Hotel Review: Sabai Sabai @ Sukhumvit Hotel

We had such a wonderful stay in Bangkok, Thailand that I feel it would be a shame if I don't share the hotel that we were staying in. The hotel is Sabai Sabai @ Sukhumvit Hotel (a mouthful, I know) but there's a reason for it. Sabai is a Thai word, meaning relax so, basically the hotel aims to provide a relaxing experience to their weary travellers and the hotel is located at the famous Sukhumvit Road (more specifically Sukhumvit 71) , thus, the moniker @ Sukhumvit.

The bell at the reception counter. If you find that there's no one in attendance, just hit the bell. Most of the times the staff are actually at the back, doing paperwork. 

Hubs at the reception counter. All smiles, happy that my leave was approved and I can finally accompany him to Bangkok. A sweetheart he is.

The reception area. The theme color is red and you can see there's certainly splashes of red everywhere! Sabai Sabai is a boutique hotel and the rooms are beautifully decorated. Each room is unique and lucky for us we were given a tour of the penthouse suites on our last day at Sabai Sabai. The rooms are truly an inspiration! 

Third floor lobby. Our room was located at the third floor. 

The corridor leading to our room. 

And this is our room! We were booked at the Corner Suite and our room had its own small living area, pantry and private bathroom. The room was absolutely great, we didn't expect to stay in such an amazing suite (almost like an apartment, I must say); it has cable tv (though the movies at Thailand would all be in Thai so you could be watching Sylvester Stallone or even Shah Rukh Khan speaking Thai *yikes*), there's a small dressing room that leads to your bathroom, a small pantry (complete with its own stove and microwave, if you feel like cooking) and the ambience is absolutely great. They knew that we're both newlyweds and thus they told us that the room would be perfect for us (and it is!)

The pantry, complete with a microwave and it's own tiny fridge. If you're wondering, the room rate was RM280 per night. 

We were given a tour of the penthouse and this is one of them! There's actually two penthouses at the top floor, complete with its own private rooftop garden (which is stunning) and the view is magnificent! However, the penthouse is slightly pricey (for us), the rate is around RM500 per night *gasp*. 

At the other penthouse. Maybe, one day, right hubs?

This is the hotel's manager, a very, very friendly lady. For non-Thai speaking travellers, she speaks good English! During one of the days there, she even told me that there's a Hush Puppies Warehouse sale going on around the corner and I bought two pairs of shoes and one pair of platform heels (all of them cost me less than RM200!)

The hotel provides free breakfast for two (however, they serve non-halal food on the premises) and also free shuttle service to and from the nearest MRT/ Skytrain (if you're thinking about reaching the golden triangle (read: Siam Paragon, MBK, Siam Discovery, Platinum etc). The drive to the station took only about 15 minutes but if you're thinking of walking, it is quite a distance (somewhat about at least 30 minutes walk).

If you feel like checking out the hotel, click [here] for the link to the hotel's booking site. Or maybe you can also visit the hotel's website at www.sabai-sabai-sukhumvit.com. 

Have a fun trip!

xoxo Mrs Fashionista

Halal Food in Bangkok

When I first thought of following Raden to Bangkok, my first thought was, 'Would it be difficult to look for halal food?' Definitely having travelled to a few places (like Macau which only had ONE halal outlet) it can be quite daunting to plan your itinerary. I remember us being ravenously hungry looking for a halal eatery near the entrance of the Great Wall of China and finally consenting to eat at a vegetarian outlet or the time we resorted to eating fillet o fish at McDonalds in Manila (fyi, McDonalds uses vegetable oil to fry their patties and if they're no pork served at that outlet, you should be fairly safe in eating the fries, apple pies and fillet o fish).

A mosque that we passed by while in Pattaya

So this time, I decided that since hubby had already been there, I'll just follow his lead. Luckily we had some amazing people who helped us in selecting and looking for halal eateries.

First up, Sophia restaurant.

The restaurant serves halal Thai food (which is absolutely delicious) at an amazingly low price. Though I don't mean downright cheap but definitely a steal at the price that they're selling. If you're ever in Bangkok and you stay not too far from the airport (like us) you might want to check out the restaurant. Their website is [here].

Shopping District: Siam Paragon, MBK, Siam Square etc etc

If you're a shopper (like me) you might be thinking about heading to the shopping district and checking out the goods on display there. What I loved about these places is that almost every shopping complex have at least one halal outlet (most of them have more). This is what we found at MBK (MahBoonKrong):

Basically there are about four halal outlets (maybe more, but I'm not too sure) that we noticed. It's located at the fifth floor food court whose theme is International Cuisine (or something of the sort). You can choose from authentic Thai, Arabic or even Indonesian. Verdict: delicious but slightly pricey compared to Sophia.

MBK is accessible via BTS and MRT. Stop at the National Stadium station (you might have to interchange if you're using BTS) and there's a bridge connecting the station to MBK. You won't get lost if you just follow the signs *duh*.

From the National Stadium Station.

You're almost there!

Chatuchak Market

Bangkok's biggest outdoor market (or Pasar as we Malaysians call them). I initially thought that it'd be difficult to find halal food here, being a pasar and all, but I can't be more wrong. There's tons of halal stalls spattered all over Chatuchak.

I recommend the Chicken Murtabak. Yummy!

Had beef kebab here. Notice the halal sign near the man's leg?

Another halal stall selling umm.. if you can read Thai maybe you can let me know =)

Having grown in Kuching, I absolutely love warung and food stalls as they (most of the time) serve the best foods in town. And it's the same in Chatuchak. The murtabak I had tasted better than the ones I had in mamak stalls and the beef kebab is absolutely tender and juicy. Verdict: Yummy with prices in the moderate range. I still think Sophia restaurant serves the best priced food!

Getting to Chatuchak is easy, there's a Chatuchak Weekend Market station =).

I've also found this amazing blog from a fellow Muslim Thai on halal outlets in Thailand (which was very, very useful to me when we were in Pattaya). You may want to check her out: Lynn [click here]. She has halal food info on almost everywhere in Thailand.

Another helpful guide (which was really really helpful when we were in Manila, Macau and Hong Kong) is Zabihah.com. It's an online halal food directory for places all over the world. Without Zabihah, I won't know where to eat in Macau *yikes*. The website is [here]. Unfortunately, I don't think the website is updated often so the listings may be slightly out of date.

For those looking forward to a holiday in Bangkok, have a great stay and make sure you get to taste the local tom yum. You won't regret it! Warning: Not advisable for those who can't stand spicy food.

For easy reference, you may want to check out my Facebook page [here], the halal guides are included in my photo albums complete with the restaurant's address (or the very least, directions on how to get there).


xoxo Mrs Fashionista 

Fashionista's Escapades: Bangkok, Thailand

Before I started embarking on my travels and holidays throughout the many different countries, I had already decided on the two places that I really wanted to visit the most. And no, those places are not even located in Europe, but in our own neighboring country, Bali in Indonesia and Bangkok in Thailand. Why? I don't know specifically why but I think the fusion between culture and modernization of these two places are amazing. Bangkok is a metropolitan city of 12 million people (and from what I see, there's equal parts of Thai's and foreigners in Bangkok) but the influence of culture is very apparent everywhere. Here's a snapshot of my trip =)

A handy guide to me while I was there. Although I am not able to make full use of the book, it did help me out on more than one occasion. 

Sawattdee~ka

If you meet a fellow Thai, it is more respectful to greet them with two of your hands clasp in front of you (like the photo above) rather than the usual handshake. 

We've arrived! This is our second getaway. Not a honeymoon, mind you, as Raden is working on this trip. 

Tuk Tuk. We were also fortunate to ride on one of these. It's actually a modified motorcycle (I think). It's kinda fast and unsafe (there are no seat belts and windows or doors). But it's an excellent mode of transportation, it helps you get past the traffic jam (which is absolutely horrible, by the way) in record time. 

The traffic in Bangkok usually would mean a trip of either 30 minutes to 3 hours depending on the traffic conditions. We managed to experience both *yikes*.

The Grand Palace. It only opens during the day (until 4 pm). The palace is not accessible by MRT or BTS (Skytrain) so if you're thinking of going, you are advised to look for a metered taxi. 

There's lots of these street decoration all over Bangkok. They've just celebrated their King's 84th birthday on the 5th of December. It's a perfect time to visit the city as there's a parade of lights everywhere. The Thai are extremely fond of their King and after chatting up some new friend's that I've made in Bangkok, I know why. In simple words, the King have contributed a lot to making Thailand what it is today. 

Near the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. It's such a pity that we weren't able to make time to visit this temple. I'll make sure it'll be in our itinerary the next time we visit Bangkok. 

By the way, most Thais do not actually refer to Bangkok as Bangkok (they say, only the foreigners do), to them, the city is known as Krung Thep or the City of Angels. 

Travelling by MRT or BTS is one of the best way to visit Bangkok. If you're a shopaholic (like me), a must-go to place would be MBK or Mahboonkrong. It's kinda like Bukit Bintang Mall in KL. They sell all sorts of stuff (including imitation products, unfortunately) and below is kinda the street mall part of the shopping complex. 

MBK is accessible via National Stadium Station via MRT.

This is the central part of the mall. 

From MBK, we moved up to Siam Discovery for a trip to Madame Toussaud's Bangkok. Lo and behold, look who's here! Our 4th Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir, one of my idols =). 

Took a photo with the Obamas...

And another with Doraemon =p

Siam Discovery is accessible via Siam Station (if you're using BTS). 

Siam Paragon. Unfortunately, I also did not have enough time to drop by =(

Part of Bangkok's skyline. We were fortunate enough to catch a ride on Chao Phraya River and enjoy a city tour by the river. 

Wat Po (if I'm not mistaken) or also known as the Temple of Dawn. 

One of the places that I was excited to visit is the Chatuchak Market (a market almost similar to Pasar Minggu Satok in Kuching) that sells everything under the sun (i.e. from furniture to gadgets to pets, you get the meaning, right?). 

The market is packed with people, Thais and foreigners alike. 

I had a great bargain that day *yeay*. 

While we were there, there was a peaceful protest (though on God knows what). Interestingly, the protesters were accompanied by the police, right behind of the line. 

All in all, I'd say the trip went very well =). 

Will be posting more posts on Thailand, most importantly Halal food (should you feel like spending a day or two in Bangkok), the hotel that we stayed in (which is a beautiful boutique hotel by the name of Sabai Sabai) and a short dash to Pattaya (sin city just an hour and a half away from Bangkok). 

Am extremely glad that I've finally achieved to visit the two places that I've so wanted to visit, Bali in 2009 and now Bangkok. Let's start 2012 with a new wish list, shall we?

Have a great week ahead peeps!

xoxo Mrs Fashionista xoxo