that nite it rained. i guess songkran this year wasn't really necessary huh?
the next day, we were early. we've planned our trip the first nite.. with the help of the maps of course. we went to siam square area to look for a travel agent. we wanted to book a day tour to the famous floating market. little that we know.. in Bangkok shops are opened only at 11 am. cause they closed up really late.. like midnite..
note to self: don't wake up too early :) and please stay up late. it's encouraged here in Bangkok. :P
many maps of bangkok and info on its main attractions are available at the airport and hotels..in Bangkok it's so easy to go anywhere.. and everywhere.. cause you have the choices. you can take the train (there are two - BTS and Metro i think.. can't remember.. we only took BTS) and if u stay in the silom and sukhumvit area, it's even better. try to find a place damn close to the stations. it'll save you a lot. there's also the tuk tuk.. i learned a new phrase "bai ran si ta tai" have no idea what it means, but there's this thai guy we met at siam square while looking for a travel agent that taught us that. he told us to say that to the tuk tuk driver if we'd like to get their service and pay them by the hour. and it'll only cost 40B per hour. so we took up that service to go to the TAT.. Tourism of Thailand.. not sure what TAT stands for tho.
TAT is not that far from Siam Square, but too far to walk to the place. besides, Bangkok is a huge city, the roads are big.. you don't wanna take the cab, cause it'll cost you a lot just to sit in the cab for an hour cause the cab won't be able to move. traffic jam is a norm here in Bangkok. so the old man took us to TAT. we bought a day tour at 2900B to the floating market, the bridge of river kwai and the tiger temple. what a rip off! according to the other tour members they were only charged like 1600B per pax for this trip. ciss bedebah! grr..
then the pakcik took us to MBK to shop. he said for girls like us, it's safer to shop here at MBK. we were bored at MBK, i guess we went to the wrong side of MBK huh?
TAT, the agent that "pow"ed our money.. isk isk...
bai ran si ta tai.. 40B per hour.. hehe...so we decided to have lunch at Mak Yah Restaurant. it's located near the Ratchatewi Station. had nasi goreng kampung with seafood. and lychee ice-blended for lunch. normi took rice, with ikan masak lemak. we also ordered kerabu mangga. the kerabu was fantastic. a bit spicy for my taste buds. lunch costs about 220B. not bad, considering it's really tasty
we did our solat at the darul aman mosque just behind the restaurant, and then walked to pratunam area to shop.
pratunam is about 10 minutes walk from Mak Yah Restaurant. it's really hot. it's 2 pm when we reached pratunam. there were so many people, pork ball sold everywhere.. and the smell was just erkk.. i almost vomitted a couple of times. i think it's the heat plus the smell. i didn't really buy much. bought t-shirts for Man, Snul and Haris. looked for Rid's Thai's men traditional pants, but didn't find any... and by 4 pm, i was all ready to get out. i guess normi was too.. she seemed cranky. me.. normal la cranky like that.. so we tried to find our way out. the market was really huge. i can't imagine going to chatuchak market. that'd be hell for me
beli normi jangan tak beli... hahaha
we reached the hotel safely... phew! it's only 4:30 pm when we reached the hotel. so we showered and took a short nap. then it rained. again! it was still raining when we went out for dinner. had dinner at pizza hut. kenyang bhaii...
the third day, we had to wake up really early. the day trip that we purchased starts at 6:30 am. we thought the driver would have a hard time looking for it... turned out he was sharp. i just got out of the shower when he arrived hahahah.. wore my pink shirt and took my favorite hat with me. the hat i had for 10 years. we picked a couple from switzerland from what i think is indian town, there's a masjid haron near their hotel. then some backpackers from khao sarn road area.
our tour guide can speak english pretty well, and he's been to malaysia so many times. but we only had him for half a day. the rest of the day, we were sent to places and walked on our own.
our first stop was floating market. damn it's dirty.. and icky. the long tailed speed boat was really low, that the water kept splashing onto us. yuck... note to self: never go here again on a boat. take the cab or bus instead. cleaner.. we then paid another 150B to ride the sampan. this one ok.. no more water splashing. the color of the water wasn't even teh tarik.. it's more like ermm.. dark brown.. ewww... i bought a bag made of thai songket ... cost me 450B. ok la.. bought it for mama.. meantime can use it to put the souvenirs in :) after the boat ride, normi and i walked around and normi bought some souvenirs for her colleagues. i didn't buy anything.. sorry awi hehe.. forgotten about u there. took lots of pictures here.. despite the dirty water, the colors from the goods sold here are fantastic. took some of my best photos here..
then we were taken to lunch. having normi around is a blessing. they told normi, no pork was served except chicken. so we only ate the veges and the eggs. nice .. we then were taken to the north east of bangkok where the bridge of river kwai was located. there's a jeath museum nearby but we didn't have time to get in. we were given an hour. and the hour was spent to walk across the river kwai, and take pictures and also to buy a t-shirt cause apparently, the tiger temple are not accessible if u wear red, pink and yellow clothes.. damn. so more t-shirts for Man la ni hahaha..
the tiger temple looks like a wild safari. the only difference is, there animals in there are ermm.. limited. there are only deers, wild boars, peacock, goats, and tigers. i know weird combination. the only carnivores are the tigers. hehe.. we went to take pictures with the tigers. the photo session is inclusive in the ticket price except here you take pictures using your own camera and .. oh yea... you cannot wear tudung. poor normi.. she couldn't get near to the tigers. and then the volunteers there told us that the baby tigers are accessible. so we went looking for the baby tigers. alas, half way, the monks told us to clear the area cause the tigers are using the path we were taking to go back to their cage.. lair or whatever. i forgot to ask where they sleep at nite. the parade took about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes. and by the time it's over, i was really tired. and really wanted to get out of there. normi was really disappointed. poor girl.
we went back to bangkok, and since we were the last people in the van, we asked the driver to take us to Mak Yah Restaurant. had our last dinner here.. had ikan with kerabu mangga on top, fish fritters and tomyam campur. yummy.. we finished our meal and went back to the hotel. was still tired but we knew that if we went straight back to the hotel, we'd just sleep the nite away. so we made a quick stop at the patpong night market. funny we didn't see the night market the first nite we were here. it's a huge market, but less crowded than pratunam. there are men offering me tickets to the tiger show.. hello.. you think i'm interested? looked for rid's pants. it's really expensive. they offered me at 650 a piece. managed to get 3 per 1000B. bought extra for myself. normi continued her shopping spree. i was really tired and really broke.. hehe.. wanted to change currency but normi asked what if i don't wanna shop anymore, then it'll be a waste! so i walked around and then we found the same exact pants at 199 a piece. ciss.
ni yang marah ni.. they even had a shorter version, 2-color pulak tu. isk.. double .. we haggled and asked for 2 for 300B. reluctantly he sold it at 2 for 300B.. one each .. 
i went back happy, cause got everything i needed.. and that nite we paid each other up.. and slept soundly. kroh kroh.. zzzzzz...
we woke up really late. knowing that it's our last day. packed our bags and at about 10:30 we went down with our bags to check out. our flight wasn't till 6:30 pm so we decided to go for another run at MBK. wanted so much to know why girls loved the shopping mall so much. it was a heavenly outlet where you can find almost whatever you look for at the night market minus the smell, plus the aircond. only here.. you get it cheap without even have to bargain. the pants.. the long ones.. are sold at 199B. and the short ones are sold at 99B. ciss. the t-shirts here are sold at 99B. i got it at 130B in pratunam.. grrr...
bought one more pants, t-shirts for aya, her baby and ica, a purse for mama and i lost my favorite hat. hmm.. by lunch time was already beat.. wanted so badly to go back to the hotel to rest. so we did... we checked our emails, the facebook, and the cab came 1 hour earlier than scheduled.checked in, and found out that the flight was delayed for an hour. my phone is barred i guess because of the internet use. hmm.. hehee.. and starving to death. we went looking for the food court and was shown by a book shop assistant.. and found the muslim prayer room. coolness! just outside the prayer room, there's a halal food stall.. luckily we were hungry.. cause the food stall was just next to a stall selling pork balls. isk.. what is it with thais and their pork balls? we hung out at the airport till about 6:50 pm and went through the customs. realized it's already maghrib when we found another prayer room. double coolness. prayed and and went straight to the departure gates..our departure gate was Fsomething.. just outside the gate, there's a kebab restaurant.. halal some more. but the service was really slow.. so we canceled our plans to eat there.. and walked straight to the gates. normi bought a book, so she continued reading the book, while i played with my camera. only at 8:30 pm we boarded the flight.
we arrived at about 11:30pm. went straight to the atm machine cause i'm hitching a ride with chomot to redang. the taxi was gonna be late so i took the premier taxi which cost 20 ringgit more. didn't matter, as long as i can go to redang next.
my bangkok adventure is really different from what i had in chiang mai. in chiang mai, it's such a tourist friendly place that everything there seemed to revolved around the tourists. and here also i find so many stalls up in the morning and sell coffee... coffee stalls are everywhere. fruits stalls are everywhere.. and not to mention the fresh fruit juice.. and it's so darn cheap too.. i couldn't help myself from trying one of the coffee stalls.. had mocha.. and it's so delicious and fresh... anyway, shopping wise.. you have to have lots of money to come here... and if u only had 4d3n like me, you have to choose, either shopping or sight seeing. khao sarn road is the place to stay if you wanna do sight seeing.. cause that's where the temples, universities, the landmarks are. the king is very much respected here. you can find their pictures everywhere.. the middle of the road, the highway, shopping malls.. the royal family has quite a big influence in the people's life. i don't mind coming back here but only with a well planned schedule. perhaps i'll come back twice.. one for shopping only, and another for sight seeing. there's so much to do here in bangkok.. i wish i had more time.. and $$$
Bye Bangkok..
next trip .... vietnam? china? wanna go beijing next.. what do think?more information on bangkok:
- Halal food in Bangkok (and Thailand)
- The Inn Saladaeng
- Maps of Bangkok
- Bangkok Day Tours
- Bangkok Day Tours and Trips (with price in Baht)
- Tiger Temple
- Tiger Temple (wikipedia)
- Bridge of The River Kwai
- Bridge on the River Kwai, Kanchanaburi
- Floating Market
- Damnoen Saduak (floating market)
- Bangkok Shopping Malls
- BTS Sky Trains
- Speak Thai
- All About Bangkok (experience and tips by real travelers) (BM)
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