Anantara Riverside Bangkok Resort

So since today is our R.O.M. anniversary, let me post about our trip to Bangkok, just the 2 of us! It has been some time since we last took a trip together without the kids, so when we got an offer from Anantara for a 4 days 3 nights stay for just USD99 in exchange for a 2 hour presentation of their Vacation Club membership (yes, similar to Phuket earlier this year), we decided to take up the offer.

We had actually attended the preview before, 2 years ago when we went to Koh Samui so that is how they got my contact details. We did not purchase the membership at that time, so probably they were trying their luck again, to see if we would sign up this time!

The initial offer was to stay at their brand new hotel Avani Riverside Hotel Bangkok but we had then enquired about taking our kids along. They replied to say if that was to be the case, then Avani could not accommodate any extra beds and so we could stay at Anantara Riverside Bangkok Resort instead which was just adjacent to it. In the end, we did not take the kids, since this would be our anniversary trip, but we requested to remain at Anantara instead, rather than at Avani. We preferred the resort-feel type of hotel, rather than those modern, trendy ones. However, unlike Phuket, this was not a Vacation Club hotel, but a proper resort.

And we were not disappointed! The hotel arranged a limousine pick-up to and from the airport, so that saved us a lot of money already.

We arrived at the hotel at 10 am (I had informed the hotel about this earlier) and the room was ready when we arrived despite the normal 3 pm check in time. I had requested for a room set-up for our anniversary, so we were pleasantly surprised to be greeted by this!

The hotel also gave us another surprise - a super rich chocolate cake!

And another surprise - we were upgraded for free to a room with a view of the Chao Phraya river!

This hotel is very nice - apparently it's the only hotel in Bangkok which is resort-type and not like the typical city hotel. Here are some pictures of the hotel surroundings.

Same view by day and by night:

And here are some pictures of the interior. There is a Jim Thompson shop inside the hotel lobby too.

The hotel runs its own shuttle boat service (similar to most hotels situated along the river) and this is the pier leading up to it. The shuttle boat runs every 20 minutes (so it's quite frequent) to Sathorn Pier (where the Saphan Taksin BTS is located) as well to Asiatique in the evenings.

The boat service was quite a novelty for us - it was like taking a river cruise everyday! When coming back from the pier to the hotel in the evenings, the boat even prepared cold towels for us to freshen up.

Some of the views during the boat ride, by day and by night:

Another factor which made us choose this hotel was the rave reviews about their buffet breakfast, and they were not wrong! The hotel had so much variety - from Korean to Japanese to Thai to Indian to Chinese and Western selections. And everything tasted good!

And this was Hubby's favourite - the noodle soup! It tasted so good that he had it 3 days in a row (but it was a different type of noodle every day).

More about what we did in Bangkok coming up in my next post!

Wedding anniversary 2015 @ The View

So a few years and 3 little ones later, we celebrated our wedding anniversary last weekend. Hubby suggested we try The View at Equatorial Hotel this year and we brought the 2 elder ones along, much to their excitement, while the little one stayed with Nanna at home. Unlike other fine dining establishments, this restaurant did not have any restrictions on children so they dined (but no wine lol since mummy is still breastfeeding) with us in the main dining room.

Their dinner menu is semi-buffet and so we could help ourselves to the selection of appetisers and desserts and order the entree from the menu. Of course the girls were quite ecstatic about all the cakes and sweets they could eat. Surprisingly though, they could also eat their entree (vegetarian linguine), which the restaurant was nice enough to split one serving into 2 portions for them.

Our family picture missing Helene. Next year she should be old enough to join us for nice dinners like these. We were just a bit worries that she would disturb the other diners lol.

And here's us. Hubby's smile is a bit awkward in the pictures as he just got his braces done.

Hubby's entree - cod fish and I highly recommend it. Even the girls tried some and they enjoyed it.

My entree- beef tenderloin. It was quite good, but a bit too well done since I requested for medium-well.

After dinner, we took pictures around the hotel, and lots of selfies/wefies!

Here's to many more happy years ahead with our 3 princesses! xxxooo

Wedding anniversary

Last weekend, Mummy and Daddy celebrated their wedding anniversary, but it seemed to be that it was more fun for me! :) Daddy likes to bring me to Jusco at Bandar Perda because it's really spacious and kid-friendly. We arrived there early, 15 minutes before opening time, so I had fun running round and round.



Daddy says I look like a mini-rapper in this pose - Yo! Yo!



When the mall opened, we were one of the first people to get this kiddie car - it's free and it can be used for the whole day. The parent of the child only needs to leave his or her driving license with the kiddie car counter. In Jusco Queensbay, you have to pay for it.



There was something else I got to do which was really fun too! I got to go into the playland and play with all the toys there! The one at Jusco Bandar Perda is really big, much bigger than the Queensbay one. It was RM3.00 for the first 20 minutes, which Mummy and Daddy figured was more than enough time for me. Mummy had to accompany me inside.



I was fascinated with all the "ball-ball".



I tried to jump on the trampoline:



This blown-up castle was quite shaky so after a while I got scared and asked Mummy to "bao-bao" (carry).



The 20 minutes went by really really fast and at first I refused to leave! It took a lot of persuading from Mummy and promises to come again before I reluctantly agreed to come out.



Later on, we went to the concourse area of the mall where they were having some dinosaur exhibition. The loud music caught my attention and this is what happens when I hear music:



And this too:



In the evening, Daddy took Mummy to her favourite restaurant for dinner - Mario's at Batu Ferringhi (opposite Rasa Sayang hotel). Mummy, Gong Gong, Nanna and Ee Ee have been coming here for many years and they still go back there to eat everytime they are in Penang. The restaurant serves yummy Italian food and woodfire pizzas.

The restaurant manager recognised us right away so that is why we probably got the 10% discount from our bill :) Here is what we had (clockwise from left) - Wild mushroom soup (it's special because it is served in a sourdough bread bowl), Mustard chicken, Cheese and garlic bread and Hawaiian pizza.



As you can notice, the food we ordered is all kid-friendly so I could eat it too! :)



However, most of the time I was running around the restaurant (we were early so not many people) and making friends with the uncles and aunties working there. Mummy got this nice picture of me, despite the fact that I was all sweaty from running around.



The waiter helped to take a picture of Mummy and Daddy:



And of all us too - now I am really sweaty! When we left, the waitress gave me a lollipop (I seem to be always getting them) and Mummy quickly hid it away even though I kept pestering her to "open, open!"



The real day of the anniversary was on Monday, and since it was a working day, Daddy had these delivered to Mummy's office. Aren't they pretty? I hope to celebrate many more anniversaries with you, Mummy and Daddy! :)