderful trips...and this has been to Phuket (Thailand)....mecca of nightlife. Any of you who would like to break free from routine life and would love to spend time with your partner...this is a place to go. It also sizzles up your romantic life too ;) For honeymooners...consider this place as one of the option.

My partner and I plan at least one outing once a year where we spend time away from our stressful jobs. We always wanted to visit this for a long time. This time we planned to go to Phuket at the very last minute leaving us little time to plan...but somehow everything went as we expected and we came back smiling ear to ear. For those aspiring to go there, we are detailing here as much as we can so that you guys can make note of the smallest points that are worth noting which you don't find anywhere else on the net. If you have any more questions, please feel free to leave a comment and we will be more than happy to help you out. Let us start!!

Where is Phuket?
To help you get an idea where is this tiny miny place, we have pasted a google map for your reference...see that red bubble...that's the place. It is very well connected with various places around the world and at least with nearby places like Malaysia and Singapore. If you do not have direct flights, try flying to Malaysia, Bangkok or Singapore. You will definitely find connecting BUDGET airlines from these places to take you to Phuket. Various budget airlines that can be explored are Air Asia, Tiger airways and Jet star.

Visa?
You don't have to worry about visa formalities as it is having Visa on Arrival for a small fee of 1500 Thai Bhats! (local currency).You would need to carry two passport size photographs for applying for Visa on arrival. Once you land at the airport, you will be able to spot Visa on arrival terminal. You will be required to fill up a form and paste your photograph on it. You will then submit the form along with your passport at a booth to the authorities.They will verify and grant you visa within 5 minutes. That's it! You will then proceed to immigration counter and will be done in 2 mins.
Please refer to the document to check if your country appears on the list of countries applicable for visa on arrival or not:
http://www.thaiembassy.se/minmapp/filer/pdf-pages/Visa/visaarrival11.pdf


Currency?
This place can be a little expensive depending upon the time of the year you choose to go. Peak season would typically be from Dec to April. Obviously due to heavy rush, the things tend to be expensive. Local currency used in Phuket is "Thai Bhat". Whatever amount that we are going to mention in this travelog is for the peak season, you may get lower rates during the off peak season. You need not worry about how much cash you should convert before the trip. This place has exchange counters at every nook and corner. There are ATM machines as well . We were told that you can use them to withdraw money in Thai Bhats as and when required.


Mobile phone simcard?
Once you are done with the immigration formalities, keep walking towards the exit. On the way, you will find a booth that sells free sim. Note that you will only get a sim here, you will have to "Top up" your sim for the talk time elsewhere..may be from shop near your hotels....and there are many shops where you can get this done. Try to find out some 7-Eleven shop and they will do it for you. Please note that all the cell phone numbers begin with a zero.

You want to read below posts for more:

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g293920-i5037-k6250768-Which_SIM_card_to_purchase_in_Phuket-Phuket.html

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g293915-i3686-k6222502-Sim_Chips_Smartphones_iPhones_and_Tablets_in_Thailand-Thailand.html



Local transport?
Once you are done with your immigration, you will come out in a room where you will see private taxi operators for hotel transfer. Please do not take these ones as they tend to be expensive. Instead, come out of the airport and turn right out of the exit. You will find booths for hiring metered taxis. You can hire one of these taxis instead. These taxis may charge you anything between 700-800 bhats for hotel transfer.

Other usual means of local commuting is to find a "Tuk Tuk" which is smaller version of car/taxis and cheaper one too. Please do not hesitate to negotiate the rates.  It has a capacity of seating around 6 persons. It is fun.




There are also motorbike taxis! Though we have not tried it but we saw many people using these ones.


 
Hotels?
We visited during New Year time and wanted to pick up a decent hotel somewhere above a budget hotel and something below a 4 or 5 star hotel. We shotlisted couple of them and finally selected Palmyra hotel near to the (in)famous Bangla road and walking distance to Patong beach. The hotel was economical enough to have spent 3-4 days and was decent one. During New Year, every hotel charged us extra 150SGD (mandatory) for New Years eve dinner..this was a complete waste :( We will post the photos that we took in Part-2 of the travelog.


Safety?
DO NOT WORRY at all. We felt that this place is safest even when we roamed early morning at 2 or 3 AM. No one ..either local or tourist would intimidate or try to harass you even at odd hours. So feel free to roam about without any fear. The people are friendly and helpful at any time during the day. So no fear...just enjoy to the fullest.

Sunday 30 November 2014

Healthy Salad at Cold Storage Singapore

Although I am quite particular about the food that I eat and try my best to eat healthy, but I admit that I had never had a proper "Salad" as my only meal anytime!!

So here I was, finally trying out the FIRST Salad lunch after good many recommendations by my office colleague...and it was gooood !!!

Cold Storage is a premier retail outlet in Singapore renowned for keeping fresh and high quality products from around the world.




If you like to have fresh, green, healthy Salad...definitely give a try to the "Cold Storage" make your own Salad section...I loved it :)



You can choose from a variety of Topping options, Supplements and Choice of Sauce (as shown in pic below) and make your own Salad.

  •  First you need to Choose the Greens that you want. You can either choose single option or ask for Mixed Greens, which will have all the 3 types of spinach.
  • Next, you can select 3, 4 or 5 Toppings. They have almost 25+ different options available for these e.g.Carrot, Cherry Tomatoes, Beetroot, Boiled Mushrooms, Chicken chunks (plain, herb, teriyaki), chickpeas, Olives, Spiral Pasta, Cheese, Tofu etc. 
  • You can add one 'Complimentary Topping' - Sunflower Seeds or Pumpkin Seeds or Raisins.
  • Finally end it by selecting the Dressing of your choice.



My Salad selection was: (1) Mixed Greens (2) 3 Topping Options - (i) Boiled/Cooked Mushrooms (ii) Black Olives (iii) Herb Chicken pieces (3) Sunflower Seeds (4) Honey Mustard Sauce


And this was my delicious salad :)


Happy Eating :) :)