Paradise Inn at City Square Mall

Went to City Square mall with my family this evening. My colleague has been recommending me to check out this mall since it is not so populated yet. We had dinner at Paradise Inn - a Cantonese restaurant. We like how the food is prepared. The Kong Ba Bao was excellent! The other dishes were great too. What a meal.In order to digest the food, you really need to drink quite a bit of tea though!

Paradise Inn (City Square Mall)

180 Kitchener Road

#B1-01/02 City Square Mall

Singapore 208539

Tel: 65 6509 9337

Website: http://www.paradiseinn.com.sg/

Vietnam - Mekong Day Tour

We were off to an early start. After breakfast we rushed over to Sinh Café for the Mekong Tour.

Ben Tre Boat Trip Map

The bus ride to Mekong area was about 2 hours. The tour consisted of the following:

The first stop was the Rice Paper production. The rice would go through the treadmill and mixed with coconut.

Treading Mill

Drying of rice paper

Lil girl helping out!

Lunch was a simple fare. We also get the chance to see the major Fried Elephant Ear Fish. The fish was used as an ingredient with the rice paper. It was an interesting mix of flavors.

Fried Elephant Ear Fish

The tour guide also brought us to an area to sample pure honey. Besides the refreshing honey drinks, we also so to see the bees hive.

The Hive

Countless bees

There was also the horse cart ride that was the highlight of the tour. Our horse or pony was a female one and the rider had to spend quite a bit of energy to prod the horse along.

Pony

We were also shown a flavor of the fruits and Vietnamese traditional singing.

Fruit Array

The river cruise was quite commercialized in a way. In a way, the whole Mekong Tour is designed to feed off tourists. It was really tranquil to sail through the river.

Cruising the river

Mini boat

When we got to the main river, we had to go onto the main boat. I was really holding on to the transition platform with my dear life. Ha…

The last stop was the coconut candy.

Raw Materials

Rich coconut extract

Coconut concentrate - Wow!

Sweet Packers

After which, it was the hot stone treat at The Spa. The service was impressive that it was a one stop shop. They even arranged for transport from the hotel to the Spa. It was very impressive - both the deco and the service. This place is highly recommended but it may be a little pricey.

The entrance

Setup

Grand Affair

Lighting that dazzles

Tea

Spa

We were all famished as we didn’t have dinner. We settled at Shabu Shabu. Very comforting to tuck in to steamboat as the weather was turning chilly.

Vietnam - Initial Sights

We rested in the wee hours of the morning, due to last minute packing. We definitely had to struggle to wake up as we were catching an early flight. After clearing our passports, we thought we gave the duty free shop a check. A security personnel came in to ask BZ and I if we lost a Samsung phone. We were rather obliviou that it could belong to LC. And it turned out it was LC’s phone. Imagine if he were to lost the phone at the start of the trip.

The flight was really a breeze. We were in HCM in 90 minutes.

LC’s friends (Thao and Ivy) were there to pick us up at the airport

Taxi Stand

We were only encouraged to take “Vinasun” cabs. The rest of the cabs may have credibility issues, with which we discovered over the next few days.

Welcome to HCM

Street Sights

Check out the wiring

Thao brought us to a Cambodian food outlet. It was a fresh start to the type of food we can await. Ha…we had a refreshing lemon tea. We also had something similar to glass noodles. The soup was a delight in that it is very sweet.

Store Front

Appetizer

Minced Meat Noodles

Another form of minced meat noodles

Fresh Lime

The real lemon tea

Liberty 4 hotel turned out to be relatively spacious and clean. They even had a board to welcome the guests of the day. We had a huge double bed and a single bed (and it is not the foldable type). Really satisfied other than the point that it was by the road side and the sounds of horn that greet us all day.

Guest List

Beds to ZZZ..

The washroom

The first major stop was Andong Market and Andong Plaza. It felt like it was a wholesaler’s market, similar to Pratunum in Thailand. It was so crowded, and the locals were jostling each other to move through the crowded aisles. If I have the choice, I would not visit the place again, especially Andong Market.

Entrance to Andong Market

The market at a glance

LC brought us to a Chinese restaurant for a quick meal. It was quite a spread given that it was tea time! We went over to a local ice cream chain for desserts. Was quite famous given the no. of chains they have.

As we didn’t really rest well, we returned to the hotel for afternoon nap. What a way of spending time overseas. To just slack.

Thao and Ivy brought us for a Vietnamese fare at Quan An Ngon. It was alfresco dining and the place was nicely done up, just that we were not very used to the taste and fare.

Quan An Ngon

Table Set up

Dining Setting

Flour based items

Salad with sour dressing

Noodles

We had time to browse through the ranks of Ben Thanh Night Market. The traffic was overwhelming, no matter at which point in the day. How I wished I didn’t have to cross the roads at all.

All types of stores

Eateries by the road side

We went to a drinks place for supper. One of the sides we ordered was fries. The interesting bit is the sauce. Fries go rather well with butter and sugar. Oooooh!

Butter and Sugar to go with fries?!

Short weekend in Bangkok

This is my second visit to Bangkok last weekend. It has been 3 years! Just prior to the trip, we got to know of possible protests that would be staged that very weekend. But we decided eventually that we would make the trip. Am glad we did! Thankful to God for the protection.

Arnoma hotel is right smacked at the center of numerous shopping malls. The rooms were clean and it was fun considering the fact that we had connecting rooms. 

Upon leaving the hotel after check in, we were greeted with heavy shower upon reaching our hotel. Just as we were making our way to the shopping mall, we witnessed a flood! To the extent that it was amusing. 

The word "famished" was not sufficient to describe how hungry we were. We settled at Central World, Yayoi for Jap fast food. Each meal was at a neat price of 100THB. Sweet.

 

 

We adjourned to Platinum Mall (the mall for wholesale shopping). It is rather similar to Argyle Center in Hong Kong, just that there are many more stores. The brochure indicated that there were in excess of 10,000 stores. Because I didn't have anything in mind, I did not make any purchase. Furthermore, we were quite tired out from the travel. 

Massage beckons! We retreated at for a massage at Central World. Hourly massage was in the range of 300 to 500 THB. Oh la la!

 

The shops in the mall close real early. When we were done with massage at around 9 pm, we could not find any dining place. The only option was KFC. And it was really mediorce.

Early on the next morning, we departed the hotel for one of the floating markets that was about 1.5 hours drive from Bangkok. It was burstling with activity.  

Before we knew it, we were on one of the tiny boats! All the other boats were in close vicinty and the drivers had to manoveur carefully as there were boats travelling in the same and opposite directions at the same time.

Traffic Jam

The vendors on boats were selling souvenirs, food items, spics and fruits! 

We didn't stop once to buy any of the items (maybe cos we were trying to maintain our balance and trying to stay cool with the radiant sun). As for the other commuters, they would be "pulled" over to the vendor boats if they expressed interest to check out the items on sale with a S hook. It ended rather quickly and we were also hoping to leave this place soon. Perhaps it was the weather that made it a little unpleasant.

The guide brought us to JJ Mall (shopping mall close to Chatuchat Market. We had our lunch at Black Canyon Coffee. The chocolate drinks were still as good, but the Thai food did not really measure up.

We had a stroll in the Chatuchat Market shortly. Wasn't a bit pleasant with the hot weather and occasional rain. In terms of the variety of goods, it is a huge lot! Tend to compare it with Ben Thanh market in Vietnam. Perhaps it was more pleasant given that it was under a roof and shoppers would not be affected by the weather changes. 

5 of us hopped onto a pinkie cab as we made our way back to Central World (yes, again). After spending most of the time in Naraya, we headed to Dragon Seafood Restaurant for seafood. We had quite a variety of items and it amounted to about 600THB per person. I especially love the mango dessert towards the end.

On the last day of the trip, our group departed for two different malls. I wanted to visit MBK, while Hoon and Dor decided to check out Platinum mall again. There were not many changes to the mall it seems. Or it is just that I can't rem well. The thing is there are many Jap restaurants in a number of malls. XR, Sok and I had a simple (or not so simple as it was steamboat) fare at MK restaurant.

We also had ice cream desserts at Baskin Robbins back at Central. The rasberry and lychee ice cream were refreshing!

Towards the end, we had to rush back to the hotel for the airport transfer!

We had dinner at Mango Tree as we await the flight. It was the last dosage of Thai food for some.

We arrived in Singapore at close to 12 midnight. Although it was a bit tiring, the trip was also good for getting some rest! And am glad that damage done is pretty decent!