Childhood Memories!

This shall not be a post related to Bangkok Day 3 because there are too many photos to post up and it will take a long while. Bangkok Days 3 and 4 will be scheduled till later this week! :)

Now let me bring you back to our childhood memories! I happened to read this in Yahoo during my tea break at work and found it quite interesting.

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Do you miss the times when you sat on the sofa for hours watching Sesame Street, and listening to the iconic Elmo song? Or the days when you enjoyed a mug of A&W vanilla float as you listened to Michael Jackson's Thriller song?

If any of these seems familiar, you are probably a Singaporean who had your childhood in the 80s or early 90s.

Yahoo! Singapore has collaborated with Remember Singapore to come up with a compilation of some of the things you would have probably encountered, played, watched, ate or read during your childhood. Enjoy!

Sesame Street

(Screengrab from YouTube)

An American children television series, Sesame Street has found its way to many countries in the world, including Singapore. Many of its muppets, created by Jim Henson, were children's favorite TV characters. The popular muppets include Elmo, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Ernie and Bert, and many more.

Don't Worry Be Happy

(Screengrab from YouTube)

One of the first and longest running Chinese sitcom in Mediacorp's history, the drama serial had a total of six seasons spanning from 1996-2002, and starred local heavyweights Chew Chor Meng (Ah Bee), Lynn Poh, and May Phua.

Good Morning, Sir! (Aiyoyo Lao Shi)

(Screengrab from YouTube)

The Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) television serial featured Chen Liping, who acted in the role as "Miss Ai-Yo-Yo", which earned the actress the "Most Unforgettable TV Character" Award for that role in Star Awards 2003.

English pop

(Photo courtesy of walkdest)

The eighties and nineties saw the rise of Michael Jackson as he released three successful albums in Thriller (1982), Bad (1987) and Dangerous (1991). His music videos of Beat It and Billie Jean sparked the MTV industry, which further cemented his 'King of Pop' status.

Madonna debuted in 1982 and released many hits in Like a Virgin, Material Girl and La Isla Bonita from 1984 to 1987. Other popular artistes included the likes of Rick Astley, Bananarama, Belinda Carlisle, Pet Shop Boys, George Michael and Roxette.

Video and cassette tapes

(Photo courtesy of Reto Kurman)

(Photo courtesy of JennaMoser)

The first VCR (Videocassette Recorder) was launched to the mass market in 1971. By the late eighties, they became reasonably affordable for a consumer to rent and watch a film in the comfort of his home. He could even schedule his video player to do a record of a TV programme at a later timing. By the late nineties, video tapes became endangered species as VCSs (Video Compact Discs) and DVDs (Digital Versatile Discs) made their way into the video playing and recording industry.

Similarly for cassette tapes, it allows users to playback music or sound recordings that is recorded on the tape itself.

Ice Ball

(Photo courtesy of Belinda Tan)

Ice balls are finely grated ice packed into a ball and topped with red- and green-coloured sugar-coated syrups. They were often sold by roadside hawkers and were typically eaten by using just the fingers or hands.

Haw Flakes

(Photo courtesy of me Hungry!)

If you are Chinese, you probably grew up with these round reddish brown sweet berry-scented wafers rolled up in bright cylinder-shaped pink wrappers. And they are often touted as a candy that helps aid digestion.

Fancy Gem Biscuits

(Photo courtesy of skitts-skitts)

Manufactured by Singapore's old branded Khong Guan Biscuit Company, these little biscuits with sweet star-shaped coating at the top were joyful tidbits for children. And they came in various colors -- pink, yellow, green and white.

White Rabbit Creamy Candy

(Photo courtesy of r0sita)

Another addictive candy, each white rabbit creamy candy has a soft, chewy texture, and is wrapped in a thin edible film made of sticky rice. Its popularity here declined after the nineties, and was almost banned after being hit by the melamine contamination scandal in China in 2008.

A&W Vanilla Float Drink

Remember the good old days where you enjoyed the real draft goodness of A&W Root Beer Float, topped with creamy, delicious vanilla A&W signature soft serve?

(Photo courtesy of Y-Shumin)

Interesting isn't it? 

That's not the end! Go on down to this website here - Remember Singapore for more! :) 

Here's a little sneek peak!

Bangkok Day 2

Bangkok Day 2 is well-spent at Chatuchak Weekend Market. It is only open during weekends so that is one of the main reason why tourist prefer to travel to Bangkok during weekends. Chatuchak Market is definitely a must-go for shopaholics else you can never say you have been to Bangkok!

It isn't my first time there so I was telling boy this market is really big so much so that you need a map and you could have gotten lost in it because there are just so many alleys! I think it is like more than 20 times the size of our Bugis Village.

Woke up to have breakfast at the Sky Cafe located on the 78th floor (If I remember correctly).

The view from the Sky Restaurant!

Panorama view taken from Nikon.

Then we cabbed down to Chatuchak Market! It is more worth it to take a cab rather than a train to anywhere in Bangkok because it is more convenient and the rates are almost the same. Costs only like SGD6 to go a distance equivalent from Yishun to Toa Payoh.

Looks very much like Bugis Village right? But much much bigger!

The map is a must - because every alley specialize in selling different stuffs. E.g. poteries, apparels, kitchen ware etc.

Of course, boy and I are more interested in the apparels lol!

This guy is "pulling" the teh tarik!

Not much photos of Chatuchak Market because we were too tired from all the walking till my feet was swollen lol! Imagine walking from 10am till 5pm non-stop and we only managed to finish 3/4 of the Market. That is how big the place is!

Our loots for the day. There's more to take but I'm too lazy to arrange them here lol.

I think both of us only spent like SGD90 there! And we bought 14 tops/dresses, 3 berms, 3 bags, 2 denim shorts,  4 boxers - mad cheap right?

My greatest buy is the 2 bags - each for only SGD5! My mum was still telling me I should buy more, but the thing is our luggage is already full to the brim. Boy was still worried that our luggages will be overweight and we will have to check-in our luggages. And this is only Day 2!

 So imagine how much we bought lol.

Then I decided to make full use of this bag which I bought at Chatuchak. It might look small, but surprisingly it can fill a lot of stuffs! I fill in all the denim shorts, tops and dresses into it so that I can buy more to put in my luggage lol.

After a 2 hours rest, we headed down to Pratunam Night Market. Because we were too tired from all the walking, we did not shop much around the market but just had our dinner and massage there!

Had our dinner at a restaurant! Boy's favorite green curry again :)

After a filling dinner, it was massage time! It is always a must to go for massage there because it is mad worth. SGD10 for 1 hour of foot massage and SGD 12 for 1 hour of full body massage!

We chose the full body massage and it was so relaxing and comfortable :)

Headed back to hotel for a good night sleep and to prepare for Day 3 of Bangkok!

Bangkok Day 1

I know I haven't been updating my blog for one week though I promised the Bangkok posts to be up this week. Sorry! Been too busy with work that I haven't even got enough time to go to the pantry for some water. :(

The next few posts will be on my trip to Bangkok last month and don't worry, it's all scheduled so the posts are promised!

A little intro here, I went to Bangkok during the period when the flood is estimated to arrive at its peak (22nd to 26th October). Boy was really unease and we even considered changing the destination of our trip. But I am really glad we went along with the usual plan because when we were there, everything was fine! Perhaps just sandbags everywhere. Lol!

Scheduled flight at 8.05am and we reached Change Budget Terminal for our breakfast 2 hours earlier.

Yeah and that is how the air tickets of budget airlines looked like. Boy and I were saying that is is really "budget", looked like some receipt!

Look at this guy. He says he brought the goggles along just in case.

After 2.5 hours of flight, we finally reached Bkk!

On our way to our hotel!

Sandbags along the way!

As it was still early for our check-in, we had lunch at a shopping centre nearby. Not sure what to get, we got curry chicken rice.

Not bad for 40 baht, S$1.70 equivalent.

Then we took a subway to MBK!

The little tokens for the train ride.

Transiting to another train station!

Look at how everyone queued up for their turn to go in! Really different from Singaporeans who tried to squeeze in the moment the door is opened.

Inner train design looks much better and newer than in Singapore, in my opinion.

Walked around and we chanced upon this tailor shop near our hotel area - Romeo & Juliet! Boy had wanted to tailor made his suits so he specially brought extra money for them.

Measuring in process!

And look at the huge array of fabrics they have!

New camera bag bought from Bobodino! :)

After the deposit, we went over to our hotel for check-in since it's already evening! We stayed at Thailand's tallest hotel - Baiyoke Sky! I think it is like 100 stories high?

The really spacious room they have for us.

And the view from our floor.

Had some rest and night market just below our hotel!

Awesome cheap stuffs they have! Like SGD3 for a pair of shoes and SGD 7 for a polo tee/dress?

Dinner time at some Thai restaurant tucked in a small alley!

Ok, this is one Thai makan place I must recommend because even up till now, I still miss the food there! Really good and efficient service and most importantly, the food are awesome!

Big portions and it cost like only SGD 15 for everything!

The green curry and kang kong. Pardon the photos are taken halfway after we have eaten. Lol!

This is heavenly - Oyster Omelette! Boy loved it as much as I do. 

And look at how big and juicy the oysters are! For this hot plate, I bet there must be at least 20 oysters. Super worth it!

Sandbags!

There are roadside stalls everywhere and we went for some walk after a full dinner.

Decided to bring some supper back because it looks too tempting!

Prata!

Boy bought a pair of berms from the night market for SGD8 and when we reached the hotel he realized that there is a small little hole in the pocket. And he mended it right there as he had brought along needles and thread. -.-

 A good night sleep after Day 1 in Bkk! :)

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