Greetings From London

Hola! Today is my 3rd day in London. We flew in by Singapore Airlines to London's Heathrow Airport and the whole plane was carrying 99% of English passengers!! 

The 13 hour flight at midnight from Changi airport was very pleasant as the English passengers were very quiet and polite. I used to experience noisy people on board from mainland China who would talk loudly all night besides packing and unpacking their cabin bags & shopping loots all night.

We have done a bit of sightseeing around the famous landmarks of London and ate their famous Fish & Chips at St. James Tavern at Soho. It was so good and delicious!

My London friend Michael who married my best friend who was our former beauty queen, so kindly took us sightseeing. We strolled across the Green Parks beside Buckingham Palace and headed to St. James posh area.

We posed outside the Buckingham Palace. It is Winter time so the tourists are much lesser while hotels are offering the lowest rates!

Here I boarded a train from Paddington to Oxford for a night before continuing our journey to Cardiff. We will cover England, Scotland and Wales over 2 weeks with a Chinese New Year reunion dinner with some good friends in London on Sunday.

I am writing this blog on my smartphone inside the train to Oxford. Stay tuned my friends.

Happy Birthday To Me!

Today is my birthday again. The last celebrations was exactly one year ago. Last night, I had dinner at the Japanese Steamboat restaurant together with my wife and 2 good friends. One of them bakes good cakes and pastries. So I got a nice cake with candles to blow last night.

Last weekend, I was away to Singapore just to visit 3 sick and old uncles in 2 different hospitals. One of them who had stroke 3 times, threw up blood suddenly a few weeks ago. That doesn't sound good.

While I was in Singapore, my school mate texted me a shocking message. This tragic news shocked the country and made me numb!

Yes, you probably had guessed right about the death of the young student when his car plunged into the sea off the Penang Bridge! Life is so fragile. His parents and all family members are devastated by this horrific accident which no words could describe.

***

Year 2019 - A New Dawn For Me

Times flies so fast and I am glad to put the difficult days behind now. All humans may have endless of problems just like the waves of the big ocean. They come and go daily but my problem lasted the whole 2018! It was not that I lost my job but I still went to work at my office daily without getting paid. Goodness, it was really so tough and it was a mind over matters thing to endure. My poor wife suffered so much having to 'keep me alive'. I am eternally grateful to her for all her kind support. I have promised myself to bring her to a new place to relax this coming Chinese New Year 2019.

I have made simple resolutions for myself for this new year. I would make better changes to my lifestyle and continue to help the homeless wherever I could. I would eat lesser meat and go on vegan meals as often as I could. I need to spend more time to focus on my Tibetan Buddhist cultivation too.

I received a text message from the DAP Chat Group of my neighbourhood to help deliver newspapers. I responded when I saw hardly anyone could find time to help. This group was active since the time when YB Lim Lip Eng was the MP for my area. I followed that MP around the markets before elections to give out Rocket flyers. We both got earful lashings from many frustrated residents instead. That MP was so tough and put up a brave face to smile at everyone. He narrowly won that elections. During the last elections, that party swapped the candidates and sent YB Hannah Yeoh to represent Segambut area instead. This tough Iron Lady had huge rousing support at all her ceramahs that jammed the streets for miles. Naturally, she had a Big Landslide Win!

It was a surprise morning when I arrived the park nearby home at 7.30am. Our Member of Parliament was already there with her team of working staff. Today she is also our Deputy Minister of Women, Family and Community Development yet she always found time to meet our rakyat everywhere!!!

Our Deputy Minister YB. Hannah Yeoh gave out CNY oranges to all the morning joggers while I gave out all her "Rocket Newspapers".

Goodness! I was the only 5 volunteers from my whole neighbourhood to help distribute the Rocket Newspapers. It was a working Friday morning, so I don't blame my neighbours who have full time jobs.

So many people, both young and old ones came to thank YB. Hannah Yeoh for making the big changes to our previous government. Hundreds of people wanted to take photos and our smiling MP obliged everyone!

I spent 2 solid hours with YB. Hannah Yeoh's entourage and had a good opportunity to hear her speak so well with all the facts & figures in her back hand. She is really very tough and strong minded to convince me that I must render support to help their back room scenes. Together we all can make changes for a better country for everyone & the future generations.

***

Where To Stay In Bangkok? (Updated Photos)

This is not a paid post. 

All comments and opinion are solely mine. 

It is written at my own discretion. 

Hola! Sawasdee Krub. Today is my 3rd day in Bangkok. It has been the best trip with so much new excitement for us. My trip is much spaced out with ample time to catch up with new places to explore and visit my friends and relatives.  It was 5 years ago when my whole family flew to Bangkok for just one night together with both my late parents to attend the funeral of my mother's brother. You can read about how Thai funeral is... HERE.

You can say that this trip would be a mixture of sorts with WORKATION besides catching up with some close Thai celebrity friends and Royalty cousins. Sounds so glamorous! I will share the places we visited and food eaten in next coming posts.

We stayed at a brand new condo named IDEO S93 which was just opened this month. It belongs to my good friend Prute Mumi who is a famous London Trained Hair Stylist who often appeared on Thai TV and socialite news. 

This brand new studio unit is strategically located along the busy and prime Sukhumvit Road in Bangkok.

 The luxury condo comes with a very beautiful lobby that looks better than our St.Regis, Ritz Carlton or Hilton! I am not kidding and you need to see for yourself.

They have many tables with comfy chairs for guests to sit in the lobby.

Further up the lobby, they have big cushions for the guests to laze and relax in their dreams! 

You can enjoy the lovely panoramic view of the city from the 17th. floor studio unit!

The security is good and it is close to all the infrastructure.

It has very relaxing swimming pool and fitness gym with sauna.

The bed is very comfortable with good view beside. The whole area is spacious at 35 sq.m.
The bedroom comes with attached bathroom and a separate living room, dining & kitchen
area which gave me the needed privacy when guests came over to visit.
The whole studio unit is fully air-conditioned.

The well appointed studio comes with a nice bathroom with all your soap and shampoo toiletries.

There is a modern compact kitchen for you to cook simple easy meals or make coffee.

The compact kitchen has a fridge with bottles of clean mineral water, microwave, stove, toaster, kettle, sink and cutlery of plates, glasses and fork/spoons.

You can enjoy a meal with your loved ones.

Look! The biggest bonus is that the whole new condo is conveniently linked to Bang Chak BTS Station which could connect to everywhere in Bangkok which includes the Chatujak Market, Erawan Shrine, Bang Na and Don Muang Airport (2019 completion) You can walk to the Bang Chak BTS Station in less than 100 steps! I have observed that there is no residential property or hotel along the whole stretch of Sukhumvit Road that is so close to the steps leading up to the BTS Station. Seeing is believing!

My designer friend Mumi is renting out his studio unit to bona fide guests for around 2,500 Thai Bahts a night. Write to him now for bookings and tell him that you are my reader. He will definitely give you discount.

Email: prute_w@yahoo.com

This is my good celebrity friend Prute Mumi. 

You can be his friend too!

***