Thailand - Bangkok

4th visit to Bangkok - first time on official business trip. Feeling like a seasoned Bangkok traveler knowing the ins and outs of this city. Having already been to all major attractions, this post will mostly be about food.

First meal in Bangkok, went to the usual Pad Thai stall near Thong Lor BTS for the egg omelette, good for supper but a little oily. The oysters are a little overwhelming so this is better for sharing instead of eating alone.

Look at the sheer number of oysters

Day 1 - Thursday

Woke late for breakfast as the event only start at noon, typical hotel breakdown, not much to show.

After a long day of sitting, ready for some yum yum Thai food for dinner. Thailand colleagues are treating us for traditional Thai food at a nearby restaurant. Haven't seen some of the food before.

Forgot what is this, probably thai fish cake

 

                              This is wrapped chicken                        Desert banana, quite special

Day 2 - Friday

Early morning for me since 2nd day of meeting starts at 9 am. As omelette the previous morning was disappointing so i turned to poached egg.

Salmon poached egg, safe choice

After a long morning of meeting, heads to hotel restaurant for buffet lunch again...still quite full. Not too much to show for lunch, except for desert below - mini stick rice XD

Mini stick rice (no mango)

Meeting finally ended and some of the colleagues left to catch Friday night planes home. For dinner I strolled to the nostalgic Soi 38 to relive some CAPAP memories, although Soi 38 doesn't really exist anymore. There are no longer stalls along the streets, and a few stalls who stayed shifted under the building.

Mixed chicken rice, only 60 bahts can you believe it, really full

Day 3 - Saturday

Wake up ready for a day of action, mostly shopping. For hotel breakfast, managed to receive the perfect omelette. Cooking time was just right, with spinach, ham, mixed pepper, onion.

Did a bit of work and slacked the rest of the morning away. Famous Pad Thai is near my hotel (same stall as first night's oyster omelette. Somehow eat in is 120 baht and takeaway is 100 baht, so no choice takeaway back to hotel.

Famous Pad Thai, yum yum (10/10) perfection

Supposed to head out after lunch but ended up napping, so close to wasting the entire day. Hurried to National Stadium station - MBK mall for shopping of underwear. But look what I found upon entering, After You Cafe! Food again!!

Mandatory After You Toast, after you please

Didn't eat this, but these pancakes look so nice

After securing  my mandatory underwear in MBK, walked to Siam area for some final peep at CentralWorld. Unfortunately street food outside CentralWorld is gone so need to think of alternate dinner plans. Final decision is to head back to hotel for dinner.

Dinner - 50 baht Wanton Mee (7/10)

Supper - 100 Baht Mango Stick Rice (9/10)

Day 4 - Sunday (Home Sweet Home)

Home sweet home, shall not show anymore omelettes since it's the same everyday. But managed to get more Mango Stick Rice on the plane...although portion not so worth it.

                                   Expectation                                       Reality, literately one slab of mango 

Canada - Montreal

Drive to Montreal

Canada - Toronto

Short trip to Toronto

Canada - Calgary

Summer trip to Canada to visit my grandparents, along with me are Kaixin, Sharon and Mother-in-Law. Flight will stopover at Vancouver for short transit before taking a domestic transfer to Calgary.

Australia - Melbourne

2nd Trip to Australia, but first trip to East Australia

Overnight flight to Melbourne, via SIA. Whole night of no sleep on the plane.

Day 1 - 24th Feb (Sat) - Melbourne City

Reached Melbourne at 8am and loaded our luggage at le hotel. First day's plan was to rest and recover. First thing we saw out of the terminal was this Hungry Jack's restaurant - apparently it's just Burger King with a different name.

We bought some Macs back to hotel for check-in and rest, and napped until evening. Not feeling too refreshed, we walked out to chinatown area for brief stroll, and we (I) chose Xiao Long Bao for dinner huehue. We then continue heading to river area of Melbourne for some night view. Night was spent roaming around river area of Melbourne and some Casino.

Along the river

As usual, our favorite game is Craps again. Low stake, low reward.

Day 2 - 25th Feb (Sun) - Melbourne City

Woke late and headed towards Victoria Market for Brunch. Passed by some random street protest.

Dinner was back at the river at a famous Steakhouse. Order tenderloin steak, ribs, and onion rings. Their ribs and onion rings are pure goodness.

Pure goodness

Day 3 - 26th Feb (Mon) - Brighton Beach

Took Uber to visit Brighton Beach. It's really not that accessible I guess Uber or self-drive is the only way to get there. The place is alright good for photo-taking but gets boring after awhile.

Dinner at famous Steakhouse again. This time the ribs are a little overcooked and dry, slight disappointed. Casino once again.

Day 4 - 27th Feb (Tue) - Great Ocean Road towards Apollo Bay

Picked-up car and head towards Great Ocean Road, final destination Apollo Bay. Quite a tiring drive, although not as bad as Grand Canyon to LA.

Carpark of our hostel, facing the ocean

Windy beach, romantic vibe

Day 5 - 28th Feb (Wed) - 12 Apostles towards Yarra Valley

Great Ocean Road drive continues, head to final destination of 12 Apostles

Picture perfect and strong wind

When it starts raining and no shelter in sight

In the afternoon, we departed Great Ocean Road, and started our journey to Yarra Valley, another long drive.

Haunted-looking road into our cottage

Day 6 - 1st Mar (Thu) - Yarra Valley

Yarra Valley day touring wildlife sanctuary and wine valley

Healesville Sanctuary

Lunch and afternoon was spent at wine-tasting restaurant. The entire Yarra Valley region has good scenery.

Yarra Valley wine tasting, great scenery

Day 7 - 2nd Mar (Fri) - Yarra Valley back to Melbourne

Feed the goat and drive back to Melbourne. Final day in Melbourne, headed to Victoria Market again for more fresh Oysters. Afternoon was spent outlet shopping with Kaixin.

Day 8 - 3rd Mar (Sat) - Melbourne City back to Singapore

Afternoon flight back to Singapore. Generally a pretty tiring trip as I never totally recovered from 1 night of no sleep, and my tummy didn't treat me well.

Thailand - Changmai

First trip to Chang Mai ~ with Kaixin and 2 of her friends

Day 1 (4th Nov) - Early morning flight to Chang Mai, via SilkAir. Landed in Chang Mai at 10:30 and the Airport was pleasantly near the city area: Old Town. As it was too early to check-in, we left our luggage at hotel reception and headed out for lunch. The Old Town is a little larger than we expected, and it took us almost 20 minutes to walk to the central area, where we hungrily looked for authentic Thai food.

Somehow caught their annual lantern festival

Day 2 (5th Nov) - Rise at 9am to catch hotel breakfast, then go back to bed for rest. Close to noon we were pondering over where to go, and eventually decided on a half-day tour outside the town.

Resembles grand palace

View from top of the hill

Day 3 (6th Nov) - Really early day to prepare for our 8:30am pick-up for day tour.

Their supposedly traditional village, there's absolutely nothing to see

Day 4 (7th Nov) - Last chill in Changmai before home-sweet-home. Generally Changmai is a pretty boring place with more expensive massage. Bangkok is much more happening in terms of activities/food and crowds.

China - Dalian

First trip to Northeast part of China. It's going to be a week short trip visiting Dalian factory with 2 other colleagues. Flew alone via Xiamen Airlines and it was a dread, transit, waiting, squeezy plane.

Reached Dalian in the evening and thankful company arranged a chauffeur to pick me up directly to the dinner place. Had I would say the best quality steamboat of my life. The chicken is literately the most tender steamboat chicken ever eaten and even better than Hai Di Lao.

Shangri-La Hotel was luxurious, fantastic room.

Day 2 (Tuesday):

Headed down early for hotel breakfast, not enough sleep. But the breakfast food was not too bad.

A long and tiring day spent visiting and understanding the Da Lian factory. After work, followed one of the manager for some local restaurant, which was alright. Finally some free time at night to roam around Da Lian city centre, and snapped some pictures.

Day 3 (Wednesday): Full day of factory assessment, forgettable day. Da Lian team treated dinner again, and this time was at Peking Duck restaurant. Learnt a new way to eat Peking Duck, dip in sugar.

Day 4 (Thursday): Full day of assessment again, tiring and forgettable day, but assessment finally concluded. Had to entertain Dalian colleagues for BBQ dinner again, but the food was really good.

Day 5 (Friday): Had to go office for half-day of wrap up session. Finally was able to conclude in the afternoon at about 3+pm. Finally, time to explore streets of Dalian!

By following our driver's recommendation, I took a 'casual stroll' towards the coast. The stroll turned our not so casual as it was around a 45 minute walk and I was definitely under-dressed. The wind was gushing so strong at the coast.

Paid a visit to the fake Venice which was alright and then had KFC dinner before hailing a cab back to the hotel. Almost died from the cold, should have wore a jacket.

USA - Highway 1

Day 12 (11th Apr) LA to Santa Barbara

Time for the ultimate road trip back to San Fran. We catered for 2 nights of rest along the way to not make the trip too hectic. Drove off close to noon and first head our way to the shopping outlets - Kaixin's paradise.

After an entire day of shopping, we reached our Airbnb only at night. Rest rest rest.

Day 13 (12th Apr) Santa Barbara to Monterey

Woke headed straight for brunch as we were hungry.

We subsequently paid a short visit to Santa Barbara beach before continuing to head North to Monterey.

Random rest stop for McNuggets

We managed to arrive at Monterey in the evening and found this famous Seafood restaurant via Yelp. The food was certainly delicious but the service and waiting time was horrendously long (~2 hours) resulting in us given the lowest tip in our trip.

Humongous fresh oysters

Day 14 (13th Apr) Monterey to San Jose to San Francisco

The Motel was pretty cozy and we had a great sleep. Feeling good waking up on a rainy day.

Look at this tranquil place

After quick hotel breakfast, we paid a short visit to Monterey beach before driving off to San Jose.

Pretty empty beach on a cold rainy day

It was a relatively short drive to San Jose and we reached there just past noon. Had KFC lunch to satisfy cravings. We heeded my aunt's recommendation to visit Winchester Mystery House and Apple Campus. The Mystery House visit was alright, just a bit too expensive. Apple Campus was a total disappointment as there's honestly nothing to see. Ended the afternoon with quick tour of Rose Garden.

Ended the day with Chinese food with aunt and her family before driving back to San Fran.

Day 15 (14th Apr) - Returning to San Fran signaled the end of our trip. The weather was cold and we stayed in Airbnb outside of San Fran city, near the airport. The day was pretty plain as there wasn't much left to see and we took the time to rest and relax. Outskirt of the city gives the impression of a poorer place where it doesn't seem as safe to hang around.

We drove out for some last spin near the hill areas and then headed to airport car return area to drop-off our car.

Bye to our companion for 8 days

This marks the end of our 2 weeks US West Coast Trip. Would say that renting a car is the best decision ever. All geared up for future East Coast Trip.

USA - Los Angeles

Day 9 (8th April)

Road trip Road trip! Lalaland!

Always a good view of Arizona desert

8 hours drive to LA. We set off from Williams at around 11.30am after a late brunch. The drive to LA is indeed torturing, by 5pm we were getting pretty impatient at how far from LA we still were. 7-8pm was the biggest torture when entering LA highways where traffic was heavy and car speed was zooming fast. My palms were literately sweating trying not to bump into any car on the roads where there were minimal road lights.

We stayed in Hollywood Historic Hotel, at West Hollywood. The hotel actually has a very famous atas restaurant where celebrities can be frequently spotted. We were pretty hungry already as it was 9+pm and decided to splurge.

Day 10 (9th April):

Started the day off with McGriddles meal at nearby Mcdonalds. We drove to UCLA for some campus visit, and the school was not bad.

Woohoo UCLA! Could (not) have studied here

In the afternoon, we drove to Beverley Hills for a walk. Beverley Hills generally consist of expensive-looking bungalows and some premium shopping streets.

Mandatory Beverly Hills sign

Giant tree at Beverley Hills park

After some random mansion visit to fill up rest of the day, we went back early for good pasta dinner and some rest.

Day 11 (10th April): Not a happening day today. We woke up for McGriddles brunch again. We then drove to nearby hills to check out the Hollywood sign. Unfortunately the best available place for viewing (Griffith Observatory) was closed, so we settled for another viewing spot.

This view is actually way better than Hollywood sign which we could barely see

Kaixin wasn't feeling too well today so we went back to rest in the afternoon. In the evening we head to our 2nd NBA game: Clippers vs Rockets. Well this time round we sat really high up so the atmosphere was totally not comparable as the Warriors game.

Realize we are sitting too far to be part of the action

Visit to the Staples Center: complete!

Rest rest rest.

USA - Grand Canyon

Day 8 (7th April) - Would say this is the most memorable part of the trip. We checked out from Flamingo Hotel and picked up our rental car near the Vegas Airport. The drive towards Grand Canyon was pretty peaceful. We drove along the historic Route 66 where there's little cars and were able to enjoy the scenery (desert) along the way.

Pretty much the view of the entire journey

After a few small stop points, we reached Williams little past noon and quickly check-in to our motel + Taco Bell dinner, before continuing towards the canyon.

We managed to arrive at Grand Canyon before 4pm and it was sufficient to enjoy the Grand majestic mountains.

At last!

We left Grand Canyon at around 5pm before it starts to turn dark. After a brief rest at our Motel in Williams, we headed to a Italian restaurant for some pizza. The night was really cold and Kaixin was a bit sick, so we hurried back to our room after dinner.

Chilly town of Williams, with population of just over 3000 people

USA - Las Vegas

Gamble gamble gamble! Arrived at Vegas via Domestic flight on Virgin Airlines. Pretty surprised (not surprised) that even US domestic flights conduct long checks before boarding, although not as long as international arrival. We landed at Vegas at around 2+ in the afternoon and managed to check in by 4pm. Vegas is located in Arizona where the city is surrounded by deserts and heat.

After brief rest in the hotel room, we walked along The Strip looking for dinner. Kaixin did some research and led me to Gordon Ramsay Burger place where we had really delicious burger, it was huge.

Their signature burger, it's really good actually

Walking along the strip

At night, we went back room to rest again, and watching some online tutorial on the game of Craps, easily the most fun game in the Casinos. Unfortunately, no eyes gave way and fell asleep all the way until morning, LOL. What an uneventful day.

Day 7 (6th April): Woke up and walked to cafe to redeem free hotel breakfast. Today is gambling day, to redeem for yesterday's over-sleeping. We instantly went to sit at the Craps machine (easier to play than the real Craps table with human dealers, and no minimum bet). Basically, the entire day was spent at the Craps machine, it's really that addictive haha!



Intended to have Gordon Ramsay burger again for dinner but the queue was insanely long this time. We past by and Grill house and had a full Ribs for sharing, look at the size.

After dinner, back to Craps! So I will finally pulled out from the casino by Kaixin at 9pm. The net damage was around USD 100, still quite reasonable.