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Tag: Shopping

Bangkok: Walking Along Central World Area & Platinum Mall

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Bangkok Trip: Walking Along Central World Area & Platinum Mall (Day 3) – On day 3 of my Bangkok trip, after praying at the Erawan Shrine, we walked towards Platinum Fashion Mall, a place where my mom and dear Hueisean was crazy for, there are lots and lots and lots of clothing and girls accessories, all sell at affordable price. It’s a shopping haven for the girls. We passed by Central World, which is also one of the largest shopping mall in Thailand and Asia and skipped that mall because that all the things inside are not very affordable to us. Haha. It somehow like our enlarge version of Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur.

The walk to Platinum Fashion Mall took us about 15-20 minutes. It was scorching hot under the hot sun and luckily we have umbrella with us. Though, there’s only two umbrella for three of us. It’s best to have one umbrella for each person. Along the way, there’s some stall selling Thailand t-shirt and food by the roadside. So there’s always things to see in in Bangkok.

It’s so nice when we stepped into Platinum Fashion Mall because of the cooling air conditioning. It’s so hot out there that I was so sweaty. I accompanied the two girls shopped at Platinum Fashion Mall. It’s like a more beautiful version of our Berjaya Times Square with even more fashion stores. There’s so many stores that Platinum Fashion Mall is divided into 3 buildings and each floor is classified into different type of fashion apparels. 80 percent of the mall are all about girls stuff, so I was pretty bored at there.

One thing, I realised the price is although affordable, but still Chatuchak’s cheaper.

At lunch time, we crossed over to the opposite of Platinum Fashion Mall for a famous chicken rice lunch.

[googlemaps https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=215278323465761497274.0004b80a852f7e1d51867&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=13.751141,100.540137&spn=0.005002,0.006866&z=17&iwloc=0004b8d35d0c25ca0275b&output=embed&w=640&h=480]

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February 13, 2012
Bangkok: Talad Rot Fai – Retro Train Night Market

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Bangkok Trip: Talad Rot Fai – Retro Train Night Market – I believe many visitor to Bangkok does not aware of this night market that’s called Talad Rot Fai, included me until I found it on CNNGo website. Talad Rot Fai, also known as Talad Dek Naew or in English – the Train Market is a night market that features retro stuff, antiques, second hand clothing and also a hangout place for Thai’s retro hipster.

“Talad” means market and “Rot Fai” means train in Thai which reflects the venue which is actually an abandoned train warehouse and tracks.

It was kinda hard to communicate with the taxi driver about this place even I showed him a map of the location, many of the taxi drivers are not from Bangkok itself and not really familiar with all of the road in Bangkok. I told him about Kamphaeng Phet MRT Station, somewhere near there then he brought us there. Sucking blood, he charged 250Baht for the trip.

Anyway, forget about the cab driver, he brought us there safe and sound. I was pretty worried it didn’t open or not exist as I couldn’t find much info about it on the Internet. When I saw the light and sound of Thai, I became excited and found many people going in and out of the “Talad Rot Fai” train night market.

The Talad Rot Fai is actually located near to Kamphaeng Phet MRT Station, so it’s easier to take the MRT here and then you walk towards west of the station, which is also the way away from Chatuchak Weekend Market.

A little bit history about this train market is that it’s started off 2 years back in 2010. It was just an abandoned warehouse and railway track and Rod’s Antique rented the place to sell antique stuff. Rod’s Antique was actually located near to Chatuchak Weekend Market. Then Rod’s invited many vendors to sell stuff at here for free. When it was free, there’s not much stalls and vendors, but once they started collecting rental, more and more vendors come in. Funny right.

This train market sells a lot of 2nd hand retro stuff, clothing, antique and has many modified Volkswagen van which then turned into a mini vehicle bar playing retro music, offering beer and other beverage. You can find some cool artsy futsy printed tee here as well as some nice retro home decor.

Mom dislike second hand clothing, but those clothing looks as good as new. I find this place quite interesting because it’s a retro theme night market. Many youngster dress up in retro fashion too! What I like the most is the Volkswagen modified van which I feel it’s very cool.

Deep in the warehouse is outlets of different antique shops including Rod’s.

You may also grab a beer and sit at one of the outdoor bistro too. We walked for about 2 hours at there, explored, only then we headed back to the hotel.

Talad Rot Fai / Talak Dek Naew / Train Market is opens on Saturday and Sunday from 5pm. Get there as late as 8pm when all the stalls are out in full force.

To get to the Talad Rot Fai, take the MRT to Kampaeng Phet Station. Get out at exit 3 (Or Tor Gor Market) then cross the road and walk about 450 meters west on Kampaeng Phet Road, away from Chatujak Market. For a map (in Thai) click here.

[googlemaps https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=215278323465761497274.0004b80a852f7e1d51867&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=13.798115,100.543742&spn=0.005001,0.006866&z=17&iwloc=0004b8bf2cb226bf23a33&output=embed&w=640&h=480]

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February 12, 2012
Bangkok: Shopping At MBK Center

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Bangkok Trip: Shopping At MBK Center (Day 2) – Bangkok is actually a shopping haven for girls or shopaholic as there’s many good bargain as well as big shopping malls. Many of their shopping malls are very quality and nice. There’s one famous shopping mall in the city centre of Bangkok that I’ve visited and that is the MBK Centre.

MBK Center, also known as Mahboonkrong, is very popular among tourists and the locals too. I went there after visited Chatuchak Weekend Market.

But before heading the MBK Centre, I went to eat pineapple fried rice and a bottle of Coke. Coke in a glass bottle feels so old-school. The pineapple fried rice was so-so only, so there’s nothing much to talk about the restaurant. Coke was awesome though. =D

Traveling to MBK from New Petchburi area takes about 10 minutes, we took a cab to reach there and it costs us 100Baht again. The taxi just didn’t want to turn on the taxi, so no choice man.

Some little facts about MBK is that it’s opened in 1985 and has more than 2000 stores, including 4-stody Tokyu departmental store, restaurants and entertainment. I saw many Thai youth were hanging around and shopping in the mall.

It’s like our Berjaya Times Square to us. Haha. Afterall, it was boring to me, mom and Hueisean bought some stuffs there though. =D

[googlemaps https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=215278323465761497274.0004b80a852f7e1d51867&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=13.744106,100.530363&spn=0.005002,0.006866&z=17&iwloc=0004b80a8bb76ba58cd4b&output=embed&w=640&h=480]

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February 11, 2012
Bangkok: Chatuchak Weekend Market / JJ Market / Jatujak

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Bangkok: Chatuchak Weekend Market / JJ Market / Jatujak (Day 2) – I am sure many people have hear about the Chatuchak Weekend Market in Bangkok. If you haven’t, HOW CAN YOUU??

Nevermind, if you are first timer, Chatuchak Weekend Market, also known as JJ or Jatujak is a famous weekend market in Bangkok and it’s a MUST-VISIT if you happened to be around Bangkok during the weekend as it’s fully open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

But what if you are on there on weekdays? Actually there’s still stalls open on weekdays but then it’s not 100% perfect wonderful like on the weekend.

On my 2nd day of Bangkok trip, a Sunday, I went to the Chatuchak Weekend Market in the morning (I went here before, this is my third time), about 10am Bangkok time. Took a cab to there and it costs us 150Baht withou meter! On our way back was only 98Baht with meter. OMG. If you are near to BTS, you can stop at Mo Chit Station, if you are near to MRT, you can stop at Kamphaengphet Station or Suan Chatuchak (Chatuchak Park). Very convenient to reach there.

Since we were not near to any MRT or BTS station, we took the cab instead. It was still early at that time, many stalls were only started to open their stalls. I thought Chatuchak opens as early as those wet market in Penang. =D

There’s many coffee stall like this. Very cool.

Heart shape toilet sign.

As we started touring and shopping, more and more people, tourists, shoppers, locals flocked into the market. Do you know Chatuchak Market is very very very super duper big? There’s many sections, and parts in the market and you can hardly explore every part of the market in one day.

In case you want to split up with your friends, remember the section number and gather back at there.

You can find a lot of orange juice in this kind of packaging like this. 20Baht only!

Although the market is organized into different parts which sells different thing, but then we explored the market randomly without checking out at the map at first, which was so wrong as mom couldn’t find the stuff she wanted. Hahaha.

Well, in Chatuchak Market, you can find stuff like, furniture, home decor, super cheap clothing, lots of Thai street food, paintings, households, kitchen utensils, stationery, Thai gift, and even pet! There’s a pet section where you can find many pet stalls. Though, I couldn’t find that section, it’s just toooo BIGGGGG.

Not enough hand to carry your stuff home? You can find many delivery service at there too! I don’t know the price is affordable or not, any of you know the market rate?

Try the coconut ice cream, it’s nice! You get various topping and cheap too!

A little tips for you is that wear light at Chatuchak, shorts, singlets, slippers would be best. Don’t bring heavy stuff, travel with a light camera, get yourself a mini fan, handkerchief & FACE TOWEL (Haha, packs of tissue paper will do too). Yes, I think face towel is a good bring as Chatuchak is really very very hot! Perspiration will break out non-stop as you explore around Chatuchak.

Worms and insects! WT…ftttt. I tried before, not very nice. Very powderish inside.

Pork! Siu yok! Sio bak! Shao rou! Didn’t dare to try. Haha.

Chatuchak Weekend Market is very fun but then dad was not feeling well so we stopped our exploring and shopping in the afternoon. I was so sweaty and sticky at that time and wanted a bath so badly. Though, if there’s chance, I would love to explore the WHOLE Chatuchak Market, it’s just so big! I think I’ve just visited a small part of it. Anyway, I will visit it again, next time, yeah! Want sponsor me? =D

How to go Chatuchak Weekend Market?

Chatuchak market is adjacent to the Kamphaengphet station of the MRT Bangkok Metro Blue Line, or about a 5-minute walk from the Mo Chit station of the BTS Skytrain Sukhumvit Line and another MRT station, Suan Chatuchak (Chatuchak Park).

[googlemaps https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=215278323465761497274.0004b80a852f7e1d51867&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=13.803002,100.549128&spn=0.005001,0.006866&z=17&iwloc=0004b80a9925dbc700b6b&output=embed&w=640&h=480]

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February 10, 2012
Bangkok: Night Street Market Near Baiyoke Hotel & Petchburi

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Bangkok Trip: Night Street Market Near Baiyoke Hotel & Petchburi (Day 1) – After checked-in to our hotel at Pratunam’s Petchburi area, we went for dinner just right out our hotel, which is Thai food (Tom Yum Restaurant) and it’s pretty good.

After dinner, it’s time to start our night hunt for some street night market at this area. We didn’t really know where has got night market, but instinct tells me that there’s one near the famous Baiyoke Sky Hotel. Baiyoke Sky Hotel is also the tallest building in Bangkok and located about 1.5km from our hotel.

Along the way to Baiyoke Sky Hotel, there’s many street food vendors along the road which serve food like Pad Thai, BBQ, fruits, and more. Since I’ve had my dinner, those food didn’t seem attractive to me by then.

After about 15 minutes of walk, crossed a big road with pedestrian bridge and we arrived the Baiyoke Sky Hotel area, happily, we found the typical Thailand night street market. Hueisean and my mom became excited when they saw a row of clothing stalls. I was then busy snapping around. Nothing seems amaze to me though. You can find the standard Thai’s singlet with Singha beer logo, fake Ralph Lauren, cheap pyjamas, t-shirts and more.

It’s quite interesting to see the night market and you can find some good bargain too. Though, I didn’t buy anything but Hueisean bought a few pairs of cheap ear rings at 20baht/pair.

After an hour of shopping and exploring, we went back to the hotel with tuk-tuk at 80Baht as we were lazy to walk back already. Be careful when sitting on tuk-tuks as they can be fast and be sure to bargain with them first as they always offer high price.

We actually went to foot massage later then at 200Baht/hour, which I think is pretty expensive. You can get cheaper one at 150Baht/hour.

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February 10, 2012
Singapore Trip: Tampines

#1.

Singapore Trip: Tampines – Tampines might not be a familiar attractions in Singapore to you, but then you will always notice about it when you are going to the Changi Airport on MRT and you will notice a the second last stop of the East West Line is Tampines.

#2.

#3: A very well-organized town.

4: Lot’s of bicycle user here.

#5.

Tampines was not really in the itinerary, it’s just a spontaneous decision after visiting a design fair at the Singapore Expo. What can you find at Tampines is lots of residential area, and of course the Tampines 1 and Tampines Mall shopping mall located right beside the MRT station.

Tampines Mall is a community shopping mall, a mall not for tourist but the residents in that area and there’s a higher end Tampines 1 Mall which I didn’t visit that day.

#6: Tampines Mall.

#8.

#9.

#10.

#11

Thank you for reading my post! =D Happy New Year’s Eve’s Eve.

December 30, 2011
Singapore Trip: Walk At Orchard Road

#1: People walking here and there.

Singapore Trip: Walk At Orchard Road – How can going to Singapore and not going to the famous shopping street, Orchard Road? Haha. Actually you can because it’s just shopping malls and I have been there for many times. On my week long trip to Singapore, brother and I were bored, no where to go and randomly went to Orchard Road.

Of course Orchard Road is nice, with many shopping malls, mid-end to high-end, no low-end, very organized, spacious pedestrian walkway, air-conditioned underpass, very straight and linear.

#2: People queing up for iPhone 4S since 12pm.

#3: More people in the iPhone 4S queue in front of Paragon.

Many people like to go to Orchard Road, but then it’s just like other typical shopping district in big city to me, e.g. Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay, Kuala Lumpur’s Bukit Bintang and Shanghai’s Nanjing Road.

#4: The wet Orchard Road.

#5.

#6: External escalator at OG.

#7: The special architecture of ION @ Orchard.

We started our walk from ION @ Orchard and hopping from mall to mall. As I walk further, it started to feel nothing, because that most of the shops are repeating from mall to mall. One fine example is that on this Orchard Road, you can find three UNIQLO outlet. WOW.

#8.

#9.

#10: Toast box has good toast and mee siam.

It was a rainy day so the road was wet out there and luckily there’s no huge downpour. It’s just little drizzle all over the afternoon.

#11: Roof top of *SCAPE Park.

#12: Wish I can own one unit at one of these condominium, they are extremely expensive!

#13: A place at *SCAPE that allows you to CHAT! And relax, get a coffee, sit down, study or talk with others.

I found a very cool place call the *SCAPE Youth Park, it includes a mall and also a sheltered open space which allows stalls and event booths to be set up here. The whole place is dedicated to the youth, a place for them to gather, hang out, do their dance routine, sell at the flea market, play some card games and more. Retail outlets in there are mostly stuff for the youth. I think this is a good place to gather youth instead of them hanging out at the wrong places and with the wrong gangs.

#14: AKB48 official shop in Singapore, but too bad the group is not in Singapore. Do you know AKB48? It’s a girls group in Japan that has 48 girls!

#15: DBS Remix, a new banking experience made for the Youth. It’s like a playground in there because there’s many tablet for you to play and touchscreen for you to find banking service.

#16: Trying out the interactive info touchscreen.

#17: Alright, nickchan.net is here. =D

Didn’t really buy anything at there. It’s just walking for fun and taking photos here and there. Went to the bank to play with the LCD touch screen and drank Gongcha Bubble Tea. Haha. Orchard Road is pretty, not as pretty as Shanghai’s Nanjing Road East, but then it gets boring something, what do you think?

December 30, 2011
Smurfs Figure At Gurney Plaza

I think Smurfs is a old school cartoon character because I did not know about just until recently which I have been seeing a lot of the upcoming’s Smurfs movie promo. It’s coming to the cinema in about 2 weeks time. I know that they are the cute little blue creature and they are coming into New York City (in the movie).

A buzz of Smurfs have been created with contest, t-shirts, figures and poster can be seen anywhere. A big marketing money have been throw into to make the movie a success. Eventually that I wanted to watch this movie too.

The Gurney Plaza mall in Penang is exhibiting many Smurfs character at the New Wing area and it’s allow people to take photos of them. It’s pretty cute and there’s really many many Smurfs, I assume there’s more than 100 of them!

I brought my camera, remove the lens cap, and start shooting around the cute little blue figures. =D

I saw many kids were posing there too for the camera of their papa and mama. Even adults take picture with them.

In conjunction with the movie, there’s a session where 3 huge Smurfs mascot come on stage and allow people to take photos with them. In order to pose with them, you have to present a receipt of spending of RM15 in the mall. People queue up with their receipts anxiously to take photos with them. Cute!

August 29, 2011
Just Bought A Fujifilm Instax Mini 25

Photography is a hobby of mine. I don’t plan to be a professional photographer, but taking photos is just something really fun to do in life as it captures the best moment of life. I wanted an instant camera for a long time as it’s a very fun camera and I can get my print right away. Unfortunate that Polaroid has discontinued releasing the Polaroid instant camera which was a really good cam.

Luckily Fujifilm still produce instant camera nowadays, with smaller print size. Recently, I bought myself a Fujifilm Instax Mini 25 camera from a lomography camera shop at Sunway here, the shop name is call Lokomotiv Checkpoint. I found the shop on Facebook and I was quite excited with the price of RM499 include 4 boxes of film.

I was wanting to buy from a seller at Kajang which is far and that seller is selling at RM415 + RM26/box of film, which are rather expensive. Since Lokomotiv Checkpoint is so near to my place, I went there to buy myself the camera and a total of 80 credit card size film.

What’s different between this Instax Mini 25 and the normal and most popular Instax 7S is that this is so much smaller, easy to carry around, auto mode becomes better and more intelligent and beautiful outlook. =D

The package include the camera itself, with 2 CR2 battery, close up lens for self-shoot and close up stuff, instruction manuals and straps.

I like it very much and have so far taken 8 shots which I will share with you guys.

August 20, 2011
Hong Kong: Causeway Bay And Somewhere Around

Hello my friends, I will be writing quite a few posts about Hong Kong this few days because I realized that I still have quite many photos to share with you guys about my Hong Kong trip during Chinese New Year this year. Although it’s late, it’s still nice to share and bring back my memory when I was in Hong Kong. This makes me miss Hong Kong so much.

As you know, one of the famous place in Hong Kong is Causeway Bay 铜锣湾 which is a mid-high end shopping district and people like to go there to shopping and also number one hang out place for Hong Kees. =)

Everytime go to Hong Kong must go to this place because of the crowds and it’s the most happening place on the Hong Kong island, whereas on Kowloon side will be the Tsim Sha Tsui and Mongkok area.

The famous Times Square shopping mall also situated at there but I tell you it’s quite boring inside, looking old and dull even it features some international brand at there. I don’t really like walking inside.

One cool thing about this place is that if you comes at night at 1am, there’s still people hanging around, it’s like a place that does not sleep at night. Very happenings.

I don’t know why Hong Kong has so many happenings place. Unlike Malaysia, Penang or KL. KL has the Bukit Bintang area and that’s all, and Penang, I can’t think of any happenings place, perhaps Gurney Drive? But on the weekend only. I like to go out and join the fun.

One thing that you must do at Causeway Bay, Times Square area is that go to the street food stall opposite of Times Square and grab some local street food like curry fish ball, mixed beef organs, sausages and more. They are real awesome and my dad love it very much.

It’s a trend that people either stand by the roadside to eat, or grab and eat and shop at the same time. It’s really an Hong Kong culture, that you probably can’t find it here in Malaysia.

Causeway Bay is a real shopping district, given you want to find cheap stuff at Jardine’s Crescent, or some young stuff and mid-end fashion at Sogo and Island Bevely Shopping Arcade, if you want high-end, go to Times Square. =D

Brother and I were actually walking pointlessly, and almost lost the way of going back to Times Square. Haha, but we didn’t went back there, we went to somewhere else we didn’t know where it was. We keep walking and walking to explore the place around.

And we found World Trade Centre. A office place revamped into a shopping mall too and I found Muji, my favourite Japanese minimalism item store. I wonder when Muji will come to Penang or Malaysia.

There’s plenty street food corner in Hong Kong, you can find them at almost any corner, so no worry of being hungry in Hong Kong because you can get food easily.

We also found the famous in TVB series, 打小人 hit small people, which literally means hitting the paper man with the name of the person you hate or want to curse. It’s kinda famous and lame, but still there’s people visiting these grandmas.

=D D24 Durian at Hong Kong’s Hui Lao Shan.

July 4, 2011

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