PSI 290

Got a shock when I turned on the TV and saw a PSI reading of 290. Gasp, if only my PSLE score is that high, I would have qualified for any school I want! On the other hand, I'm proud to say that my Candy Crush level is much higher than this, hah! 

BKK Work Trip, March 2012: La Tavola

Mid-week & I'm off to KL tomorrow, to embrace the haze, lol! Well, I was checking the PSI readings in KL and apparently, it didn't seem as bad compared to Singapore. Not sure how trust-worthy is the index, but guess I'll be mostly staying indoors apart from traveling to meet up with my clients. Hopefully I can still have a view of KLCC :)

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Related entries: Arrival in BKK @ Renaissance Bangkok Hotel, Coffee Beans by Daos & Banana Prata

Rise & Shine to Day 2 of my stay in Bangkok :) It was a mad rush getting ready to meet my client, cuz I conveniently forgot that the time zone on my iphone had changed to BKK instead of SG. Hence, I thought I still had 1 more hour to the scheduled meeting. It wasn't when I saw the clock on the bedside counter did I realise my mistake!  

 A quick snap shot of my outfit post before I begin my hectic day.

 Grabbed a chocolate chip muffin for breakfast.

A slight jam on the roads & taxi uncle even had time to read his morning papers. Thankfully the jam eased quickly and I was able to reach my client's place on time. *phew*

Back to the hotel after a long day of meetings.

Boy, I was surprised to be greeted by all the super cars when I stepped out of the cab. Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini - you name it, they have it. Though I'm not a car lover, but you just can't help snapping a few pics :P

Changed into comfy flats & headed out for dinner.

 Inside the lift :) This is actually the first trip that I bought Pus Pus out ever since we bought him! Leecher actually bought him the night I left for London, but I did not have the chance to use him to capture the beauty in London. Hence, when I left for Bangkok 2 weeks later, I just had to bring him along! 

 

Chilling out at the lobby, thinking of where to head for dinner & finally, I've decided on a place.
 

Enjoying a candle-light dinner without Leecher. When I first started working, I'll make it a point to have lunch with friends/colleagues every day, for I find it 可怜 to lunch alone. However, as the years go by, I actually find it a joy to lunch alone - having some me-time tucked away somewhere far from the office. 

 I got lazy and decided to just have my dinner within the hotel instead of venturing out. I was actually spoilt for choices as there were a couple of dining spots & I eventually decided on La Tavola, an Italian restaurant. La Tavola means "the table" in Italian & if I'm not wrong, it specifically means the kitchen table.

 

 Diners can chose to chill out at the bar first before proceeding for their meals. The bar hosts a collection of Italian wine, mostly served by the glass.

 

I love the spacious interior, where tables are wide apart from one another so you won't end up eavesdropping at others' conversations. 

 

Open concept kitchen, where you can witness your orders being prepared by the chefs.

 

Always a must to start my meal, rose wine for this round.   

 Bread served warn on a wooden tray. 
 

Pan-fried scallops, yummy! 

Pasta with mushrooms - serving was a tad too big for me. 

 

Bon appetite :)  

La Tavola

Renaissance Bangkok Ratchaprasong Hotel

518/8 Ploenchit Road

Bangkok 10330, Thailand

Opening Hours: 11.30am till 2.30pm (Lunch), 6pm till 11pm (Dinner)

BKK Work Trip, March 2012: Coffee Beans by Daos & Banana Prata

 

Part One:  Arrival in BKK @ Renaissance Bangkok Hotel

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I was told that if you want to experience a true Thai institution, you will have to try the cakes @ Coffee Beans by Daos. With royal connections, this cafe has become the place to go for desserts - from their famous cheesecakes to doughnuts. This is my 2nd visit to the cafe, BUT, I didn't get the chance to enjoy their renowned desserts :(

 

They have 4 branches over central Bangkok, so I brought Roger to have his first taste of Thai food at the branch located at Central World. The place was filled with patrons, but we quickly got a table within 5 min.

 
I had to order their hot malt again, which tasted like horlicks sweets that I used to eat. 

 

A must order in BKK, Pad Thai. Actually, pad thai is of Vietnamese origin. This dish was said to be imported to the ancient Thai capital city of Ayuthaya by Vietnamese traders. It was then altered to reflect Thai people taste buds. Pad Thai has since become one of Thailand's national dishes.

 
The other soup dishes that we ordered, but great disappointment. I'll say have a go at their Thai dishes instead. 

 Coffee Bean by Daos

Central World Tower 2nd Floor

Rajadamri Road, Lumpini

Pathumwan, Bangkok 10300

Tel: 66 2 613 1530

Another of my usual hangout place is to visit the night market outside Central World, in search for banana prata snack. 
 

Crispy prata drizzled with condensed milk, yums! This is the most sinful snack, but hey, banana is a fruit! Even though I'm not a fan of bananas, this is one of my must-eat items whenever I'm in BKK. You can find the prata push cart at any of the night markets. 

BKK Work Trip, March 2012: Arrival in BKK @ Renaissance Bangkok Hotel

Recently, Mastercard announced that Bangkok is this year's number 1 city for travel. Since I'm on BKK mood recently, here's another entry during my work trip to BKK last March, 2 weeks after I came back from LDN. Arriving at the airport, bright & early! Coincidentally, Bro-in-Law Roger was also on his way to BKK to attend a conference.

 

Window seat (again) on the usual SQ972 flight :)

 Whenever I'm at the airport, I tend to scuffle off to my usual hangout place to wait for boarding time. This time round, I took a couple of minutes to visit the fern garden & koi pond (located at T2, departure transit lounge). Landscaped with tropical tree ferns, the garden also features a wide range of unique ferns, such as Birds' Nest Ferns, Rabbit-foot Ferns etc. It was also interesting to learn that the giant Tasmanian tree ferns - Dicksonia Antarctica, which is probably a survivor dating back to dinosaur era, are known to live for more than 400 years!

 

Walking to gate E12. As much as I prefer gates that are nearer, there are times where the planes will be assigned to the last gate of the wing, which meant that passengers will have to cover a longer distance to reach the gate.

  

Looked like it will be a full flight! 

 

 Always a pleasure to fly on our national carrier. 

While waiting for take-off ;)

 

Up, up & away to BKK :) 

 

Meal on-board to curb my hunger pangs :) A pleasant surprise to find ice-cream, but no chocolate ice-cream :( #disappointed

 

Arrived @ Suvarnabhumi Airport 2.5 hours later. I always have difficulty pronouncing the name of this airport to cab drivers. Normally, I'll just hop on to the cab and says "Airport, Suva.....", then the cab drivers will go "Oh, ok!" Finally, I googled and it is pronounced as "su-wan-na-poom", which means "The Golden Land", specifically referring to the continental Indochina.

Making my way to immigrations, hopefully the queue will be short.

 

Air-Asia has now moved all their operations to Don Muang Airport, which is nearer to the city. Don't make the same mistake as us during our last trip to BKK.

Landed, lugging my suitcase to the meet up point for airport transfer. 

You will pass by 2 tolls gantries along the way (I think), total of 70THB. This will be taken care of if you're travelling on airport limo transfer. However, you will have to pay the charges if you're on public taxi.

 

Saw this en-route to the hotel. The building management actually cater a "window" for the tree branch instead of cutting it off #savetheenvironment :)

This time round, I stayed @ Renaissance that belonged to Marriott Group. Roger stayed in the same hotel too & turned out that we were on the same floor as well, lol!

 

The drive-way. Not many taxis know about this hotel - or rather, it could be the way we pronounce the name. I still remembered during my stay in Conrad, I told the cab driver "Conrad" and he gave me the confused look. So I had to direct him to Wireless street & drove into Conrad drive-way before he turned around & say "Oh, Con-lad", lol! So during my stay in this hotel, for cab drivers who don't recognise the hotel address, I'll ask them to drop me off @ BTS Chit Lom station & walk back.

  

The hotel is situated in central Bangkok, with easy access to BTS Chit Lom station & its skywalk. Gayson, Zen, Central World and Siam Paragon are only a stone's throw away.

 

Help yourselves to the welcome sweets :)    

 The lobby area was furnished with hues of gold and red, a classy welcome for the guests.

 

I stayed in the Deluxe King Guest Room, overlooking the city & Lumpini Park. 

Renaissance Bangkok Ratchaprasong Hotel

518/8 Ploenchit Road

Bangkok 10330, Thailand

Tel: 66 2 1255000

A change of outfit later, I set off for a quick lunch before heading to my client's place.

I don't usually have the luxury of time to venture out for a meal, so I'll tend to settle my lunch @ the lobby bar. Upon stepping into the R bar, I was wow-ed by the over-the-top decor (think reflective surfaces and colour-changing fiber optics). Thankfully, they managed to create a tasty outlook, with the use of plush sofas & sleek tables. 

 

Huge (plastic) diamond placed on every table ... Shine bright like a diamond, lol!

  
Lunch menu - spring rolls with orange juice. The awkward timing always hinder my decision on ordering a full meal, so I tend to head for light snacks instead. 
 
Looking through my notes again before heading down to client's place. I need to start getting a professional notebook to take down notes, but just can't resist cute items, lol!   

R Bar, Renaissance Hotel

518/8 Ploenchit Road,

Bangkok 10330, Thailand

Tel: 66 2 125 5000

Opening Hours: 9am till 1am daily