Food Type : Hot Pot

Food : Hot Pot / Steamboat

Type : ArcherPro

Cuisine : Chinese

Food Type : Nasi Lemak

Food : Nasi Lemak 

Type : Tommaso

Cuisine : Malaysian

Zisin 1st Birthday!

Happy birthday to our beloved princess, Zisin!

Its been a year and still super adorable, and we still love you & Thong Thong :D:D

I know I may not the you best aunt all the time, and scared you most of the time, but still love you so much! 

Baby Chloe is super adorable too! Look at those big eyes!

Say hello to the beautiful Thai Palace - Grand Palace and Vimanmek Mansion

 

*OTW to the palace, nice decoration and plants everywhere*

We went there on Sunday, because the palace is closed the next day (to celebrate the King's 84th birthday).  Certain buildings may be closed due to holidays or royal ceremonies, so remember to do some research before going there!

Beware of tuk-tuk / taxi driver telling you that the palace is closed because they just want to bring you to some other random place or shops, which they earn commission when you purchases anything from them.

The Grand palace used to be the official residence of the Thai Kings, but now they moved to The Chitralada Palace. Right now it is open to the public, but they have a strict dress code, so please follow the dress code, else you have to rent the sarong from them to get inside.

The gate opens for foreigners at 8:30am, but we reached the palace a little bit too early, so just we srolled around outside the palace.

Try to reach there earlier to avoid the crowd, and also apply sunblock / sunscreen!

*Waiting for the guards / army to let us in*

*While waiting, we saw the army changing shift*

We went there a day before the King's birthday, because on his birthday the palace will be closed for the ceremony. Not only were there lots of tourists, even the locals and buddhist monks chose to visit the palace on that day too. As usual, from far we already can hear some tour guides yelling, don't leave the team, don't walk too far, let's take this picture and etc, which is really annoying. Some of the people will even push you away when you are taking picture because they think you blocked their view (as if their ticket came attached with the Grand Palace). Thank God, most of the tourists from the tour spent only 30mins, then left us alone.

* Solider, monks and tourist*

We spent about 2 hours at the palace, took a lot of photos and walked a lot. Luckily we had our water bottles with us, because there aren't much shops inside. At the ticket check counter, they will hand out a free copy of palace map to everyone. They listed all the temples and palaces, so that we won't get lost or missed anything nice before leaving there.

*View before getting the tickets and the get in to the temples*

*The Upper Terrace*

 

The Temple of the Emerald Buddha also known as Wat Phra Kaew is just beside The Upper Terrace, which is way too huge to capture it all.

*Another temple outside the Wat Phra Kaew*

*Snamchand Pavilion*

*Dusit Maha Prasat Hall*

After visiting the temple, we went to the the Dusit Park. The national parliament as well as the royal palace (Chitralada Palace) are located in this district. Beside some museums / halls, there are also some palaces and temples are open to the public. 

Before we start another hardcore photoshooting session, we had our lunch at the Vimanmek Palace's cafe. Most of the visitors there are locals. In my opinion, the Dusit District is a must go if you had never been there before. This place includes structures such as the Vimanmek Palace (the world largest golden teakwood mansion), Abhisek Dusit Throne Hall, Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall, Dusit Zoo, King Rama V Equestrian Monument, Wat Benchamabophit, and a lot a lot of beautiful buildings.

*The entrance to the Vimanmek Mansion*

After lunch, we visit the Vimanmek Palace (or Vimanmek Mansion). It used to be the former royal palace too. Before entering the mansion, there are staff that will ask you to leave your belongings at the locker. You can only bring along your wallet with you while visiting the palace. No cameras or any electronic devices are allowed in the palace. Most of the palace, halls and museums in this area has the same rules. No shoes and any electronic devices allowed.

Today, the Vimanmek Palace is used as a museum to showcase the Thai national heritage. The interior of the mansion is really nice, time just stops at the 1900s' with vintage furniture, old pictures, old school typewriters, everything ancient is there.

After that, we went to the Abhisek Dusit Throne Hall, which is my favourite building after shopping malls. It was used exclusively for state occassions, and now displays arts and crafts produced in Thailand.

*Abhisek Dusit Throne Hall*

A lot of buildings actually blends with European-style buildings. Like the Chakri Maha Prasat Throne Hall in the Grand Palace, Abhisek Dusit Throne Hall and Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall. Which is really unique. After King Rama V returned from Europe, he was fascinated with western architecture and hired different European architects to design for their buildings.

*super detail pattern, colorful and symmetrical shapes celling and walls which im so in love with*

After leaving Abhisek Dusit Throne Hall, there is a path way that leads us to Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall which I also love it very much. It was constructed in the Italian Renaissance and Neo Classic style of architecture. The exterior is decorated with marble from Italy.

In front of the throne hall is the Royal Plaza, where King Rama V Equestrian Monument is located.

*King Rama V Equestrian Monument*

We walked more than 6 hours in one day, which is very unusual for me. After looking back to the pictures we took that day, it was worth it! If I happen to be back to Thailand again, I will definitely visit the Dusit Park. We missed so many good stuff after we did our research when we got back to Malaysia.

Sawadeeka Bangkok!

*Bye Bye Flooding, the sign beside the donation box for the flood victims*

Me and B went to Bangkok for a short holiday trip. I was so excited because this is my frist trip to Bangkok and also the super good review from everyone everywhere!

We books our flight 10 months ahead from Air Asia, so when the news of Bangkok is flooding, I almost freaked out! I don't want the trip to be cancel, so pray really really very hard everyday!

Finally, few days before the flight, the flood started to clear, which means we can go to Bangkok *hurray!!*

During the whole trip, I spend most of the time exploring new stuff shopping, so I don't really have much photos, these are just part of the trip ya!

*Happy B so excited while waiting for the cab to fetch us to the airport*

*Air Asia delay the flight, both ways to and back from Bangkok due to unknown reason, ya "#1 budget flight"*



*Up in the sky, flying like a bird*

*The entrance of Mystic Place*

Finally after long hours of waiting and stuff, we reach the hotel - Mystic Place Rooms! Truly recommend everyone who loves new experience and Chatuchak Market  to have your stay here. All the staff there are so friendly, outside the hotels are full of street food(most of them are so yummy!), they got 7-11, BTS and Metro station around the corner, and it is just 3 mins away from Chatuchak Market (the hotel provide free tuk-tuk service to Chatuchak, BTS and metro station)!

If your travel period allows, please avoid arrive there on Friday, especially working hours due to the heavy traffic. It took us an hour to reach the hotel while actually it only need 20-30 mins.

*Super colorful and cute design for the hotel lounge*

*Love the vintage decor in the hotel | B with his camera*

*Cute panda salt & pepper shaker*

The second day we went to Chatuchak Market, spend most of our time walking around and grab buy everything that we can, from t-shirts to shoes, orange juice to ice-cream, vintage home decor to animals, almost everything can be found there. And this cause me to just ignore my camera. Then, what i remember is we had pork noodles and of course, Coca-Cola for this coke addict coca-cola fan.

*Pork noodles in thai style | Vintage coke bottle*

Be more careful of your personal belongings, because there are a lot of pick pockets there! If can, avoid bringing handbag or backpack there. 


Bring along some shopping bags to carry all the stuff you bought, because carrying a big bag is easier than thons of small plastic bag hanging on you.

For more tips on Chatuchak Market please click here.


After whole morning of hardcore shopping, we went back to hotel around 3pm, because it is really hard to continue to walk under the hot sun, so we went back to hotel and prepare for dinner. We had our dinner at the Loy Nava Cruise. The dinner start at 6pm, so the driver pick us at the hotel at 5pm sharp, then continue to other hotels to pick up other customers as well.

We reach the jetty at 6, the cruise just reach the jetty, timing ngam ngam!  We start our journey to the Chao Phraya River by sitting on our tables with B's name on it!

Once we depart form the jetty, the captain gave each table a map of the river, so that we know where and what are we seeing. Best part of the cruise is, we get to enjoy the night river scene and nice food at once. We ordered the traditional thai and seafood set dinner (they have vegetarian menu too). They serve the food in small portion and all kind of thai food in included in the dinner set. They have green curry, red curry, vegetable soup, tom-yam gong, birdnest dessert, 2 flavours of rice and etc. Along the journey, we saw the Grand Palace, Wat Arun, Rachini School, Rama VIII Bridge, and these are just to name a few.

To book your table with them you can click here.

*The Grand Palace at night*

So finally after a nice meal, we went back to hotel and get more rest, because the next day we are going to the Grand Palace. 

I love Wan Wan!

So, I went to this book fair at The Mines last weekend.
I was so freaking excited when i know Wan Wan is coming!

I've prepared all my cameras & books, to let her sign on it!

Traffic was kinda bad, people from everywhere and it is school holiday!

So we finally reached The Mines, then look for the direction to the book fair!

We spent almost half hour searching for the damn entrance, which they should lead us to but didnt! *sux till max* After walking here and there, look for every corner at the mall, finally we found the entrance, which is at the 3rd floor! *YUNO put map or lead us there?*

So we walk around, bought some books and waiting for her time!

When the time almost 6:30, more and more people squeezing near the main stage, especially students. So after the very sucky emcee who can't speak proper mandarin introduce Wan Wan, finally we can meet her!

*she is so shy when she talk on the stage*

After the talk, another squeezing time to the table, her autograph time!

*She draw her famous cute character and sign on every book!*

*Drawing the instax picture with me! Wohoo!!*

*Best part is i get to take picture with her and she draw on my instax picture! "Bak Kut Teh" is nice, she said.*

Happy day! According to her blog, her new book is on the progress! Have to save up some money to collect all her stuff!!

Fujifilm X10 sample picture - Zee Avi Homecoming Tour 2011

Zee Avi Homecoming Tour 2011, she is back to Malaysia*hurray*

Finally got the chance to watch her perform live and also a very good timing for me to try out my Fujifilm X10.

She wore a blue color dress and a flower on her hair, the dress and flower look so cute on her :)

Her music style is very unique, she mixed a little of traditional dayak, a little of folk and a little of indie rock, it just sounds so good.

The very cool guitarist and sapeh | Zee Avi playing ukulele

At first I was pretty worried, not only the bad lighting, but also security check (we was shooting for hitz.fm, so this time is not a problem), and crowd. It is a very good timing to test this camera.

All the photos & videos are shoot in low light, so i set the ISO from 1200 - 2000 some are up to ISO 2500, which is pretty impressive by this camera, with a small sensor like this.

During the concert, she wasn't stand still singing, but dance a little and play the drum too!

Maybe it's too dark, sometimes it is hard to focus on, but the speed of the AF is fast enough to capture her movement.

Zee with her guitar & ukulele

Zee performing "Kantoi"

It was a wonderful night, enjoyed her performance, and also the quality of the camera.

All the photos & video are shoot using my new x10, so impressed by this tiny cute looking camera!