Travelogue around Asia Pacific Part II

Bangkok - Took a taxi from Grand Palace to Chinatown, along Yaowarat Road.   I went back to my favourite shark fin's restaurant.   The food is affordable and good. Shark fin's soup Dou Meow vegetable Steam prawns in Soy Sauce Seafood Noodles Salted fish fried rice

Bangkok - Took the BTS to Saphan Taksin which is linked to the ferry to bring me to The Grand Palace Bangkok.   The heat was unbearable today reaching a high of 39c, it was scorching hot and I was sweating like pig.   The ferry to the Grand Palace jetty cost 40Baht. It was a short distance to the entrance of the Grand Palace but under the scorching sun it seems like eternity.   Finally reach the entrance and there was such a huge crowd of tourist from all over the world.  The entrance is an exorbitant 500Baht for foreigners.   No shorts, singlet allowed into the palace and the entrance was making roaring business renting long pants and overalls for both male and female. cool decor of bicycles The Grand Palace One of the temples in the compound The Grand Palace occupies a huge parcel of land with many buildings, temples and wats.  This is the official residence of the Kings of Thailand since 1782 until 1925. replica of the Angkor Wat ...

Bangkok - Finally ate at this almost Bangkok seafood restaurant - Somboon .  They have many branches and we ate at their Huay-Kwang branch just across the MRT.  The first thing that catches you eye when you open door is that this restaurant only accepts CASH.   But the food is reasonably price and taste very good. Thai Curry Crab This is Somboon signature dish of curry crab.  The dish uses lots of eggs to make the dish very rich and creamy.  With one large mud crab that is juicy and tender. Spicy salad with vermicelli Stir fried morning glory wiht garlic Salt baked sea bass The sea bass was succulent as the moisture was trapped by the thick scales and salt.  Once the scales were removed, the steam rises out and exposes the tender and juicy flesh beneath.  It was good and the fish was eaten to bare bones.   The sea bass was baked as it is without gutting and cleaning the innards and gills. Mango with glutinous rice and coc...

Bangkok - The concierge recommended a nearby restaurant that is famous called ' Thanying '.   True to the recommendation the food was delicious and very well prepared.   There is only one Thanying restaurant and no branches. I google and found that there was one restaurant called Thanying but it's not the authentic. The Thanying is about three minute walk from Surasak BTS Station. It is located at number 10 Thanon Pramuan (Pramuan St.), off Silom Rd., between Silom 17 and 19, Bangrak, Bangkok 10500, Thailand. Tel (66) 02-236-4361, (66) 02-235-0371 Fax (66) 02-635-0113 Open daily from 11:30 hrs and last order is at 22:00 hrs Even the rice was served with style in banana leaf. Thai white rice wrapped Tom Kha Gai Tom Kha Gai is a Chicken Coconut Soup.  This is one of the best Tom Kha Gai I have ever tasted very the soup base very creamy and delicious. Som Tam Thai Som Tam Thai is green papaya, spicy and tangy salad with tomato, green bean...

Seoul - We departed on time from the Hotel to the KTX station.   I was feeling under the weather because of residual smoke from inconsiderate smokers in the hotel.  Unfortunately, the hotel I was staying in Best Western Guro Hotel allows smoking in the rooms.   I need to find a better hotel around that area. For breakfast, I had raw beef Bibimbap on a hot stone bowl.   It was a good breakfast meal for me. Bibimbap raw beef After our meeting, we had lunch at a Shabubu Vietnamese Fusion restaurant which I was quite skeptical but was surprise with the good spread of food and it was delicious.  There was a buffet spread of vegetables except for the slice beef. Shabu shabu slices of beef Generous portions of vegetables Spring is round the corner and a nice stroll in the nearby park was strewn with fallen cherry blossom flowers.  The trees were in full bloom displaying the magnificent colour of the flowers and was a sight to behold. ...

Seoul - Since I read and saw on youtube about NANTA, I always yearn to watch their performance.  It was so cool watching on youtube or TV but on stage it was fantastic.   I booked the 8pm performance with Young Jin and Kiwon @ Myeongdong NANTA Theatre.   After dinner, we got there early to change our e-tickets to actual entrance tickets. In NANTA, knives and other kitchen utensils are transformed into musical instruments in the hands of the performers.  They started on 10th October 1997 and have reached an audience of over 9m in 289 cities. Stage before the performance The performers were so engaging and at times invite attendees to participate in their performances.  Most of the time, the participants were made fun of but in good spirits.  Garbage were thrown at the audience with great laughter, then came balls and lots of them.

Seoul - Met up with Kiwon and together we went for a good traditional Bulgogi meal over hot coals.   The taste of the beef is much delicious over hot coals than over gas stove.  The first course was tender beef over hot coals.  I simply love the generous fresh leafy vegetables that goes with this meal.   I just wrapped the cooked beef with the leafy lettuce and stuffed into my mouth.  Delicious.... Beef over hot coals preparation for the Bulgogi Kiwon Kiwon having a good time..... Best Bulgogi  Young Jin and Kiwon

Seoul - It was not difficult to find a coffee shop in Seoul.   There are so many of them in just a short stretch of road.   For our breakfast meeting, I chose Droptop much quieter and cheaper than Starbucks. nice cheesy bread @ Droptop Coffee Eel and Rice A new office tower was just completed near my hotel and we decided to go there for lunch.   Young Jin recommended this Eel restaurant which he went before and like it.   The price is reasonable for standard price of W10,000 Eel and rice, free flow of soup, vegetables and of course Kimchi. A special dish is putting some Eel and rice into the empty bowl and pour hot water to make it into Eel porridge.   This is like DIY Eel porridge but surprising very delicious. Yummy Eel Eel Porridge It was a good choice as I love eel....

Seoul - I was hankering for some good raw fish and so my staff brought me to eat sashimi.   This will be my 4th time to this restaurant and the food is still fresh and really good.  Prices still remain reasonably affordable.   Korea is going through a time of deflationary pressure and Singapore is having inflation in every corner of the economy - food, petrol, property, etc.. Yummy sashimi