Thailand - The Grand Palace, Bangkok City

When my wife visited me in Bangkok few months back during my wandering away from home, I brought her to The Grand Palace; that was our first time to explore the place.

Coming from MBK mall, we went there by tuk tuk. The 80 Baht negotiated fare ballooned into 200 Baht. I expected that to happen since I noticed that our tuk tuk covered quite a distance in going to that place. Not to mention the traffic we encountered on our way. However, the tuk tuk driver became powerless when I gave him 120 Baht plus a smile albeit he dropped us at one of the minor/smaller gates of The Grand Palace.

Two touts at the smaller gate immediately approached and informed us that the palace was closed and blah, blah, blah. Having read this kind of scam from the net, I brushed them aside and asked for the location of the main gate from the military guards posted at the entrance of that smaller gate. Needless to say, I had this belief that the main gate of The Grand Palace should be big and wide aside from throngs of tourists entering the complex daily unlike the smaller gates which were always closed for tourists. Later on, I found out that the palace complex is open daily as posted at the main entrance.

These days, touts are more daring and start preying at the main gate as I read on the net. They would disguise themselves as government officials and discourage some tourists in entering the palace complex. They would use the same modus operandi; they would inform the unsuspecting tourists that the place is close at the moment for some reasons and they can come back later. Meanwhile, the tout would asked the tuk tuk driver nearby to bring their victims to other temples and gem shops where they will be coerced in buying astronomically priced gems. You have been warned.

This place has been the official residence of the Kings of Siam (Thailand) since 1872. However, the present royalty reside in a different place. Nevertheless, some official functions and celebrations are still being held inside this complex. In connection to this, I remember the movie Anna and The King where, Chow Yun Fat, one of my favorite Hong Kong action stars, acted as Rama IV, the reigning King of Siam at that time. Some scenes were shot at The Grand Palace. It is ironic that the film was banned for viewing in Thailand.



 Upon entering the palace complex, wife and I were aghast at the stunning beauty of the entire complex. Though the temperature was high and we forgot to bring an umbrella I was surprised that my wife didn't go ballistic perhaps she was really stunned by the striking beauty of the place.

Wat Phra Kaew

There are many important buildings and pavilions inside the palace complex and one of them is Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of Emerald Buddha). Yup, a Buddha statue made of emerald. Sorry guys, photo shoot is not allowed inside this royal chapel. This temple is one of the most important temples in Thailand due to Emerald Buddha's history.







Most of the buildings are fusion of European architecture with Thai style roof. There is museum inside that showcase the history of Thailand. Likewise, colorful murals adorned some walls inside the complex while giant Garuda statues were posted at some inner gates.

                            

Entrance fee is 400 Baht. Quite expensive but make no mistake about it: This place is a must see for all visitors in Bangkok not only due to its marvelous architectural design but because this place also played an important role in the history of Thailand.

You can easily reach this place by Chao Phraya Express boat. The palace complex is near to Tha Tien pier.

The main drawback is the difficulty in getting a solo or group shots due to huge crowds of visitors daily.

Some tips:

with Royal Guard

For ladies, since you would end up entering the Wat Phra Kaew (Emerald Buddha), your shoulder up to knee should be covered otherwise you need to rent shawl or skirt at the entrance; refundable once you returned them. No caps or hats also while inside the temple.

Bangkok can be hot during daytime thus it is better to bring umbrella or wear a hat while exploring the complex. Apply sunscreen also.

Though English speaking guides are available at the entrance, don't be afraid to explore the place without them. You're not there primarily to learn the history of the palace. It is more enjoyable to explore the place at your own pace.

OTHER THAILAND ATTRACTIONS:

Platinum mall, Bangkok
Pratunam market, Bangkok
Roaming Around Bangkok - part 1 (Pratunam area)
Roaming Around Bangkok - part 2 (Khao San area)
Pantip Plaza, Bangkok
CentralWorld mall
Chatuchak Weekend Market
Khao San Road
J - Trends in Town Celebration
Wat Pho (The Reclining Buddha)
Wat Saket (Temple of Golden Mount)

Hello Kitty Christmas 2012 - The Block, SM City North EDSA

Hello Kitty and Sanrio fans this is your chance to celebrate the holiday season with the beloved character!

The Block Atrium has been converted into Hello Kitty Village from 10 November until 6 January. The event dubbed as "Hello Kitty, Hello Christmas" opened last 10 November. Raymond Gutierrez and Tessa Prieto-Valdez hosted the event while several celebrities and local officials attended the opening as well. Likewise, a children fashion show showcasing Sanrio's collections was held and a female rock band wowed the audience during the opening day.

Moreover, shoppers will have a chance to meet and greet the beloved character on November 17, 18, 24 and 25. While in December, be ready to meet them on 1, 8, 15, 22, 23 and 24. To have a chance to spend time with Hello Kitty simply purchase 500 pesos worth of Sanrio products.

Together with my family, we visited The Block SM City on 16 and 17 November for our early Christmas shopping at newly opened Uniqlo and Cotton On stores. We were amazed to see throngs of shoppers and kibitzers at the atrium having their shots within Hello Kitty Village especially on 17 Nov when Hello Kitty characters appeared inside their makeshift village.






I remember my sister; she used to be a Hello Kitty fanatic during her younger years. She had those Hello Kitty's pens, notepads and stationery, key chains, stickers and so on. Fortunately, my 3 kids are now grown up thus saving me from further draining my wallet during this festive season.

The Hello Kitty Village is truly marvelous. I am sure that kids and kids at heart would imagine themselves being transported to another dimension due to intricate details, lively color and the miniature size of the entire village.

In addition, different activities related to Hello Kitty, Hello Christmas event such as face painting, Hello Kitty Lanterns and Hello Kitty Car display are lined up at SM City.

Hello Kitty

NOEL Christmas Bazaar 2012 - World Trade Center, Manila

On its 13th year, the two-part NOEL Bazaar dubbed the Bazaar With A Heart, the country's biggest fund-raising event for the underprivileged, unfolds from 16 Nov to 23 Dec. This year's NOEL Bazaar is the biggest and longest edition to date.

The first part of Noel Bazaar at World Trade Center, Manila opens its door to early Christmas shoppers from November 16 to December 02. It only shows that Holiday Season is just around the corner. The second part of NOEL Bazaar will be held at PICC Forum Tent from December 14 to 23.

Both first and second part of NOEL Christmas Bazaar open from 12 nn to 10 pm on weekdays and 10 am to 10 pm during weekends. For the on-going NOEL Bazaar at WTC, admission is free from Monday to Wednesday while 50 pesos entrance fee will be charged for each visitor on other days. Unluckily, we visited WTC on Saturday thus we paid 150 pesos for three of us and another 35 pesos for the parking.

Noel Bazaar is in partnership with Metrobank and GMA Network hence; you will notice a huge GMA Celebrity Pavilion inside where some of its celebrities are assigned to visit the different booths of the pavilion from time to time.

The beneficiaries of NOEL Bazaar are GMA Kapuso Foundation, Bantayog ng mga Bayani, Associate Missionaries of Assumption Foundations, Sts. Peter and John Church and Noel P. Gozon Memorial Clinic.

Various items and merchandises from over 1000 concessionaires are being sold at affordable prices such as clothing and accessories, leather goods, novelty items, shoes, Christmas & home decors, native foods and drinks and other gifts and personal items. More so, established brands such as Ipanema, Philips and Anne Klein to name a few can be bought as well inside the bazaar. It is also worth to mention that Rustan Marketing has several stalls under its name.

You can even have an affordable meal inside the bazaar. We ordered chicken barbeque with side dish and 1 cup of rice for 75 pesos only.

LOBBY SHOTS:

INSIDE THE BAZAAR:

lambanog for export and export over-runs dresses

TNF jackets and pants; don't ask me if they're original, LOL

GMA Network Celebrity Pavilion

an improvised stage inside 

This Christmas Fair is a great event especially for those who want to avoid the seasonal shopping rush while searching for quality and affordable products. In doing so, shoppers will have the best shopping experience while helping the beneficiaries of this fair. Not to mention the opportunity to see some GMA celebrities in person while enjoying the annual Christmas Bazaar.

COMDDAP Expo 2012 - World Trade Center, Manila

The biggest IT show and bazaar in the country organized by Computer Manufacturers, Dealers and Distributors Association of the Philippines (COMDDAP) is being held at World Trade Center, Manila from November 16 to 18, 2012.

I brought my wife and youngest techie kid with me to the expo and fortunately, there was also an on-going NOEL bazaar sponsored by GMA 7 thus my wife's "shopping" mode has been triggered, LOL.

Presently, the annual COMDDAP Expo is the largest pre-holiday technology event in the country for consumers, enthusiasts and small business owners looking for promotional discounts, trade-ins and other special offers during the expo. You will find great buys not only for computer related gadgets but also smartphones as well. This year theme is "Make I.T. Work 4U."

Admission is free including a free copy of Manila Bulletin, lol. However, the registration was initially confusing. You need to fill-up a form then submit it to registration counter for your stick-on print-out name to be pasted on your shirt. Otherwise, security will not allow you to enter the expo area without your stick-on name on your shirt. Students need to register in different counter.

There are several seminars to be held daily regarding Windows 8 (Friday), Symantec (Saturday) and Cyber crime law (Sunday). Likewise, game tournament with 32 teams, each with 5 members in a battle of supremacy on popular games like DOTA, League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth.

SOME SHOTS:

Benq PC-less projector

Windows 8 booth

MSI Gamers laptop

Is this a PC or what?

Multimedia accessories

PC Buyer's Guide

Security gadgets

discounted laptops

The expo aims to exceed last year crowds of 17,000 visitors. This is our first time to attend this yearly event. The discount offered on some gadgets was truly amazing. The main drawback was that some exhibitors were not accepting cards as payment. I was bent on replacing my two-year old MSI dual-core laptop with Lenovo i5 laptop with 1 GB video card, LED display and 750 GB HDD plus 2 GB RAM and other common features such as DVD writer and HDMI output for 23,999 pesos only. It was almost a sale on their part if not for their cash only payment.

KKK - SM City Annex North EDSA, Quezon City

Countless restaurants that specialize in Filipino cuisine have mushroomed in the metropolis in recent years and one of them was Kainan sa Kalye Kanluran or most commonly known as KKK. You may visit its FB page: KKK - Pinoy Food Revolution 

I brought my family to KKK last year's mother's day. Though it was more than a year ago, I still remember that we wanted to have a sumptuous lunch of our favorite kare-kare at Barrio Fiesta. The place was full at that time thus we ended dining at KKK at 2nd floor of SM City Annex. We ordered the famous Filipino dish kare-kare and to be honest, its kare kare was comparable to Barrio Fiesta's version of kare-kare. The viscous sauce was perfect while you can easily distinguish the flavor of ground peanut and the tenderness of beef.

Few days back, I decided to bring my family back to KKK at SM City Annex. We arrived at 11:15 am thus seats were immediately made available for five of us. KKK had one lady stationed at the entrance who guided us to a corner table. I noticed the Filipiniana style uniform of their service staff. Likewise, the interior was cleverly and artistically designed using local theme and native materials such as bamboo sticks, woods, glass and banig. Not to mention the glass bottle lighting. Actually, I have seen similar glass bottle lighting at Dapitan Arcade.

free appetizer

While rummaging through the menu, they served us free tray of "kropek" as appetizer and provided us glasses of cold water; two thumbs up for the service.

I ordered Beef Caldereta in San Miguel Cervesa while my wife requested for her all time favorite Pancit Bihon Guisado. Daughter and eldest settled for inihaw na Liempo sliced ala-bacon strip while my chicken fanatic youngest kid, as usual, asked for Chicken Barbeque.

Beef Caldereta in cervesa

Bihon Guisado and Inihaw na Liempo cut in Bacon strip

Chicken Barbeque

The thinly sliced Liempo was superb according to my family; forgive me for I am not a pork fanboi. Pancit was equally tasty and brimming with ingredients. Chicken barbeque though a bit charred was delightfully tender and filling due to big serving. The tender Beef Caldereta cooked in cervesa was a disappointment due to bland taste. Perhaps, we were used to my mother-in-law's spicy and flavorful home cooked Beef Caldereta.

My eldest son ordered suman at tsokolate as dessert. The suman was yummy when garnished with luscious chocolate syrup.

Daughter and youngest kid asked for their favorite leche plan. It came with macapuno topping. Nothing special about this one except the presentation.

cup of garlic rice

An order of any Beef dishes such as Caldereta costs more than 300 pesos while chicken and pork are priced at around 250 pesos per order. Pancit and other vegetables dishes are more than hundred pesos. Likewise, desserts such as suman and tsokolate can easily breach hundred pesos. Fancy drink such as Sago't Gulaman and chocolate shake are quite pricey. However, an order is good enough for two people.







A cup of garlic rice, if I remember it correctly, was 55 pesos while white rice was obviously a bit cheaper. However, I love their garlic rice due to strong garlic flavor caused by generous amount of fried garlic topping.

nice native ambiance

a very creative designed table napkin holder

staff uniform

I believe that KKK really stands for Pinoy Food Revolution since the Filipino dishes they serve have evolved or revolutionized in time. Diners would be amazed on some "catchy" menu items such as Caldereta in Cervesa, Crispy Kangkong and Binagoongang Lechon Kawali to name a few. The price is reasonable considering the professional and prompt service, quality of food and unique "local" ambiance you seldom see in other Filipino restaurant. To add, there is no service charge at KKK.

I would definitely bring back my family to KKK in near future. By the way, to save on your bill, just settle for plain and chilled water they serve since you can have your fancy drink cheaper at other drink or coffee stations.

Dapitan Arcade - Quezon City

Every year, before Christmas season starts, my wife and I see to it that we pay a visit to Dapitan Arcade; our favorite source of affordable Christmas and house decor.

There are a host of reasons why Dapitan Arcade can easily give any mall a run for its money when it comes to home accessories, ceramic kitchen wares and even Christmas decor. For one, the affordability and quality of the products being sold will really amaze any shopper. In fact, some known local home designers used to frequent this place from time to time  in search of cheaper materials for their projects.

I remember our first visit to Dapitan Arcade many years back; it used to be a corner single story structure with shops selling mostly export over-run products.

From a single structure arcade, the place has gotten better over time. It now boasts several "mini-tiangge" and streets full of vendors selling different merchandises. It is with regret that I have noticed that made in China products starts appearing in some shops. I hope this place will continue to be known as factory outlets of our country's exporters of handicraft, furniture and other local products. So in a sense, this place could become a must place to visit not only for local shoppers but for foreigner as well looking for cheap home accessories and souvenir items.

AISLE SHOTS

more house decors

life-size santa

During off-season, we are able to park our car in front of the arcade or shops. These days, it would be extremely difficult to find a parking space along the main road or in front of the shops. Nevertheless, a pay parking lot at the back of the arcade never fails us. 

Dapitan Arcade is open year round but when Christmas season starts the nearby streets also overflow with Christmas items or merchandises. Many of them are being delivered to this place from different provinces.

OUTSIDE SHOTS

More tellingly, my wife is always in seventh heaven when she's exploring the three aisles inside the arcade due to overflowing home accessories, glass lighting and fixtures, ceramic kitchen wares, decorative boxes and many more. One time we ended buying a multi-colored carbon fiber sunburst mirror for 2,500 pesos after haggling; you may see the item on my blog cover shot.

Two years back, we purchased a hanging Santa with Merry Christmas sign. Last year, due to travel ban to my place of work I wasn't able to accompany my wife to Dapitan. Nonetheless, she bought a capiz Christmas lantern for around 600 pesos. This lantern can easily double its price if bought from a shopping mall.

Santa and the reindeer

For this coming Christmas, we bought a Santa with reindeer rope lights with metal support. It is made in Pampanga. We paid 2,500 pesos for this colorful Santa with reindeer. I have compared the quality of workmanship of this Santa with other Santa and reindeer rope lights being peddled in some places. Trust me, I can hold my Santa in one corner without the whole piece getting bend. I am planning to install this in our second floor balcony facing the road.

To get to Dapitan Arcade, if you are coming from EDSA or QC Circle, two blocks before reaching Welcome Rotunda along Quezon Avenue, turn right at Speaker Perez or Apo Avenue then turn left after 2 corners to reach Dapitan Arcade.

Coming from Espana or Manila area, go around Welcome Rotunda and turn at Mayon Avenue where a 24 hour Jollibee outlet is located; it is near the footbridge or overpass. Turn right after two corners from Jollibee. Likewise, if you will commute alight at Burger King near Rotunda and take a jeepney from that area going to DA. To add, I am sure all taxi drivers know this place if you intend to go there by taxi. In case you get lost, no need to panic, locate Welcome Rotunda first then ask those jeepney barkers and parking boys around how to get to Dapitan Arcade. In fact, if you have sturdy legs, Dapitan Arcade is walking distance from Welcome Rotunda though I won't dare do that with wife in tow, LOL.

My advice to would be shoppers at DA, haggle hard as if there is no tomorrow, LOL.

27 October 2013

After our regular visit to Quiapo yesterday we passed at Dapitan. As usual, countless vendors are selling their (Christmas) wares along the streets around Dapitan Arcade.

OUR LOOTS

our favorite character rope lights

from 2,900 pesos we got this pair of angel rope lights for 2,700 pesos

rope lights

10 meter assorted colors rope light

In shopping malls, a 10 meter plain/white rope lights costs 1,299 pesos while in Dapitan, from 80 pesos per meter of assorted color rope lights we were able to lower it to 70 pesos per meter after haggling. We asked the guy to prepare 2 pieces 10 meters assorted color rope lights with individual controller/blinker. 

I got this vintage wall clock for 500 pesos. This clock would look great in my new entertainment room.

07 Nov 2013. For the vintage wall clock above, it seemed we were ripped-off at Dapitan Arcade. We found the same wall clock at Platinum Mall, Bangkok City a few days back priced at 250 Baht or 350 Pesos only. Some models were even available at Landmark, Trinoma Mall at more than 300 Pesos.