shopping in Bangkok : part 3

Of course travel to Bangkok will not be complete without getting a remembrance . I can't resist grabbing this at the Suvarnabhumi International airport. Price at a great steal. I was able to get it at THB2000 off plus additional THB2000 cash vouchers for shopping inside the airport. The husband was happy and enjoyed the voucher more. Read more here

Anyway, so much with all the travel posts. I need to send greeting cards online to our friends in the US. I forgot to send them last Valentine's Day since we were busy preparing for the trip. Think this will be a good time to shop for nice cards in prepraration for the Lenten season.

Randomology

Snagged this from the wonder mom, Peachy!

1. Do you always answer your phone? ~YES
2. It’s four in the morning and you get a text message, who is it? ~an irate client
3. If you could change your eye color what would it be? ~Brown
4. What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic? ~ hmmm... strawberry? hehehe!
5. Do you own a digital camera? ~ YES. Sony.
6. Have you ever had a pet fish? YES, Silver arowana for good luck.
7. Favorite Christmas song? Let it Snow.
8. What’s on your wish list for your birthday? ~ the vacant lot next to our house.
9. Can you do push ups? ~ I used to. But not anymore because I'm on the very healthy side now. LOL.
10.Can you do a chin up? ~ Yes.

Hmmm...question number 9 makes me think to do my usual push ups routine. This would be a good way for me to start getting back to shape. Or perhaps I need to re-consider enrolling in yoga or gym classes. And if everything fails, there's always good and affordable diet pills available online. LOL

shopping in Bangkok : part 2

Shopping experience in Bangkok : Part 2.

I did a little shopping in Bangkok, not on the thrift or bargain centers but inside the malls like Siam Paragon and MBK. Though I wanted to buy all those summery, nice and really affordable outfits on the street market and Chatuchak (or JJ aka Jatujak), sadly these nice items won't fit me. Quite disappointing since they offer items in one size only, which is FS or free size. Meaning 3x smaller than my size! Ugh. I hate it. One thing I learned in my bargain shopping in Bangkok ... they're not for me! LOL.

So back to my mall shopping, I was able to buy two pairs of shoes on sale from VNC. They were offering 50-70% off from it's original price. Got shoes in red (wedge) and purple (stilleto-type). Each pair costs around P600 only. Great steal! Aside from the shoes, we got few shirts as pasalubongs from Jim Thompson. A little bit pricey but really nice quality by the way.

I was told that wacoal and roxy brands cheaper in BKK. Entered a billabong store and I find the price quite same here in Manila. Toy store just the same and I think we have more toy options here in Manila than in Bangkok. So I ended up buying only few items here. Contrary, the husband enjoyed the flea market. He enjoyed buying Thai shirts as pasalubong, silk ties and more office ties at THB 20 each. I must say good buy for the husband.

Nevertheless we were thankful that we did just few shopping in Bangkok. Not counting my big purchase in the airport (LOL. this deserves a separate post), I think we budgeted extremely well with our recent travel. Money spent wisely. We saved enough to get us a new life insurance quote .

All in all my shopping experience in BKK was just so-so. But, if you intend to sell clothes in Manila, this is the right place for you. Imagine getting nice blouses at THB100 (P148), you can sell it in Manila for P350-P500. Good business with high ROI, huh! Now shopping in BKK sounds very much interesting...

shopping in Bangkok

I am still sorting all our Bangkok pictures. I've posted some here and here, but I haven't finished the entire Bangkok travel. I still need to upload our day three and day four trip, and of course about my new baby love. Hehehe! Anyway, I learned so many interesting things while shopping in Bangkok.

1. be prepared for spicy food. oh let me re-phrase that, be very prepared for really, really spicy food! I thought I can bear eating food with chili since I love hot and spicy food. but, I was not prepared for extra chili food. Imagine not just two or five long chili, but dozens of long chili in the sauce. Whhoaaa! And they call it "mild sauce" only ha!

2. when shopping, be prepared to bring cash in tiangge or chatuchak mall. they don't accept credit cards, obviously.

3. when buying in tiangge, price usually at wholesale cost. if you plan to buy one or two items only, price almost doubled. Example THB 100 blouse sold at THB 150.

4. You need to buy 6 items to be considered for wholesale pricing.

5. if you plan to buy items from tiangge, be sure to bring sturdy bag like Delsey luggage for easy and convenient shopping.

6. for purchases over THB 5000, tax refund available at the airport. refund not via cash but as vouchers that can be used for shopping inside the duty free airport.

7. cash vouchers need to be spent inside the shops of airport. Example, THB 20K purchase = THB 2000 cash vouchers. If you plan to use the vouchers, you need to spend 2x the amount of the voucher before you can claim it. Example: for a THB 1000 voucher, you need to spend THB 2000 before you can use it. Very wise eh!?! LOL.

More Bangkok shopping tips to follow ...

Samantha's field demo

Back from our short holiday break from Bangkok, Thailand.

And before I post our recent trip pictures, allow me to share some of Samantha's field demo presentation held last February 15 at St. Paul grounds. The nursery class performed a flag dance to commemorate the conversion of Saul (St. Paul). They were assigned to carry and march the flag of Turkey. Really cute watching the little girls danced and performed their number.

2-days before the field demo at the dress rehearsal

Samantha with Teacher Anne and classmate Thea ; with cousin Bea

the flag dance --- great performance from the little girl.

in matching red outfits with the nursery family: MIL, BIL, cousins john and bea, daddy and kuya

managed services

Managed services never got better.

Our company recently launched a new services that allows end to end monitoring of equipment. We call it Managed Services wherein we can not only monitor data links of a company, but we can also monitor equipment such as routers, computers and servers. Alerts also provided especially for hardware equipment enrolled in our monitoring system. We provide utilization reports to client, IT Support such as dispatch of engineers even to remote corporate sites. Truly an end to end value-added service to customers.

Aside from IP-based monitoring from the actual customer site, we even offer co-location services for hassle-free operations. Backed by complete data center facility, servers and Rackmount monitor nothing beats a fool-proof managed services for our top customers.

more pictures

As I was dumping pictures from my old point and shoot cam, I noticed a lot of Samantha's Christmas pictures were not transferred to our laptop folder. Funny when I thought I've already saved all our holiday pictures, and ready to be transferred to our upcoming 500GB external hard drive, I missed transferring some of her school pictures. Goodness, I can't believe that we've accumulated more than 1,000 school shots of the bratinella in just one year! I need bigger memory space than what we've recently acquired.

Anyway, with our old Sony camera ready for more photo shots in our upcoming Bangkok trip this weekend, next on my must do agenda is to get hubby and I toll free access calls to Manila. With the little girl left behind, I will surely miss her. Need to constantly check and ensure she's well taken cared of by Mom. LOL.

Posting here some of the little girl's school pictures ...

Samantha with her classmates

Samantha with Teacher Anne

... and with Mommy

another Tagaytay wedding

Had a quick get away last weekend at Tagaytay Highlands. Together with MIL, BIL and his fiancee, we trooped to Tagaytay Highlands for ocular inspection of Madre de Dios Chapel and Highlands Country Club. So far, the couple liked what they saw and decided to book their dream wedding this coming October 2009. Really happy they've finally settled to hold their wedding here, just like us. A romatic wedding in the cool climate and enchanting city of Tagaytay.

Now I am not sure if his BIL's fiancee will pursue her studies abroad. The last time I heard she's looking for medical assistant training school wherein she can pursue her career. Not sure yet if this will still push thru though. With all the wedding preparations now, I think all her post school studies will be deferred. Thus, nothing definite yet.

Anyhow, we are happy that they finally decided to take the next step. That is, the married life. After being a couple for more than twelve years, think it's about time that they finally tie the knot. Way overdue, but worth the wait. So it'll be another busy year for the family. Another family union or wedding in Tagaytay ...

birthday treat

Last Wednesday, February 4 the husband celebrated his birthday with a simple dinner at Seoul Barbecue, Libis. Since we've been craving for authentic japchae noodles for weeks, the husband decided to go back to his favorite Korean restaurant with the in-laws to celebrate his natal day. You see, this Korean restaurant became hubby's fave not only because of its proximity from his previous work, but because of the yummy Korean barbecue grilled on the spot. I must say good quality food at a great price. Anyway, sharing you some of our dinner party pictures below.

Yummy Korean dinner with the inlaws and Sam, eight season appetizers (kimchi, spicy dilis, bean sprouts, egg rolls etc.), Korean barbecue on the spot, bulgogi, cha dol begi (spicy pork barbecue), galchigui (fried swordfish), ojingo bokum (chili seafood) and japchae noodles.

the birthday boy happily opening his gift ... surprise! surprise! read more here for the surprise present.

home improvements - the bedroom

I am thinking of doing some home improvements lately. Particularly eyeing the master's bedroom this time. Ever since we moved in to our new home, we haven't changed our bed furniture yet. And since the little girl co-sleeps with us, I think it would be very timely to get bigger bed size this time. Aside from changing the bed size, I need to find comfortable bed for the three of us. Lately, the husband's complaining with back aches after a night sleep. Though we are not sure if it has something to do with our old and worn out bed mattress, but I guess it would help him if I get a nice, comfortable sleep number bed I saw on the web. It promises durability, comfort and peaceful sleep at a great price. Who wouldn't grab this great opportunity? It'll be a wise investment for the health and total well-being of the family. Hmmm... I just hope they have available mattress locally. Let's see.

being connected ...

... and I am loving every minute of it! Ever since we installed our linksys wifi router, In almost every corner of the house I've been busy shopping, blogging, surfing and chatting online. Hah! The power of getting connected! Now I can do almost anything online.

Aside from leisurely surfing the net, I am also busy checking out possible small business franchise which hubby and I can avail while being employed in a private company. With ninety-percent success of business franchise, think this would be a big help in preparation for our retirement few years from now. With the economic crisis experienced in almost every part of the world, think small retail business way to go to overcome the crisis.

start 'em young ...surfing online with the little girl

after several hours of being online -- "sleeping on the job"