Paris free and easy : Louvre Museum & Notre Dame Cathedral

If you are going anywhere that you think there will be a lots of people. Try to go as early as possible. By right, you can take a train there. I walked from Republique train station to there as my friend lost track of where we are going and by the time we realise where we are, we are almost there.

The correct way is take the metro to  Palais-Royal–Musée du Louvre station

Everyone was doing this pose!!

Please follow the instructions

FAmous famous sculpture

Poor thing. Everyone had been touching her big toe

 Mona Lisa is quite a small photo. But the crowd is enormous. some Squeezing and pushing expected.

The museum is actually a beautiful place. Sometimes the paintings are just above you.

To cover the whole place in the shortest possible time but still need to stop and take a look here and there, I think around 3-4 hours is needed. For people who want to look at everything in details, some people say a day is not enough. The place is quite big and we were a bit lost at times.

Some people say the museum Orsay is not interesting but I have not been there due to time constraints.

Louvre has a very long queue. So it will be good to actually buy the tickets in advance if you are sure when you are going or go very early. 

I remember reading somewhere there is another entrance near the river which few people know about. Can try goggling about it.

Yes, and they have night openings on Wednesday and Friday. I saw some of the night shots, looks so beautiful. Too bad, I was only in PAris for a few days so I did not manage to catch the night view of LOuvre.

We visited Notre Dame CAtheral quite early too because we heard about the swarms of tourists that will pop up at late morning and afternoon.

Afternoon is a bit warm during summer to stay outdoors so we leave the shopping or pop back to our apartment for a afternoon nap.

It is a beautiful cathedral. OUr guide from sandeman tours told us about its history so we were just exploring the place. The cathedral only needs around half an hour to an hour unless you are going up the tower.

We decide against going up the tower because at that timing, there were be a lot of people and our trip in Paris was only a few days so we did not have time to spare.

As we did not explore the tower, we circled the cathedral for a 360 degree view of the architecture. It was worth it because we found a small little park at the back of the cathedral which have beautiful flowers.

Instructions on how to get there.

MÉTRO

Ligne 4 Station Cité or Saint-Michel 

Ligne 1, 11 Station Hôtel de Ville 

Ligne 10 Station Maubert-Mutualité or Cluny – La Sorbonne 

Lignes 7, 11 et 14 Station Châtelet

RER

Ligne B Station Saint-Michel - Notre-Dame 

Ligne C Station Saint-Michel - Notre-Dame

Chiangmai free and easy : Chiangmai night market

My hotel Dustin D2 is just beside the night market. 

Although is not right smack in the middle of it, a minute walk will take you to the night market.

Just a word of advice, do not eat at the food court nearby. The food is expensive and is really bad. 

There are a lot of stalls selling handicrafts, food, t-shirt and also fake stuffs.

Can take your time to walk around as price and quality can differ.

Usually the stalls not at the main street offer a cheaper price so less bargaining is needed.

The main street is usually more expensive.

Prices in chiangmai compared to Bangkok is dependent.

My dad thinks Bangkok shopping is much better for men's shirt as is cheaper, not sure whether there is a difference in quality.

But i know scarfs and some of the handicrafts are slightly cheaper in bangkok.

My guides told me the weekend market will the cheapest but I was not in Chiangmai during the weekend so I can't comment much on that. If you are going to weekend market, check out the price.

Food stuffs like bbq corn, snacks and sweets.

Sometimes is just good to walk around and admire the items. Make from ropes.

If you are tired, just order fruit juices. You can pick your own combination of fruits and all the fruits are added in. No hanky panky.

Cute but not edible hair accessories.

Just love the vibrant colours

So cute.... 

Kids?

 

 Panoramic View

  

Chiangmai free and easy : Airport taxi transfer and Dustin D2 Hotel

There is no direct flight from Singapore to Chiangmai.

Therefore, we have to transfer plane and bangkok. 

BEautiful skies at Chiangmai

Waiting for the luggage.

There are two taxi company after you walked out of the luggage collection area They charge a fixed price. The small car is 120 Baht but the big taxi is 200 baht.

A small taxi can fit 4 person and 2 big luggage but usually they will try to advice you to take a big taxi.

 Waiting for our cab to arrive

 First impression of our hotel Dustin D2 Chiangmai. Looks good.

The lobby. There is a bar and a restuarant at the first floor.

Everything looks new and pretty.

 Welcome drinks.. The cup is supposed to tilt. :D

  We were upgraded to a suite and the room was big and spacious and clean

Location wise is fantastic.

We could walk to the night market which has fantastic food and shopping. It took us only one minute to walk over.

For people who just want to play it safe, there are starbucks, pizza hut, burger king and macdonalds nearby

KOrea Seoul free and easy : Dongdaemun and accomodation city days inn

Stayed at city days inn for the last visit.

This hotel is just beside the train station dongdaemun exit 5. After you exit from the station, you can see city days inn.

We had a bad encounter with the taxi driver. As the hotel is relatively unknown. We took a taxi down as it was peak hours and we did not want to try to squeeze ourselves into the train.

We came from Busan by KTS so we are cabbing from Seoul station. we expect the taxi fare to be quite reasonable. However, the stupid taxi driver decide he do not where the hotel is, he just drop at some unknown hotel at some quiet and dark lane where there are only a handful of people who are surprised to see tourist dragging their luggage around.

We have to ask for directions to the train station and look for the hotel ourselves. We spent around 30 minutes looking for the hotel. He did dropped us at somewhere quite a distance from our hotel ( need around 15-20mins walk)

We choose this hotel firstly because it is not easy to find triple sharing hotel (Skypark is another hotel with triple sharing) and I wanted to shop at dongdaemun,

The hotel room is not big but is ample for us because we are seldom back home.

Bed is comfortable.

It is clean, new and bright. (brightness is important, as dark rooms seems eerie.

The staff do know English but is not very fluent.

You have to walk around 5-10 mins to Doota and the other shopping malls.

There are no lifts so we had to carry our luggages and shopping up the stairs.

There is always so much talk about dongdaemun being the wholesale market for clothes.

I did have a lot of expectations.

Why I still prefer Ewha women's university and Hongdae.

1. The price is stated clearly. HAve to ask for the price for every item. No special price for tourist, some of the shop owners take a good look at me below quoting the price. Some reduced the price when I walk away by as much as few thousand won, wondering how much they charge me if I did not walk away. I am not really a pro at bargaining.

At EWha and hongdae, the price is stated clearly. 

2. I like the environment at ewha and hongdae as it is small little shops. There are cafes and snacks shops around for good food and well deserved rest. The place is more vibrant and happening.

If you are looking for more mature clothings for mums and dads and clothes with bigger size like uk12. It is better to shop at nandaemun. 

siam square at 1030 due to protest

I just got back from bangkok.
1 dec: I went to chatuchak and samboon seafood at chamburi square and also silom.
Did not realise anything is wrong. We wanted to visit siam square at night, but when I reached the station. there was no night market and the malls are closed. We checked with the station staff and they told us there are protests nearby. We walked back to our hotel at national stadium. It was fine but it was just very quiet that it feels weird. Our hotel area at national stadium was normal, lot of tourists walking around

2 dec: We visited pratunam and platinum mall. We checked with our hotel staff and they say is safe to go. We choose to take the train to avoid traffic jam. We went mbk for dinner and went to siam square for massage. everything was peaceful. Just weird as siam square was quiet as all shops were closed early and there was no night market.

3 dec: We went to yaowarat but we checked with hotel staff that it was safe to go. After that we went to siam square for lunch and chit lom for massage. 

Actually just checked with hotel staff before you set off and asked them if it is safe to go. The protest moved around to different protest areas and is always around government buildings.
REgister with MFA before your trip and they will text you if there are any important notices. They text me regarding the curfew on 1 DEc

Siam square last night

At least the view from my hotel is still beautiful

Singapore eats: Professor Brawn cafe at novena

Interesting looking restuarant..that highlights the cafe's cause.

No worries about the service. Is definitely good because service is best when staff put their hearts in it.

Actually I find it no different from normal cafe except they seems to be more attentive and serious

The main course..

We ordered almost one of everything..

Chicken, fish &chips, rosti with sausage, spaghetti with meatballs

The best dish should be the ribs..was tendered so we did not even need a steak knife to cut and eat..

Cakes.. how can any meal be without any cake..

Their variety of cakes is not big but is good. especially the chocolate cake

Yummy free ice cream with the main course if you used UOB card for payment

http://www.professorbrawn.com/

#02-78/79 Novena Square,