Khunnai likes to shop: a small but good cloth shop in Soi Ari

Dear fellow Khunnais,

It's my first weekend in Bangkok so I'd like to take it slow. But you never know when the chance to "shop" will come your way. Today it was my beloved cousin. She was kind enough to join me on my car search. Yes, today was supposed to be all about car search. But somehow shopping for dresses just crept in without me knowing it.

My cousin introduced me to her cheap-but-decent cloth shop. It's called "Nam Mon" (น้ำมนต์), a small shop in Soi Ari area close to her house. I didn't expect so much, really. But I have to say that there are many nice items and the price... oh the price... is really really great.

I wanted to take it easy, after all I just came back from Milan, the city of fashion. Well... I got 4 pieces, paying 1, 640 baht (around 41 euro). That's what I mean by taking it easy. Anyway, to substantiate my claim about this shop, here's what I got:

Left: A chiffon blouse with big bow and jump end. Right: An off-white skirt with dozens of roses.

Left: A bohemian dress in bright pink. Right: My most fav - a chiffon dress with multi-colored graphics.

It took about half an hour to get these four pieces, but it took only a brief moment to get back to the shopping mode. I guess you can't deny the Khunnai spirit deep inside of you.

Num Mon Shop (Booth 42)

Sahakorn Phranakorn (Soi Ari)

1215 Phaholyothin Road

Tel. +668 9024 1179

I hope you live a life you're proud of

I wanted to remind you
that you are cherished.
That all of the loving care directed to you,
was for your benefit.
It was to enable whatever contribution
you would choose to make
with the gift of life given to you.
I don’t know what your future holds.
I do know that you will be the sole proprietor
of whatever choices you decide to make,
and equally, for the choices you decide not to make.

However, know this,
understand it completely…

It is never too late,
to be whoever you want to be.
There is no time limit.
Start whenever you want.
You can change or stay the same.
There are no rules to this thing.
We can make the best
or the worst of it.
I hope you make the best of it.
I hope you see things that startle you.
I hope you feel things you’ve never felt before.
I hope you meet people who
have a different point of view.
I hope you live a life you’re proud of,
and if you’re not,
I hope you have the courage
to start all over again.

Life in Italy: The Original Soundtrack

Dear fellow Khunnais + music lovers,

Music has always and forever will be a part of my life, wherever I go. I always made compilations...since college years when I had double-deck cassette audio combo. Then CD compilations. Then came iTunes and iPod which lead to unlimited number of playlists. Interesting note is that I always received many compilations from many people.

Music is personal. Social. Stimulating. Soothing. Heart-wrenching. Touching. Philosophical. Entertaining. And it affects you differently depending on where, when, who you listen to with, and what is your context at that very moment. I cannot imagine my life without it. My world would be very unimaginative, dull, emotionless, and less inspiring.

In Milan, I don't have a car. Yes, Khunnais, I walk, a lot! Every day! And I always have my iPod/ iPhone on. Music is always on. And it makes my journey a little less boring, a little more colorful. I don't listen to radio anymore so the ways I discover new music are varied, from movies, reality singing contest, facebook links, youtube links, my own song that I didn't know I had.

As a farewell gift to my friends in Milano, I made a compilation I called "Life in Italy: The Original Soundtrack". It's the list of 20 songs I have come to love during the past 2.5 years. Some were from the movies I love (2 from 500 Days in Summer, 1 from Love Actually, 1 from Somewhere, 1 from Once). Some were from the singing in reality shows and I discovered the versions I love love. Some were from the songs I already had in my iTunes I didn't know I had. Some were from my favorite singer/songwriter (John Mayer, Jason Mraz, John Legend, Mika). Some were from the old time but absolutely classic (Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, the Smiths). Some were from facebook links (21 Guns during this year's Thailand uprising).

Most of them had personal message to me. The lyrics touched me somehow. Some of them were just plain beautiful. I omitted some songs that really meant a lot to me but would make the compilation too depressing (Praying for Time by George Michael, You Found Me by the Fray were among them). I also omitted all the jazz and opera stuffs coz they won't go together. Anyway, here is the list in a thoughtful order and youtube links to all of them. Let's listen to a my life in Italy together now...

01. Life Is Wonderful [Live from Amsterdam] Bonus track: Jason Mraz: We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things [Bonus Track Edition]

02. The Way I Am: Ingrid Michaelson: Girls and Boys

03. Everybody Knows: John Legend: Evolver

04. I'm Gonna Find Another You: John Mayer: Continuum

05. You Make My Dreams: Hall & Oates: (500) Days of Summer

06. You Know I'm No Good: Amy Winehouse: Back to Black

07. Man in the Mirror (Acoustic Version): James Morrison: Songs For You, Truths for Me (Deluxe Version)

08. Cry Me Out: Pixie Lott: Turn It Up

09. 21 Guns (feat. American Idiot Musical Cast): Green Day: American Idiot Musical Cast Collaboration

10. I'll Try Anything Once (You Only Live Once Demo): The Strokes: Heart in a Cage

11. Turn Your Lights Down Low (Live): Colbie Caillat: Coco

12. Lover Boy: Mika: The Boy Who Knew Too Much

13. Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology): Marvin Gaye: Marvin Gaye's Greatest

14. Falling Slowly: Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova: Once (Original Soundtrack)

15. St. Patrick's Day: John Mayer: Room for Squares

16. Just the Way You Are: Bruno Mars: Just the Way You Are - Single

17. Make You Feel My Love: Adele: 19

18. All You Need Is Love: Lynden David Hall: Love Actually (Original Soundtrack)

19. Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want: The Smiths: (500) Days of Summer

20. That's What Friends Are For: Stevie Wonder: Number 1's

Or watch the entire playlist on youtube:

The little blue box that captures the heart of every girl

Khunnais,

Yesterday I went to via della Spiga to bid a farewell, and bought some stuffs (like some Prada & Balenciaga bags) for others. One shop I went for myself was Tiffany & Co. I don't know how many times I passed it and never went in. How strange when I came to think of it.

Then again, yesterday I went there coz I got the little blue box as a farewell gift from my colleagues. Very thoughtful gift indeed. Bravi to them. The gifters mentioned to me a thousand times that I could exchange if I didn't like the model. And so I went to the shop to exchange it. Good that I did my homework. I went into the website, looked up that very model I got as a gift and looked up to the ones that I might want to exchange.

I came down to 3-4 models of necklaces. One was the famous open heart pendant. One was the thin Tiffany heart & key pendant. One was the peace & bird pendant. And one was the Return to Tiffany heart thick pendant. This really helped coz you wouldn't be able to look at every model once you are in the shop.

When I was there, there was a small queue inside the shop to get the salesperson's assistance. But I waited just a while. (I walked pass the shop one hour later and saw a very long queue even outside of the shop.) Then I asked for these models (with that many people, no way I can try more than 4-5 different models) and eventually settled for Return to Tiffany heart pendant. Very classic Tiffany. Love it. Can't believe how the little blue box can make me so happy and feel a little like Audrey Hepburn. Then I thought... that's the brand experience Tiffany is able to capture. How powerful.

Then I looked around. I noticed that there were barely a single customer like me. Mostly they were either mom buying for daughter, boyfriend buying for girlfriend with girlfriend choosing, boyfriend buying for girlfriend as a gift. Coz even a crazy shopaholic like me wouldn't buy a 200-euro silver necklace for myself on an impulse. Tiffany is a brand largely built on a gifting buying motive. The entry level products are not too expensive to buy as a gift, but too expensive to buy by yourself. Since you want to have it, but never buy it yourself, you always secretly (or openly) want someone to buy it for you. What a great marketing scheme that is!

Anyway, I'd like to shamelessly say that I'm also one of the victims. It's so cute...the necklace, the small little blue pouch holding it, the little blue box, and the white ribbon, oh the white ribbon. Someone might argue it's just an ordinary silvery necklace that is insanely overpriced. I suggest you watch "Breakfast at Tiffany's", and you'll understand better the preciousness of the little blue box.

Thousand Euro bag & Six Euro cream

I'm counting down to go back home. Less than one week to go now. Very excited. But this also means I'm leaving Milano for good. It's bittersweet, really. Now that I really have to go. I always said that I'm not super in love in Milan. But I have to admit that there have been lots of memories in the past 2.5 years...

But today I'm just gonna talk about one thing. One thing that I don't know where else I would find it outside of Milan. Today I went shopping for my friends, my mom & my sister. Nothing for myself (coz I've been doing that for the past 2.5 years), only for this one thing. It's the cream for the many bags I've been secretly collecting for the past years. Well, I've paid so much for them, I guess taking great care of them isn't really a bad idea.

The thing is what would be THE cream that can take care such bags. I discovered this when I bought my white deer-skin Prada 2.5 years back. Prada salesperson recommended me to this shop. It is a secret shoe shop in Via Cerva. The shop is almost 50 years old, at least 2 generations of shoe repairers. It's such a cool place, really. I mean, who else would know how to take care of leather better than Italians, right?

The cream is called Meltonian Delicate Cream. The small jar costs 6.5 Euro. It is colorless so you can use with any colored bags. It is suitable for all leathers (calf, deer, ostridge, python) except for suede. New or vintage. It's very soft, and very delicate (thus the name). I've used up my first jar, so I went there to stock one big 15 Euro jar, and bought 2 more for my friends.

How to do it is very easy. You use a good quality cotton cloth to clean your bag with the cream. Leave it for 15 minutes, then polish the bag with another finer cotton cloth. This time I also bought the cloths. And the shoe cream. And the shoe brush. (Just wanna make sure that I'm well packed to take care of all the bags & shoes even when I'm leaving Milano.) Don't be in a panic mode if you cannot buy this cream, however. I heard from my fellow Khunnai gals that you can equally use your creamy facial cleanser to clean your leather bags. Coz it's also made of skin after all. Just never ever scratch it, coz unlike your skin, it's dead. So it won't regenerate itself.

But if you get a chance to come to Milan, do stop by this nice little shop. You'll be in the shop where all Milanese go for their shoe-repairing related, as well as the genuine care instructions from the very shoe repairers. Trust me, your thousand euro bag deserves some very delicate cream and lots & lots of love.

TURI

Via Cerva 19, Milano

Tel. +39 0276002947

When Khunnai upgrades to be iKhunnai

In the age of iTune, iPod, iPad, iPhone, and many other i, Khunnai like yourself probably wants to be techie & cool & known as iKhunnai. Well, now you can. Thanks to the geekiness that lies within this very Khunnai who is writing this blog.

I’ve been using iPhone for over 3 months now. And I have to say, now it’s gonna sound a bit like someone falling in love, that I don’t know how I had lived without my iPhone. So now I’m gonna list the programs that I love, love, love. I think they are so chic, chic, chic. Plus most of them are free, free, free.

QuadCamera

4 out of 5 iPhone female users use iPhone to take pix. 5 out of 5 iPhone female users who have QuadCamera love QuadCamera. Of course this is just my own makeup stats, but trust me, it’s very much so. What can I say? It’s fun, it’s cute, it’s creative. And most of the time, you look great (since you are divided into 4 or 8, so you won’t see so much of you -- that must make you look better!). It’s like the photo sticker machine we had 10 years ago, only that now you can take as many as you want for free, whoopee!

Wikipanion

Don’t ask. iKhunnai is a little geeky sometimes. She needs to be knowledgeable of the world around her. And how else is yet a better style than reading the world’s largest, cheapest (coz it’s free!) online encyclopedia like wikipedia, on the go! The snap here shown Henry VIII which was my last subject of study coz I just finished watching The Other Boleyn girl, yet another subject I just Wikied before going to bed last night (I wanted to know how real was the substance in the movie compared to the real history). No I don’t have that much of free time, but British royalty is of interest for everyone, especially an iKhunnai!

Toptable

One of the happiest things to do in life is to eat well. Every Khunnai knows that. Every iKhunnai knows that you can eat well anywhere, any time thanks to Toptable that allows you to find great resto nearby across Europe and allows you to "book" by a simple click away. The super duper cool thing about Toptable is that you can find the resto based on where you are -- so you can do that on the go, or based on where you want to search -- so you can plan up yr trip. What's more? You can 'see' the 'look' of the resto -- every Khunnai wants to know what the resto looks like before she enters. There are sample menu for you to peek. It also gives you the opening dates & hours, address, phone no. It has a built-in map. You can book by a simple click, and there is discount in some resto!!

Vogue Stylist

The minute I knew Vogue has an app on iPhone, I thanked someone up above. I don't know about you, but I'm one of those girls who buy fashion magazines to look at the ads. They keep me updated with the latest offers from everyone. And now all of them are on this app! Plus more! There are latest trends and looks that you can choose to see bags, dresses, perfumes, and makeups that accompany with that particular trend. I don't care if people say that it is advert in disguise. Of course it is. Duh! Who cares. Every fashion mag is just like that. You think us girls buy a fashion mag to read book reviews? There are links to fashion shows, other items in that collections, or to directly buy the items. Heaven, isn't it?

Time Mobile

Who says us Khunnais don't need to know about news? It's just that it's such a hassle to buy a newspaper, go through the long article just to realize that the gist of it is just 3 lines long. News magazine is expensive, so we'd rather buy a fashion mag. It's much thicker, talking about value for money! Time app is free. And it already digests news for us. It's news analysis on the go. It's shorter. It's prettier too, which is a good plus. I can skim thru all the happenings in 10 seconds. And it's got videos & clips. So now you news agencies out there, if you want to get me, you'd better be free, concise, and pretty.

Slidz

This app requires someone who is geeky enough to put together the pix, the songs, the app; who is also quirky enough to have so many pix and so many songs. Or I could just say.. it was made for me? I'd the pix from my facebook albums and take the songs from my iPhone playlists. And boom... I got a slideshow. And who is the audience? Of course, I am the biggest fan of my own pix and my own songs! Well, it's a cool app to show off to yr friends too!

Palringo/Meebo

There are many apps that combine all communicator apps together, meaning that you are online all the time. You can log into facebook, gchat, msn, yahoo, aol, tweeter, and you-name-it all in 1 go. And which Khunnai wouldn't want to stay forever connected? It's not about invasion of privacy. Coz I didn't say that you have to always answer. But knowing that someone sends you a message gives you power to reply... or simply not. But you will always get the message, get it? Palringo is cool coz you get to send voice mssg and pix mssg to anyone. Meebo is more stable, and keeps chat history for you. So install both, they're both free anyway.

Guess I can't finish the list of iKhunnai apps in one blog. So till we meet next time, keep iPhoning. Bye for now, iKhunnai!

Outlet shopping with Khunnai

Dear Khunnais,

I miss fellow khunnais so much, and apologize for having disappeared for quite some time! You know, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do! I've been busy going to parties after parties, going to numerous eating trips, sight seeing trips. Then after Christmas been busy going back to Thailand .. shopping, massage, eating, partying, more shopping. Really... I mean... busy buying presents for myself! What a difficult life!

So now I'm back. It's freezing & snowing outside. What would be better than writing to all my fans...yes, all fellow khunnais out there. Plus there is no American Idol or Grey's Anatomy tonight (and Kru Kook is already over). So I figured, to come back, I have to come back big. What's bigger in life than shopping?

No... that doesn't sound right! OK, let's try again. What's bigger in life than shopping fabulous designer handbags at discount? Now we're talking!

But I know that I'm not talking to a typical person but I'm talking to a shopping guru like you, Khunnai. So a shopping guru like yourself would know that 90% of the time you cannot find decent things at the outlets. Most stuffs are outdated, oversized, just plain leftovers that nobody but those who fall prey to "discounted prices". But a super guru like yourself would know too that there are a handful ones that is worth our time & effort. Today Khunnai will take you to two of them. They are close to each other so you can manage to visit them both in one trip.

The first one is simply called "The Mall" [Via Europa 8, 50060 Leccio Reggello, Florence, Italy]. It sits on the beautiful hills of Tuscany. So if you go in spring or summer, you will really enjoy the scenery. What I love about this place is that there are not that many shops, around 20 shops in total. So you can easily manage to see every single one of them if you'd like. Because every single one of them is absolutely worth checking. The quality of shop lineup is incomparable. Just incomparable to any place else.

Shopping with tuscany scenery as a backdrop

OK, here is the lineup: Bottega Veneta, Burberry, Fendi, Armani, Pucci, Ferragamo, Tod's, Hogan, Sergio Rossi, Marni, Ermenegildo Zegna, Valentino, Yves Saint, La Perla, Loro Piana, Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, and of course Gucci.

I can guarantee you that each shop has enough space to carry numerous items that will make your wallet lighter. But it's not just space, the assortment is great. You would find stuff that were sold in the actual store in the previous seasons there, and there are great stuffs to buy, unlike typical outlets where they are just stuffs nobody wants. If you are a fan of Italian brands, this is absolutely a must.

I'm not a big Gucci fan, but this tote is too me to not have it.

But if you a big fan of Prada (and Miu Miu to some extent), then listen, listen very carefully. SPACE is where you want to be [Levanella Spacceo, Strada Statale 69, Montevarchi, Italy]. SPACE is the name of the outlets for all Prada and its other brands sell stuffs from previous seasons. I don't know how many outlets Prada have in the world. I've been to four of them. And this one in Florence is the best of them all. Don't ask me how many times I've been to SPACE. Don't ask me how many things I got from there. These questions are irrelevant! I'm here to spread the goodness, so no judgment needed, oki?

SPACE is the size of a football field. Or bigger even. Just know that it's so big your eyes will pop, your feet will turn cold, and your hands won't stop trembling. It has a-b-s-o-l-u-t-e-l-y e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g! Leather bags of calf skin, or the famous wonderfully soft & light deer skin, or exotic & rare snake or crocodile skin. Cloth bags. Cloth bags + Leather deco. All these in all styles: Tote, Shoulder, Hobo, Satchel (messenger), clutch. Or wallet, cosmetic bag, traveling bag, card holder, etc etc etc.

The first of many to follow. Once you start, it's kinda addictive you know!

Have I mentioned shoes? You know... the likes of ballerinas, pumps, flat heels, high heels, very high heels, boots, in colors you don't even imagine available. Oh sunglasses. Dresses. Tops. Skirts. Coats. Down jackets. Ties. Belts. Suits. Evening gowns. Perfume. Face cream. Key chains. Scarfs. I'm tired just typing.

A messenger bag that fits with everything & anything. My all-time trip companion.

So yes. If you are the devil that enjoys a bit of discount, it's the dream comes true. If you are not, it's the perfect place to start. Just bring lots of credit cards (with available credit), and passport for tax refund opportunity (>154 Euro, you can get 12% back).

Viper. The last one to add to the family. Ultimate bargain really!

But again, we are talking about outlet not a paradise. Of course you won't be lucky every time and find everything you want. The trick is to go there now & again, just to check what's available. Just know that it usually stores the stuffs of the same season but from 1 year before for clothes, but for bags, usually 1 or 2 seasons before. And know that during the mega sales period, the stuffs at outlet would have discount on top of outlet prices.

Enjoy shopping. At the end of the day, "those who loves themselves can truly love others."

NB: All bags featured are from the mentioned outlets. The behavior is individualistic. Please carefully think through before taking any major decision.