A little farewell note from Beary Good and Nice...

A Little Farewell Note from Beary Good and Nice... Dear Beary friends, After some 5 amazing years, our two precious outlets: A Beary Good Hostel @ Pagoda Street and Beary Nice! Hostel @ Smith Street will no longer be in operation.  :(  In the past weeks - we have sent over hundreds of emails reaching out to our beloved guests with existing bookings at Beary Good and Beary Nice with news on this.  As communicated in the mail, existing guests may rest assured that their booking(s) will continue to be honoured at the same price either at Beary Best Hostel @ Upper Cross Street or at the existing original locations by the new operator - Burrow Hostels whom we have been working very closely with in the past months.  Understandably, you might have further questions or concerns so please feel free to reach out directly to us. The Care Bears team shall remain sincerely at your service. :) The decision to put "Beary Good" and "Beary Nice" into indefinite hibernation was a difficult one. Nevertheless it was also very necessary, in our opinion.  It came as we reflect hard on all your feedback and pondered on what has made Beary... Good... Nice... and Best the last 5 years. We were reminded of the simple values Beary was founded on and it became clear that the time has come for us to re-organize ourselves, go back to basic and focus on what matters most for backpackers and budget travellers.  We will have the chance to showcase our efforts and beary fresh ideas at our flagship hostel: Beary Best! (the sole surviving Beary... until we get it right!). Improvements will come in gradually but surely. We are already excited just thinking of it! Finally - we would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation for your support at Beary Good and Beary Nice! through the past 5 years.  Your continued patronage is the very reason why we are around!  See you now at Beary Best hostel! 5 years ago  we set out to build a little hostel  that we think will be just good enough... If you have photos taken at Beary Good and Beary Nice! we would love to have them posted on our Facebook page. Please like us and post the photos here: https://www.facebook.com/abearygoodhostel Warmest regards, Care Bears!

3rd Anniversary.

how time files...

Beary Good turns 3years old today! (:

so we had a mini celebration with pizzas and a few drinks.

nom nom nommm.

allan the lead dancer in his purple wig. all geared up for the harlem shake?

if you've miss the video on our facebook page, then check it out!

our super duper spontaneous guests and hosts doing the harlem shake.

this harlem shake is contagious!

ta-dahhhh. we present you v.2 @ Beary Best! :D

Check out Beary Best website... NOW!

In what must be a world record for the longest time taken to update a website...

we are now pleased to announce that Beary Best! pages are now LIVE!

Wohoooo!

Pardon us for the delay... it's just that we were getting so much (funny) feedback from our panda in progress pages that we half wanted to leave the site as it is for good. 

Haha~ Well we are keeping the snapshots here anyway for good old memory sake.

=)

Check out Beary Best! here! https://www.abearygoodhostel.com/bearybest/about.htm

Yummy Toothpaste Oreo! Happy April Fools' Day!

Put a lazy Sunday and April’s Fool day together... and you’ll get a bunch of restless guys up to no good. What’s April 1 without some delicious and healthy prank right?

Well, being the uncreative and unimaginative people that we are... we took inspiration from a radio DJ and decided to embark on the age old oreo toothpaste prank!

Ummm... well actually it’s the other way around! We should call it toothpaste oreo!

Read on to find out!

After some serious shopping, we finally found the two ingredients! It was surprisingly difficult to find normal oreos in Chinatown – the shops seem to stock a lot of those chocolate and berry ones these days.

And so we set off to create our own toothpaste oreos!

STEP 1: Prepare the cookies

Carefully unpack the cookies. Gently twist to open the cookie up.

Now scrap the cream off. No licking at this point. Remember, Hygiene is beary important... even on April Fools' Day!

Voila...

STEP 2: Replace the yummy cream with equally yummy toothpaste!

This is where the toothpaste comes in… but just as we started, we were hit with our first setback!!

While we were careful to look for the original oreos with white cream... we overlooked the toothpaste part?!! IT’s NOT WHITE! @#$@#@$

(Why is it so difficult to find NORMAL oreos and NORMAL toothpaste these days?!)

Well not a problem that 3 smart guys can’t solve. After scavenging around for leftover toothpaste in the hostel, we finally made a quick trip to the pharmacy next door and bought the classic white toothpaste.

We are back in business!

A little squeeze, and gently twist the cookies back together.

...let out your best evil laughter!

Step 3: Let the toothpaste settle... and in the mean time... do some real work like checking in guests...

Leave the oreos in the fridge for an hour to allow the toothpaste to harden...

Then try to spot the difference... One of this is an original oreo. J

In the mean time… Haykel helps himself with the cream. Nothing goes to waste in this prank…

Step 4: Find a victim!

Here’s the easy part. Know any naïve and hungry people around you? We know of TWO!

And so we made a visit first to Beary Nice! where chirpy Nami was busy camwhoring with a guest.

She actually asked to be fed btw… so that’s Haykel’s hand feeding her…

See the wonderful reaction!

And it gets easier at this point. Recruit the first victim and use her to get the second victim! (isn’t that how most vampire movies work anyway)

And off we went to A Beary Good Hostel… where a starving Jeanna gratefully feed herself with 2 “oreos”!

The nice minty effect seem pretty consistent!

Mission Accomplished! Happy April Fool’s Day everyone!

Disclaimer: Please do not attempt to recreate any of this. And even if you do so, please use good dentist recommended toothpaste in small quantities. =)

Golden Land Of Myanmar

I vaguely recall fond memories of my past trips to Yangon, Myanmar when I was a child. We’ll always tag
along with my mother to the uncountable number of houses and be fed like royalty since we do not always get to see our relatives. Briyani, chicken tied up like a pretzel, coconut gravy noodles, mango salad, and the food never seems to stop coming.

Rice Dishes

 We’ll take a beat-down car and drive down the winding streets with numerous potholes and once you peer out of the window to take in the smog-covered air, you’ll see numerous betel-leaf stalls surrounded by men with blood-red lips, you’ll see women balancing trays of food on top of their heads, you’ll see teenagers rolling up their sarongs up to their thighs and playing Chinlone which is something like Sepak Takraw, you’ll  see children playing by the streets without a care in the world.

Roadside Betel Leaf stall

Game of Chinlone (Sepak Takraw)

During my most recent trip, I went to visit my grandmother in the village. I sat at the back of a van and it was a long bumpy ride. We stopped near a railway station and you can see that the place is sprawling with commuters perhaps trying to get to work in the downtown area. There is also a market and my brother and I witnessed a chicken seller haggling with a woman holding a chopper in his hand. It was a new experience for me but everyone seemed to carry on without even a single concern. I guess that happens regularly.

Myanmar roadside Market

Myanmar, though it seems very inaccessible and isolated from the rest of the world, is actually rather travel-friendly. Of course it will be better if you had a Burmese speaker with you but many people can actually get by with basic English in the city area. Always remember to pack light because you can buy anything from the Scotts Market and it beats having to lug a heavy luggage around. Most shops allow haggling so go ahead and ask for discounts. Just remember to be polite. Visit the Shwe Dagon Pagoda and the most important thing is to have an open mind. Be humble and take in as much culture and heritage as you want. Learn to appreciate the simple things in life and you too will be able to enjoy your trip to Myanmar as much as I did.

Shwe Dagon Pagoda