amazing thailand -> bangkok rawks!
Sa-wad-dee… Me, Terence & Nana just came back on a 4 day 3 nite 'shopping' tour to Bangkok, Thailand. Jean was supposed to come wth us but she just started work at SKIN boutique and so had to forgo the trip... but we still wished that Jean was with us every single moment of the trip... Nevertheless, here is my mini travelogue to record every step of the trip!
I fell in love with Bangkok instantly, so much so that i uploaded a very nice Thai song onto my blog! check out the song as it auto-plays! Isn't this guy's voice amazing? He's from a Thai band called Peacemaker and not bad-looking too!
On 21st July 2005, we arrived at the Changi airport at 0750hrs to check in at the ValuAir counter, and got nice window seats just in front of those Emergency Exit seats.
haha, we didn't choose them, but they were allocated to us. Our flight to Bangkok took two hours, and it ended with the cabin crew serenading us with a acapella 'Thank you for flying with Valuair' song! Not bad a gimmick for a budget airline!
Upon reaching Bangkok International Airport at 1110hrs, we took a taxi to Khao San Road, the hub of backpackers, foreigners and tourists just like us.
There were hordes of guest houses in that one road alone, and it was like a replica of Singapore's Geylang, Clarke Quay and Bugis combined together.
We felt so connected and at home in Khao San Road, cos it was so happening - thriving with activity and buzzing with people into the wee hours of the morning. Indeed, the song 'One Night In Bangkok' summarizes it all:
Bangkok, Oriental setting
And the city don't know that the city is getting
The creme de la creme of the chess world in a
Show with everything but Yul Brynner
Time flies - doesn't seem a minute
Since the Tirolean spa had the chess boys in it
All change - don't you know that when you
Play at this level there's no ordinary venue
It's Iceland... or the Philippines... or Hastings... or... or this place!
One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster
The bars are temples but the pearls ain't free
You'll find a god in every golden cloister
And if you're lucky then the god's a she
I can feel an angel sliding up to me
One town's very like another
When your head's down over your pieces, brother
It's a drag, it's a bore, it's really such a pity
To be looking at the board, not looking at the city
Whaddya mean? Ya seen one crowded, polluted, stinking town...
Get Thai'd! You're talking to a tourist
Whose every move's among the purest
I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine
One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble
Not much between despair and ecstasy
One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble
Can't be too careful with your company
I can feel the devil walking next to me
Siam's gonna be the witness
To the ultimate test of cerebral fitness
This grips me more than would a Muddy old river or reclining Buddha
And thank God I'm only watching the game, controlling it
I don't see you guys rating
The kind of mate I'm contemplating
I'd let you watch, I would invite you
But the queens we use would not excite you
When we reached Khao San Road after 45 mins on the highway, we were warmly welcomed... by this fella.
After we dumped our luggage at this backpackers' lodging called the CLASSIC INN (lol!), we immediately got on with some major shopping at Khao San Road itself.
We made sure we bargained hard for all our purchases and at the end of the first day, my shopping haul was worth around $2000 over baht! hehehe!
To reward ourselves for shopping so hard, Terence went to grab some Pad Thai which was tempting us a few streets away with its super delicious smell.
Before our first night in Bangkok ended, we headed a few shops away from our inn and turned into a corner to this place for a Thai massage, only costs $100 baht for half an hour! The masseuse was pressing my acupoints and making me itchy especially at the inner thigh and inner arm areas. Then she contorted my body into various positions and we were trying hard not to laugh our heads off... One power move she made - she bent my body backwards and I heard a "crack"! Oh my! My whole body must be really stiffened up from all the stress i've been facing in SG.
I had wake up calls courtesy from Terence & Nana every morning at 0830 hrs BKK time. What an effcient call service from them cos their method of waking me up was to make a ruckus in my ear and carrying me to the entrance of the attached bathroom... LOL.
On the 2nd day, we were itching for more shopping at Pratunum market. Spent about $4000 baht at this place! Had a massive headache as the air circulation inside the market was horrendous.
Went Pratunam Center 'food park' for lunch and found out that we needed to buy a coupon card to pay for our food orders, not unlike the game arcades in SG. Interesting way to make people spend more money as one will just subconsciously top up more into the card before buying anything to eat.
At night, back in Khao San, we chanced upon this intriguing 'Ladder Challenge' complete with a cheesy jingle that was blasting at full volume to attract trialists. The jingle goes like this: "1! 2! 3! 4! dingdelingdingdingding! dingdelingdingdingding! Ladies & gentlemen, come conquer the ladder, hot hot hot! Hit the bell and get a 1000 baht! *sings* Try..Try...Don't waste your time..." It was super hilarious! Ask me to sing it for you when u see me!
All 3 of us went to try this ladder out, it was immensely difficult cos the centre of gravity was positioned in such a way you will lose your balance if you do not know how to distribute your weight correctly. The owner, who looked like a character right out of a cowboy movie, could do it with no hands grabbing the poles, in approximately 5 seconds! Amazing i tell you!
After all that hard balancing work, we went to grab this best-in-the-world banana egg pancake with chocolate sauce and condensed milk on top. It's really yummy!
On the 3rd day, my joints hurt like hell after the ladder feat and i had bruised patches on my upper arm sustained from swerving and hitting myself on the ladder when i lost the balance. Geesh...
Still, we had already decided to chiong down to the Chatuchak / Jatujak ( 2 different spellings but same place) weekend market.
An area of almost ten football fields, Chatuchak has everything and anything under the sun. I had not been a crazy shopaholic for such a looonnnnnnnnnggggggggg time!
We roamed through all the shops under the scorching heat, probably close to 40 degrees. Perspired like a dripping pig in there, never felt more sticky in my life. Luckily this mouth-watering skewer of thai kebabs sold at the market made our day! It costs only $5 baht per stick and it was the best I ever had. At night, we had Meatball Noodle Soup and Omelette Rice - in a trueblue Thai roadside style - except that we don't squat like them when eating. Look how engrossed we are in our food.
Again, the local authentic taste is what you can NOT find in SG... *drool* And, LOOK what we saw being sold - deep fried larvae and grasshoppers!!! Anyone game for Thai Fear Factor?
There were many locals who commented that we looked Thai, maybe I should migrate to Thailand?? See how chummy I am with the locals.
I was feeling kind of guilty for the last 4 days. It has been eating, shopping, chilling, shopping, massages, shopping, and sleeping. But it was a good break considering how moody and mellow i was feeling before the trip.
And the unfortunate pickpocket of my mobile phone on our last day did not help any bit to sooth my nerves...SOB SOB!
When we reached the airport, after we struggled with the heavy luggages on the verge of tumbling down the trolley and after we checked in at the Thai ValuAir counter, we rushed to the Tourist Police to make my loss report so that I can submit the documents for my travel insurance claims.
When our flight time was drawing near, we ran around inside the departure hall like 3 mad chickens asking "where's gate 25? where's gate 25?", cos we had took our own sweet time to browse throught the 'King of Duty Free' zone. What a name, haha! Being a budget airline, the ValuAir aeroplane was parked in the furthest end of the wing.
All heaving and panting, and somewhat like running a baton race, we plonked our passports into the hands of the cute immigration officer, who had a head shot photo taken at his university convocation as the photo on his staff pass. Kewt!
While Terence & Nana were in their own lovey-dovey world, I stared out at the airplane window as it was moving along the runway, reminiscing on the best 4 holi-days so far in the year 2005.
As it came close to home ground, I knew I was going to miss Bangkok. Not so much for its shopping, but the rich culture, the friendliness of the Thais, which you can never experience back in Singapore.
Bangkok rawks. La-gon & laew-phob-kan-mai!
I fell in love with Bangkok instantly, so much so that i uploaded a very nice Thai song onto my blog! check out the song as it auto-plays! Isn't this guy's voice amazing? He's from a Thai band called Peacemaker and not bad-looking too!
On 21st July 2005, we arrived at the Changi airport at 0750hrs to check in at the ValuAir counter, and got nice window seats just in front of those Emergency Exit seats.
haha, we didn't choose them, but they were allocated to us. Our flight to Bangkok took two hours, and it ended with the cabin crew serenading us with a acapella 'Thank you for flying with Valuair' song! Not bad a gimmick for a budget airline!
Upon reaching Bangkok International Airport at 1110hrs, we took a taxi to Khao San Road, the hub of backpackers, foreigners and tourists just like us.
There were hordes of guest houses in that one road alone, and it was like a replica of Singapore's Geylang, Clarke Quay and Bugis combined together.
We felt so connected and at home in Khao San Road, cos it was so happening - thriving with activity and buzzing with people into the wee hours of the morning. Indeed, the song 'One Night In Bangkok' summarizes it all:
Bangkok, Oriental setting
And the city don't know that the city is getting
The creme de la creme of the chess world in a
Show with everything but Yul Brynner
Time flies - doesn't seem a minute
Since the Tirolean spa had the chess boys in it
All change - don't you know that when you
Play at this level there's no ordinary venue
It's Iceland... or the Philippines... or Hastings... or... or this place!
One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster
The bars are temples but the pearls ain't free
You'll find a god in every golden cloister
And if you're lucky then the god's a she
I can feel an angel sliding up to me
One town's very like another
When your head's down over your pieces, brother
It's a drag, it's a bore, it's really such a pity
To be looking at the board, not looking at the city
Whaddya mean? Ya seen one crowded, polluted, stinking town...
Get Thai'd! You're talking to a tourist
Whose every move's among the purest
I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine
One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble
Not much between despair and ecstasy
One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble
Can't be too careful with your company
I can feel the devil walking next to me
Siam's gonna be the witness
To the ultimate test of cerebral fitness
This grips me more than would a Muddy old river or reclining Buddha
And thank God I'm only watching the game, controlling it
I don't see you guys rating
The kind of mate I'm contemplating
I'd let you watch, I would invite you
But the queens we use would not excite you
When we reached Khao San Road after 45 mins on the highway, we were warmly welcomed... by this fella.
After we dumped our luggage at this backpackers' lodging called the CLASSIC INN (lol!), we immediately got on with some major shopping at Khao San Road itself.
We made sure we bargained hard for all our purchases and at the end of the first day, my shopping haul was worth around $2000 over baht! hehehe!
To reward ourselves for shopping so hard, Terence went to grab some Pad Thai which was tempting us a few streets away with its super delicious smell.
Before our first night in Bangkok ended, we headed a few shops away from our inn and turned into a corner to this place for a Thai massage, only costs $100 baht for half an hour! The masseuse was pressing my acupoints and making me itchy especially at the inner thigh and inner arm areas. Then she contorted my body into various positions and we were trying hard not to laugh our heads off... One power move she made - she bent my body backwards and I heard a "crack"! Oh my! My whole body must be really stiffened up from all the stress i've been facing in SG.
I had wake up calls courtesy from Terence & Nana every morning at 0830 hrs BKK time. What an effcient call service from them cos their method of waking me up was to make a ruckus in my ear and carrying me to the entrance of the attached bathroom... LOL.
On the 2nd day, we were itching for more shopping at Pratunum market. Spent about $4000 baht at this place! Had a massive headache as the air circulation inside the market was horrendous.
Went Pratunam Center 'food park' for lunch and found out that we needed to buy a coupon card to pay for our food orders, not unlike the game arcades in SG. Interesting way to make people spend more money as one will just subconsciously top up more into the card before buying anything to eat.
At night, back in Khao San, we chanced upon this intriguing 'Ladder Challenge' complete with a cheesy jingle that was blasting at full volume to attract trialists. The jingle goes like this: "1! 2! 3! 4! dingdelingdingdingding! dingdelingdingdingding! Ladies & gentlemen, come conquer the ladder, hot hot hot! Hit the bell and get a 1000 baht! *sings* Try..Try...Don't waste your time..." It was super hilarious! Ask me to sing it for you when u see me!
All 3 of us went to try this ladder out, it was immensely difficult cos the centre of gravity was positioned in such a way you will lose your balance if you do not know how to distribute your weight correctly. The owner, who looked like a character right out of a cowboy movie, could do it with no hands grabbing the poles, in approximately 5 seconds! Amazing i tell you!
After all that hard balancing work, we went to grab this best-in-the-world banana egg pancake with chocolate sauce and condensed milk on top. It's really yummy!
On the 3rd day, my joints hurt like hell after the ladder feat and i had bruised patches on my upper arm sustained from swerving and hitting myself on the ladder when i lost the balance. Geesh...
Still, we had already decided to chiong down to the Chatuchak / Jatujak ( 2 different spellings but same place) weekend market.
An area of almost ten football fields, Chatuchak has everything and anything under the sun. I had not been a crazy shopaholic for such a looonnnnnnnnnggggggggg time!
We roamed through all the shops under the scorching heat, probably close to 40 degrees. Perspired like a dripping pig in there, never felt more sticky in my life. Luckily this mouth-watering skewer of thai kebabs sold at the market made our day! It costs only $5 baht per stick and it was the best I ever had. At night, we had Meatball Noodle Soup and Omelette Rice - in a trueblue Thai roadside style - except that we don't squat like them when eating. Look how engrossed we are in our food.
Again, the local authentic taste is what you can NOT find in SG... *drool* And, LOOK what we saw being sold - deep fried larvae and grasshoppers!!! Anyone game for Thai Fear Factor?
There were many locals who commented that we looked Thai, maybe I should migrate to Thailand?? See how chummy I am with the locals.
I was feeling kind of guilty for the last 4 days. It has been eating, shopping, chilling, shopping, massages, shopping, and sleeping. But it was a good break considering how moody and mellow i was feeling before the trip.
And the unfortunate pickpocket of my mobile phone on our last day did not help any bit to sooth my nerves...SOB SOB!
When we reached the airport, after we struggled with the heavy luggages on the verge of tumbling down the trolley and after we checked in at the Thai ValuAir counter, we rushed to the Tourist Police to make my loss report so that I can submit the documents for my travel insurance claims.
When our flight time was drawing near, we ran around inside the departure hall like 3 mad chickens asking "where's gate 25? where's gate 25?", cos we had took our own sweet time to browse throught the 'King of Duty Free' zone. What a name, haha! Being a budget airline, the ValuAir aeroplane was parked in the furthest end of the wing.
All heaving and panting, and somewhat like running a baton race, we plonked our passports into the hands of the cute immigration officer, who had a head shot photo taken at his university convocation as the photo on his staff pass. Kewt!
While Terence & Nana were in their own lovey-dovey world, I stared out at the airplane window as it was moving along the runway, reminiscing on the best 4 holi-days so far in the year 2005.
As it came close to home ground, I knew I was going to miss Bangkok. Not so much for its shopping, but the rich culture, the friendliness of the Thais, which you can never experience back in Singapore.
Bangkok rawks. La-gon & laew-phob-kan-mai!
time was freezed on ... 5:27 PM
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