An Ngon Vietnamese Rice Roll (and Banh Mi) at Yishun Block 343 in Singapore

What would you have done if you saw this notice in the car while taking GRAB on the way to Singapore train checkpoint at Woodlands? I took a picture, obviously, since the place was in Yishun and I happened to enjoy Vietnamese cuisine (more so after my trip to Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi)! 

And I did pay it a visit shortly after on a weekend morning! p.s. signing up for anywheel 30-day pass had made me more motivated to ride to nearby areas for food since first 30 minutes was free.

A one-person operation; service was a bit slow but since it was a weekend, I guess impatient me can still bear with it! Interesting to see the equipment used to make the rice rolls; same same yet different from our typical local ones.

Banh Mi - this was the first one to be served. There was just one available type and I agreed to adding egg for a top-up fee of S$1.00. As can see from the cross section of the banh mi, it did appear to be generously stuffed.

While crispy after undergoing some sun-tanning in the toaster, the ingredients weren't as luxurious and frankly, not as generous as I initially though, as Banh Mi Saigon. I think it could also benefit from having more pickled vegetables and sauce. It was a good sandwich yet not impressive enough as banh mi.

Traditional Rice Roll - although there were four types to choose from (traditional, char siew, minced meat and smoked duck), I decided to go with the basic one with no meat since it was the cheapest at just S$2.50.

Visual wise, it wasn't appealing. I might as well just go to any dim sum restaurant and request for chee cheong fun kosong! Honestly, if they have a prawn option, I would have ordered it.

Well, never judge a food by its appearance just like you don't judge a book by its cover! The rice rolls were smooth and there were quite a number of rolls! Taste wise, it was a perfect combination with the bowl of vinegarish-sweet sauce that had diced up garlic adding another piquant layer to the plain rolls.

Fried shallots always helped in increasing palatability. 

Once I would love to have more, would be the diced up garlic! 

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Can't wait to be back for its rice rolls.

And maybe bun cha, which was on the menu! 

Address

Block 343, Yishun Avenue 11, 

#01-141, Singapore 760343

Map

As above. 

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Banh Mi - S$4.50

Add Egg - S$1.00

Traditional Rice Roll - S$2.50

Le Saigonnais - SASCO Business Lounge @ Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City [Vietnam]

It was October 2022 and I still have a balance of one last lounge access to claim from Priority Pass (courtesy of Citibank PremierMiles card). Being a cheapskate, it was decided that I shall be spending it at Le Saigonnais - SASCO Business Lounge at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC)! 

What the heck; a shoe polisher?! Sadly, my work doesn't require business trips and my overseas journeys are all for leisure, meaning I am comfortable wearing sneakers or sometimes, even sandals / slippers. No chance to check out the polishing.

To be honest, it was a beautiful lounge with tall ceiling, great air-conditioning and an interior design incorporating elements of Vietnamese (the bamboo canopy reminding me of the A O Show) and French (vintage street lamp posts). 

According this website, this was a "Vietnamese clothing exhibit including dresses designed by Vo Viet Chung, who is famous for promoting Vietnamese silk". Naïve me thought it was just a range of Áo Dài (traditional Vietnamese attire). 

Personally, it would be great if airport lounges can showcase maybe those outrageous outfits worn by past Miss World / Universe representing the respective country; sure to catch the eye of travellers.

Other types of seating. My favorite would be those with high backing but that's because I am usually alone when I visit the lounge. Alex, my regular travel companion, doesn't have access to Priority Pass and too stingy to pay to use the lounge.

p.s. there's also a massage chair. 

In case you have no laptops and need to use the computers to surf the web or check your email. Nowadays, I make it a point to bring along my personal laptop, since I often have to respond to work emails, and prefer a laptop over the phone. 

Now the food section! Please ignore the Halloween decorations as it was more than six months since I returned from HCMC, and it's glaring reminder that I am taking way too long with the itinerary. Well, this would likely be my second last posting for HCMC! 

Main dishes including teriyaki chicken, sausages, fried fish, noodles and sticky rice. Even though it's buffet style, my standard operating procedures, given my limited stomach space, would be to just take a little bit of each item.

A serve-it-yourself pho! Do you know that I didn't try any pho when I was in HCMC? There were too many things for us to try and to be totally frank, I didn't like the flat noodles in pho.

The common bread and toast.

Cake and fruits; I am a commoner and would always look forward to seeing watermelon and pineapples. Never mind, bananas are good, although I already had quite a few earlier in the morning at Vien Dong Hotel's buffet breakfast. 

Drink section.

An automated coffee machine, soft drink dispenser, wine and liquor! I would love to drink as much as I could (non-alcoholic that is) but I dislike using the bathroom constantly when I am on the plane later! 

And there was a full chiller with so many local drinks like guava juice, lychee juice! There were even milk, yogurt and at the bottom right; cans of beer!

Sorry, forgot about the cereals and orange juice.

If Alex were with me, he will attack the coco pops.

Time to start the bingeing! I ate so many bananas; well deserving of the zodiac animal that I was born under. Thankfully I only took half a passionfruit; too sour for my liking! 

Fried fish wasn't crispy, teriyaki chicken was rubbery.

The rest were normal; not worth the calorie intake.

Pho was a surprise; nice beef that weren't too tough and I was amazed with the deliciously clear beef broth which had just that right amount of pepper and comfortable enough as I sipped the hot soup while sitting beside the air-con vent. I can literally just drink the soup, without the noodles. 

Trying alcohol free beer for the first time; the Suntory All-Free, said to be "a delicious non-alcoholic beer-like beverage". Delicious, it sure wasn't! To me, this was simply carbonated soda water that had never been a choice of drink for me. 

Time to check out the washrooms! 

Shower facility and toilet with a spray gun. Nothing too fanciful and I guess good enough to refresh / relieve yourself. I wouldn't know much about the former as I have never travelled that far / the need to fly so frequently that I didn't have time to wash up.

Please approach the counter staff if you need items like towel, face towel, shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, razor etc. hm.... how come no body wash? 

Leaving Le Saigonnais with a can of Saigon Bia! 

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Address

3rd Floor, International Terminal at Tan Son Nhat Airport,

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Click here for my 6 Days Itinerary in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) - Pearl of the Far East @ Vietnam

Hotel Royal Bangkok - Deluxe Room @ Chinatown (Yaowarat Road) in Thailand

Yaowarat Road is famously known as the face of Chinatown in Thailand's capital and for my most recent trip in February 2023, I decided to stay in that area; at Hotel Royal Bangkok (red arrow), which used to be called White Orchid Hotel. 

Right smack in the middle of the action, and just about 200 meters away from Wat Mangkon MRT station; this is one very convenient hotel that I would strongly recommend, although it might not be suitable if you prefer an area with many fashion / high class shopping options like Pratunam or Asok. 

Lobby lounge on the ground floor that's only open from 1.00 to 8.00 pm. Should you be looking for a place with view and alcoholic drinks, I would suggest the rooftop pool bar (shall share more later in this post).

Checking in with the reception; personally, I think customer service could be better as most of them weren't friendly and definitely failed to maintain that million-dollar smile. I encountered much better service from the friendly housekeepers throughout my week-long stay.

Room

1106 - deluxe room on the 11th floor at 30 square meters, with windows. Frankly, it's not my first time staying at the hotel as I had stayed at least two or three times before it was renamed from White Orchid Hotel, and renovated, but it was around 10 years ago.

Back then, the hotel was 3-star and things were more rundown, and design wasn't as modern as now. A few abstract paintings should be hung to liven up the room though. 

View outside the room, with an opportunity to catch the setting sun. I always prefer windows as the lack of them would make the room too dark, and I am super imaginative when night falls.

Aside from local power socket, we were pleased to find 3-pin options! Nowadays, I would bring my laptop when I am overseas and it's much easier to have a local plug that aligns to the 3-pin power plug that I will bring along.

Small television; I am too accustomed to the 65-inch TV at home. Frankly, I don't really watch much television when I am in hotel rooms. Whether there is cable or not doesn't matter so long I have good Wi-Fi to surf the web, watch videos on YouTube / Facebook etc.

3-pin plugs, plus options for USB charging and HDMI connections to the television. 

Wardrobe with umbrella and in-room safe. While I am aware that hotels do have overriding key to open up the safes, I see this as a necessity as it's still a layer of protection over valuables like laptop. p.s. the umbrella came in handy on the last morning as it was raining cats and dogs!

Mini fridge, electric kettle, complimentary bottled water etc. I am neutral on the need for mini fridges although I will make use of it if I am staying for a few days, by putting in items like yogurt drinks etc.

Washroom - a bidet spray is always welcome.

Vanity top and old school, complimentary toiletries.  

Hair dryer was attached to the wall. 

No bathtub but there's a rainfall shower! As you can see from the picture, the grout was yellowish although overall still pretty clean. I am not complaining for a room that cost me only about S$52 a night.

Gymnasium 

Open daily from 7.00 am till 10.00 pm, the gym room had no windows; with quite a number of equipment, it felt pretty cramped, and there was a sweaty smell in the air. Access via your room key. 

Royal Sky Lounge

We didn't opt for breakfast, which was separately charged at Hotel Royal, but Alex was up there, on the 14th floor, on quite a few occasions to chill, including for breakfast. I did on the last morning, given the rain, although I had visited a few days earlier for a cocktail and night. Click here for more information! 

Swimming Pool

15-meter lap pool on the roof of Hotel Royal, and definitely a good spot for some sun-tanning. It's also a great location to catch the sunrise, without having to travel to another spot near the Chao Phraya River.

Pool rules.

Rooftop Bar

Great view of the surroundings. My advice would be; if you are scared of the Bangkok heat, please proceed to royal sky lounge. If not, this rooftop bar would be perfect for a drink, away from the noisy, squeezy night market at the street level. 

Misty, rainy morning on my last day.

Secret Hideout / True Rooftop

This passage might seem to be either a dead end or one that is inaccessible to non-staff members but trust me; you need to be braver, and push open the seemingly unwelcoming door.

A relaxing area beckoned; decked out with artificial turf and randomly placed bean bags! Correction, relaxing only at night as the day was simply too hot and suffering!

Towards the end was another staircase bringing you up to the true rooftop of Hotel Royal Bangkok! As mentioned in my previous paragraph, it's super nice in the evening and at night, with the vintage light bulbs all activated. If you are lucky enough, there might even be a cooling breeze.

I even brought my mom and sister to check out the space!

Day and night; while it wasn't a surrounding 360-degree panorama, you can still find iconic sights like  Wat Traimit (solid gold Buddha statue housed within), King Power Mahanakhon and the night food street right below us! 

This obviously didn't reflect the usual bustle of the night food street at Yaowarat! Purpose was actually to show you the proximity of Hotel Royal Bangkok and Ha Kee Lim Jing Heang, the shop where I will patronize every single trip to Bangkok! 

View of the swimming pool from the top level.

Could you spot ICONSIAM from the above photo? 

Apart from ICONSIAM, could you spot the Sathorn Ghost Tower? Being a fan of the paranormal, the tower's reputation has intrigued me for years although I doubt I will want to check it out now that I am no longer as young (and as daring) as before.

Training your eyes here.

Try to spot Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn!

Love this panorama that stretched with skyscrapers from end to end. The view from the other side was way tamer, since it's pretty near the Grand Palace. Tallest building appeared to be the Bangkok River Park Condominium.

Here's Bangkok River Park Condominium, against the backdrop of the beautiful sunset, taken over a few days. As expected, the rooftop bar was filled with people who would want to have a drink with the beautiful ball of fire going into its slumber.

Even I also can't resist although I did it on the true rooftop. Frankly, it seemed that many were either unaware that they could access this level or that it's just way more convenient to order, eat and drink at the rooftop bar. 

Time-lapsed video; one taken from the true rooftop and the others from Royal Sky Lounge. There's another one of sunrise I took from the swimming pool but it didn't turn out well. 

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Address

409-421/4, Yaowaraj Road (Chinatown)

Bangkok 10100, Thailand

Map

As above.

Website

http://www.hotelroyalbangkok.com/

Pricing

Deluxe Room - S$315.98 for six nights

Additional Information

Operating hours as above.