My Bangkok trip- 8-9 Sep 2007

Christy, J and myself rushed off to Bangkok with only 2-days of planning, discussion and reservations. It was an amazing and good trip with them!

8 Sep 2007- Sat

Upon arrival and checking in our luggage in our hotel, Bangkok City Suite. This hotel was nearly the 4th or 5th hotel we booked with rooms available, the rest were fully booked! The location is pretty central and i only paid S$33.00 per night.

We head straight to Siam Centre for lunch looking for Zen restaurant, which was raved for its cheap and fresh sashimis and scallops! And hey, i saw this poster on our way there. The OoTP is still being broadcasted in Bangkok. I quickly jumped in front of the poster and pose for a photo, because that was just my natural reaction toward anything magical! Haha.

The search for Zen was easy. We had a fulfilling meal of the much-raved food and with a Chawamushi and Greentea ice cream with red bean paste. Yummy! You can find these Zen Japanese restaurants at MKB, Siam centre as well as the World Trade centre.

Our next stop was the Chatuchak Weekend market. The best way to get there is by the skytrain which we did, from Siam station to Mo Chit Station for B39 (S$1.76) per pax and realised a cab ride there for 4pax would cost around the same price. Finding our way there from the station is easy - just follow the large crowd of people that will also be heading to/from there. The opening hours for the market are from 9.00am to 6.00pm on Saturday and Sunday, though many of the stalls actually open sometime between 9.00am and 10.00am and close around sunset.

A map of the market. And we walked around the area thats mainly colouredin red. Its very hot in there and the sweltering heat and poor ventilation can kill! Things are not exactly very cheap and the weather sucks, we regreted going there actually, and that time can be more well spent else where. PASS for the next time.

We den adjoruned to Pratunam Market area and Platinum Mall area where we did most of shopping in.This mall is a wholesale mall, so if you buy three items or more, the price you pay is about 30% lower per piece. Four floors of women's clothing and accessories - and it tooked us 3 hours to walk 2 stretches of shops (the walkway is really long and the mall filled with countless shops!- a shopping paradise!)

We had dinner at Nam Shing Restaurant at Chinatown (Cab ride there costed B200, lucky us, managed to get one for B150 only).

Yummydelicous the food were!!!~~ The food here is so nice and afffordable, i wont forget after my trip! We tried the sharksfins soup, birdnest soup, black pepper crabs, sambal kangkong and the ribs for merely S$40.00. The food is guranteed nice+ chop stamp!

After a full dinner, we end our day by heading for our foot reflex and thai massage, drifting off to sleep....also at a very affordable rate of S$20.00.

The next day- 9 Sep 2007 (Sunday)

We had breakfast in the hotel and prepared to checkout. I brought one hand-held bag and one backpack there and retuned with a pinky suitcase full of my stuffs. But Christy was worst! She went there with smaller hand-held bag den mine and a backpack smaller and lighter den mine, and returned to SIN with 2 purple suitcases!

My travelling companions! Chris, J and myself.

We head for the Erawan Shrine. where the 4 Face Buddha was. The Erawan Shrine was full of local and foreign merit makers. People come here to wish for good luck. If their wish comes true then they offer the spirit things like wooden elephants, flowers and food. They also pay for traditional Thai dancers to perform for the spirits. This is a great place to sit and watch the activity for a while. It is also a great place to enjoy Thai dancing for free!

Bangkok is known as the Venice of the East. Sure or not? All i can see in the Chao Praya river was Milo-Bing! - Our next stop. We took a cab to the pier nearest to us (Oriental Pier) to take the Chao Praya Express Boat to the Tha Chang Pier, where the Grand palace was. It was easily accessible by boat and a walk through the market around the pier and out onto the plaza flanked by old shophouses. The long white wall of the Grand Palace is across the street on your right and you can't really miss it.

The sun was scorching hot and so painful on the skin. 15 mins under Bangkok's sun gets me so tanned. Even better den 2-days under Bintan's sun. Just when i thought Chatuchak's was bad, the tour around the Grand Palace under the sun was the ultimate!

Opening hours: 8.30 to 3.30 daily and admission fee is B250 (S$11.25). There are also free guided tours in English available at 10:00, 10:30, 1:30 and 2:00. You can also rent your own audio guide for 100 baht.

I had to change into this Kebaya because you had to be completly clothed when inside the palace. KRUP!!!

Brief history abt the Grand Palace: For just about 150 years, Bangkok's Grand Palace was not only the home of the King and his court, but also the entire administrative seat of government. Within the crenelated walls were the country's war ministry, state departments, and even the mint. Thai Kings stopped living in the palace full time around the turn of the twentieth century, but the complex remains the seat of power and spiritual heart of the Thai kingdom.

Beautiful this place! I took tons of photos with the gold plated walls and statues. We followed the free guided tour for 20 mins and surrendered. Simply too hot, although the story and history were very interesting. I will definitely visit the Palace the next time im there, and fully equiped with lighter dressing, a cap, UV sunglass, umbrella and chill ice water in my bag.

We ended the day by doing some light shopping. We were hot and our feet were beginning to ache and are dying to head home.

Well, that was the end of our 2-days tour. I don’t think you would want to do much more than that. Maybe spend more time doing manicure, pedicures, massages and spa and more shopping in one of the local shopping malls like Central World or Siam Paragon. Maybe even watch a movie, OoTP perhaps in Thai, COOL! And if you are Sean, maybe an authentic Muay Thai at one of the boxing stadiums.

Much raved things to do in BKK:
Thai massage
Manicure and pedicure
Visit the Grand Palace and Wat Arun
School of massage at Wat Pho
Chao Phraya river cruise
Cabaret show at Asia Hotel

Much raved Stuff to buy in BKK:
Ponds magic powder or Bio Naturel Face powder at Watsons
Anything from Boots pharmacy
Anything imitation
Lingerie (at all major departmental stores)

Cheers, Cel

***

Shun told me the name of the transformer that’s killed by Megatron is call Deadgaton. Sure or not? I think he anyhow bom and tell me this name, becuz hes dead...dats why DEADgaton.

So wads the name of the transformer thats being teared apart by Megatron in the movie?