Hong Kong : Taste Supermarket at Tung chung and Wellcome

Yes. I love supermarkets when travelling. Large variety of snacks at reasonable price.

Even shopping at supermarket is fun.

Basement one of citygates outlet.

Love this super big supermarket. Lots of things to see and buy.

I enjoyed it more than the outlets shopping.

It usually cheaper than 7-11 and k-circle.

some of the sweets like ricola was much cheaper than Singapore price.

Can find a large variety of instant noodles, sweets, snacks, fruits and drinks.

Buy some to try it out and have fun.

Tried the salmon sushi because my friend told me hongkong salmon sushi is very nice. Definitely better standard than singapore supermarket sushi, on par with sakae.

Visited the wellcome supermarket near to my hotel. 

Look at the interesting flavours of chips, drinks, pretz and sweets.

bought some home to try. Some of them are from taste supermarket and 7-11 and k-circle.

Puccho is slightly cheaper than Singapore prices.

My students who had graduated will be quite sad.

CitySuper.

Chunky kit kat in cookies and creams.

More Puccho. My students love them.

Citysuper.

Fruits. The durians are quite expensive. 

Look at how beautiful their sandwiches and wraps are.

there is one supermarket I did not manage to visit, Parknshop.

Hong kong airport transfer and sim card 3G and non-3G

Counter to buy Octopus card. There are two counters available.

If you are bringing your parents, there is a senior citizens card for aged 65 and above. They get to travel at half price.

http://www.mtr.com.hk/eng/homepage/cust_index.html

Can be used to calcuate cost and time of each ride.

If you are taking the bus, just turn right after this and walk down a slope and turn right and all the bus including A21 can be found there.

More information.

Hong kong Airport Transfer

I bought the hk$48 for my dad as this contains no 3g function and is the cheapest.

For people interested in the 3g sim, can try one2free. I believed is the cheapest around at hk$88
It is better to ask them to activate the 7days unlimited internet access before you leave the counter, it will cost hk$78 and the remainder hk$10 can make around 100 minutes of phone calls. They have one hour and one day package but is just not worth it.
Hkd $78 for 7 days unlimited
Hkd$28 for 1 day unlimited
Hk$8 for 1 hour unlimitedGood if you are travelling in a group. Can always keep in touch.
Remember to bring extra phone for sg sim card, just a normal hp without 3g will do as whatsapp with singapore number can be used even when you insert the hk sim card.
top up voucher of denomination of hk$50 or hk$100 are available at the counter.
I don't think is necessary unless you intend to have lengthy chats.

go to the departure hall, 7th floor, lane G, IOIO shop. Arrival hall is 5th floor, so just take the lift or escalator up to the 7th floor.
just ask for the hk$88 sim and ask the person to activate the 7day unlimited internet access. If you don't activate this service, the 3G service is going to cost you a lot and the value will be gone.
More information.
Hong kong 3g sim card

Update: My friend bought Sim Card at hk$60 from chinamobile. Is much cheaper at less than hk$10 per day for unlimited and balance can be used for calls. However, the network is 2G, so it will be slightly slower. Will be good if you want to save money and don't mind the slower network.


Remember to grab some maps on the way out. Sometimes the hp seems to have problems loading and hard copy come in useful.
Is good to get a 3g sims as can use to do research on the various locations opening hours and how to reach the place. Use the map app available in most hp to plan the walking route. Hong kong MTR station has a lot of exits so it is very important to get out from the correct exit.
Can download some free and useful maps on your hp.



Find this very useful for trams or ding ding che travel. just download it.
Hong kong Tram map

Bangkok Accomodation reviews: Holiday Inn Express, Lud d, Pathuwan Princess hotel and hostel

I tried out the newly opened Holiday Inn express located less than 5 minutes away from the national stadium BTS station. A few minutes walk from Lud b.
Lub b can be seen from the station so just walk down the stairs and walk towards lud b and a few more buildings down is the holiday inn express.
National Stadium station is located 10-15 minutes from Chinatown and is just a station from Siam Square.
I usually walk home after shopping at the street market outside siam square.

Holiday Inn Express room. The room is spacious.
There are at least 3 universal charging socket so there is not a need for travel adaptor.
Two kind of pillows available, firm and soft.
There is no bathtub but the only bad thing is the shower water and temperature is hard to control. The water flow is pathetic and the temperature is hard to control.
Ample lightings around the room too.
Will stay here again as the price is almost same as lud b but much cheaper than pathuwan princess.
However, there are so many upcoming hotels. I will be tempted to try them out.

The reception. There are 3 lifts that go can very fast speed.
Two computers for use.
Free wifi is available but for two devices only.

Breakfast.
There is slight variation for the cooked food. Bread, pastries, fruits and fruit juices are available.
The plus point is the bread and coffee can be packed to be eaten in your room or while walking to the train station

  

I stayed on 21st floor. The view from my room

Night view from my room

The building

The housekeeping was extremely neat. She placed my items neatly and even folded my clothes and arranged them nicely.

The lobby and corridor.
They have vending machines for people who need a midnight snacks.
A trolley and also bellboy (security guards) who will helped you call for taxi and carry your luggage.

The view from the entrance of holiday inn express.

Girls Hostel

Lud b is more of a hostel. I book a bed at the dormitory and also a ensuite room.

Free wifi but limited to 1 per pax. 

I don't really like the staff, i asked the staff for help to make a phone call to book a massage. The person said they can't do that for me. I asked for the cost of using the public phone and he told be something like 20baht.

You expect me to pay like s$0.80 for a local phone call at a public phone. They were not very friendly to me and my friends. 

There is no lifts.

The ensuite room has two small cubicles, one for bathing and one for toilet business.

The sink is outside of the two cubicles,  the water will spill out at times and the room is a bit small.

Their  concept is interesting with facilities like movie room, washing machines and cute slogans but holiday inn express is more value for money as they provide breakfast.

PAthuwan Princess. Welcome drink and big and nice reception. The lift is much slower than Holiday Inn express.

The room. Spacious and clean.
With a bathtub. Power water supply and easy to control temperature.
I did not booked the package with breakfast as it will cost $20+ more, decide to just find my own breakfast as the room is already quite ex.
The toilet with the see through window but no worries, there is curtain.
Quite like the brightly lighted room as I don't like dark rooms.

Bangkok free and easy: Yaowarat Chinatown (best place to shop for accessories)

Chinatown or Yaowarat is different in the morning and night.
Morning=shopping heaven
Night=food heaven

Just tell the taxi driver Yaowarat or chinatown.
Main thing to get here is accessories. bags, hair accessories, earrings, necklaces, cases.
Is cheaper to buy in bulk.
The accessories price when bought in bulk can be half price or even cheaper compared to singapore prices.

We dropped off somewhere around here and start looking for the shopping street. It is quite easy to spot as you can see rows of accessories and bags and dried goods.

They sell a lot of snacks, can buy home as souvenirs. Lot of similar stalls claiming that they are authentic. I have no idea which one is authentic.

Poor little bear.

Save the bear

Soft toys on sale

Hello Kitty Fans

Roadside stalls. Try at you own risk.

Hair accessories

More hair accessories

BAGs. Medium size are around 200baht.

Accessories? Haha, cartier!

Handphone dust stopper and case

Bird on your hair?

more hair accessories, hats and skirts

Random

RAndoms

my loots

my loots

Bangkok free and easy Itinenary 2012 ( shopping, massage and eating)

Just came back from a trip from bangkok.
Stayed in two hotels, holiday inn express and pathuwan princess.

I reached at night so we took the train to our hotel as we don't feel secure taking taxis at night especially with communication barrier.

Day 1:
Purchase sims
Train to hotel
supper at restaurant beside hotel.

Day 2:
Breakfast at holiday inn express
Yaowarat(Bangkok Chinatown) for shopping by taxi
Bodytune for 1 hour body massage by taxi
Mk Gold for steamboat and roast meat by train
Bubbletea by foot
Siam Discovery and Siam Paragon for supermarket shopping and touring by foot
Street market outside siam square by foot

Day 2:
Breakfast at holiday inn express.
Check out and check in pathuwan princess hotel by foot
Chatuchak market (JJ market) by train
Samboon Seafood Restaurant by train
Platinum mall by taxi
Big C supermarket by foot
Burger King for dinner by foot.
Street market outside siam square by foot

Day 3
Cup noodle for breakfast
Chatuchak market (JJ market) by train
Or Tor Kor market by foot
Lunch and shopping at Or Tor Kor
Terminal 21 at Asok by train
Grand Hyatt Erwan for high tea
Boots and Watsons at MBK
ASiateque market

Day 4
BReakfast at Mac
Pratunam Market by Taxi
Platinum Mall by foot, bubble tea
Check out
Lek Massage for 2 hour massage
Siam square Shopping
Lunch at SomTam Nua
desserts at MAngo Tango
Taxi ride to hotel
Chatuchak market (JJ market) by train


There are steep discounts for buying in bulk. Bangkok, is really good to go with friends and is good to make friends as they really give discount if you buy in bulk or wholesale. The price can be cheaper by 30% to 40% for the wholesale price. the number of pieces required to purchase differ by vendor.
Therefore, remember to ask the price, then ask the whole price and number of pieces required. The hair accessories is like so much cheaper than Singapore price but the thing is we have to buy in bulk.

This trip, I realise that tuk tuk price has increased like twice or thrice and now is much more expensive to take it compared to taxis. The advantage of tuk tuk is definitely the experience and it is able to squeeze through tight spots.
However, the air is quite polluted and sometimes I feel tuk tuk is a bit dangerous.
My preferred transport is train as I hate traffic jams, is so boring and sometimes the taxi driver talk non stop and is quite worrying when I don't understand a single thing.
And on the train, I can play with my hp with ease.