National Day auntie staycation

Thursday I went back CCK and to Si Kor's place and I told her Jessie is coming over during National Day for steamboat and asked her if she wanted to come. She said ok, then she can stay over at the guest room. She had been saying she wanted to do a staycation at my place for a while haha, and I wanted to thank her since she sponsored a part of my renovation.

National day on Friday, I went to the gym in the afternoon then Jessie and her husband came over to prepare shabu shabu, then Si Kor came. We watched the parade and fireworks, and chilled until 11pm, then time to sleep. I watched TV till 1am coz I don't usually sleep so early. 

Jessie wanted to bring her for breakfast in the morning at like 8am -_- so I woke up early too and finally had the popular fried bee hoon nearby. It was meh not worth waking up so early. 

We walked around, went to Raffles Hotel and suddenly I saw some workers replacing the orchids in the big ceramic pots, and they were going to throw the old flowers away. I walked over and asked if I could have 1 or 2, then he said they were actually going to recycle the flowers, not throw away but he could spare 1 or 2, so he gave us 2 very nice looking orchids haha. Flowers for Si Kor.

They went back to Jessie's while I took a quick nap at home, then she headed back home in the afternoon. 

Ever since her leg injury (?) she couldn't really walk for a long time so I'm glad she had a staycation at my place. 

New leaf

After 10 months my fiddle fig plant finally grew 3 more leaves.

This was after I moved the plant to the yard area where the sun shines in the morning till afternoon so I guess sunlight really helps. 

Naeum lunch

I always wanted to try Naeum because most people said it's good and value for money, but I didn't have the right occasion. It was Shiba's birthday so I booked a lunch $188 per pax on Friday.

I seldom eat Michelin restaurants in SG because other places in Bkk or Tokyo are more value for money but Naeum lunch was quite value for money too. And I get to wear my Thom Browne shirt haha.

I like that most dishes comes with Micro-flower which made it look pretty lol. Overall it was really good Korean food, the first few dishes were a bit overhelming because of the flavours but it got better. The dessert watermelon ice cream and fromage blanc was really good. Shiba likes it too.

Kaching! $500~

New specs

After 8 years of wearing and abusing my Oakley glasses I finally decided that the lenses were too unclear and I have to get a new pair of specs. I usually have 2 pairs - one for work and travel, another for more hardcore activities like gym so it gotta be more heavy duty.

I decided to get another similar pair of semi rimless Oakleys so I went downstairs to try a few, and because I can use CDC vouchers hehe. At first I wanted the Sway Bar 0.5 which is very comfortable and light because it's titanium, but it's $100 more than the rest and smaller than I like. Then I tried on the Oakley Voon which is the latest and larger model and it fits perfect. 

I did my eye test - my prescription remained the same. They didn't have the colour that I want so I asked them to pre-order.

I was deciding between the black satin and the blue stonewash, my other pair is already black so I went with the blue. After 2 weeks it came and it was better than I expected. 

Kaching! $445. Oakley specs are so expensive I should have bought Zoff or Jins.

Reservist shoot in july

I received a SMS to go for some reservist practise shoot and it will take around 2 hours. It's quite annoying because it's so out of the way and we have to bring SBO and helmet.

So Tuesday night I went back home for dinner, packed and sleep, the next morning my dad drove me over coz it was nearer to cck, then I did some shooting, got marksman but no incentive, then it was done within an hour - _- waste of my time and effort travelling here and there and they only gave us 2 hours instead of half a day.

Eating meat

Cold Storage always have the best meats and that's not the best thing. 

The best thing is, when they are nearing the expiry date they are on 50% discount.

I bought this 320g Ribeye steak for around $6-$8, and I bought this cod fish for around $5. And I always buy the chicken steak - 2 for $5 woohoo.

And my microwave actually makes it so convenient, I just pop the meat in and press the combi cooking and 15 mins later it is done. No fire no hassle and minimal cleanup. But I'm quite particular about delicate meats like fish and beef so I usually pan fry them. 

I'm a meat chef now hehe.

New Dior sneakers

Guess who just bought a pair of Dior B24 Runtek sneakers for a very good deal?

I was looking for something more comfortable that I can wear to work or travel, and walk for more than 3 hours, the Hermes bouncing fits the bill but it was too expensive so I got this pair for $*** heh. 

It looks average but at least it's new, cheap and comfortable and it can replace my other Asics one which is going to be redundant soon.

Bangkok 2024 Day 5, 6, 7

We had breakfast on our own. Me and Angus went to this Myanmar tea cafe, then we joined the rest at some art gallery cafe and headed back to the hotel to check out, air asia back to Bangkok. 

Angus made a friend while alighting the plane lol. We grabbed back to Neab's place and Angus was so wowed by how big Neab's house was lol he's just being a villager as usual. Neab drove us out and we met the others for dinner at our favourite restaurant Som Boon. It was amazing as usual, I can eat this everyday at Bangkok.

We headed for some cocktails at BKK social club and then to his friend's bar, then we headed back. 

Next morning we drove out for lunch at Momo paradise, then Emsphere for the Gucci exhibition which was meh compared to the LV one.

After that it was shopping time for me at Siam Pharmacy as usual, then Angus went to his hotel and we went back to wash up. First time I took grab bike from his place to the BTS station lol and my hair was in a mess. It took about 1 hour from his place to the city urgh. Met the others at Commons for dinner and we had a lot of drinks, then we went to club and I was gone lol.

Apparently we changed to another place and I was like drunk gone and there were some small drama happening between Jason and Yi Tian but I totally didn't know what happened and then the next thing I knew we were in grab and I fell asleep on the car. 

The next morning I woke up, still in yesterday's clothes and apparently I didn't shower and just fell asleep in bed lol. I was so worried I didn't remove my contacts but apparently I did when I was drunk haha. We had fried chicken rice for breakfast, then headed out at around 3pm. Met the rest at Siam Paragon with Trex for Another hound cafe. The Wagyu basil rice was so spicy.

Clubbing again, they had the famous roadside noodles then went back at around 1am. 

Next morning lunch with Neab at Fashion Island, had my thai milk tea, then grabbed to airport. 

It was one week holiday but it was actually quite tiring lol especially the Chiang Mai part because we were drinking almost everyday. I don't know why, maybe it's the age but travelling now is more tiring than working hahaha. Of course I'd rather travel and be tired. And we got to know more Chinese friends! 

Time to visit China.

Chiang Mai 2024 Day 3 & 4

Breakfast, checked out, we headed to Don Itanon - the tallest mountain in Chiang Mai I think. It was trekking day but it started raining and it was so cold and misty all around. The trek that we wanted to go was closed because of the rain so we went to a shorter one like 10 mins.

Lunch was simple on the mountains, then we went to see a waterfall.

We headed back to the city to check in to Intercon, went swimming for a bit and headed out for dinner at the grilled fish place.

Maadae Slow Fish - my favourite restaurant in Chiang Mai.

We were quite full from dinner, we walked around the night bazaar and Neab brought us to a really hidden bar, it was like in the middle of a construction side which was quite scary and super hard to find lol. 

The drinks were quite good though.

The next morning we had really local breakfast - chicken rice and pork noodles, then grabbed coffee and headed to the mountains again lol. We went to a temple, to the botanical gardens, to some mountain area.

Lunch on the mountains again, then we headed back to the city. We booked a massage nearby which was okok, back to the hotel to wash up and then dinner time.

We had Khao Soi which is Chiang Mai local food - curry chicken noodles and some other meat at this Michelin restaurant. It was good but not very filling tho. And then we had drinks at an outdoor bar beside. 

Chiang Mai 2024 Day 2

There were 6 of us travelling so Neab booked a driver and car for 3 days and it was really well planned. Travelling with locals is definitely better. 

First we went to the temple up the mountain, it was the highest temple in Chiang Mai I think. We had to climb a long flight of stairs. And then we went to some hidden temple in the forest as well.

The weather was fair and not too hot, quite enjoyable. Lunch was at this amazing Michelin place but the food was a bit too spicy.

We rested at a cafe and walked around a little bit, visited the silver temple and the headed to dinner.

Dinner was at this famous suki place at the roadside, it was quite ok tho. We also shared a pork leg rice which was good. 

After that we had drinks at the hotel bar (plus shochu), then headed out to another live music bar with an amazing guitarist. I thought there would be singing but nah, just strings.

Back at the hotel to pack because we were changing hotels the next morning.