Open House London 15-16 sept 2007

One of the best "festivals" in London- described as "Architecture in the Flesh" is the Open House London (www.openhouse.org.uk) event. I think they had something similar last year, but this year's sounds really exciting as many buildings are opening their doors for the public to visit- FREE!!! I don't think i want to miss out on the good fun of snooping around "private" buildings. Some of the places are those which you will normally have to "pay" eg kensington palace. However, you may need to email and reserve a place- info could be found on the website.

I am itching to join the Maggie's and Open House London Night Hike 2007 which promised 17 miles of exclusive routevexclusive access to some of London's most prominent buildings and landmarks including Guildhall, The Royal Geographical Society, The British Airways London Eye, Whiteley's, The Royal Festival Hall and City Hall. However, the £25 registration fees and £250 fund raising target put me off!!! Where am I going to harass that much money out of my friends?

I am thinking of targeting some weird and curious buildings like the Hoover building or the Green Build. Any other weird, curious, spooky ones?

Hong Kong- Got the rooms!

I also got the HK hotel rooms booked. I actually booked YMCA through Expedia! It comes up to £34 per night, which is really cheap! The trick of hunting cheap accomodation is try a few websites! yeah, it is hard work, but you could save load. For example, my sister found Standford at 63 USD at www.hoteltravel.com. That is about 30% off the prices of other websites which asks for USD 90+ to even USD 110+!!! However, YMCA is much cheaper in Expedia compared to this website, which asks for USD 77! That is about USD 10 more expensive per night. Asiarooms, my fav for BKK rooms is even much more hopelessly expensive!

Hopefully I can get another 5% cashback through Quidco, and that makes it even a better deal. All travel bugs/shopping queens based in UK should really consider registering at www.quidco.com to get % money back off their shopping and travel expenses.

Haha. This is the first time I try YMCA. I hope that it is as good as the reviews say about it. If not, die!This is the first time I bring my parents on a holiday and I put them up in YMCA- feel like a bum already. Was really tempted to do Nathan/Prudential or even Holiday Inn. However , after calculating and see that the sum differs by 400-500 SGD easily, sis & I decided that the money will be better spent eating, since we will be only sleeping in the rooms. Besides, doing 2 trans Atlantic flights, & 2 flights back to Sg within 2 months means my credit card is beeping & turning AMBER. At the rate I am going, I will hit the max this month! My boss better give me back my conference fee money soon!

A traveler's tales of the 7th month: different worlds ocupy the same sphere........

Want more tales?

"Molest" in a cruise ship.
Two colleagues who I know very well went for a company sponsored training in a cruise ship. This "pretty auntie" forget to bring her travel "protection charm" that she usually brings. On the last night of the trip, she was "molested". She was aware throughout the whole ordeal, but could not move.

She heard kissing sounds next to her ear, and the heavy breathing, and felt the hairy-ness, and the weight of a "man" on her! Gross!!!

These happened while another colleague; her room mate, a devout Christian-who-never-believe-in-nonsense watched in horror!!! According to the "pretty auntie", her roommate, S saw her grimacing and felt a certain shadow on her, and heard the kissing sound. S was not sure if she was imaging things, and could not wake this "pretty auntie" up by calling her name. She was so scared, she just prayed and prayed... and prayed. This thing still continued and only stopped when the first ray on sunlight came into the cabin.

When I heard it, I was like.. Ewwwww Gross!!!!! You are joking with me, is it?? Try to scare little girls like me?

Her response was, "Ask S, ask her what she saw while I was experiencing these?"

S's response was " No more S***cruise. Even if it is free!!!"

S is not someone who would "joke" about these stuff. And she visibly don't want to talk about these things. That afternoon, one went to her church to "cleanse", another quickly go to the temple.


Inside a pendulum called elevator
On a Thursday* night in the 7th month 2 years ago. I worked late, as usual. I think I left at almost 11 pm, the last person on my floor. When I walked to the lift lobby, I felt a presence--I ignored it- thought I was getting psychotic with all that amount of work that need to be completed. I was just impatient to get down, as I didn't want the taxi to run off, and end up waiting on that road.

The lift button was not exactly responsive at first. I really had to pressed it hard many times before the door would close. Darn, I cursed. This is supposedly by a world class architect!

When it went down, it was SHAKING!!!! I could feel myself wobbling from one side to the other, as if the cables were snapping or some force was shaking the lift like a pendulum?

At first, the joker in me thought "Shit, too fat! Move to center to balance!"

But moving to the center did not "balance" it, and the shaking grew more violent, the lift seemed to shot down faster than usual! I had to "hold on" to the walls to help to balance myself. It was getting very scary. Only in those last few seconds, it occured to me, "7th month!".
And I was like "Oii, don't play with me! I got nothing to do with you, whatever".

My horror ended when the lift landed with a violent THUD!

I think I srambled out of the lift with a very pale face. The security guard saw me and was concerned. "Are you ok, miss?", he asked. Hmmm, I must have looked very bad, as the guards are known to have a "dun care" attitude.

I told him "Something wrong with the lift, it was shaking!" I think this middle aged man saw the horror in my eyes; he gave me a "Oh, no, not that!!" look. He offered to "check the lift". He walked there reluctantly, take one glance and quickly walked back to tell me "Don't worry, tomorrow we get people to check".

I did not want to know what was going on, I was just too happy my cab was waiting for me, and I could go home! My hubby was probably wondering why I insisted he wait for me downstairs.

*According to a colleague, Thursday is not a "clean" night based on local beliefs. A thurday night on a 7th month makes it worse. Throughout that 7th month, she chased me home every Thursday night, or told us not stay in the office alone :)

Yipee! Pleasant summer countryside drive!!

Yipee! Next week we are gonna hire a car to drive around the countryside, Most likely we will ROAM COTSWOLD, although I am tempted to do Northumberland as well. Britain is just so scenic, that watching those driving programs on tv will make you salivate....

Hubby found a site which is frills free, and a car goes for £27 a day or £125/week! That is less than 1/2 the prices that some major companies charge! And the best thing is the price seems to be the same, even if you do last minute booking. That is great, because we can check the weather forecast first before booking. Well, hubby seems to always find good deals, I think that guy just Google and Google and maybe click on every single ad availble as well???

Too bad we decided to beat the crowds and head off with just the two of us. If it is a weekend, the whole gang could join, £27 for 4 person is really peanuts! We got to pay for the petrol, though, but it won’t come up to that much, less than £20?

At first, I thought of renting the car from London, and then return it in another city, then take a bus home. But we don't have enough time to plan, and book early enough for those £1 tickets which we used to visit Oxford from megabus.com. The usual tickets will be costing around £10/person, so might as well drive!

It is summer now(or is it? I got to turn on heater yesterday, cos it was windy, rainy and was around 14C?). The sun rises around 4:30am, and sets around 9:30 at night. So , a day trip is a LONG trip, and we just got to maximise the time. The only limitation is we got to collect the car betwen 8:00am to 6pm. Hmmm.. that means that it is not possible to set off at 6 am and come back at 9pm.

Nah... I am not gonna to break my brains about this one. Let the "driver" decide. I am just gonna to snooze in the car, and only open my eyes whenever hubby shouts "sheep", "cow","horse", "canola", "beautiful hill", and any of the "wows!" :)

Shucks, I am not sure if he is able to recognise these things properly or not. I think I better make him go through some picture books, just in case he shouts "elephant" when he sees a big cow.

The definitive taste of Chinatown: Wong Kei : Eating Cheaply in London: Part 4

The definitive taste of Chinatown: Wong Kei

41-43 Wardour Street, London, W1D 6PY

Telephone: 020 7437 8408

Wong Kei or “Wang Ji” in London’s Chinatown has acquired a sort of cult status in London. Shocked by how shocked our friends were when they found out that we had not eaten there yet, we dutifully went there during our Saturday Chinatown shopping trips.

Wong Kei has three floors. And according to our friends who are regulars, getting allocated to which floor is a lottery.

We went in, told the waiter that there are two of us and was promptly shown to the basement. I feel like I walked into a “Cha Chan tang” in Kowloon. Basic furnishings and very efficient waiters who spoke in Cantonese! The moment our bums reach the chair, a pot of hot Chinese tea with two tea cups were on the table, along with two red menus.

My impression of that place?

1. Feng-shui-ed! A big fountain, pouring in water from the ground floor entrance to a pond in the basement!
2. CHEAP FOOD!!!!
3. Huge portions!!!!

I ordered a Won Tun noodles for £2.80, while hubby order fried hor fun with beef (£3.80).

I must say that the Won Tun only had bits of prawn, like the Singapore/Malaysia/Thailand versions, and too much pork to make up the size! I felt like I was eating pork ball-wrapped in wonton skin. The noodles were ok and the soup was not too bad (better than most Malaysia/Singapore hawkers, not as good as what you would expect from Hong Kong!). It is definitely a steal at £2.80, but definitely not as yummy as that in the Dragon Inn (12 Gerrard Street) which was very Hong Kong-ish!

My hubby’s hor fun was very yummy, with generous amounts of beef, although they over-cooked the beef slightly. Large portion- this is the first time a big eater like him packed the left-over home!

Verdit:

Price? One of the cheapest in Central London! The tea is free! Three of us had to pay £4.00 for a pot of low quality tea (very very bad, definitely “recycled”) when we had lunch at the Big China near South Kensington Tube! WYSIWYG- no extra charges apart from the already low prices on the menu. No service charge!

Service? We did not experience any of the legendary rudeness, probably because I speak Cantonese! They were very efficient, and friendly if you speak Cantonese, and did not expect you to tip!!! (The guy at Dragon Inn was hinting for me to tip him even after paying service charge!!!) They also did not expect/pressure you to order more! NO grumbles when you want to pack your left-overs, and there was no extra-charges for packing.

Taste? The Wonton is a let down. My hubby’s hor fun was yummy, and people around us seemed to be enjoying their char siu and other roasted meat.

Location? Chinatown London.

Will I go again? Yeah, definitely! That place got "atmosphere", and I want to go on a Sunday morning to see the full "glory" of Wong Kei's dim sum hour!

If you are in the Chinatown area, this is definitely the place to fill up your tummy or have a taste of Chinese in London! If you order “dry” stuff, and you are not a very big eater, you can easily pack your “dinner” when you take your lunch! (£3.80 for 2 meals is a steal, right?)

This restaurant is frequently mentioned in guidebooks. However, remember that this is not the best that London had to offer in terms of taste, but it is more like a glimpse of Chinese “culture” in London!

P/S: To see how "cult"ish it is, read the pages and pages of reviews when you google "Wong Kei"! Here is on example of reviews

and compare it to my all time favourite: Yummy duck- Four seasons at Bayswater
(FOUR SEASONS is a must go. It is a very "sinful" place, tempting people away from their religious practices with those juicy BBQ meat! If you are "lucky", you will see tables of Malay and Indonesian speaking people devouring their char siu, and I once seen another lady with a head scarf there...I tried hard not to *laugh wickedly*)

Other related posts:

Cheap eats for London: Part 3 (supermarket options)

Cheap eats for a short london stay: Part 2

Eat well, eat cheaply in London: Part 1

London is expensive? The insider's guide to do it in a cheap way.

Cheap eats for London Part 3

The cheapest of cheap eats is obviously supermarket food!

As a general rule of thumb, this is the rank in terms of taste

1) M&S, Waitrose
2) Sainsbury
3) Tesco, Asda etc.

In terms of price??

Use the same list, the other way round. It is fair isnt it? Pay more, get more yummy, healthier food.

M&S "Food to go" are yummy, but at a price. Eg of price list?
Bacon Roll, £2.50
Sausage and Egg Bagel £3.00
Porridge £1.30
Singapore Noodles with Chicken and King Prawns £3.75

Sainsburry have some nice sandwiches, and the bigger branches have a whole roasted chicken going for £3.99. It is also interesting to taste their interpretation of "Asian Food". Talking about Asian food, my general rule of thumb is stay away from Tesco!

Tesco's Sandwiches are cheap-less than £1.00 to 3.00 and generally very filling, especially you picked the "deep fill" options, with a huge amount of fillings. These sandwiches are generally high in calories, with that amount of cheese and mayonaise heaped inside. These are great for a filling meal, but if you want something more "healthy", go for the "healthy living" Brand for Tesco, which would be much cheaper than Weight Watchers' sandwiches. However, I find the taste really bland! So, the compromise? Get from Boots! They have a miximum limit of £3.50 for meal (sandwiches or salads) + snacks + drinks for £3.50.

Dying for some vege? Get some coleslaw at 25 p from Sainsbury.

Still too expensive?
Then just resign to eating donuts, buy a pack, and it will come up to only 10p per donut. Or if you stay near a Budgens, the one at Porchester is great- go there about 1 hour before closing and get all the French pastries you want for 15 p each, a whole baguette for 19 p each 1/2 roast chicken for 99p a loaf of premium bread from between 20-49 p.... For less than £1.00, you will get enough to feed 1 person for a day.

How much cheaper do you need to go?

Cheap eats for a short london stay: Part 2

This is the best possible arrangement for a 3-5day camp in a backpacker's hostel:

Breakfast - try to look for one which is provided.

Don't pay extra just to have BREAKFAST included. It is not worth it! Most of the time they just give you plain and watery coffee, and the cheapest possible housebrand cereals with milk. These are very very cheap stuff, and you might as well buy it from the supermarket! The exception will be "english breakfast" with sausages, baked beans, bacon eggs and coffee/tea/milk. This will be worth an extra few pounds, and give you a good start. If you are a vegetarian...hmmm .. forget it.

If breakfast is not provided, you might have:
1) Milk (£30pence/pint) + cereal (about £1.00 for a 500mg box if you buy housebrands like Tesco, Sainsburry etc) + coffee/other hot beverage, if you have access to kettle. You could buy those sachets about £2.20 for Nescafe's cappucino 10's packs and about £1.20 if you buy housebrand ) You will have filling breakfast for about £4.00, for 4-5 days at least.

2) Fruits(from markets) + yogurt (about 50 pence for a 500mg tub of housebrand, 25-40pence for a 150g).

3) Grab a sandwich for £0.90 to 3.00 from supermarkets or Boots (Boots pharmacy has yummy sandwiches too!). If you stay near Gloucester Road in South Kensington, go to the "SANDWICH shop"! I am sure your hostel people know the shop location, cos it is always packed with hungry backpackers and students from the nearby universities plus a smoothie/coffee etc for another £1.00

4) Look out for coffee plus croissant for £1.50 signs in shops. These are only for takeaways. However must warn you that this will not keep you full.

5) for an Asian treat, go to Malaysian hall at Queensborough terrace, very near Bayswater station for a nasi lemak (£2.50) or roti canai/prata (£1.10) and teh tarik (1.10).

6) Check out the 1.99 breakfast promotions for Mc D, Burger king or Benjy's.

7) Clearance!!-Around the closing time, supermarkets clear their food like ready to go meals and sandwiches for a fraction of their normal price. If you go past a supermarket at its closing time, be sure to check out their "reduced" shelf. Things can be dirt cheap sometimes. I got 8 slices of stuffed turkey which usually retails for about £5 for 20p before, and loaves of bread and sandwiches for 10p each.

Other cheap stuff for breakfast: Donuts (12p each) Cakes from Sainsburry basics (15 p for a chocolate roll, and about 25 p for a rather large slice of madeira cake), Biscuits! (Go for Marks a Spencer!= 49p for 400g of yummy yummy custard cream), make your own hard boiled eggs, if you got kettle. Eggs is about 10p each.

Finally, if you are a group of hungry people, just go to Tesco, grab a loaf of bread (about 50p), a box of ham (1.70 for 400g!) a packet of cheedar cheese (about 0,50p for 12). For about £3.00, you will have enough to last you through lunch for about 3 people.

Size of a hotel room in London

What would you expect to be size of a HOTEL room in London? One that is about three stars, and the lowest discounted internet rate that you could get is about £60 pounds for a SINGLE room, and a double will cost you more than £80?

Well, imagine going into you hotel room, you open the door, and taa daaa.. you are veryhappy that there is an en-suite bathroom with a clean looking bathtub. After congratulating yourself about the tub, you turn to look into your room. it is SMALL with a capital S! There is barely room for a small dressing table and TV and a small cupboard. And no, there is no bar fridge in your room!

That is how small and expensive rooms in London can get. Small, small small hotel rooms.
However, I must say that the hotel is located in a prime location in Inverness Terrace, just off Bayswater road, and very near to the tube station and Hyde Park. I guess that is the price to pay for all the convenience and location- a really small hotel room. It is very clean though, as expected from the hotels from that chain.

The Oxford visit...

We went to Oxford to visit some friends. To make use of the Megabus promotion, we woke up at 4.00 am , and on a bus- Oxford tube by 5:30. Dawn by just breaking. Between some semi-unconcious effort to check out the scenery enroute and desperate need to catch some sleep, we reached at about 7am.

Warning!!!! No toilet at the bus station at these times, as the two 24 hour cubicles had been vandalised!By who? I wondered. Isnt this supposed to be a genteel town, filled with intelectuals? The public toilet would only be opened at a later time. I spent the rest of the time, filling up suduko from the free papers, and fighting the urge....which was intensified after copious amount of good old cappucino and very yummy danish pastry for only £1.50 from the corner shop.
















It was a rewarding day though. Managed to see quite a bit of places.
We were "lost", after missing our bus-stop, but was rewarded with the nice scenery and beautiful cottages meant as student accomodations further from town, and some nice B&Bs along the way. Pity our friend, waiting for us at the bus-stop. Anyway, the driver was nice, and we just remained in the bus, and get off on the "way back".

We were lucky to be spared from looking for accomodation in Oxford. Hotels or even hostels and B&Bs in Oxford is known to be Expensive. We are returning to another visit again, soon!

We pass by some of hotels and B&Bs to our friends' home. These are really charming cottages to stay in, will be nice for couples etc.

Here are some images captured by my handphone. I will get nicer ones from our friend later.

The crest of colleges on a door.

One of the back lanes of Oxford. It is really really "ancient"!.

Eating out in London is expensive!

For the average traveler, food bill can come up to quite a lot.

For a traveler who likes to eat, food bill can easily be as much as accomodation in some of the more expensive places. London is one of such places.

While we can travel off peak, like in this frosty winter and save on accommodation and flight bill, there isn’t much difference in foot bills. Most eating places in London starts from around £5 a meal. 3 meals out comes up to £15, easily not forgetting your snacks and water. The only way to save is avoid restaurants, and find a accommodation where you could do some simple food preparation, eg having a microwave oven and a small kitchenette. Food from supermarkets are cheap. Big box of cereal for about £1. 1.2 litre of ORGANIC milk for around £1 as well. I often joke that it is cheaper to drink milk than coke here. Bread is really cheap, and you can have all the varieties you would like, so is cheese, ham and sausages. If you prepare you own meals like sandwiches, you can feed yourself well for less than £5 per day, and spend the money shopping and seeing more of London!

Travel Checklist- London!!!

Let me do another quick check list for a tropical gal hitting London in late November. This will be different from my warm and humid travel to Bangkok checklist.

This will be a long long trip, and I plan to shop for most of my winter clothings there. Have done my homework and here it goes!

Travel check list for London- what every woman should prepare/bring to London on a chilly November/December.
Added some new entries in BLUE: after try the trip (Jan 06).
Updated Oct 2007

The usual stuff and other things for the unpredictable weather:

1. Credit card- remember to ask for an increase in credit limit a few days before travelling. All your SGD, RM and Baths will melt into ounces when changed into pounds! [UOB was the most generous, and straight forward in it.] If possible, bring a credit card which has a chip and pin function. Those with magnetic strips should work, but at times, you will face sales staff who don't give a damn about trying to make them work.
   
2. Cash and ATM Card : How much? Depends on how much you want to shop and whether you are staying in some B&Bs or hostels that do not accept credit cards. Some establishments charge extra for credit cards. I think the ATM cards are a good option, at a fee of only around SGD5 per withdrawal. My only grouse is banks like DBS only allow up to S$2000 per day, and if you depend on it for something major like hotel bills; you are in trouble. And change your money to pound sterling before you leave. Not only will your cash be less "thick", the rates in UK are generally very bad.
   
3. Umbrella? Forget it... if it rains, your umbrella will not help much. My friend's theory is you need a British brolly to take the British rain. I am advised to bring a raincoat or a very good water resistant coat or Parkas. Rain? it never actually "rained"; not in the sense we actually understand what "rain is". It is the persistent, intermittent, whole day long, light showers . Most of the time, all I needed was a scarf over my head. A water proof jacket will be really useful. Wind could be strong though.
4. Disposable panties! Panty liners! Double protection to keep my long johns clean :P If you run out of it, go to Marks and Spencer and get "real" panties (5 in a pack for £4) good quality, and a good excuse to shop. Don't bother shopping for disposables here. They are almost always as expensive as the real thing.
   
5. Good comfortable pair of walking shoes or nice BOOTs. Non-slippery types. Not to forget SOCKS. Will buy SHOES there, since the shoes there are usually very comfy and perfect for Miss Big Foot. [P/S: I found out that the cheapish and a little ugly looking blue socks provided by BA or Qantas in their toiletry kits is the BEST in keeping warm, so dun throw those away. They are thin- dry quickly, light, but keep your feet warm better than most socks.]
6. Wet tissues ....esp if room is not ensuite. I just read that it is scientifically possible, although rare to get sexually transmitted diseases through the sharing of toilet seats. Otherwise, get those baby wipes from one of the supermarkets. Those supermarket brands are significantly cheaper than the branded ones.
   
7. Lip balm & super moisturising moisturiser. If you are not fussy about brands,you can always buy them in Boots, and travel lighter!
8. Your phone charger/extra battery
9. The key to stay warm is layering, esp when the weather fluctuates so much. Checked and confirmed that brands like Topshop is much cheaper here. Bringing along two FTY long johns (skin tight, warm enough), body hugging T-shirts, my turtle neck sweater and a warm jacket. Gonna take along my nylon stockings too. (need 2 layers under jeans if it is windy) Dun look down on these flimsy things. It keeps you warm!The multipurpose warm shawl(the best thing I brought, other than my jacket) as well.
10. 3 in 1 Milo!! Gonna make my own warm drink before I hit the bed. Unfortunately most hotels there still provide only coffee and tea. (no need to bring if you have time to hit some supermarkets) Food is generally cheaper in the UK! If you budget some time to visit a supermarket, then you can pack significantly less things!
    

This is something that can't be taken along but must be done. FLU JAB!! To be taken a few weeks before hitting London.

Bring along also a multimap printout of your hotel, or the area that you would like to stay in. (www.multimap.co.uk) You can print out the list of nearby supermarkets, restaurants, laundrettes within a certain distance from your hotel. etc I found this really useful. Look out for supermarkets or convenience stores. The common ones are Tesco, Sainsbury and M& S. Tesco is usually the cheapest of the lot. Some are smaller in size and meant to be 7-11 equivalents. Eg. Tesco Express is the smaller one, and things are more expensive than those in a Tesco Metro. Head for teh bigger supermarkets if there is one nearby. Not only you get more choice, things are cheaper!

check out my post about money saving tips when visiting Oxford.

I just want a flight ticket: Why is it taking me so much time?

A flight ticket to London and back. That is all I want.
Why is it taking me so much time?

I am spending hours searching for the ticket.
what am I looking for? A cheap ticket which allows me to change my date of return within a six month period, since my plan is sto stay there "a couple of months", with no definite return date yet.

I am combing through the sites and I am full of complains here. Here is a list of my pet peeve
1) No indication of which currency they are using. "$"- means which country's dollar? USD? C$, SGD? I have to search for the type of currency (sometimes to no avail). Ridiculous! Despite all those talking about globalisation and reaching to customers all over the world, these sites seems to forget that many countries use $ sign as well. Dun mislead me into thinking that a ticket plus tax to London cost $700 plus. My interpretation of $ is SGD. Orbitz, cheapticket.com and hotwire are some of the sites.

2) You need to supply your personal information before you get information. Since when does a customer need to supply all the details, from passport numbers to addresses and phone numbers and emails etc just to find out more about a product? These top airlines must have forgotten who is king.

3) Please do not bombard me with all those terms, i am not a travel agent! Just tell me in plain simple English whether I can change my date of departure after booking. And if you decide to fine me for being fickleminded and yet cheapskate at the same time, tell me how much is the administrative charges for changing my departure date. I do not understand why they cannot spend some time writing these simple information but can go on and on about telling me that I have the privilege of getting a full refund should I be dead. If the ticket is so cheap that you will not allow me to change my mind, just tell me, "no changes and refunds are possible, unless you are dead or dead sick".

4) and yeah.. tell me those terms and conditions(including the luggage allowance) up front. there must be a link to it the moment you make me happy with the display of low fares. Dun make me choose flights etc, only to be told at the last one or two steps the terms and conditions. And tell me if i dun like these terms and conditions, how much more i have to fork out to get what i want. I will gladly pay the differece.

6) please, tell me about the planes (i expect this froom airlines, although not from the middle men). I actually have a preference. Yeah, I travel cheap, but still have the extra one hundred or two to spare for a more comfy flight.

Cathay have one of the best sites, you can actually choose your seats when you book! I love this so much that I was contemplating a detour and stopover in HK, as I do not have to remend me to check in as early as possible- at the 48th hour prior to departure to get a nice seat. And yet, why do I have to fill in all the details before I can see the fare rules?? I am a typical internet shopper and I browse. You understand? I browse and compare. I want the info quick. I need to info to make my decisions. I am not interested to fill up forms just to find out the terms and conditions. Duh! And please dun add to my agony by reminding me that the fare migt change if I choose a flight of a different timing. Just list all the flights and timing! Learn from BA/Qantas in this aspect.

kayak.com gave me hope, as it claims that it searches hundreds of airlines websites and showthe available fares.

I was not impressed. My excitement and expectation which was built up while watching the the green bar indicating that they were churning my results crashed when i say the 13 pages! My first impression of the results is, " oh dear, you do not need to display all the different flight and all the "sellers" on the page and gave me 13 pages of results".

As an impatient consumer, I just want to see where to get my cheap tickets. Lump all those flights by the same airline together, whether it is a morning flight or night flight. Since there are a handful of people who are particular about the timing, add a filter function! You know what made me mad? After dilligently going through 13 pages of results, I hit "book now" and what turned up was an apology:

"We strive to include every airline on earth with accurate flight information and direct booking links. You have chosen an airline that we do not yet have a direct link with yet but we are working on it."

Well. Not only there were no direct link to the sites. Worse still, they brought me to a site which is not my country of residence and I could not book or even check flight information from the site. I needed to hit many more buttons to reach the correct site, and enter the booking information all over again.


BA wins hands down compared to many airlines when it comes to tranparency regarding the fare rules. There is a link at early stages ofthe booking to it, and the display the amount for taxes early. No last minute suprises. However, BA drove their business to Qantas by not offering a cheapskate traveller like me an option of getting frequent flyer miles. I thought I saw world traveller's membership a couple of months ago. May be i am wrong but all I see now is the Executive club. Read- take business class before you get your miles, no FF miles for ecconomy passangers!

Ok. A pauper like me would not be spending so much $$ for a plush-er seat for that ten odd hours. (Call me calculative, but the price difference is sufficient for me to get a new set of sofa) What do I do? Join the qantas FF club and book from Qantas! If I do miss BA very much, i will just select a BA operated flight since they have a code share! Woo all the business class people you want to, just dun forget that many of us fly on business while on business but fly economy when we want to economise and go shopping! If you make me unhappy at the back of the plane, you will have a harder time pleasing me when I am at the front.

Misa's site made a good attempt at tranparency by even listing all the booking classes and fares. However, these alphabets like W, H, Q, D I ring no bell to someone like me, and I spend one hour reading all those fine prints. If you want to include these terms, provide a "dictonary" to explain what it means. If I can understand these info, I will not need spend time to fill in a form to get you to spend time to find out about my tickets for me. I would just call and book!

Despite the large amount of ticket bookings throught the internet, there are still a lot to be improved by these portals. Airlines that have friendly portals will gain alot of business while those who don't will definitely lose out. After spending tens of thousands to build a site, have they tested how user friendly it is for the customer? Having standard typical functions are just not enough. Your typical customer will one day might have an extra condition when booking, and the system fails to meet up to expectation. This is a good way to lose a customer. Dun believe it? Try.

so .. where is my ticket after spending so many hours? I gave up. I am relying on the good people at misa to find me a ticket.

Ghost Protection in hotels! Protect them or against them??

A recent survey in UK showed that there are more people who believed in the existence of ghosts than the existence of God. Hmm, probably there are a lot of people who are like me, able to feel the presence of the unseen and unheard than feeling the presence of God.

I am not surprised with these developments, considering the immense popularity of Feng Shui gurus like Lilian Too and the likes.

A kind friend had sent me a popular mass circulated email titled:

Ghost Protection in Hotels (the title made me laugh).

I have received a similar email many times, especially from fellow travel bugs.

I decided to post the email here as I found most of the advice pretty sound. Those in blue are excerpts from the email and my own comments are in black.

Hello, For all of u who love traveling.

OK, here's some believes of the hoteliers:

Every single hotel, there shall be at least a permanent room which should be left vacant at all times. No matter how full the hotel is, they are not to sell that room(s) to any guest. It was said that special room was "reserved" for those "special visitors". So, if you plan to stay in some hotel, always book in advance. Try to avoid walk in. If the receptionist told you there's no more room available, do not insist one anymore or try to bribe them to give you a room. If you do that, most of the time the room you have will be that "special room".
Hmmm I am not too sure about this. May be someone in hoteling industry can provide more clues. However, I always thought that hotels keep some spare room for emergencies?

Sometimes those "special visitors" might go to other rooms also, so here's some tips on how to protect yourself:
Before entering your room, always knock on the door first, even if you know the room is vacant. After you enter the room, if you felt very cold suddenly and have "chicken spore", leave the room quietly immediately and go to reception to request to change room. Most of the time the receptionist will understand what's happening.
I have been told that the idea of knocking is to not to "alarm" the other guests. To me it is more like not to alarm myself. I always knock on the door. I would not want to "catch" someone inside. A scatter brain like me easily go to the wrong room.

After you enter the room, immediately switch on all of the lights, and open the curtain to let the sun light in. This is a MUST. Both from the practical and superstitious point of view. You would not want to discover that you have a view of a garbage dump later, or the lights are not functioning well. The sunlight is also a good disinfectant. Other than that, the "yang" energy can also "cleanse" the room. May be some Fengshui enthusiasts have other explanations.

Before you go to bed, arrange your shoes so that one of them is upside down. Some say this is representing yin& yang to protect you while you're asleep. I am a firm believer in this, especially after an experience of what happened when my hubby put my shoes away. I wonder whether the modern Feng Shui gurus have alternatives to this shoe thing. There is always a risk of forgetting, when you are very tired.

Always leave at least a lamp on while you're sleeping, preferably the toilet's lamp. If you're staying alone and they have give you a twin bed, do not sleep with the other bed vacant, try to put your things like luggage on the other bed before you sleep. Some lights always offer a sense of security, although I do not believe that little light could scare anything away. I heard about the luggage thing from my colleague too. Any Feng Shui or other explanations?

Another tip to protect yourself...When you enter your hotel room, look for the Bible. Most hotel place the Bible inside a drawer. However, if upon entering, you see the Bible on the table, DON'T STAY IN THAT ROOM! It means "special visitors" are there. If you see the Bible opened up on the table, LEAVE THAT ROOM IMMEDIATELY and request a change of room!!! It means the "special visitor" is really creating trouble in that room!! My frequent traveler friend (who is not superstitious at all) swears by this. Hmm I would not take a chance.

And here's some tips on protecting yourself in the cinema. Do not attend the first screening of any movies in the cinema. By the first screening, I mean the first time the movie is shown in that particular cinema. Reason? The first screening is meant for the "special visitors". However, if you insist on going, then sit somewhere in the middle. The first and last rows are reserved for "them" !!! Be warned.... Hmmm. Not sure about this. sounds like the same theory applied from the Chinese opera shows. My mum would not allow my to follow my grandpa to the first few days or any openings, as those are the days that are meant for the "good brothers".

FIY- the Chinese refers to ghosts as "good brothers", as they believe that we should not be talking about them. Talking about them will attract them !

Related post:

A traveler's tales of the 7th month: different worlds ocupy the same sphere........

cheaper flights from bangkok

Today's Saturday edition of the local papers taught us a trick- getting a flight from Bangkok.
It is supposed to be cheaper, especially for First class and bussiness class. I grinned when I read it.

If you could afford those classes, savings may not be that important to you. afterall, most people fly those classes when they are on comany expenses. So why bother about taking a flight to Bangkok, and then taking a flight from bangkok again? It is those travellers like us (read- cattle class citizens) who gets trilled with these bits of savings. Every bit counts!

I am going to do a comparison and check those sites this weekend, and post the results here. :)

More travel experience coming soon!

Travel topics coming up!
Massage experience in Bangkok
Almost late for the plane!!! Foot massage at the airport!
More about massages- Boran Spa at Twin Towers Hotel, Bangkok

Joining tour groups to visit places outside Bangkok
Visiting the floating market at Damuen Saduak- The picture perfect market scene
Bang Pa In (summer palace) conclusion :I want to be a Thai King
Ayuthaya: The ancient city

Grand Palace and Wat Pho area
Grand Palace- an amazing "golden" architecture.
Grand Palace- so , this is how they restored it?
The tauts and gangsters around Grand Palace
Temple closed! Wat Pho closed? Big Buddha closed? Dun believe it!

Floating market in Damuen Saduak. Should you join group tours?

Among the tours around Bangkok, we have always put off going to the floating market, because of the distance and the varying reviews received. I have joined a half-day tour, and been-there-done-that recently. I think the floating market is a MUST see. Not only that, you must see it fast. Damuen Saduak is the last surviving real floating market largely beacuse of the distance away from Bangkok, which in a way discourage tourists from heading there.

The disadvantage of a tour group
I joined a larget group tour, and honestly if you have the money, do otherwise. Get a private guide and have a private tour. The reason is simple. You can get there earlier, and spend time enjoying the real stuff; not stopping half an hour in a 'coconut factory' which is just a tourist trap. I don't mind the trap if it is after the visit to the floating market, but it was before!

Therefore, I reached there around 10:30 am. The sun was hot, and the real action ie the locals doing their daily marketing was over. What I saw was mainly tourists. Although it was a little over the top, I just could not stop slapping myself with sunblock. The sun was practically grilling me!

Despite this, the tour was still amazing, and I have no complains. Afterall, 700B for this experience and the sights was more than worth it!

We took a James Bond boat (long tail boat) from the jetty to the market.
As we travel along the klong, we had an interesting glimpse of the life along the waterways. We saw a young couple having some TLC time- bathing together infront of their house in the klong. It was the 'best moment' for us, and I could see people clicking their cameras away, but perhaps the "worse" for the couple. Yes, people bath in the water ways. I also saw middle-aged women doing their laundry, and getting a bath at the same time. And there were also children standing along the klong, waiting for our boat to pass so that they can jump in for their fun time!

That is their way of life
Our tour guide kept reminding us- a bunch of tourists from Singapore, Hong Kong , UK, US etc to not feel sad or ask 'how could these people live this way?' That is their way of life for generations, and they are happy! I am sure they are, esp if people like us stop disrupting their life with the noisy long tail boats.

Rich man poor man in the same neighbourhood
The klong is basically a 'street'. I saw "rich man's house "- built with brick with nice verandah and big engine powered boats in the "porch", and I also identified the "poor man's house" - practically empty, made of wood and attap, and had a small rickety sampan in the "porch".Yes, it is a neighbourhood street. You see grocery shops along it, and people stopping infront of these shops in their car-equivalent(boat) to buy things too!. That is a 'drive through service'? I tried to picture McDonalds opening shop there. ha ha...

I could see some of them are pretty well off, with the trappings of modern lifestyle. However, instead of a car, I saw boats 'parked' in the 'porch'. I also saw washing machines-with both the inlet and outlet hose dipped into the klong waters.

Private vs group tour?
If you are travelling from Singapore, I think I saw a great deal from Asia Travel, starting from 500B/person for a half day tour. Otherwise, I suggest checking out the private tour companies in Bangkok to hire a guide! I think it is worth it to pay slightly more and spend more time there. Afterall, private guided tour in Bangkok is among the cheapest in the world.

I will write more about about the market itself next. Stay "book-marked"!

Tour guide or guide book?

Should you get a tour guide or guide book?

IMHO, it depends. It depends
- where you are going to visit
-whether you had sufficient time reading up
-whether you will come back again
-how big is your group

The last point is of course an uncertain answer. What I could say is if you are from a really faraway country and you think you have very little chance of ever visiting this country again, you could consider yourself as falling into this category.

Where are you going to visit?

• Is that place accessible without private transport?
• Does that place have a lot of interesting history or culture ?

Eg if you are going to Ayuthaya and The Summer place and you a a first time visitor, I suggest getting a tour guide (1600B for group tour using coach and a river cruise, and 3500B for a private guide with private car, tickets, and buffet lunch by Bangkok Smiling Tours). This area is not that accessible, and there are plenty of places to cover-under the HOT sun. You will be glad that you could seek 'refuge' in the air-conditioned car/bus between the sites. The place is also full of history and lots of interesting details, and these are not put up at the sites. You just get simple brochure in Bang Pa In and nothing at all in some sites. Therefore, having a guide makes sense!

Do you have suffifient time to read up before you go?
The eyes cannot see what the brains do not know. If you do not read up well before you go to Ayuthaya or the Grand Place for example, you will miss alot of things. At the Grand Place, there are plenty good books detailing the history and the architecture of the Palace and the Wat Phra Keow. At Ayuthaya, you might find yourself staring at some ruins and bricks scattered here and there. I was glad I had a guide who told me about what these were eg ruins of palace grounds, corner stones of temples etc and why certain places were more 'ruined' that others. Otherwise... you wasted a trip.

Will you come back again?
I went to Grand Palace twice within 2 years, and will go again in a few months time, if possible. I must be nuts? The first time round, I spent about 4 hours there, wandering around, refering to guide books, pamplets and the books we bought at the compound. We really tried hard to 'capture' the fascinating and awesome place in our minds and hearts. However, we were just too tired and thirsty under the scorching sun, and missed a lot of things. We only realised what we saw was so and so after reading the books agaiin when we reach home. I went with my good friend again two months ago. I thought I knew that place pretty well. To my pleasant suprise, I learned a lot of new things about it! I am definitely going back for a third time. This time will be armed with a digicam and a notebook!

How big is your group?
Simple mathematics. The bigger your group, the more cost effective it is! You could consider private car tours and not the group tours which tend to be more rushed!

Should you book before you leave? Yes and no.
Asia Travel for example, offers a slightly cheaper rate than when you actually book in Thailand. I generally find that booking through the internet can sometimes be 100-200B cheaper/person than booking through the tour agents available at your hotel lobbies. I suggest shopping aroud for it.

If you are from US/Europe, book from an Asian based company!You get much better deals! Yes, much better deals than the packaged deals offered by the brand names in your home country. Surf the net a little and do some comparison. Many of these Bangkok based tour companies accept booking online. If if you decide not to book immediately, it still help you to make decisions when you need to book at the hotel.

If you are going around sept and through the rainy season, booking fr Bangkok after checking the weather is an advantage. (Book 1-2 days before) The rain will keep you away from many outdoors places.

Hotel: Cheap or chic?

Booking of hotel is usually a headache for gals.
We want it cheap, chic, safe and if possible within walking distance to all attractions! If you want these things all thrown in, I suggest you give Bangkok a miss. You can get all the other things in your list, except the walking distance part. Bangkok is huge, and there are so many places of interest. Fret not, the taxis there are really really cheap. You will reach most places with less than 100B

Bangkok is a hotel haven
Even a pauper like me can afford to go 5 star (ok, at least 4 star) if I want to. Push that "be sensible" button in your head and you know that if you give up one star, you will get your massages and many more pairs of shoes!

My favourite site is asiarooms
Ok, I ONLY use Asiarooms for my Bangkok hotels. So far, I cannot find any other cheaper place. Orbitz and others may give similar rates, but they will also charge you a service charge! (usually around 10USD). No way. I just become extra stingy when it comes to spending on these things for Bangkok trip. I can get a lot of fun with 10USD. And don't bother to spend time checking out those so called last minute discount hotel rooms, they are never as cheapas Asiarooms, at least for Bangkok.

Warning
I never had any problems with Asia Rooms, and so did my friends. However there are some postings on the internet about overcharging etc.

My biggest problem so far is requesting for a non-smoking room. They cannot specifically confirm a non-smoking room or you. After being smoked out in HK, I have a phobia of smoking room.(I will tell more about the disgusting experience next time)

Calling the agents can be a drag. Their English may not be that good (They can understand you, but you got to speak slower), and they speak SLLOOOOOWWWLY. Thank goodness the long distance call was not that expensive. My word of advice, if you need to call them make sure you call off-peak or using budget lines. The time taken will be longer than you what had expected.

Checking in early helps ???
I am not terribly sure of this, but the only time I did not have a very good room was when I checked in around midnight, and graciously let everyone go before us. We regreted being so gracious. We had the last room along the corridor, and the room did not smell exactly fresh. You can tell it had not been used/aired at least for a week. We could not change rooms, cos we had the last room in a fully packed hotel.
Hotel tips

• Slippers and toothbrush sets are usually not in your room (if you go 3 star), but you can request and get it free.
• Tip that guy who brought it for you generously. Come on, you can afford to be generous in Bangkok. Give at least 20B! You can then be doubly be reassured that you will get everything done smoothly. If you need anything else, it will come in doubly quick time. Hot water etc. Even your room may be extra well cleaned.
• If you are really supersitious, knock before going in. Thais believe in this as well.
• Tip from a well travelled sales friend- check for the Bible/Quran/Buddhist prayer book. If it is closed, it is ok. If it is opened, ask for a change of room.
• Another tip : Leave your shoes at the door/near your bed, one face up, the other face down.
• Explore the hotel services eg massage. Many health centres are open until 2 am, and you can book a massage after a late night out in the comfort of your room.
• Before you book your massage service, get out of the hotel and look around. You will definitely find some cheaper alternatives for the massage.

Oh ya, never ever ask for a BODY MASSAGE.

Checklist for travelling to Bangkok

Travelling check list- what every woman should bring!

1. Credit card- better to bring both Visa and Mastercard. I have seen shops accepting on but not the other. Bring at least one credit card, it will come in handy when you suddenly see somthing gorgeous.
2. Cash! How much? depends on how much you want to shop. You need not do the exchange at the airport in your home country. There are plenty of little machines and kiosks in BKK airport for exchange purposes, and these give you good rates. Just insert your USD/SGD/RM and watch them turn to Bath!! Unless you are exchanging a lot of money, it is not worth the special trip to your favourite money changer. Tip... make sure you keep some cash in your hotel safe, we advise at least 1000B for your exit airport tax (500B), and cabfares + a little extra for last minute airport shopping. BKK is a place that we squeeze even the last Bath out of ''rational'' shoppers due to the good bargains. As I am a credit card person, I find that around 1000B per day is enough as a 'small change'.
3. Sunblock! Cap! sunglasses? Umbrella? Forget it... if it rains, your umbrella wll not help much. My favourite sunblock is Sunkiller, definitely the best in terms of coverage, and it is non-oily!
4. Disposable panties! It is worth investing in the ''cotton'' ones, although they are double the price of the ''paper'' ones.. you will definitely feel more secure and comfortable in it.
5. Camera!
6. Good comfortable pair of walking shoes/sandals. If you need to go to Grand Palace, make sure you bring along a pair of shoe which cover up your toes, they guards may not let you in if you are wearing your fav pair of TeV**sandals. But then again, this depends on whether you will be heading there straight or after doing some something.... read more about shoes in in my ''BIG WIDE feet -- the FEMALE BIG-FOOTs guide to getting pair of shoes in Cinderella land''
7. Disposable chopsticks! If you are very adventurous about road side food, and like me .. want to try EVERYTHING, and EVERY STALL which looks terribly crowded, bring one or two pairs of disposable chopsticks. While the washing standards done in the road side stalls are comparable or even better than many places in Singapore-Malaysia... let me warn you that they RECYCLE DISPOSABLE chopsticks!!!!!! It is not a exactly appetising to when you are handed a pair of dripping wet recycled chopsticks which had been washed in soapy water. Recycle chopsticks are permeable(do not have the coatings like your regular wooden chopsticks).
8. Wet Tissues (body and face) BKK is extremely hot and humid, and let me warn you , you will SWEAT big time and STINK. It will be quite embarassing to try out clothes in that state! The wet tissues how in really handy to give your self a wipe down. As my skin is pretty sensitive, I usually buy a small packet of baby wipes in Watsons or Guardian before heading there. This is something that you got to buy in your home country, in a place where you are familiar, and I suggest you try out these wipes first before you actually bring them there (Test whether you are sensitive to it, and try to buy something that is not fragranced). I tried to get it in BKK, and was really disappointed. I found them.. but they were in huge banded packaging... I guess mums always look for savings and bargains. Other than wiping myself, my baby wipes have also cleaned tables, chairs, toilet seat in my hotel room (yeah... I did that). It will also be handy when you REALLY need to do your big bussiness in a public toilet. (Note: This is not something impossible to happen... after eating so much!!)
9. A tiny bottle of soap/ one of your cheap facial cleanser samples- this is for washing your hands after going to toilets. Toilets in major tourist attractions and shopping centres are world class, but many of the lesser places do not have soap. To a foodie like me, my own bottle of soap will come in handy when I need to eat the tidbits that I bought, or use my fingers to pick up some nice food samples. (otherwise.. it is quite yucky to use your fingers after the toilet trip.... yucks.....)
10. Your phone charger/extra battery
11. A luggage that is at least 2/3 empty....to lug back all your stuff. I have seen may girls bringing the large size trolleys luggage there ... haha. Whether you want to bring extra bags depend on whether you want to get another piece. Luggage bags in BKK starts around 199B!
12. Clothes- skirts. I used to go for pants, but I realised that they are very useless when I need to try clothes!
13. Optional: Travel detergent n plastics hangers!-- if you like to travel extremely light like me, I think a small bottle will be very handy. I use it to wash the new T-shirts that I buy and also my sweaty smelly T-shirts. I usually bring 2-3 light weight and flat plastic hangers and put them at the bottom of my luggage. These do not take up space and will be useful to hang up your clothings. I do not like to use those wooden hangers in hotel rooms for my wet clothes or clothes that I need to wear....

If you got these things in your bag, I would say... relax and just go! You could almost buy anything you want/need in BKK! wait.. how about toothpaste and toothbrushes? If you paid USD25+ for your hotel room, you should have it there. What happens if you do not see it in your room?? Just call the housekeeper-- ask and you will get it.. FREE. Yeah... you might need to ask for your paper slippers too.

Well actually you need not bring anything but your cash and credit card :D

Here is a different travel check list for cold and wet November London: Travel checklist for Nov London

Sky Train in Bangkok

The BTS website is an excellent interactive site which will even show you what are the attractions that are near a station. BTS is not cheap. If you have company (2 or more persons), it is always cheaper to go by cab, except perhaps the trip to Cathuchak (aka JJ) market. For that, my experience shows me that it will usually come up to about 100B, beacuse the driver will take you for a ride. 100B may not be that bad, it is the fact that he took up your prime early morning shopping time! 10:00 am is not as HOT as 11:00 am!

To travel from Chinatown/Grand Palace to town, the river taxis are a great idea. Again, you will be spared the ''ride'', the jams and you get to enjoy travelling down the famous river. Check the Chao Phraya services here.