Life's Little Pleasures

Public Service Announcement
posted on Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 9:37 PM | 0 cmnt/s

Hear ye, hear ye!

Just a bit of random info just in case you were interested...

I arrived in glorious Singapore this afternoon and checked into the Shangri-La Hotel.

And you know how I was saying that my mattress and bed back at home were like heaven and you just sink into them...

...Well... this bed is equally amazing.

King size which is just AWESOME!

And the pillows are AWESOME!

And you just sink into them and it's just really cool and I'm pretty sure I'm going to get the best night sleep ever tonight :D *thumbs up*

So, if you're ever in Singapore and have a spare $500 to spend on accommodation, I would absolutely recommend the Shangri-La Hotel. It is pretty swish here and comes complete with doormen in funny uniforms (picture to hopefully follow!). And as my brother pointed out the other day, it seems that the nicer and more expensive the hotel, the weirder the doorman's uniform generally is, so if you're the judge a hotel by it's cover-man, then this hotel certainly is tops!

BTWs, it is also the hotel chain that my FAVOURITE ad of ALL times is from. And in case you don't know what my FAVOURITE ad of ALL times is (or I claim that a lot of ads are my FAVOURITE ad of ALL times and you've just lost track), here is a link to it :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4jZ1UFR_Wc

AND, for you hardcore Shangri-La commercial fans out there (because, let's be honest, there are quite a few!) there is even... a MAKING OF THE COMMERCIAL!!!!!!!! YAY!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mQK1gNYDyQ&feature=related

I'll sleep on top
posted on Saturday, January 14, 2012 at 9:18 PM | 0 cmnt/s

Mattresses.

They are so undervalued.

You don't appreciate the value of a good mattress until you're presented with a bad one.

It's a serious matter.

Take, for example, my mattress at home. It's served me well over the years and, like most mattresses, has moulded to fit my shape. What a good mattress. It dips perfectly in the middle and give me a wonderful night sleep.

But it wasn't until I arrived in Bangkok that I began to appreciate just how good my mattress back home, all those miles away (!!), actually was.

The mattress here, in contrast, lacked a certain comfort, a certain sink that a familiar mattress holds.

I didn't sleep well on that first night, purely because of the mattress.

Upon consultation, I came to the conclusion that as a general rule, mattresses in Asia are typically hard. This conclusion was based upon personal experience and discussions with others whom had had similar experiences.

So to unravel the reasoning behind this conclusion, I did what any good Gen-Y kid would do and I googled it.

My research directed me to one explanation which seemed perfectly plausible:

On the Fodor's travel website, on a thread asking "Why are the beds (mattresses) so hard in Asia?", one posted under the name of Jaya comments that in India there is a "long, deeply rooted belied that sleeping on anything soft will deform and curve the spine and cause problems with the spine later in life."

Perhaps this same thought can be extrapolated across Asia?



On a slightly related comment, maybe there is something to that Indian belief.

I own a soft mattress. I have a deformed and curved spine that has caused me problems.

Conclusion: my soft, familiar mattress is the cause of my back problems.

A Thai Christmas
posted on Sunday, December 25, 2011 at 9:55 PM | 0 cmnt/s

Ahhh back in Bangkok, and just in time for Christmas!

Today began in the usual family fashion with present exchanges. I was a lucky duck and got a couple of cooking books, DVDs, 2010: Odyssey Two, a book of lists, plenty of chocolate, and some more watches to add to my growing collection. So I am feeling like quite a lucky duck at the moment.

Following that, we got ourselves moving and went down to Central World shopping center to get our (Mum, Carol, and I) hair done for Christmas lunch. It is so odd to have EVERYTHING open on Christmas day. But that's Thailand for you! Open every day of the year! Not to mention that Christmas is not celebrated by the majority of its population, which is non-Christian. So I got my hair cut and blow dried to perfection (my hair has never looked so good!!! :D), and also a pedicure for good measure!

We then headed to my aunt's work mate's place for a massive and absolutely amazing Christmas lunch with a full house of other Australian embassy staff members. The food was absolutely fantastic and our hosts put on a great afternoon.

After all bellies were thoroughly filled, we sauntered home. Upon arriving back at the apartment and realising that my back was really sore from the previous night's sleep, I walked literally across the road for an hour massage, costing me AU$12.61 (including 100 baht tip for my masseuse).

It's amazing how cheap things are here. It's so different to back home in Australia. I mean to get my hair cut back home, I'd be looking at no less that AU$50 considering the long length of my hair, but here I got a cut, the best blow dry in the world, AND a pedicure for 500 baht (AU$15.76). Hour back massages back home would cost me around AU$40-70, but I only pay a fraction of that here. Even at the supermarket, things are so different. There is so much more variety (excluding various supply shortages due to the recent floods, such as, to my mother's horror, Diet Coke and Coke Zero!!!). However, some things are much more expensive. Cheese costs a lot more here though. Fun fact: cheese costs more here because the local milk is no suited to making Western style cheese because it has less fat content. Furthermore, there is less market for it here. Mostly only the Westerners will have it, thus driving prices up.

But all in all, it's pretty cheap to live up here. Can't wait to continue to see how cheap it is over the next few weeks when I go shopping!!!

Merry Christmas all xxx

A little bit more Christmas
posted on Monday, December 19, 2011 at 8:37 PM | 0 cmnt/s

I've got the Christmas candles out tonight!

Let it snow!
posted on Sunday, December 18, 2011 at 9:46 PM | 0 cmnt/s

YAY! And now we have snow :D :D :D

CHRISTMAS!!!!
posted on at 9:32 PM | 0 cmnt/s

So I've just updated my blog layout to make it slightly more Christmas-y.

I'm attempting to add falling snow too.. because falling snow is cool and add to the Christmas effect, even if it doesn't snow here.

Hopefully I can work out the snow soon.

Let me know what you think about the new, festive colours! :D

Before and After
posted on at 8:48 PM | 0 cmnt/s

I am rather proud of my achievements today. I was entrusted with the arduous task of cleaning out the kitchen pantry today -- it is no simple task, might I add.

Take a look for yourself...

Before:




After:




Indeed, it has been a slow day today when the biggest news is me cleaning out the kitchen pantry

In other, equally minor news, I think the Christmas spirit has finally begun to set in (yes, with less than a week to Christmas). I've been playing Christmas carols all afternoon, and have lit my Christmas candles -- after all, you only get to light them once a year, so I'd better make the most of it!

Ok, I think that's all for now.

Merry Christmas all xxx
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