Travel Archives - My Women Stuff

Picking out A Baker’s Dozen of the Best Things of 2013 (and share yours too!)

December 27, 2013 Paris B 36 Comments

best of 2013

If you didn’t realise, the brand new year is exactly 7 days after Christmas Day and the anticipation and momentum of the festive period just keeps rolling on to that last stretch to the year. With many people usually taking time off work and just slowing down in general, it is a good time to reflect on the past year and pick out the highlights.

I don’t like doing “Best of (products)” generally. I prefer taking a more macro outlook at the year that’s past so here are my slightly different “Best of” categories, some of which of course, include beauty picks :) You are most welcome to share yours too because it’s always nice to share in and take part in others’ highlights of the year.

Here we go! My Baker’s Dozen :)

Travel Tales: Learning to cook Thai food at Baipai Thai Cooking School, Bangkok

August 18, 2013 Paris B 33 Comments

2 weeks ago, I was in Bangkok. No one realised it, probably but that’s how I like it! I was there for just a short trip and this trip, I wanted to do something different. I wanted to do something I’ve always wanted to do – go to a cooking school and learn some Thai dishes!

Many places offer these short cooking school sessions, where you can join for half a day or so, and learn to cook the local food so you take home more than just memories. You take home a taste of the country you visit. I love the idea and I’ve always wanted to do it so, I did.

Before I left, I looked around on the internet for recommended cooking schools in Bangkok and you’d be surprised to know that there are so many! Most of them take you on a buying/familiarization trip to the market as well, which is interesting if you are foreign to the exotic South-East Asian region. I eventually stumbled upon Baipai Thai Cooking School.

Reviews were very good, the website was professionally laid out and although it was more expensive than others I surveyed, they offered a hotel pick up and drop off, which I fully appreciated. So, I dropped them an email and it was sorted! Payment is made at the school itself after your class so that was easy!

I was notified of my pick up time at my hotel and at the appointed time, a large van with a friendly driver in uniform identifying the name of the Baipai cooking school was waiting for me. We drove around picking up more “school mates” from various hotels in the city before heading off to the school. In our party that day were visitors from Macau, Japan, Korea and Guadeloupe, the last of whom was a chef himself!

The Baipai Thai Cooking School is located just after Chatuchak and it is deep inside a housing area, so I appreciated that they offered a pick up service. I don’t know how I’d have gone there otherwise. Along the way, the van dropped off most of the people in the van at the Or Tor Kor Market for their market familiarization trip. I opted out of that because I live in this region and I’m quite familiar with most of the herbs and spices used. I just need to know what goes into the recipe :D

Arriving at the school is a pleasure. It is a large spacious wooden bungalow with a large garden and is so serene and tranquil that you are immediately put at rest. A lovely cold and delicious cup of lemongrass tea is served, you are handed your apron and recipe cards and off we went for a trip to the herb garden.

Baby its cold outside… What shoes to wear for cold weather travel?

July 7, 2013 Paris B 42 Comments

I got a very interesting question from reader Irene in her comment on one of my posts about what footwear I’d wear when I travel during colder or winter months, and I need to walk a lot. It was so interesting, I thought it merited a post all of its very own! (See why you should ask questions? You may help someone else and you give me blog ideas! Win! :D )

Anyway, I thought I’d quickly share the shoes I wear when I travel, most of which I’ve realised have been with me for quite a while. I walk a lot when I’m on holiday for some strange reason. I don’t walk very much here in Malaysia haha! I’m a lazy bum :P But I’ve worked out after quite a lot of trial and error that these are the shoes I feel more comfortable to travel in when its cold. I usually look for certain key traits in my travel footwear, not necessarily brands.

I don’t profess to know it all, of course, since I do come from a tropical country and this isn’t meant for those of you who are planning to travel to the cold outposts of Siberia or even to places that are covered deep in snow or where the weather drops into the negatives. I’ve never done that and I’d imagine you’d need something much hardier. If you do live somewhere which gets cold, I’d love to hear your suggestions. Never a better way to learn than from a local! :)

Ask & Answer: What are must buy items from Taiwan?

November 20, 2009 Paris B 7 Comments

shopping_taiwan

While we are still in holiday mode – at least I am :P – lets continue our virtual travels to Taiwan. I received an email from Christine who wanted to know this:-

Hi there,

Wanted to ask What is the best buy or “must buy” skincare and cosmetic in Taiwan that Malaysia cannot get it?
Hope to hear from your answer. Thanks u so much for sharing so many info with us :)

rgds,
christine

Well as I told Christine, I’ve never been to Taiwan and I don’t quite follow Asian skincare or cosmetics trends so I’m not the best person to ask.

The only thing that comes to mind is Japanese cosmetics which tend to be a little cheaper than even in Japan or perhaps Asian cosmetics in general, and My Beauty Diary masks which my sister hauled back without knowing what they were LOL…

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