What happen when you cant read & speak Thai?

This evening I drove to a nearby shopping mall for dinner. I was walking around the mall alone and decided to have fast food dinner. I entered this McDonald's Restaurant and saw Samurai Pork Burger set on the menu. Since non-halal burger is not available in Malaysia, I decided to order a set for myself. =p

When I was in the queue, an auntie gave me and another customer some coupons. We thanked her and took her coupons. However, all the coupons were written in Thai. =( I wasn't sure what was the promotion about, but one of the coupons has the picture of Samurai Pork Burger set which I wanted. 

So, I handed the coupon to the cashier upon making my order. The cash register machine showed 106Baht, which was exactly the same price as the price showed on the board. Well, I thought the coupon has some sort of discount? How come I was still paying a full price? *confused*

Guess what?!?! I only realized what was the coupon about after that!! It should be "Buy 1 set of Samurai Pork Burger & get 1 Pork Burger worth 56Baht for FREE".... Because, I ended up with 2 pork burgers, 1 pack of french fries & a coke!!! Hahaha!!! Greedy me bought 2 burgers for 1 meal. XD

I took the extra burger home. It will be my breakfast tomorrow morning. LOL! That was a pretty funny experience on language barrier.

*Cheers*

A fantastic show @ Siam Niramit, Bangkok

A few months ago, my dad told me about an awesome stage show called 'Siam Niramit'. He highly recommended me to check out this special Thai show. After reading some reviews from Trip Advisor, I decided to book my tickets! I approached a travel agent in Holiday Inn Silom (5 minutes walk from my office) and bought 2 tickets at a discounted rate! =)

On first day of Songkran (a.k.a Thailand's new year/ water festival), a driver from the travel agency fetched me and AO to Siam Niramit, which had quite a distance from my apartment. We arrived before 6pm to collect our buffet vouchers and show tickets. Firstly, we were greeted by the friendly ushers and blessed with holly water. Then, I received a pretty orchid corsage from her too (the corsages were only given to all the female guests).

There were some souvenir stalls selling souvenirs mainly with elephant theme. An elephant was near the entrance waiting for customers who wanted to snap pictures or ride on it. Some dancers who wore traditional costumes were walking around smiling at the guests. After we took some photographs with the dancers, we went to the restaurant for buffet dinner. There was a wide variety of food at the buffet bar! From Thai style to Indian to western to vegetarian food! I didn't try all of them as I were already bloated up after 1 round of main course and 1 round of dessert. Haha!

After dinner, we still have some buffer time before the show start at 8pm. We spent some time in the 'Thai Village', and enjoyed their local delicacies/ finger food. Our first stop was rice cracker dessert that served in a banana leave bowl. The rice crackers looked like our normal coco cereal. When the lady handed me the rice cracker, I was looking at it and wondered how am I supposed to eat without a spoon. LOL! XD

The lady quickly used some sign language and taught me me to pour the rice crackers from little bowl directly into my mouth. Hahah!! I was giggling and followed her instructions. Ohh! The rice cracker was good! Crunchy! I gave her a thumb-up. "A-loy!!" (Yummy in Thai) Hehehe!! 


Besides rice cracker, there were also other traditional Thai dessert like mini pancake, omelette, and more. I didn't try all the dessert, but I tried the omelette. Its good! Comparable with the Royal Omelette from Blue Elephant Restaurant. Haha! Yummers! 

Guess what, there was a traditional way of making pop-corn too (See the picture below)! The lady was shaking the pop-corn maker up and down, in and out. Then, the corn seeds were popping one by one. It took pretty long time to make a small portion of pop-corn, not very efficient tho. 

Traditional pop corn maker

On top of that, there was another lady making something like Indian nan (or roti canai bakar)... Not too sure tho. Hehe! I didn't try, but I saw her flipping that piece of 'roti' over and over for quite some time. =p

Roti bakar?

Other than food, there were also some samples of traditional houses. In the northern style village, there were some demonstrations on how to make Thai silk. A lot of Thai silk shawls were displayed in the village too.

Thai silk ingredient?

After checking out all the food stalls and traditional houses, we enjoyed a teaser show in front of the hall. When time comes, everybody proceeded to the main hall and got ready for the highlight of the night - Siam Niramit show. 

No camera or video camera was allowed to enter the hall. All the cameras were confiscated at the hall entrance. We kept our cameras in a bag provided by the organizer. Then, we were given a coloured tag with number, which will be used later when claiming back out cameras. 

We entered the hall together with many other guests. We were lucky enough to get one of the best seats right in the middle! We waited for a while before everybody got into the hall and the show had began. 

Do not worry if you couldn't understand Thai, because they do have subtitles in another 5 languages including English, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, and the last 1 was probably French? I couldn't read the last language but there was a 5th language. Haha! 

That was a great show on a gigantic stage, performed by ~150 performers! You wont be able to imagine how good it was until you experience it on your own. That was the best show I have ever watched so far. Its is highly recommended to see this show at least once if you are in Bangkok. Some might think THB 1,400 (approximately RM 140) for a show is pricey, but I think it worth every single Baht... Hehe!!

 
Tips: Apparently it is cheaper to book your ticket through travel agency (World Travel Agency), which cost only THB1,400 including transfers to and fro hotel, buffet dinner and the show. I saw the ticket counters were selling the tickets at THB1,500 (not sure if its including dinner)

*Cheers*

Balinese crispy duck @ Dirty Duck Diner (Bebek Bengkil), Jakarta

Last week T invited me to join him and his friends for lunch in Menteng, Jakarta. His friend, M recommended a restaurant that serves great Balinese crispy duck (a.k.a. bebek bengkil). We wasn't sure the exact location of the restaurant and we thought the cab driver should be able to get us there.

On the next day, we took a cab to Menteng. The first cab driver had no clue where exactly Bebek Bengil was located! We got down from the first cab and took another cab. I told the second cab driver that the place is near Plaza Menteng (that was one of the landmark I saw in google map). The driver nodded his head and fetched us to Menteng.

About 10-15 minutes later, he stopped the cab in front of Plaza Menteng. He told us that he had no idea where was Bebek Bengkil. Gosh! We got stuck and we had no choice but to get down from the cab. We asked one of the shopkeepers nearby and she knew which restaurant we were looking for! Thank god!

She pointed to the left hand side and told us to walk down the road. I asked if it is walking distance (Bisa jalan ke tempat itu, ke?). She answered 'Yes!' (Bisa!) and nodded her head confidently. So, we thought it might be near. Then, she added 'lumayan jugak!'. T and I thought she was commenting the food in Bebek Bengil was quite pricey. Well, we thanked her for the direction. After 15 minutes of walk, we still do not see the restaurant! We even dropped by a few shops for directions but they do not seems to know where is the restaurant. 

Later, M sent an sms to inform us the full address of restaurant. The restaurant was at No.132, and we were right in front of No. 31!! The numbers were not even close!! Not only that, we were not even on the correct street! We started to feel panic and asked for more directions. 

This time, I asked for the particular street instead of the name of the restaurant. The lady knew the street and pointed its way. Then, I asked if its far (jauh?). She nodded her head and said 'lumayan..'... GOSH! T and I were speechless! We finally understood what was the meaning of 'lumayan'... it meant very far!!

Isshh! We were tired and sweaty after the long walk. So, we decided to take a cab to the restaurant. Finally, we managed to get to the restaurant after the misunderstandings due to language barrier.

There were 2 monuments at the entrance of Dirty Duck Diner

And pond with tortoises and fishes in the middle of restaurant =)

 Another view of the restaurant

I told M and MW about how we misunderstood the word 'lumayan'. They laughed out loud!! Hahah! I got to really brush up my Bahasa Indonesia. Or else, more of these may happen in the future. LOL!

For the restaurant, there were two sections - indoor and outdoor. Since the weather looked great, we preferred the outdoor seat. We were sitting under a 'pondok' (small hut). Looked cool huh?

M was distributing food to his daughter

My bebek bengil - the signature meal, came with vegetable and special chili sauce (not in the picture)

The crispy duck was simply great! Although I am not a fan of duck meat, I enjoyed this crispy duck very much! On top of that, the portion of food was pretty generous. I was stuffed even before I could finish up my rice.

 I was relaxed after lunch

T was even more relaxed!

This restaurant was also recommended by a travel magazine recently

Finally, here's the address of the restaurant...

*Cheers*

Language barrier lead to laughter XD

Last week, I went to Carrefour, Ambassador Mall with T for some grocery shopping. I was surprised that the hypermarket had made a major rearrangement on all its products/ sections. The customers were forced to walk through the electronic and household items department before we can reach other sections. =( That was pretty inconvenient to us.

After we placed all the food and drinks into our trolley, T wanted to get himself a pair of new slippers too. Due to the confused relocation of products, I approached one of the staff and asked for directions. "Excuse me, bisa tanya mana section untuk slipper?" (May I know where is the slipper section?). She looked at me with a smile and question marks all over her head. Okay... Maybe she didn't understand my half past six Bahasa Indonesia. I repeated "Selipar? Kasut"?? (Slipper? Shoes?) Then, she put both her hands together and put them next to her head. She asked if I was asking for 'sleep'... Probably she thought I was hunting for a pillow. Hahaha!!!

This is so funny!! I was scratching my head and pointed at my heels. I told her, 'No.. No... Selipar... Kasut"... Finally, she understood. "Ohhh!! untuk tapak kaki, yea? Sandal?"... I nodded my head and she walked us to the right section. I should have mention 'sandal' in the first place. Hahahahha!!!

Now I know why I should pick up my Bahasa Indonesia. :) 

*Cheers*

Singlish vs Modern English vs Chim-glish

I found this on YouTube, and I find it so hilarious!!


According to the video, there are 3 types of spoken English.

1. Singlish - An English based colloquial language used in Singapore
2. Modern English - A dominant international language that originated from England
3. Chim-glish - A profound English used profusely by professionals professionally, to profess their professionalism

Watch the video embedded below to find out more about the difference between the 3 types of spoken English... =) 
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Have a nice day!!
*Cheers*