Our 4 Days Holiday in Bangkok

Check out our recent 4 Days adventure in Bangkok. (This would explain the absence of "posts" in this Blog for the past weeks!! :)

This was a trully enjoyable trip .... spending time together. :)

Post 1 : Our Bangkok Holiday

Post 2 : Holiday in Bangkok - Part Deux

:) Hope u enjoy reading them as much as we enjoyed sharing them!


[tags : delephant fun stuff]

My Revenue Management Conference in Bangkok (Travel Summary)

This is a summary of my trip to Bangkok for the Revenue Management Conference (organized by Eye for Travel).

Follow the course of my journey (first time) in Bangkok.

Click on the links below ... to view the individual POSTS.

Day 1

• Check in at The Oriental Bangkok
• Communicating Via Internet!!! MSN Rocks!
• I Found The Best Thai Food in Bangkok!!!
• Took a Left Turn and Found the Pan Pacific Bangkok Took a Left Turn and Found the Pan Pacific Bangkok
• The Eye on Thailand!! - They have their Own Ferris Wheel!
• Tour of the Oriental Bangkok

Day 2

• Day 2 : Breakfast by Chao Phraya
• The Revenue Management Conference - starts
• Check out - Ronald Mc Donald that bows in Thai Welcome
• Buy a Ferarri or Lamborghini when Shopping at Siam Paragon
• Dinner at my Fav Restaurant … Tony Roma’s @ Siam Paragon

Day3

• The Oriental Bangkok’s Fruit Plate
• The Revenue Management Conference - completes
• Shopping at MBK, Bangkok
• Now this is a Thai Dessert!!!

[tags : delephant fun stuff]

Now this is a Thai Dessert!!!

Now this is what I call a 5-star Thai Red Ruby Dessert.

Since i am in Thailand, it only makes sense to try out their speciality (which we normally eat back in Malaysia).

Was really delighted when I was served the Thai Red Ruby in coconut milk ... and in a Coconut! Wow what a great presentation.

And it tasted really good as well. To top it, there was also a scoop of Coconut Ice Cream on the side. So so Yummy!!

Yups... had this at the Oriental Bangkok.

[tags : delephant fun stuff]

Shopping at MBK, Bangkok

This MBK Shopping Mall was suggested by many as a Must SEE when in Bangkok.
Hmm.... its actually one Sky Train stop after the Siam Paragon. And this is really only like 30 metres walk from Siam Paragon.

The Mall resembles our Sungei Wang back in KL. The shops are very much together. And on the third floor its like Handphone Haven, with shops after shops selling one same type of product - handphones!!

Amazing, this trip i have not bought anyting at all in Bangkok, I tend to see similiar products available in Malaysia. :)

I took this shot, cos i thot it was funny. Bangkok is already celebrating 2007's Christmas when its only the 3rd week of January!! Hmmmm .... someone should change the decor!!

[tags : delephant fun stuff]

The Revenue Management Conference - completes

The second day of the Revenue Management Conference organized by Eye For Travel was goood. Similiar to Day 1, we had a huge host of speakers that shared their expertise in Revenue Management in Airlines and the Hospitality Industry.

Today we covered subjects on Revenue Management and Sales, Revenue Management and Customer Relationship Management, Revenue Management and Marketing, Accurate Forecasting, Demand Forecasting and the Future of Revenue Management.

Lots of interesting stuff shared thru the sessions and Q&A.

Was glad to meet some folks from Malaysia . . .

[L to R : Matthew (previously Westin KL, now in Wynn Macau), Judith (Le Meridien KL), Peter (Ritz Carlton KL) and me ]

We also met folks from Equatorial - Ricky Ang (worked with him during my Rasa Sayang days) and Avil. And there was Chris from Berjaya Hotels & Resorts too!

[tags : delephant fun stuff]

The Oriental Bangkok's Fruit Plate

Now... tell me which hotel you know in Malaysia provides you Mangosteen in your room in a Fruit Plate!! I tell you the Oriental Bangkok sure knows how to anticipate your needs.

I mean for those of you who travel often and stay in luxury hotels, the norm is 2 Oranges, 2 Apples and a Banana.

But so far in my third day here at the Oriental Bangkok, the first day was Thailand Pears, second day was Mangosteen and today it is Orange Mandarin. So cool huh?

Excellent variety of fruits for the hotel guests. yummy




[tags : delephant fun stuff]

Dinner at my Fav Restaurant ... Tony Roma's @ Siam Paragon

Oh yeah, I was totally delighted when walking around Siam Paragon, i discovered my favourite overseas restaurant .... Tony Roma's!! So so cool!

Ordered my fav Baby Back Ribs and Potato Skins!! Loved it!! :) Yummy yum yum!!

Guess we'll never have Tony Roma's back in KL or rather in Sunway Pyramid. I mean how can you serve Ribs and not have Pork? Beef Ribs? How can .... Sigh .... sad nya KL's branch!!

[tags : delephant fun stuff]

Check out - Ronald Mc Donald that bows in Thai Welcome

As we were walking back after the Revenue Management Conference, i just couldn't help but take out my camera and snap this shot for you all to see.

I mean ..... where else in the world will you ever see Ronald Mc Donald in this pose?

He was posed like a Thai, Palm together and bowed slightly!

It was so so so funny! Didnt care the stares, when i took out the camera to snap the shot. :)

- did you know that Mc Donald's in Thailand serves Pork!! Yummmy!

[tags : delephant fun stuff]

The Revenue Management Conference - starts

When i walked through the Lobby of the Pan Pacific Bangkok, the doorman ushered me to an elevator that brought me up to the 21st Floor.

Coolness, the Meeting Room was quite longish, and had natural daylight coming thru the windows of the 21st floor. Yup.. it was a good view.

We had so so so so many speakers. I lost count of how many. They each had about 25 minutes to share their points on Revenue Mangement, Price Elasticity, Dymanic Packaging , Hiring & Retaining Revenue Managers. It was really interesting and learned a lot too.

Since it was Revenue Managmenet on the Travel Industry, we had this guy who is the Chairman of One Two Go Airlines, Khun Udon Tantiprasongchai. He's the Thailand equivalent of our Tony Fernandez of Air Asia. Hahahahah .. i trully enjoyed his session, he was super candid on the Low Cost Carrier & Revenue Management, and he shared his theory on Air Asia's One Million Free Seats, which he disapproves!

The Conference will be sending us copies of the presentation in two weeks time. If i can find the slide.. i will try and share it with u all! He was so candid and i found him quite funny! Hmmm ... i hope i didnt lose out in my purchase.

We had lots of good networking with others in the industry and some vendors for revenue management and there were great panels for Q&A too. Overall very good day!!

Also managed to meet up with some old friends. Will try and take some photos tomorrow and share with u all!






[tags : delephant fun stuff]

Day 2 : Breakfast by Chao Phraya

Woke up early today, cos had to reach Pan Pacific earlier to register (yups i signed up so last minute that I could only register for the Revenue Management Conference on the first day of it).

Came down from the room and went to The Verandah (very cool restaurant where the "verandah" over looks the Chao Phraya river.

This is a shot of only 1/3 of the entire Verandah that faces the CHao Phraya river.

So you can imagine how cool and nice the location is.

Thankfully I managed to grab a seat that was directly facing the River (pic below)

The Breakfast spread was good.

I love pork ... so there was bacon, ham, pork sausage. Need I say more?

They also had chefs that cooked omelete a la minute for u too.

But the experience of just being at the Verandah was neat. The weather was kind to us all.

When I touched down yesterday, the pilot said it was 32 degrees celcius.

But this morning, although dressed in a long sleeve shirt, it was pretty cooling.

Romantic ler?

Managed to catch the effect of the sun reflecting off the Peninsula Hotel on the Waters.

This was the table i was seating, and the picture u see is what i was loking at ahead of me. :)

Well just to burst the bubble, the river aint all that beautiful. Meaning lots of trash floats in it.

Thankfully there was no smell. Its a pity about the rubbish ... otherwise it was super beautiful.

[tags : delephant fun stuff]

Tour of the Oriental Bangkok

Before i set off for my Walking Adventure, i had the privlege of taking a small tour of the infamous Oriental Bangkok.

I met up with Kitima, the Reservations Manager, who took me for a quick tour (hotel was busy running above 95% in Occupancy). So took a few pics.

[Oh yeah... my camera died on me! So so so sad ... .... good by Canon! Thank God my Sony Ericsson K750i has a 2 megapixels in built camera]

The Oriental Bangkok's lobby is beautiful. Its not the High Tech type of a hotel. Its a nice colonial type of hotel. With a history going back more than a hundred years.

An elephant again .. rite in the Lobby!! :)

The people were super friendly. I guess its also the Thai Culture, they all look so humble and sweet and nice and willing to serve.

Went over to Sala Rim Naam. Such a beautiful restaurant that serves Authenthic Thai Food. They also have a Thai Cultural Dance show each nite.

The tables & chair is unique. Cos when you seat down, your legs actually goes beneath the table. Pretty cool huh. Hope u can see it in the pic above, cos the ambience was quite dark.

We also went over to the Mandarin Oriental Spa. It was a beautiful SPA with 14 rooms and loads of cool spa stuff!!

Its amazing that The Oriental Bangkok has this cool Shuttle Boat that crosses the Chao Phraya River. The Oriental Hotel has a building opposite the river with the Spa, Restaurants and a Cooking Class and Fitness Centre.

And this Free Shuttle Boat also brings all guests to the Sky Train. So its a pretty cool transport by the hotel. I love the Oriental Bangkok!

[tags : delephant fun stuff]

The Eye on Thailand!! - They have their Own Ferris Wheel!

The Concierge told me that since i was getting off the Sala Daeng stop from the Sky Train, they told me to check out the Suan Lam Night Baazar.

So off i went on this Walking Journey. (Bear in mind in KL ... i would drive to everywhere and not walk one metre). So here i was holding a tourist map and walking from the Pan Pacific hotel heading towards the Suan Lam Night Baazar.

When waiting for my boat journey, i asked one of the people there how far is Suan Lam from the Pan Pacific hotel. He said... its very close ... only 300 metres.

Looking at the Tourist Map (and we all know that Tourist Maps are not drawn to any particular scale) Everything either looks to close together. So off i started walking on the side pavement of RAMA IV Road heading towards where Suan Lam was drawn on the map.

I think it was more of a 3 Kilometre walk than a 300 metre walk (Mebbe in Thai 1 Metre is 1 Kilometre). Anyway ..... after walking a bit, i tend to realize that the road was very dark, and that i dont see any tourists or worse yet any lights.

Mind u, i was still walkikng next to the Rama IV Road, the road was congested, with cars horning, carbon gas and a smelly lake on my left which i think could be thicker than jello; which gave off a weird smell.

Hmmm .... this ain't touristy at all! I am sure Bangkok Tourist Office would have done something better.

I stopped, rechecked my map .... and sure enough, the Circle areas by the Concierge was ahead. Just after the Lumphani Park.

Okies..... since i have already flown all the way to Bangkok .... I turned back to see if i could still see the Pan Pacific Hotel.... no where to be found. Hmmmm.... 300 metres he says .... hmmm

I braved it... and walked on a bit ..... and then suddenly at the corner of the Lumphani Park, on the left ... i saw the EYE of Thailand!! (just like our EYE back in KL)

CIVILIZATION!! Thank GOD!!!

Finnally, so many mat sallehs and tourists and people, and MUSIC ... (yes prior to that was only car honks). So i turned left and walked in into the Suan Lam Night Bazaar.

Okies... i ended up not buying anything. Lots of things for sale ... lots of tourist stuff. Things we can find in Petaling Street i guess. So walked around.

The above picture is the inside arch of the Suan Lam Night Bazaar.

Hmmm .... lots of makan and beer gardens.

So after making a round ... with me legs super sore (cos i walked 300 metres!) ....

I headed home to my lovely Oriental Bangkok!! Can't wait to soak my legs in the Bathub!

[tags : delephant fun stuff]

Took a Left Turn and Found the Pan Pacific Bangkok

As I was saying in the earlier post, I was on the Sky Train looking out for the Pan Pacific Hotel in Bangkok.

The Revenue Management Conference will commence there tomorrow morning, and the Concierge told me that if i were to take a taxi, it would not cost me a bomb, but it will cost me PLENTY OF TIME.

Apparently the Traffic Jams here are worst than KL!! (KL is already so so bad!) ...

Anyway... so off i went and took the Sky Train and hopped off the presumed correct station.

Thankfully, the signs at the Sky Trains were very helpful for tourists. It had Pan Pacific Bangkok - Turn Left.

So off I went walking towards the Left ..... and then half way in the journey ... a strange thing occured. (It reminded me so much of KL). .. the Pan Pacific Hotel sign disappeared!!

Hehehe ... so being the natural Malaysian .. and (being the man .. i didnt ask anyone) ... i continued walking straight. When i reached this huge huge Junction ... which i later learned to be the RAMA IV Road, i just turned left by instinct!

Guess what i found?

Yups... the Pan Pacific Hotel, Bangkok!

Amazingly .... there are tons of elephants in Bangkok.... there was two dorned at the bottom of the Pan Pacific arch! :)

Anyway ... it makes me more comfortable tomorrow to get to Pan Pac quickly and easily for the Conference!!

[tags : delephant fun stuff]

I Found The Best Thai Food in Bangkok!!!

Was exploring Bangkok on the Sky Train earlier.
(Was trying to find the Pan Pacific Hotel - Bangkok).

Took the Sky Train from Saphan Taksin ...

Exited at Sala Daeng Sky Train Stop ...

Walked a few steps .... and i found this .......

A Thai Mc Donald's!!

Simply simply AWESOME!!

I should have taken a picture of Ronald Mc Donald's cos .. he was posed like a Thai, Palm together and bowed slightly! That was so so so FUNNY!!

[tags : delephant fun stuff]

Communicating Via Internet!!! MSN Rocks!

Thank God for MSN! or Internet connectivity.

Was trying to reach Tiff back home since i am now in Bangkok, but the home internet connectivity was down.

So when online on MSN ... found Hwee Yen online.. and got her to pass a message to Tiff! Now that's Communication at its best! :)

:) Woo Hoo! Thanks HY!! :)

[tags : delephant fun stuff]

I just Checked In at the Oriental Bangkok .... simply gorgeous

Woo hoo!! You heard me right!!! I am now in Bangkok .... enjoying the luxuries of The Oriental Bangkok. (in case u didnt know .... won tons and tons of awards as the Best Hotel in the World!]

But first how did i get here? I am attending a Revenue Management & Pricing Conference in Bangkok which my GM recently approved! :) YAY!

Anyway ... coming back to this lovely hotel. Thought i should Blog when i have the time to put up what I've seen. After all it is my first time in Bangkok .. so a bit blurr on what to do.

So why lah i am Blogging now... when i am in Bangkok!! Okies... see u all. Am going down to the Concierge to find out what's kicking in Bangkok!!

I had to take this picture. Being a first timer to Bangkok... was a bit blurr on how to get to the hotel from the Airport. By the way the New Airport in Bangkok is like half done. Was told by the Car Driver that the airport opened 4 months ago, but most of the walls and pillars in the airport are still in cement. Normally shouldnt it be clad in marble or tiles or at least painted over?

Anyway .... the story of the pic above. I booked this Car from the Airport. THere was a sign that stated that they were the official car ride from the Airport. So i went over to the counter and they asked me if i wanted to book the BMW 7 Series. Errr... i thought better save my company some money and asked for the cheapest Car ride to Oriental Bankok.

They had the Toyota Camry available at Baht 1100.. so i said OK! They walked me out to the driveway ... and guess what? What a Blessing .... it was a BMW 7 Series car that awaited me.

Woo Hoo!! My first time in a BMW 7 Series ... nice and comfy car!! :)

When i arrived at the Oriental Bangkok, i was greeted by many people.

I was given this little hand garland thingy.

Err... any idea what do i do with it now? Trash it? Hmmmmm!

Checked in at the Oriental Bankok Superior Room. The room is huge, and faces the Pool. What more can i ask for rite?

Loved the bed, cos its really high .. yeah .. for tall people like me! :) hehe

And Notice the White Remote by the Bedside Table .... YES ... i have my own Bose Sound System! That's is so fabulous!!!




So I thot a Room Picture without the Bathroom will be kinda empty.

So here's a shot of the bathroom. Its huge too, with a separate shower stall, separate bathroom, and double sink to wash at including this Bathtub! Cooool huh?

More to come ...... gonna check out the Concierge now!!

[tags : delephant fun stuff]