Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts

Friday, June 9, 2017

Chatuchak Weekend Market + Artbox Bangkok

I know there hasn't been much travel post on this blog. Every time I open up my album, I just struggled with the number of photos that need to be edited. Today I'm like fuck it, I'm just gonna go with the default iPhoto auto editor for most of the photos, and perhaps add on vsco filter for a few chosen one. 


February this year, I had a shopping + food trip to Bangkok. We stayed at Centrepoint Hotel, Pratunam which as the name suggests, is located right opposite the Pratunam market area and of walking distance from Platinum Mall.  I needed a hotel which is near from Platinum Mall because I figured most of my shopping would be done there. Besides, there are plenty of eateries around which is convenient for us. Furthermore, Centrepoint is one of the few hotels at that area that comes with bathtub. Always my preference when it comes to picking hotels :P



Our day began with us waking up slightly before noon (actually just me cause damn lazy la LOL). Lazed in bed, watched Nat Geo channel, reluctantly took a shower, lazed in bed more, then packed our bags and headed out. 

Our destination that day was Chatuchak Market. Before that, we had our first meal at the road side vendors around Pratunam area. One does not simply come to Bangkok and eat at the expensive air-conditioned restaurants. The road side is where you find the most authentic tastes of local dishes. 



Thai stewed pork leg which is like everyone's favourite when it comes to Bangkok food (not really for me though cause my favourite is still Tom Yum Kung). 



Look at that! There are 2 types of people in this world: people who would drool at the sight of this; people who would barf in disgust at the sight of this. My mum is definitely the latter. 



Complete your meal with some braised duck eggs. 



Next up, Thai omelette which is another of our favourite. They mix it with scallions and cili padi. It was like the best omelette ever which IMO beats the western omelette that comes with ham, cheese, mushroom etc.



We also had some fried chickens.

Took the BTS to Mo Chit Station to Chatuchak Weekend Market. 



Stumbled upon the Paella man whose fame has been proven online. Many tourists were taking turns to snap photos with him. The atmosphere at the bar was lively. A popular spot among western tourists.






Yum yum street food paradise. Especially for seafood lovers.



We didn't do much shopping there because the clothings are quite repetitive and not as cheap relatively. One of the things I bought was a clutch from one of those customized leather stalls that sell passport holders, land yard, bags etc. 




Coconut ice-cream ^^





Not every stall in Bangkok offers good Thai Iced Tea. But we randomly tried out this particular one which we thought was great. They used proper machine to extract the tea leaves which resulted in highly concentrated extracted tea essence. 



They also sell Thai tea mix in tins.



As dusk falls, we made us of Google map and found our way to Artbox Bangkok. According to sources online, Artbox has ended in March 2017 and would resume in November 2017. Not sure whether it will be at the same location though. 



Saw this sleeping neko on the way to Artbox. Don't you feel artsy already? LOL. 




Not sure whether Artbox Bangkok was overrated or we came at the wrong timing in February when the event was at the end-tier. There wasn't much going on there TBH. Most of the stalls have moved and if you want to do shopping, you better do so in Chatuchak because there were like not more than 20 clothing and accessories stalls here. 






The food stalls were still there though.




It was rather early, but the place was already bustling with people finding their own spots for an open-air picnic. Fortunately, we managed to find our own spot.



Yummy beef cubes.



Mushroom and onion skewers.



Hollow fishballs (keropok lekor kind of texture).



Thai Iced Tea which wasn't as nice compared to the one we had earlier.



What better way to complete the night than to have some cold local Thai beer?



xoxo

Sunday, November 6, 2016

What to Eat in Ipoh

Had a short 2 days 1 night trip to Ipoh with my fellow colleagues last weekend. Compiled the list of food we had during our stay and some of my personal comments. What you see in this list happened to be the top recommended to-eat places according to most blog reviews too. 

1. Old Town White Coffee @ Nam Heong 


To top the list, it is none other than the original Old Town White Coffee served at Nam Heong, an old school corner shop lot hawker. Do expect full house on weekend afternoon. You might have to wait around for a vacant table or resort to sharing table too.


Try out their egg tart or bring back some as souvenir (proper box provided) while you are there. Be patient though as the queue for egg tarts can get quite long. Wait as they bake the tarts fresh from oven. 

Nam Heong Old Town White Coffee
Address: 2, Jalan Bandar Timah,
30000 Ipoh, Perak.


2. 安记芽菜鸡沙河粉 Restoran Ong Kee Tauge Ayam

The famous chicken rice in town which I'm sure everyone has heard of. What to order: chicken (just tell them for how many pax), tau geh (beansprout), choice of either hor fun or rice, meatballs and fishballs. 


The texture of the chicken was smooth and tasted just right with an adequate amount of sesame oil and other condiments. 


I always fancy the tau geh here and could finish one big plate by myself. So juicy and crunchy. Thankfully the shop was generous with the spring onion and pepper seasoning else it wouldn't have tasted so well. 

Alternatively there's Lou Wong across the street. Not sure how that one tastes as I always stick to Ong Kee. Some of the blogs commented that Lou Wong is meant for tourists and Ong Kee is the locals' choice. 

Restoran Ong Kee Tauge Ayam
Address: No, 48, 51, 53, Jalan Yau Tet Shin, 
30300 Ipoh, Perak.
Operating Hour: 12pm - 2am daily
Tel: 012 - 556 6669


3. Funny Mountain Soya Bean

Located at a stone's throw away from Ong Kee, this famous soya bean stall is a must/have after each chicken rice meal. Business seems even better than usual during our visit as it was Deepavali weekend. To avoid the crowd, we opted for drive-thru instead and bought our tau foo fah. 

Yes, you may drive-thru to get your soya bean! Amazing isn't it! 


Their tau foo fah was really smooth. Melts in your mouth.

I find their soya bean fresh and yummy but some might feel that it is too sweet.

Funny Mountain Soya Bean
Address: 49, Jalan Theatre,
30300 Ipoh, Perak.
Operating Hour: 10.30am - 7.30pm daily


4. 忠记 Big Tree Foot Yong Tau Foo (Dai Shu Geok)


There are several shops at that area, the correct one is Zhong Kei.



Queued up to get our yong tau foo for sharing but it seem that most of the things were sold out. Fear not as they would keep on frying and replenishing the items. Lined up 3 times to get all the things we wanted =D


Read many reviews saying this fried turnip thingy known as "sah kok" is a popular item and a must-have. It's definitely something different unlike the usual yong tau foo stuffed fish we always have. It tasted similar to hash brown. Lol. 



As for noodles, there are choices of dried plain noodle, curry laksa, Assam laksa etc. The Assam Laksa there was delicious. I would recommend this if you can't decide what to order. 

ABC here comes in a huge glass. Slightly disappointed as I was expecting a bowl of shaved ice. Taste was alright though.

Big Tree Foot Yong Tau Foo
Address: 652, Jalan King, Pasir Pinji,
31650 Ipoh, Perak.
Operating Hour: 8.30am - 5.30pm daily


5. 德记炒粉店 Restaurant Tuck Kee

We had our scrumptious dinner at this restaurant which is near big tree foot yong tau foo. If you would like to visit there, remember to make a reservation first.

There was a wedding upstairs and a birthday celebration downstairs during our visit. Thankfully it was 9pm and some patrons were already leaving, hence we didn't have to wait for too long. 


What we ordered: 烧腊 mixed platter, smoked duck (thumbs up), 桂花蛋 Kwai Fah omelette, 四大天王salted egg squid, tofu, signature fried noodles and pork stomach soup.



A special dish to note is the 桂花蛋 which is stirred fried with crab meat and some other stuff. To be wrapped in and eaten with lettuce slices. How did they make the egg taste so atas and amazing!

All the dishes that night were great and we had nothing to complain about. The portion was relatively huge compared to those in KL. Our bill that night was only RM400+ for 13 pax. No way you can get that kind of price in KL!

Tuck Kee Restaurant
Address: No. 1-3, Jalan King, Off Jalan Pasir Pinji,
31650 Ipoh, Perak.
Tel: 05 - 241 9071
Operating Hour: 11am - 2.30pm, 5.30 - 10.30pm daily



Before I concludes our list of food in Ipoh, here's 2 honourable mentions of famous stuff you might want to dabao home:


Kaya Puff @ Sin Eng Heong


Located about 7 shop lots away from Funny Mountain, this traditional bakery is well-known for its homemade kaya puff (RM1 each). We queued an hour for our turn! My colleagues thought the kaya puff was kickass awesome. I personally thought it was alright and wouldn't want to queue an hour for it again. Worth it or not, you be the judge.

Sin Eng Heong
Address: No. 64, Jalan Mustapha Al-Bakri,
30300 Ipoh, Perak.
Tel: 05 - 243 9659
Operating Hour: 9am - 8pm (Sunday 9am - 6pm)


Salted Chicken @ Aun Kheng Lim


There are quite a number of shops that sell salted chicken in town, but the good and famous one has gotta be Aun Kheng Lim. It's the shop painted in all red. Drive around and you will hardly miss it. Didn't follow them when they went to get it, so I'm showing you an old photo from my previous trip. 




Boy, my hair was short! The price of the chicken has increased since and is now RM19 each.

Aun Kheng Lim
Address: No. 24, Jalan Theatre,Taman Jubilee,
30300 Ipoh, Peral.
Tel: 05 - 254 2998
Operating Hour: 9am - 6pm daily

That's all we had throughout the weekend. Wish we could have more tummy capacity to try out other good food in Ipoh. Next time perhaps! :)