Bangkok, Nov 2012

Thailand. Before my visit, the word represents transsexualism, pingpong show, black magic, rivers and traffic jams. After my visit, well, the first one is definitely erased from the list but the list was extended with convenience, cleanliness, pink cabs and shiny city/town. (don't get me started with the road - I am so sad to say that among all these Asia countries I have been to, my home country has got the worst ever road condition).

The first day saw me in Bangkok. Communication in Thailand faces no problem at all as long as you have got your addresses written in Thai. It is not difficult actually because most of the hotels will provide you with that and if the cab driver does not know the location, he will call the place up:)  That happened to us when we were at the airport and a call was all it took. We reached Take A Nap at 450 Baht in approximately 40 minutes later. It is a conveniently located budget hotel on the street near to Silom. In fact, it is within a walking distance to Sala Daeng and Samyan station. You can even walk to MBK on a less warm day too - but of course, that wouldn't happen in Bangkok, so we took the MRT all the time (130 Baht for a day pass) and we don't see why we shouldn't because the city practically evolve around the rail track.

Not kidding you..life do evolve around the railway track in Asia

One step out of the station and after a few steps, you will reach your destination. Now, that is convenience. Although not all stuffs are cheap in Bangkok but at least, the cars are a few thousand cheaper and my hair conditioner is MYR8 cheaper in the hypermarket there. Beat that, Malaysia! I am so sad that I am paying MYR8 higher for I don't know why.

Sighs.

Anyways, back to Take A Nap. It is conveniently located and it is reasonably clean (towel inclusive, bring your own bedroom slippers if you like). Not to say that it is spotless but it is clean (say 7 in a 1-10 rating). I stayed in the Central Park room for 3 nights and the Great Waves of Kanagawa for 1 night due to my late booking. Although it mentioned that both rooms differ in size, the space doesn't make any different to me - though I feel that Central Park is slightly more spacious when compared to Great Waves of Kanagawa while the latter has more head space. What I am trying to say is that, if you are any taller than 170 cm, prolly you can already touch the ceiling. LOL. Great Waves of Kanagawa is on the top floor, so it is right next to the highway but it didn't bother us because we woke up by 8 am and so, we are not worried about any noises. We just sleep dead at night.

First night in the Central Park room

Kanagawa Room - directly opposite to the highway. It gives you the creeps if you are like me- always imagining things...like say...what if a car came crashing into you window from the road opposite??

Toilet in Kanagawa Room

We went to Patpong on the first night for dinner. It is located just behind our hostel. Initially, I was expecting..I don't know...uhmm...a lively party or something but then again, it was a Wednesday and so the crowd was not there. It was just another street with a lot of lanes dedicated to 'shows'. I am pretty curious but I didn't go for any of those boy shows or tiger shows kind of thing. Rule 101 which I have read online said that unless you are with a local, otherwise, enter these shows at your own risk. Very well. We ate padthai and this...hmm...I don't remember what was it called but it is really green..I mean, you are practically eating raw leaves with other side servings, so yes, it's a really green salad and good for your...I don't know if it is really good to eat it raw but yea, it is raw and good for you. HAHA! Anyways, I like the sauce - with a dash of lime, it transformed the entire dish into a great salad! It was sold in the hypermarket; all packed for to-go, so I supposed it's a popular delicacy.

The green salad platter and other good stuff

The halloween deco is still around :))

We retreated for an early night sleep after that and did not went for any beer or anything else but the street did not make any lasting impression to me. I remember it now as a street with neon sign boards and locals holding cardboards asking tourists if they are interested in some shows...and of course, caucasians hanging out in the pubs and taking in the view. It is just one of those streets.

Taking a shy pic

Early next day, we journeyed to the wats. I cannot miss Wat Pho and if I do miss it, then it's pointless to visit Bangkok. I always wanted to check out the Reclining Buddha and yes, it was huge and awesome. It's quite simple to get there with Skytrain (Saphan Taksin station). It brings right to the pier and from there, hop onto a Chao Ya express. The boat costs about 30 baht and it will bring you to the doorstep of Wat Pho and Grand Palace. Of course, once you are there, there will be people telling you to visit other wats and such. It happened to me that this Thai claimed himself to be a teacher and he told us that we should visit a wat nearby Wat Pho, which is much more magnificent than this temple. We were like no thank you, we wanted to visit Wat Pho.

Gleaming Buddha..Thailand is a place where all statues and places of workship are shining

I wouldn't want to try that one if I were you. LOL..that lady is practically kicking his balls! ehem...anyways, I went for the massage parlour near Nana Station (pressure point-type at 800 baht for one hour..I was told that the rate is pricey..hmm..anyways, thai massage was priced at 350 baht)

The sleeping cat near the Wat. Flexibility is a feline's best attribute!

'Ticketing' aunty

After that, we took another small boat to go to Wat Arun, which is right across the river. The return trip costs 6 baht. It is nothing too amazing but might as well give it a visit when you are there. You will need to return to the station near Wat Pho to catch your boat back to the pier. The staff would tell you that any boat will take you back to the pier, so just hop on. We waited for a good 30 minutes before we can hop on due to the amount of tourists visiting that wat. Seriously, an umbrella would do you good (especially if you are as pampered as me - we asians, don't get those nice healthy glow after sunbathing but our skin will first turn red like a crab, followed by peeling and then darkness looms; depending on individual..some would be brown while some would be skin will turn really dark...like black. No thank you, that is not healthy).

We managed to catch a boat back just in time for lunch. Lunch was a good experience at the food court and overall, I enjoy myself in the malls of Bangkok. They are just so clean especially when it comes to the restroom! No broken pipes nor wet floors. I am sorry but I kept comparing it to what we have here in my country and I can't help but to state this again: we have got so much more to improve on!

I wonder how many malls are there in Bangkok but I really like the part where most (if not all) lots are occupied. If you have got the energy, you can really shop till you drop. Then again, I don't see any good bargains when I was there. I really wanted to buy those frappucino mobile phone pluggy and perhaps, it is considered cheap at RM29.90 (or not), I still refuse to pay that price. Yes, it is very cute but after much thoughts, I saved my money and bought a new cover and screen protector for my phone instead. RM10 and RM8 respectively at MBK. That was quite a difficult search because my phone (HTC Desire HD) is a near extinction model and I was searching high and low for a phone cover. Most shops only have covers for (eyes rolling) iPhone and Samsung and they have all the attractive covers (bleh). Fortunately, I managed to get one simple cover (no choice and they only have 3..THREE..covers in stock)

Me at the ever famous Terminal 21

Shopping aside, we also went to the Amphawa Floating Market. We chose to visit this market over the other popular market, Damnoen Saduak (DS) due to the distance and crowd. The online reviews said that DS is much further a way from Bangkok and tourists usually flock the place at about 10 am onwards. So, you will need to be there early to avoid human congestion or fall into the tourists trapping vendors. Amphawa has both river side shops and river-type restaurant (floating boat selling food). It is a quiet market on Friday (opens on Friday, Saturday and Sunday) but we didn't mind that. We were looking for an experience but what we mind was the waiting time at the bus station. The bus station was located just beside Century Mall and we were told that there are two options available. There are vans operating on 2 routes: 1. take the van to Maeklong Town and then transfer to another van which head on to Amphawa market or 2. take a van directly to Amphawa market. We took the second option since we saw an operator which offers that route. We waited for almost 1.5 hours before we are able to board the van because they will only make the trip if they have got a minimum of 4 passengers. Century Mall only opens at 10am and that forced us to hang around the small station with nothing much to do but staring at the counter, people counting and hope that more people will go to the same place like we do.

FINALLY, we saw the lady operator waving at us and we were ready to go! The journey took us 1.5 hours and we were dropped off at a make-shift station. We went about the market but we didn't try those food cooked on the boats when we saw the grills. Instead, I bought a packet of rice crackers for 20 baht and it was the most awesome snack ever! Crispy and caramelized...so so much better than your normal potato chips or those rice crackers at Jusco.

The bus station is very conveniently located just next to the MRT

Not crowded and just nice

I love this lamp piece at the market

Amphawa Floating Market

We left the market a little past one, in hope to catch the van back to the city in time for tea time. I am not sure if it is a common sight but we saw a long tail lizard crossing the road! I was literally jumping onto the chair when it came too close for my comfort but it wasn't too bothered by my suddenness and walked steadily into the wooden shed. Good riddance and it should stay there until I leave its territory!

Lizard..go..away!! shooooo...please?!!

On the way, back to the city

Saturday saw us in Ayutthaya. We went to the Hua Lampong train station after we got back to Bangkok yesterday but the lady at the counter told us that we do not need to buy the ticket in advance (rather it is not sold in advance too). So we bought the ticket on the morning itself at the price of 245 baht (Second class seat on an express train, reaching destination in appx 90 minutes). Our return ticket cost 15 baht (Third class seat on an express train; non-assigned seats) and if I had known, I would chose this type of seat to get there too. It doesn't make any difference, really; only matters if the seats are all occupied and you will then need to stand for the entire trip (or non-reclining/sturdy back support bothers you...if you have a bad back, it's advisable to chose the second class seats). Otherwise, both second- and third- class compartments come to me as the same.

Coffee before our train arrives..Black Canyon - my least favourite

I think his expression was so cute!

On arrival, we tried to look around for the river crossing as advised by Tanya in her blog (enjoy reading her blog btw) but we failed to find it. We were coaxed by the tuk-tuks to get a tour but I insisted that we look for an alternative since most blogs I referred to mentioned of a boat crossing to the other side where all the attractions are. We saw two chinese couples and we approached them for directions and guess what? We are all equally confused but it's fun to get confused people in a group sometimes. Initially we thought that they  are from Hong Kong due to their fluency in Cantonese but they are actually from China. LOL.

The train station

We decided to tour the place in a group and came to a conclusion that we'd better rent a motorbike for convenience. There are shops across the station that provide motorbike rental at a standard price of 250 baht. The map, however, is a little difficult to read. So, we act as the follower this time and followed the lead of the two couples. We were able to locate the first attraction without much trouble and one of the girls know the history much better than I do. HAHA...I did not read much about the history of each temple as my initial focus was the 'Buddha head embedded in between the roots' and for all I know that head must have been beheaded during the dark era and was left there to rot. It is common don't you think? During those barbaric times of: I don't like your face/culture, I behead you and your people listen to me ONLY. listen listen listen (x3) Geez..

Due to our lack of time, we only managed to visit only 2 temples (50 baht/entrance): Wat Phra Mahathat (Buddha Head in the tree temple) and Wat Rachatburana (paintings in the room).

See what I meant? I don't like this part of the history

Wats in Thailand is very different from her neighouring countries in terms of its architecture...there are more stupa found here - similar to those you found in Indonesia

I have a feeling that this house-look-alike is reserved for coffins

I'm disturbed by this..it looks like a serpent but it should be a Naga, I guess?

Wat Rachatburana comes to me as interesting and I did not know what it is famous for until our new found friend told us. She said there are underground paintings and well, I have no idea why monks want to pray underground. It's exactly under the ground - it's more like it is buried beneath an elevated building. Still, I do not understand why. The 'entrance' is extremely narrow and you will face difficulty with getting to that entrance if you are slightly huge in size (taller, more stocky, fat...etc) and when you do get into that area, it's quite claustrophobic. There will be just enough room for one adult to enter the small enclosure and stand straight for photo-taking. Three walls with faded paintings and that's about it. I really wonder what is the purpose of that and how would any painter enjoy painting in that small enclosure with so little air to breath?

The mural

I still think Vietnam make better coffee than Thailand

Interesting.

My lunch at a nearby cafe..not the best yet but will do for hungry ones..I was really hungry..seriously

The kid at the train station

And that ends our first stop: Bangkok
Next up: Chiang Mai