Before i blog about Vientiane, i gotta write down how we almost missed our flight…
We checked in on time and went to buy food to eat on the plane
I couldn’t decide between a McD’s apple pie and Ipoh kaya butter toast, so i got both.
The 4 of us split up when we went thru immigration
cos Tianna and i have Malaysian passports,
but not Steph and Jess.
Ti and i went straight to the gate after that cos we knew we were running a bit late.
Lady at gate told us if other 2 don’t show up within THREE MINUTES she’d just HAVE to close the gate.
I don’t blame her la… our flight was at 3pm, and we were at the gate at 2:50pm :p
(i know the plane should be on the runway by then, but i think the long queues made lots of others late too)
We called their phones at least 10 times each but frustratingly,
noone picked up arghhhhh
I dropped my bags with Tianna save for my phone,
and RAN ALL THE WAY BACK UP to outside the x-ray area.
I ran so fast my bloody top flew up, and i flashed my bra at people, before hurriedly pulling my flying top down -_-
I scanned the crowd lining up to put their bags thru the x-ray
planning to scream at them to just CUT THE LINE
DO WHATEVER IT TAKES
cos we’d MISS THE FLIGHT OTHERWISE!!!
Couldn’t see them.
Almost peed my pants in kancheongness.
FINALLY got them on the phone
Turns out the IMMIGRATION had a system jam so the line hadn’t been moving since they started queuing!
I called Tianna who spoke directly to the airline steward at the gate to let them know it was a system problem.
Then i begged Jess and Steph to just excuse themselves and jump the line!
Saw them appear at the x-ray area,
got them to jump the queue there too,
and we RAN back to the gate
and got on the flight 30 minutes after it was supposed to take off :p
Luckily we weren’t the last on the plane…
there were some men who got on after us cos they were stuck in immigration too.
I tell you, the moment we sat down in our seats and buckled up,
Steph and i looked at each other and wentPHEW!!!!! Can’t believe we almost missed the plane because… we wanted to buy food.
What a close one.
What dismay if we had missed our holiday flight!
Thank you Holiday Godddddd
Initially my regular 4 girls and i were planning to go to Laos.
But Aps had a wedding to attend.
Cammy accidentally bought tix to Paris for her pre-wedding holiday with Kenny.
And Dhanya has to rehearse for Dreamgirls (showing in Istana Budaya next month!)
Then there were two – Steph and i.
We decided to invite Tianna and Jess along with us,
which was perfect cos they were looking for somewhere to holiday at too.
Brief history of Vientiane:
11th-12th Century – Laos and Thais migrating from Southern China settle in area
1354 – was important administrative city in the kingdom of Lan Xang
1563 – made capital of Lan Xang to avoid Burmese invasion
1707 – Lan Xang fell apart, Vientiane became an independent kingdom
1779 – conquered by Siam
1827 – Vientiane was looted and burned to the ground by Siamese armies
1893 – under French rule, became capital in Laos. They rebuilt the city and temples, and left colonial buildings behind.
1953-75 – Laotian Civil War broke out.
1975 – Vientiane achieved liberation. [source]
Our plan was to explore Vientiane for one full day,
before moving on to Vang Vieng for 4 nights.
Vientiane is a pretty small city,
and one can easily explore most of it via cycling for a day before moving on to other areas in Laos.
We stayed at Avalon Hotel,
a bit further from the Mekong river cos it’s cheaper
and not that big a difference to us anyway.
We landed in the evening, and after washing up at the hotel,
ventured out to find dinner yay!
We were so lucky to stumble upon a local night market.
The best and cheapest introduction to Laotian food!
Grilled rice patties
Pork noodles
I got weirded out by how they twisted the chickens in the soup…
Laos food is pretty similar to Thai and Vietnamese food (yums!)
Well they are all in the same region…
pork / beef soup noodles, sticky rice, fresh veggies on the side…
one thing they have around a lot more are soups.
We got huge bowls of fish soup for RM4 a bowl (had to share it, was too big!)
Walked further down the market after dinner,
and discovered there was a funfair going on!
Was a lot bigger IRL
I love that Laos is not ageist like Jakarta!
They allowed the 4 of us big monsters to enter the play area for 5,000 kip / RM2 each!
Not many pictures cos i kept my camera to jump around
Next morning we rented bikes for really cheap
(i love Laos! Everything is cheap!)
We were so excited when we all got on our bikes that we started singing Queen’s Bicycle
Maurice my mouse sat with me
Went to potter about the local market
Love the traditional stitching of animals on large cloths
I had extra toy cars in my bag from Sri Lanka,
so handed them over to these two boys…
I didn’t go near them much cos they had snot running out of their noses.
Unless its snot that holds my genes, i’m not wiping it…
Waiting for lunch – Maurice with all our new toys from the market!
Tianna’s Ducky and my Wilson
Alcohol in Laos is cheappppp.
Don’t bother buying any in the airport!
A big bottle of Beerlao can be as low as 8,000 kip / RM3 !!!
The necklace below caught my eye as we were cycling past the shop,
so i rang the bell to make everyone stop cos i wanted to have a looksee
I would’ve bought the necklace if it wasn’t so huge,
the ring could fit TWO of my necks!
That shop turned out to be a great stop!
We all got little antique trinkets and accessories.
I got some great authentic Hmong tribe bangles and necklace i can wear to events
(for cheaper than anywhere else in Laos, as we discovered later)
Everyone bought something and congratulated me on my shopping radar.
Next door was a shop where Steph and Tianna tried to bargain for hairpins
After all that hot cycling, Ti and i went for a massage (RM40 an hour)
which was well worth the money.
When the lady was done and walked away,
a voice in my head went no! where are you going? come back!
It rained while we had our massage.
Yummy smells all around.
I got hungry between lunch and dinner (as i always do…)
so the girls stopped to teman me makan.
These noodles with fried pork skin was amazingggg
The spiderweb of telephone lines are just as intriguingly messy as Chiang Mai
Returning the bikes
We had dinner at Khop Chai Deu Restaurant & Bar,
a 10-year-old restaurant set in an old French colonial villa.
The fact that it was filled with locals assured us there was good food!
I had this massive meal called Laos Discovery:
A big plate of mince chicken with fresh herbs (lower right),
big bowl of sour fish soup (square bowl in middle),
sticky rice (next to soup),
green papaya salad (lower left),
green rice jelly on crushed ice (dessert came later),
and local Laolao whiskey.
All for 75,000 kip / RM26
The girls helped me with the soup,
but i think i whacked most of the rest myself…
After breakfast of toast, eggs and fruit,
lunch of green curry chicken and rice,
tea of pork noodle soup,
and a dinner like that,
i definitely overate on my first day of holiday
I was holding my tummy while walking home thinking now i get it why pregnant people hold their stomachs!
IT DOES HELP to hold up the extra weight!
On a completely separate note,
this group sponsored by PayPal called The Promise have been making videos online,
to promote online safety and awareness.
I didn’t have time (or the energy) to shop on Orchard Road during my last trip to Singapore.
Figured it was a good and bad thing.
Good, because i wouldn’t be tempted by the lure of so many items i want and thus spending more money!
Bad, because imagine the things i coulda shoulda woulda seen/tried on/bought/possess.
What i DID manage to fit in was a trip to Haji Lane!
I remember one of the first times i flitted through the shops in Haji Lane was in 2009,
and i ended up writing a blogpost about it on Tongue in Chic.
If you’ve no clue what i’m talking about, Haji Lane is a shopaholic’s paradise. Narrow shophouses line the little street,
all taken up by lotssss of boutiques and streetwear shops.
Think of it like the Bangsar of Singapore.
Energy is required before attempts to windowshop.
We had a Middle Eastern lunch at Cafe le Caire, a restaurant complex consisting of different sections
stretching across 3 shophouse spaces on Arab Street and Haji Lane respectively!
I’m always smiling widely in pictures with food…
Foul (fava beans) with harissa and hummus (chickpea dip)
to be eaten with bread.
Ba’mia – lamb stew slow-cooked with okra
I managed to buy some colourful + shiny fabric next door while waiting for lunch to be ready.
It was about SGD3 per metre… cheap or what!
After lunch came the trawl that i was anticipating (and Clem was dreading)
… window shopping!
Love it when stores are chock full with clothes and accessories in every corner…
makes every angle you turn to hold so much to look at!
Pluck is a pretty popular ice cream parlour and shop that sells lots of cute stuff like stationary, bags, and household items.
Great place to buy presents!
“They stock local labels like Little Odd Forest, Swirl, Kookii:Kooky and The Killer Heels [source]”
Couldn’t resist buying a few coasters to give away to friends,
including the one above i’m keeping for myself!
As luck would have had it, i stumbled upon what is my personal favourite store on 9 & 47 Haji Lane.
Called Victoria Jomo, they sell lots of crazy colourful and unique pieces that i’ve not spotted elsewhere.
First walked in cos i saw a necklace of massive proportions,
and thought the lady owner might be apprehensive at me touching it.
Instead, she smilingly asked me to go ahead and try it on.
Oh darn. It looked so good on me i had to buy it.
They’ve got a second floor in the outlet i went to,
and spotted another huge necklace upstairs which… i got too.
If you’re thinking of visiting Singapore soon,
NOW IS THE PERFECT TIME cos their famous Great Singapore Sale is on till 24th July 2011.
There will be discounts on everything (fashion, toys, electronics, jewelry)
and everywhere from Orchard Road and Marina Bay
to Southern Waterfront and shops in the suburbs!
Because SO many tourists visit Singapore during this time
when thousands of stores on the whole island participate in this massive sale,
the Restaurant and Hotel Associations have stepped in
to provideexclusive tourist privileges on
value deals for 30 hotels around Singapore,
discounted dining vouchers from over 100 restaurants,
and shopping and sightseeing tours.
If you use MasterCard like i do,
you get additional discounts and privileges at over 100 shopping, spa, hotel and dining venues.
If you charge a mininum of SGD500 (max 5 receipts),
you get dining and SISTIC vouchers.
The best bit is cardholders can enter a grand draw where the prize is a 6D5N Business Class luxury travel package to New York for 2 worth USD25,000!
To make the most of your time,
the Great Singapore Sale also calls for Late Night Shopping.
Orchard Central and Marina Bay Sands will be open late daily,
with Tangs Orchard and 313@Somerset opening late every Friday.
If you love toys, there’s a Toy Universe event till 26th June.
And if you love FOOD, theSingapore Food Festival is on from 5th-24th July!!!
Search and tweet #GreatSingaporeSale for updates!
There are lots of promos i’m not noting down here, too many!
Commercial and editorial stylist Calvin Cheong has opened yet another boutique,
this time partnering with fashion designer Joe Chia and veteran stylist Victor Goh.
[There is a fourth person but since he’s dubbed a silent partner,
i’ll leave his name out of this post.]
I blogged about Calvin’s first boutique SEETHROUGH earlier this year,
and was quite interested in how a collab boutique would work out between three of the industry’s top creatives.
The large space upstairs is divided into 3 sections.
In the middle (and my favourite) is the Revolution area:
Prosthetic leg damn random
Love the stacks of newspapers covering the wall as deco
All the clothes and items on display are from as far back as the 1920s
Spot the brassiere
The 2nd section is what they refer to as the Colour Area.
Furniture here is actually for sale too.
These Moroccan lamps were much talked about before the place was built!
Here you can find modern styles for men and women
Cupboard full of vintage purses and bags
This is one of those fashion items i just WANT but don’t think i’d use more than twice!
The 3rd area is all black and white:
Was taking pictures when i noticed someone sleeping on the couch.
He woke up with a shock and i realised it was Adrian.
This is Bangsar for you.
Take a picture of people sleeping on a sofa,
and realise he’s a shameless friend taking a catnap on the store’s couch
Clothes found in the shop are vintage, sourced, or designed by either one of the owners.
Most of the pricetags are in the range of RM100-RM400.
More unique pieces cost more.
If anything, you should take a look in the store simply ‘cos it’s mighty interesting!
They’ve got lots of bits and bobs i didn’t take pictures of,
just too many things lying about!
+ + +
Never Follow Suit
28-2 Second Floor
(above Shawn Cutler)
Jalan Telawi 2
Bangsar Baru
59100 Kuala Lumpur
All i have to say is, every time i’ve worn this skirt
i’ve got at least 2 compliments a day.
Additionally, being late and running up stairs in a skirt that’s lower in the front is a BIG PLUS
Photos by Vincent Paul Yong On Chelle: LEFTBLOCK Alex Tail Skirt in BLUE with no slit
On Joyce: LEFTBLOCK Alex Tail skirt in MINT with slit
We’re finally releasing & taking pre-orders for the LEFTBLOCK Alex Tail Skirt.
Available in 6 coveted colours of Mint, Blue, Purple, Mustard, Orange and Wine.
Alternative colours available upon request (eg: Forest Green, Nude, Navy).
Every piece is made-to-order based on your measurements.
(Do allow 2-3 weeks for completion)
Material: Light Weight Poly
Required Measurements (inches): Waist, Front Length, Back Length
Price: RM170
Shipping Options: Please refer HERE
Email us at shop@leftblock.com to place your orders!
