Amazing BKK: Day and Night Markets

During our 5D4N trip to Bangkok, we visited a total of 4 night markets and 1 day market. And when I say visit, I really meant walking every lane in the market until my legs gonna break. Here's a recollection of them.

Talad Neon Night Market

Because this was still a relatively new market, Talad Neon was the cleanest, with the least crowd and least number of stalls. hahaha. We bought quite a few items from here somehow; maybe due to the lesser crowd, I can do my shopping with ease and have a better mood to buy more!

Nearest BTS: Chitlom

Talad Rot Fai 2 (Ratchada) Night Market

One of the more famous night markets in Bangkok, this place was bustling and lanes were pretty narrow to maneuver due to the large crowd. I didn't like this place cos every lane seemed to be selling the same things. And it was freaking crowded!

Nearest MRT: Thailand Cultural Centre

Talad Rot Fai 1 (Srinakarin) Night Market

This is very far from the city centre, too damn far. But it has to be my second favourite night market out of the lot. This place is HUGE, and because of that, it has EVERYTHING! I suggest that you start calling your GRAB driver when you are proceeding to walk out of the place cos we only used the app after exiting the market, and had to wait outside for a very long time. Also partly because there was a Coldplay concert going on the night we were there and there was a bit of a traffic jam.

Nearest landmark: Seacon Square Shopping Center (you can drop off at this mall to shop around first before proceeding to the night market)

Huamum Night Market

This is one night market that lesser tourists go to. But I guess at the time I am writing, more Singaporeans would have discovered about this gem! Out of all the markets we visited, I actually liked this night market best. There are only a few reasons why I like a particular night market: clean, less crowd, good food. This place happens to have it all. I also liked it that it looked more modern than the others with the brightly lit stalls and zero tentages (which means more breeze and less sweating!)

Nearest landmark: nothing really, but if you want to save on taxi fare, the nearest would be Lat Phrao MRT station and still have to cab over from there.

Chatuchak Weekend Market

This is the most famous of them all, and everyone would tell you to visit this place when you are in Bangkok. It only opens during the weekends, so plan your visits wisely! This market is really unforgivably hot - wear your coolest clothes there! Best if you can wear bikini instead lol! Just kidding but yes you can wear something close to bikinis. It is also huge so you can grab the pamphlet and look for the kind of stalls you want to visit. I personally do not like this market (duh, I hate the sun and heat!), and didn't buy much here as I feel that the clothes are better at Platinum or Pratunam. But if you have never been to Bangkok, then you should visit this place at least once!

Nearest BTS: Mo Chit
Nearest MRT: Kamphaeng Phet

Final Thoughts

All in all, I feel that the markets sell more or less the same things. For someone who doesn't like to spend all the time shopping, I would say, just plan 1 of 2 night markets into your itinerary will do. I would rather spend the rest of my time sightseeing or eating!

Also, if you are travelling in groups of 4, it will be much easier to travel around in taxis instead. It's a tad pricier than BTS or MRT, but saves more time,less hot and there's less walking! We did most of the travelling using GRAB!

I actually want to visit the Railway Market (which is a few hours ride from the city centre) and also the Floating Market next, even though many told me there's nothing there.

But as you know, I hate the heat, so Bangkok might not be on my immediate list!
Till then, I think I would prefer places like Khao Yai or somewhere further up. Let me know if you have any good recommendations for travelling in Thailand!

I will be ending the Bangkok trip with a food post next, stay tuned!

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Bangkok Hotel and Shopping malls
Food: cafes, eateries, markets

Amazing BKK: Hotel and Shopping malls

This is really a huge backlog as my Bangkok trip was during 6-10 April 2017. That was almost 1 year ago! I have decided to change the layout of how my travels would be documented and break them up according to different categories instead of showcasing the itineraries. If anyone is interested to get my itinerary, just feel free to email me for it.

Hotel

First up, I'm gonna introduce the hotel we stayed at during the trip: Vince Hotel Pratunam.

This was a pretty new hotel at our time of stay so the facilities and rooms were still so new and clean.
Just look at our room. I paid less than SGD 150 for 4 nights, quite decent right?

A Buffet Breakfast was included in our stay and the dining area was pretty too!

Cereals, juices, yoghurt, eggs. They have almost everything!

There was even a random photoshoot area at level 2. Not sure what it is for... but looks good!

We decided to order the hotel dinner into our rooms for one of our days and this was the food. Not the cheapest but it was pretty decent.

The hotel also provides many other services, like calling taxis, and booking massage services for the hotel occupants. We didn't realise they could ferry us to a nearby massage place using their tuktuk and only tried it on the last night.

The massage parlour looks damn dodgy but it was the better one that we tried during the trip. (another place we went to by ourselves looked so pretty but the masseur's skills were badddd)

Even their bottled water also looks so pretty...
Just ask the front desk if you have any queries and they would be happy to help.

Shopping Malls

Moving on, let's talk about the various shopping malls of Bangkok I went to on this trip. Seriously, people normally go to the day/night markets when they go to Bangkok, cos that's where all the cheap stuffs are. To me, shopping malls are a pit stop for us to get away from the heat and for toilet breaks (cos I can't stand dirty toilets!).

Central World

Just a lot of luxury brands and a whole lot of aircon. But we bought our Naraya loots from this mall. There is also a Melissa Shoes store opposite Naraya but it is only worth checking out during their sales period.

Siam Square One|Siam Paragon|Siam Center

There are a cluster of malls starting with the word "Siam" here. Most famous being Siam Center or Siam Paragon, because many Singaporeans flock there for the cafes and food (which I will talk about in another post).

EmQuartier Mall

It is one of the newer malls in Bangkok that has some nice cafes and food around. Definitely has lesser crowd compared to Siam Center so you might want to consider coming here just to chill.

Platinum Fashion Mall

This is the best "mall" out of all here, cos it is really the wholesale shopping mall for girls whenever they go Bangkok. There are 2 wings for this, and people normally go to the older and bigger wing where all the clothes are. AND, don't bother starting from the top floor and walk your way down to the bottom. I suggest you just start from the bottom because that's where all the cheap and nicer things are. Do plan your time (and energy) wisely. Once you are done with the clothes, move on to accessories and shoes, or even kids or male clothings if those are on your shopping list. I started from the 5th floor and was too tired to continue once I got to the bottom and we decided to just leave even though I felt like there were still many things to buy!

Big C Supercenter

This is a building opposite Central World. And everyone should visit this place cos, a trip to Bangkok isn't complete if you don't buy local snacks back home! Pretz, Pocky, Cuttlefish, Seaweed... are some of the must-buys for us. You can also buy the local beer here back to your hotel for some late night partying and HTHT sessions!


So these are the shopping malls I visited during my trip to Bangkok, and I will be sharing more about the food there in the next post!

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Bangkok Day and Night Markets
Food: cafes, eateries, markets

Christmas at Yum Cha Singapore

It's the holiday season, and Yum Cha Singapore has done it once again, with their new Christmas menu that consists of Instagram-worthy buns and Christmas-related food items.

Snowman bao $3.80++

This is one cute snowman you can't bear to devour, with sweet red bean at the top, and lotus paste at the bottom.

Christmas Festive Combination $8.80++

This exclusive Christmas dish consists of the Five Spice Turkey Roll, Roasted Turkey Bun and Cranberry Spring Roll with Chicken Floss. I especially loved the Five Spice Turkey Roll, which reminds me of ngo hiang, but with a Christmas spirit hahaha.

Little Twin Piglets, Panda bao $1.90 each

These are the cutest buns ever! Each different coloured piglet bun has their own special flavours - custard, matcha, cranberry, and so on! 

Deep Fried Wasabi Duck Roll, 1 set of 4 pieces $8.80++

Fragrant Fried Rice with Seafood $16++ 

Steamed Cai Xin with Minced Pork and Chinese Sausage $18++

Xiao Long Bao

Not a part of our food tasting but we ordered it anyway, and boy was it good. I've never tried xiao long bao that has such chewy skin! 

Pomelo Sago in Mango Juice $4.80++

So Yum Cha actually launched a new concept called the Yum Cha Express.

Much of the dimsum can be found here for customers on the go.

At the kiosk, you can find their new range of freshly brewed premium teas:

 such as these Chrysanthemum Tea with Goji Berries and Jasmine Lemon Tea with Ginger.

They also recently launched these Salted Egg Fish Skin; Crispy Silver Fish in easy takeaway packagings.

The cute baos are available here too!

Just a small note, DO make sure you quickly snap your Instagram-worthy shots of the cute baos. 

Otherwise, cold buns are never good.

The Christmas menu is only available from 1st December 2017 to 1st January 2018.

Yum Cha members will enjoy 20% off on all Christmas seasonal dimsum treats!

Yum Cha

Chinatown

20 Trengganu Street (Off Temple Street)

#02-01 Singapore 058479

Changi

6 Changi Business Park Ave 1

#01-33 UE Bizhub East Singapore 486017

Express Kiosk

20 Trengganu Sreet (Along Smith Street)

#01-01G S058479

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How to look at Diamonds

Diamonds are pretty, yes!
However, I always thought that I would just have a symbolic 0.3 or 0.4 carat diamond ring for my proposal and that's it. No need to spend so much on a bigger carat isn't it, since diamonds are worthless and not as liquid as gold anyway.

Well, my mindset changed after a session with Gabrielle, the Sales Manager at Jumbo Gold & Diamonds.

They made me realise that the diamonds we get from the retail shops are marked up so high, that indeed, it seems like diamonds are worthless. If you know how to inspect a diamond properly and pay the correct price for it, diamonds are actually worth your every penny!

Every diamond would come with a piece of certificate, GIA certified. Other than the 4Cs, it states other things like the measurements, polish, symmetry, fluorescence, and clarity characteristics.

How do you tell whether the diamond you got is really the one stated in the certificate?

To see whether the diamond corresponds to the figures on the certificate, and that you are indeed paying for what you get, all you have to do is to have some equipments.

Let's go down the list in the cert.

GIA Report Number

You can actually see this number on the diamond itself. But of course, we need to have this instrument to be able to see it.

If you look at the side of the diamond like how I did below, you would be able to see that number!

Measurements

You use something like a vernier caliper to measure the diameter (and height) of the diamond. Yep as easy as that.

Clarity Characteristics

If the cert states "cloud, feather", it just means that you can see something like a thin line in the diamond. To do that, you need some fancy scopes like these:

I placed the diamond on top of this device and then place the scope over it to see.

For the purpose of being able to see the characteristics of the diamond more clearly, I was given another diamond to do a comparison. Often, it is hard to tell whether the diamond is white or yellow unless you have another one as a base comparison.

4Cs

So most people would have heard about the 4Cs of diamonds. If you have not, look further.

Cut

In this case, I am looking at round diamonds. My mum always tells me to get round diamonds as it will have the best brilliance and what not. However, Is that always the case? Not really; it just depends on what you really like and there are so many other factors to look at other than the cut.

Color

Anywhere ranging from D, E, F, or even G, H is fine for the normal consumers like you and me. Unless you compare with another whiter diamond, one would not be able to tell if your diamond is yellow or not, just like that.

Clarity

In my opinion, a clarity of VS1-VS2 or SI1-SI2 would be fine for normal consumers. This is because if the diamond is any better, the untrained person wouldn't even be able to tell anyway, yes even under a scope.

One example of a diamond I found online with a large feather:

Some inclusions wouldn't even be visible at all under the naked eye. 

I had a hard time finding the feather on the 0.9 carat diamond stated on the GIA cert (shown above) during my first try here. 

Carat

Carat weight is the unit of measurement for a diamond. 

The higher the carat, the more expensive your diamond. 

Which is why some buy these kind of diamond rings to make the diamond look bigger, but at a lower price:

That is, many small diamonds forming a big one. hahaha. 

Hearts and Arrows

Some people look at the "hearts and arrows" of a diamond to determine how good it is.

This scope helps you see this supposed "hearts and arrows" of a diamond.

One example I can find online is this.

Any untrained person would be able to see hearts and arrows easily with the scope.

Of course, I am guessing that most of us wouldn't buy diamonds that are totally perfect, so you would probably see something similar (but maybe a bit better) like the photos above - some misalignment in the shapes, yet still see the shapes somehow, depending on the grade. The 0.9 carat diamond Gabrielle used to share with me during the session had almost perfect hearts and arrows though.

I saw some interesting ring designs from Jumbo Gold & Diamonds and thought I would share them here:

Engagement rings that form a heart when you put them together!

Ruby

My thoughts and opinions?

Buying a diamond really depends on the intention (and of course on how rich you are!). 

If you want a diamond just for symbolic purposes like marriage etc., then a decent color, clarity, carat would do. Never mind about it being grade G or H for color; never mind about having a small feather or inclusions in the diamond; never mind about it being just 0.3 or 0.4 carat. If you can't tell with the naked eye, then these should be fine.

However, if you are richer, it pays to top up a bit to get a higher carat? Say 0.5 or even 0.8.

Or, if you are one with OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), and really need your diamonds to be perfect, sure you can get the highest grades.

IF you are buying for the intention of investment, then yes the better grades would do you good in future.

There is no one size fits all for buying jewellery, and the ultimate decision maker is yourself. 

The people at Jumbo Gold & Diamonds can help you make the best decision. so feel free to contact them the next time you need a diamond!

This post is really a very basic and my own layman way of looking at diamonds. If you want to know more, Gabrielle would be more than happy to share with you.

http://www.diamondtrader.com.sg/

#33 Ubi Avenue 3, #06-50, Vertex Tower A Singapore 408868

It is an office, so consultations are by appointment only.