Bangkok 2025

I can't believe it's been a month since we flew to Bangkok to celebrate our eighth anniversary. It's the first time we celebrated outside the country. Quite honestly it's a bit spontaneous, booked flights and accommodation just a week before. Partly because we had money to spare at the time. We got our condo at Avenida refunded, lost 50% but the other half we got was more than enough for a good vacation outside the country. It's the best vacay ever! Can't wait to be back!

Here's my Bangkok vlog:

For the whole trip which was 4 days we spent roughly ₱91k

✅ Roundtrip flight was around ₱40k with PAL
✅ Four nights at Maison Hotel Bangkok was ₱17k
✅ Cash pocket money was around ₱21k
✅ And credit card spending was ₱13k

Not bad at all! Which is why I can't wait to go back already! I could imagine spending way more for a metro staycation had we stayed here. Not considering the flight, we'd probably spend more than 50k for a fancy staycation and a steak dinner hehe.

Here's our complete itinerary:

• Day 1 (arrival at night)
• Dinner at SW1 Market
• Day 2
• Lunch at Bangkok Train Station (Lap Paak)
• Ayutthaya
• Dinner at McDo
• Day 3
• The Grand Palace
• Wat Pho
• Lunch at The Deck
• Malling and dinner at ICONSIAM
• Day 4 (departure at night)
• Lunch at Nobu Bangkok

Anyway, here's what went down at Bangkok:

Day 1: Arrival and SW1 Market

We arrived at Bangkok around 7PM. Obviously didn't have the whole day so as soon as we got to the hotel, we just dropped our bags and walked to the nearest night market which was SW1 Market.

It's like one kilometer away from the hotel and a good 16min walk. It was pretty far for my standards but it was a great place to experience their night market! Lots of food options! Some good, some bad. My favorites were pad thai, crispy pork, and crispy pancakes. Thai milk tea was also good! We tried crispy insects which literally tastes like seasoned nothing haha it's just crispy, nothing special. The mango pomelo sago I tried was also underwhelming, their mangoes aren't that sweet, pomelo isn't too, and the coconut meat was not real it's like coconut gulaman? Mango sticky rice was quite good though. Their mangoes are big but not as sweet unlike Philippine mangoes which is a bummer cos I really love mango sticky rice here. But their sticky rice and coconut cream? So goood! Then we also tried some skewered stuff, crocodile meat, chicken, and beef. Nothing special, I guess I didn't like the barbecue sauce. Wish I had the capacity to try a lot more dishes, but I got full already! 

Today I clocked in 12k+ steps! Whew!

Day 2: Ayutthaya and McDo

This was an adventure. We didn't join any tours so we really planned this day out. Ayutthaya is famous for being the old capital of Thailand, before the Burmese attacked and occupied the city. They obliterated every royal structure, burned down temples to extract gold, and beheaded buddha statues everywhere. Now it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site home to historic parks, preserved ruins, and Buddhist temples.

We took a cab to Bangkok Railway Station and bought a train ticket to Ayutthaya. It was only 30baht for the two of us which is really cheap. The train is PNR levels though, fan only, and had so many stops. It took 2 hours to get to Ayutthaya. It's 80km north of Thailand. 

After alighting at the station we booked a tuktuk tour, they're right by the entrance offering packages to tourists. They're not tour guides but they're gonna drive you to your chosen destinations and wait for you while you look around. We found it really convenient especially that the temples are far apart and we got there around 2pm already. They have a list of all the popular temples, parks, and attractions and you just point to where you wanna go and the driver will get you there. Depending on how much time you have, cos temples usually close at 5pm, the driver will suggest spots that are near each other so you can maximize the tour. It cost us 1,200baht for 3hours. Quite steep but pretty convenient if you ask me!

We were so exhausted after visiting 4 or 5 templates that we wanted to get back to Bangkok as quickly as possible and have dinner at Hia Lek Chinatown. Initially we bought the same ordinary train back, it arrives much later but drops us off near Chinatown (Hua Lampong). But after learning that there's another train that leaves earlier, has less stops, and arrives earlier at Bangkok as well - we decided to take that. Even if it means riding another train to Chinatown because it stops at a different train station - Krung Tep Aphiwat - which btw looks like an airport wow.

Train to Bangkok was super full. People were standing. But it's not MRT rush-hour full haha. After getting off at Wat Mongkon MRT station (Chinatown) we walked so far to Hia Lek only to find out it's closed! It's not even 9pm! We were so tired that we just decided to go back to the hotel area, find a nearby McDo and eat something local haha.

Clocked in 15k steps today!

Day 3: The Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Wat Arun, and ICONSIAM

It's ferry day today and day two of temple hopping! We woke up pretty early (before lunch) to commute to our destination. Getting around Bangkok is pretty easy once you figure out the train system which is very efficient and interconnected. We walked to BTS Nana station, rode 'til Siam, transferred trains, and went down at Saphan Taksin station where Sathorn pier is. This is where the river ferries are.

All of the temples in our itinerary are best accessed through Chao Phraya river ferries, and so we decided to go this route. Also, for the experience! We bought an all-day pass with Chao Phraya Express Boat for 150baht each which allows us to ride the ferry unlimited times throughout the day. We thought this was the cheaper option because we had four destinations and each ride costs 40baht but then we realized that there are other boats going around the river that are nearer our destination and that we don't even need to ferry from The Grand Palace to Wat Pho haha. 

The Grand Palace was huuuuge! Unlike Ayutthaya which is more nature park like, The Grand Palace screams royalty. Every building inside is meticulously adorned with all the shiny and colorful things. It's a different kind of awesome.

After getting lunch at The Deck where we had a pretty view of Wat Arun, we rode a ferry to ICONSIAM which is freaking enormous mall. It's so overwhelmingly big we got lost in a food court wth. It's also so very beautiful and have lots and lots of food and shopping options. One part of it looks like Podium and the rest is a maze-ing! Haha lol

Learned that we can ride the BTS train home because it's linked to the gold line. It's also at this point that I realized I lost the BTS Day Pass the hotel gave us huhu.

Anyway, it was a really exhausting and fun day! Got a relaxing and amazing foot massage a Sook Siam food court before going home. Then when we got back to the hotel we tried smoking a joint because it's legal in Thailand (medically). There's a smoking lounge right by the hotel. It's our first time to try mary jane and also we're not smokers so we're the ultimate weed virgins. Waste of money I tell ya. We got something beginner friendly that would just calm us down, like 22% something, shared a joint and followed their instructions to inhale twice, wait a bit and puff it out. Then drink water. Well I drank a lot of water cos inhaling that thing dried my whole throat. I brought my tumbler with me which was a bad idea because now my tumbler straw tastes like weed urgh. I hated it. I didn't even feel sleepy.

Anyway, walked 17,500 steps!

Day 4: Nobu Bangkok, flying home

Last day in Bangkok. We booked a Grab car to the airport in advance because we noticed how difficult it is to book a ride here. Or maybe Bolt is better? Had lunch at Nobu which was pretty disappointing because there was no Omakase during lunch and the menu is quite limited. Not to mention it didn't taste any better than Nikkei, which is loads cheaper.

Should've just eaten breakfast at the hotel!

We left Bangkok at around 7pm and got to Manila 11pm. It was definitely our best anniv celebration yet. It's so easy to plan vacations like this when you have money on hand no? Doesn't happen always so I'm really grateful for this year!

Can't wait to be back!

Internet down

Converge has been down for almost 10 hours now it's ridiculous how they've not restored connectivity yet. On top of that, our supposed backup - Smart and GOMO - are both super weak today. Couldn't get any work done the entire day. Good thing I only had one meeting.

Anyway. Just another day in the Philippines, where services are bad and customer support is worse.

The other day I had a thought. We weren't really looking into greener pastures in other countries. I thought we had it good here. 6-figure salaries, stable jobs, comfortable lifestyle. But then I looked at our current pay and wondered how long is this gonna sustain us before we had to switch companies again and look for bigger salaries? I thought I could retire at my previous company cos the culture and the work is perfect, but eventually the salary couldn't keep up with inflation, and I had to leave. If I stayed there, we have to tighten our budget year on year because there's no way the annual increases are gonna match the rate of inflation. Every year we had to downgrade, find some way to limit expenses, or God forbid work another job (not going back there again).

Then I wondered about my colleagues in other countries. How come they were able to stick to a company for more than 5 years without complaining about the salary? How different is the salary structure here vs there that we had to jump ship every now and then to inflation-proof our lives? I don't want to keep changing companies. It's troublesome and you lose retirement benefits for it.

Then I realized maybe we should just move to a different country. A red state in the US, or Australia, or New Zealand, wherever there's opportunity. Maybe Bangkok. I don't know. The more I learn how we have it bad here, the more I get jealous of those who were able to migrate. 

I just don't know where to start.

New work laptop

I recently got a new work laptop after my old one was marked vulnerable due to having Viber Desktop installed 😅. It's the second time my laptop has been replaced in my three years in the company and I think it's because I kept installing Viber? Haha. I didn't know it was the culprit and I only learned about it this week.

Funny thing is, I got a new model which looks really nice. Seems like I got rewarded for installing illegal apps instead. Still freaking big and heavy, and the screen is more squarish, but it's all good. I couldn't request for a smaller laptop because dev laptops by default are all 15.6 inches. Oh well.

My laptop transfer this time feels more seamless. Thanks to OneDrive. I just had to wait for everything to sync and all my files are back in the same place. However I do need to reinstall everything else. UiPath, SSMS, Notepad++, Github Desktop, etc. And I need to setup my shortcuts again. What I failed to do is backup my Postman APIs so I'm feeling a bit upset about it. I should've created an account. Hay.

Oh wait this laptop feels a bit slow!

Hoping a restart would do.

Ciao for now.

Freaks

I can't believe it's been a week since Charlie Kirk died. My heart still aches unexplainably, and I'm still very angry at the violent liberal freaks celebrating his death, twisting his words, misquoting him, and calling him all forms of phobic when they're the ones who are clearly and evidently incapable of arguing for themselves. 

They can't debate him so they called him names. Names an extremist responded to with a gun. That's how dangerous leftist diagnosis is. Instead of discussing why you believe the things you do, with an open mind, with empathy, they label you so wrongly with words that don't even come close to what you believe in. It's lazy. All because their ears start to ring in disagreement. They can't stand being explained to. Can't fathom the possibility of being wrong. Their mentality is built on an echo chamber that crumbles under a test of logic. Weak. Fed only hateful jargon to describe conservatives. They end an argument by walking away and calling you either a bigot, transphobe, homophobe, racist, nazi, or other godawful things just to justify their hate and exit the discussion, or rather an attempt at one. 

I'm disappointed at a lot of my friends. But on the bright side, I found new friends to follow. Even influencers.

Oh Charlie 😔

I couldn't believe my eyes when I read news that Charlie Kirk was assassinated at a speaking event in Utah. It was the first thing I learned when I woke up yesterday and it brought an immense heavy feeling throughout the day.

What disappointed and disgusted me further were the reactions from whacko liberals all over the world, celebrating the death of a man simply for holding an opinion they hate.

Charlie Kirk...
who sought to enlighten the youth from the perversions of the current education system
who encouraged people to reflect on the privilege of being in America and denounce victimhood
who wanted to preserve families, the building blocks of society
who values life no matter where it came from

He always discussed and listened in good faith, all the while championing Christian values. 

He was a knowledgeable and effective debater. And he got hated a lot for it. Heck he got killed for it.

They didn't like that he supported Trump
That he was anti-abortion
That he was pro-gun
That he was anti-illegal immigration
That he was a nationalist
etc.

Basically that he was conservative. Whatever happened to free speech? People are so scared to discuss nowadays. So confidently wrong they cannot handle being refuted, instead resort to violence. This kind of radicalism has eaten the west and is unfortunately propagating here.

He wanted to make America great again, by going back to the one who made it great in the first place, God. Is that so unwholesome that he is met with shrieking whales every time he mentions the Bible?

I guess demons do tremble in God's word.

My heart goes out to those who mourn for his death.

I pray for justice.

Rest in peace, Charlie Kirk.

Happy Friday!

 

Jumping in on this AI scale model trend with our car! It's really cool except for the antenna haha. Here's the prompt: 

Create a 1 / 7 scale intelligent figurine in the picture, in a realistic style, in a real environment. The figurine is plattered on a computer desk. The figurine has a round transparent acrylic base, with no text on the base. The content on the screen is the Zbrush modeling process of this figurine. Next to the computer screen is a BANDAl-style toy packaging box with printing. The packaging features two-dimensional flat illusion.

I took a photo of our car from the internet which is from Grab, hence the GrabRentals logo on the box hehe.

WHAT A BUSY WEEK!

✨ Got our refund!!!

First off, thank God we were able to get our refund checks already! After 2 months of calling and emailing, we were able to get 50% of our downpayment. Full story here: [Ayala Land Inc.] Cancellation of CTS / Refund under Maceda Law / PD 957 - a timeline 

I can finally leave all the facebook groups I joined trying sell this goddamned condo haha.

✨ I need another knee surgery

I consulted with Dr. Braganza about the results of my MRI. He's my second opinion doctor, after getting my first one from Dr. Lantin who requested the MRI. Surprise surprise, they both recommend surgery. There's a cyst in my knee that has grown over my meniscal tear which has been causing my knee to lock and be unstable for the past few months. The plan is to remove the cyst and repair the meniscus so it won't grow again. It's non urgent so I just need to get a good schedule. Our gym coach who's also an ortho referred me to Dr. Braganza, says he's the best in the field, and I was thrilled! I didn't think I'd be at a point where I can choose a doctor, for the most part all I cared about was if they're HMO accredited. But now that I'm older and more fragile I kinda want to get the best treatment... from an accredited doctor haha.

✨ I wanna go shopping

Now that I have some money to spare I just wanna go shopping. But I couldn't find the time? We're visiting the parentals this weekend so I don't know when to squeeze some shopping time. 

✅ My priority would be new glasses. My current one needs to be replaced already because of the scratches, and I've been eyeing some cute wide specs from Sunnies. 

✅ We also need to buy a new blender. Our 9-year old Nutribullet has been slowly wearing off. The rubbers are falling apart, and it's super dirty now. I'm excited to get a new one. Especially now that we're enjoying making strawberry banana protein shakes as post-workout.

✅ As for my non-essentials, I want a pair of machine washable walking shoes from Vivaia and a new cross-over bag to replace my old one. I want exactly the same one I have but Hedgren doesn't carry the same style anymore. 

✨ Super swamped at work

So many things on my plate. I have challenging ones and easy ones, but nothing stressful. Thank God!

Anyway, that's it for this week!

Money diaries: a week in August

Here we go again! I'm broke right now so let's see how much I bury myself in debt this week lol

Monday - 1,453.66

• Dinner at Sariwon - 873.66
• I over-ordered tonight. Bought gimbap when I knew marinated beef samgyup with rice and lots of banchan is enough. I ended up taking home half the beef, rice, and gimbap. I love Sariwon's kimchi!
• Dessert at M.Bakery - 440.00
• Had classic tres leches and hot americano
• Parking - 140.00

Tuesday - 0.00

• Lunch at Tapa Addiction - 0.00
• Jeckie paid for this one, I just had to note it down cos it's a new discovery for us! Yehey for a cheap dining option at Unimart! We normally eat at Poco Deli or Single Origin before doing the grocery. Sometimes we'd eat tusok tusok but most of the time we want a full meal haha. So yeah, value for money this sure beats Via Mare in terms of tapsi.
• Cooked sous vide steak and truffle mashed potatoes for dinner! It's perfect I LOVE SOUS VIDE!!!

Wednesday - 0.00

• Went to the gym then back home. Didn't spend a dime! 
• We're on Class Pass trial making the most of the 28 trial credits (worth 50 pesos lol). And for our 2nd trial gym we went to Activate Hoop Arena. Had trouble parking cos there's only one slot left and we're in between two big SUVs. Didn't enjoy our workout so much because the gym is kinda bad? The equipment are all worn out, rusty, and all over the place. Everything is so disorganized. The lat pull down machine is dangerous. The gym area is very small, it seems like they just put a bunch of exercise machines on the court sides so the athletes may have something to use when they're not playing.
  
  It's very apparent the place was primarily for court players as the gym area seemed very neglected. Later on during our workout, volleyball players joined us in the gym area and at that point it became very crowded. Jeckie felt suffocated so we ended up not finishing our workout.
  
  I have nothing against the team in fact they were pretty respectful about sharing the space. It's just that I feel like Activate shouldn't have allowed open gym access when there are players on court because damn we were more than 10 people in their tiny gym and it's too tight huhu.
  
  Actually Activate should totally stop offering open gym access. There are better bakal gyms out there. So much for catering to professional athletes.
• Anyway. Cooked chicken Caesar salad for dinner. 

Thursday - 200.00

• Poy-Sian pasabuy - 200.00
• I went out around to meet a friend to get my pasabuy from Thailand. Finally got a good supply of Poy-Sian. I keep losing mine in the bed or in the laundry haha. Thanks and happy birthday Meg! I missed you!
• I snacked a lot this afternoon. Had pandesal with homemade tomato garlic spread (thanks mama for the recipe! Mine turned a bit salty lol), added in basil from my plant out in the balcony yey, ate leftover korean beef sukiyaki and egg roll from two weeks ago lol (it's still good), and finished my Lays salt and vinegar chips.
• And for dinner I coked airfried salmon and truffle oatmeal risotto.

Friday - 139.00

• For today's Class Pass trial we went to Gold's Gym at Robinson's Galleria. Thought it would be easier to park there compared to Megamall where we can go to Slimmer's World instead. Well, we were almost wrong haha. The line coming in to the basement parking was super long, but thank God we were able to get a slot quick. :)
• Had a great workout at Gold's! It was big, spacious, clean, and there are tons of equipment. For once Jeckie and I didn't have to share a bench hehe 
• Most of the equipment are looking old but they're all still functional and looks maintained naman.
• Spent 89.00 for Takoyaki which was borderline cancerous because they torched the cheese topping right on the food box which has a plastic lining so there are black burn marks, it even crumpled a bit urgh. They're killing me. Anyway, I loved the takoyaki haha
• Mall parking - 50.00

Saturday - 4,807.50

• Lunch at Swagat - 1,512.50
• Had some good Indian food after a great workout at Makati Shang Health Club! Jeckie has been telling me about Swagat for a long time. Then they moved to Rada and I finally got to try it cos it's more accessible for us in terms of parking hehe.
• Karada massage - 2,295.00
• First time to try it! I always thought they're a chiro clinic but they actually offer dry massage and alignment. First time to have my neck cracked and boy was it an out of this world experience! The relief is incredible. It's too expensive for me though and I still prefer Swedish massage.
• Tip for Karada - 200.00
• Now it's made even more expensive because two people worked on me haha. 
• Iced mocha at Blue Wonder - 155.00
• Dinner at Wu's Kitchen - 585.00
• I got a bit hungry from the massage lol
• Parking - 60.00

Sunday - 3,833.04

• Lunch at Ono - 600.54
• Got the salmon poke bowl. It was delicious. But I prefer Fit Fuel's salmon bowl because they use smoked salmon instead hehe
• Dessert at Nine Fresh - 336.00
• I've been meaning to try this for so long so I finally took the chance since we're at robmag! Looked at TBG for recos so I got the Awe in One cup which was delicious!!! It's like taho with bilo bilo, grass jelly, other jellies, toppings, and creamer. Not too sweet, not too heavy. It's perfect! 
• Then I realized the one I've been wanting to try is actually Meet Fresh, not Nine Fresh haha. Kaya pala there's nothing like bingsu in their menu hehe.
• Takoyaki from the basement food court - 85.00
• 🙅‍♀️
• Uniqlo shirt - 790.00
• Cinnabon - 500.00
• Army Navy take out - 1,292.50
• Midnight snack at mcdo - 179.00
• Parking - 50.00

Oh well, I thought I'd be spending less this time but look at our grand total: 

₱10,433.20

It's even bigger than the last time. Yikes.

As much as I want that amount to be my normal weekly budget, I can't right now cos I have to settle my credit card debts. But oh well. Looks like I have to watch my spending more! 🫠