Some things did not go my way and today, I'm kinda pissed..I wish things are differently, but apparently this universe does not revolved around me alone. Crude but the truth lah kan. Anyway, I believe things happened for reason(s), be it good or bad and certainly not always favourable to me. This travel story was typed much earlier and only now ready to be post here. Actually I forgot where I keep the pics from the trip haha!
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It has been almost 6 months since my trip to Bangkok. Back in March, the situation was not so bad, no big demonstrations going on and whole city feels normal and people there were busy mourning the demise of King’s sister. The hustle and bustle was as expected but the weather was so damn hot! Oh my god! At one point, I promised to myself not to whine again and be thankful when I’m back in KL and even if it’s raining for days, it doesn’t matter as compared to being in a hot-brain frying-stuffy heat condition like that.
I would consider myself quite a trooper and doesn’t mind to do any spontaneous things during travel but the heat was so major turn off and I relished the time when we’re back in the cool hotel rooms and had a short nap before venture off to discover the Bangkok streets again. I went there with my 2 other officemates J & Kak L.
1st Day
Arrived at Suvarnabumi Airport with Air Asia. My first impression of the airport is that it’s huge but no so convenience to walk around. Took a cab (make sure you take the reputable cab company, one with proper counter and ticket/voucher purchase before hand) and we proceeded to our hotel. It is called Bel-Aire Princess Hotel at the ever famous Sukhumvit Road. We checked in and prepare to sleep straight away because it’s almost 11 pm and we reminded ourselves that tomorrow will be hectic if we are to follow our planned itinerary.
2nd Day
We woke up and ready for breakfast by 7.30 a.m but outside, the sun is already shining bright. The breakfast spread was good and later we walked about 10 minutes to the nearest BTS station (Nana) and had our first collide with the Bangkok morning crowd on the BTS. It’s a public holiday in Malaysia, but here people were all busy going to work, school and of course there were also tourist like us. We got off at the last station, walked a bit and took a boat ride on the famous Chao Phraya river. We snap few pictures and decided to start the tour at the Wat Pho, temple of reclining Buddha. The place was beautiful. To be honest this is my first time visiting a Buddha’s Wat and I am not sure what to expect. According the information that I googled before we came, it says…
” At 20 acres large, it is the largest Wat in Bangkok, and is technically the oldest too, as it was built around 200 years before Bangkok became Thailand's capital. However, today the Wat today bears virtually no resemblance to that originally constructed, as it was almost entirely rebuilt by Rama I when the capital was moved to Bangkok. It holds the dual honors of having both Thailand's largest reclining Buddha image and the most number of Buddha images in Thailand. The highly impressive gold plated reclining Buddha is 46 meters long and 15 meters high, and is designed to illustrate the passing of the Buddha into nirvana. The feet and the eyes are engraved with mother-of-pearl decoration, and the feet also show the 108 auspicious characteristics of the true Buddha “ http://www.into-asia.com/bangkok/attractions/watpho.php
It was indeed a huge statue and I got heady and bit suffocated from the smell of burning incense everywhere. We then walked around the vast ground, snapped few pictures and do some people watching while drinking our fast-depleted bottle waters. From Wat Pho area, we took our first Tuk Tuk ride and got conned into visiting our first (of many) Gem/Handicrafts/Souvenirs shop. After spent about an hour wandering around that huge shop, we were driven by our TukTuk guy to the Grand Palace. Unfortunately for us, there was a praying ceremony for the sister of King who had recently passed away. We only managed to take pictures outside of the Palace, as there are so many humans cramming around the area and we don’t want to be in their way, so off we go with another TukTuk to find our lunch and that killer tomyam that we hoped for. To cut a long story short, we found a seafood restaurant, had a good seafood tomyam and rice but boy! Communication was hard, as the waitress doesn’t speak much English and we ended up laughing at how silly we must looked, what with hand signal and all. Before we left, we’d decided to head to MBK Center (MahBoonKrong) but then, the ever conniving TukTuk driver drove us to another Gem/Handicrafts/Souvenirs shop. As we were getting more annoyed, we did try to ask him what the deal is. He later explained that for every guests/tourists group they send to the shops, they were given petrol chit/vouchers for their TukTuk. No wonder.
3rd Day
We woke up early and ready for our next day of adventure in Bangkok. We took TukTuk and instructed the driver to bring us to shop selling Thai Silk. Wah! The boutique was good. (don’t ask me where, can’t recall the place’ name) Lots and lots of fabulous Thai silks and watching palette of colours for few hours enough to made me drooling and 5 pairs later, they have to drag me out from there. Aiyoh! Tak bley tahan. We also went to Jim Thompson House & Museum. I love this place! There are schedule tours around the complex of houses and the guide explains about the history of the place and who is the guy – Mr Jim Thompson. Well, he was an American who came to Bangkok after World War II and was responsible to revive the Thai Silk production and recognized for his success to rebranding the industry. However, a tragedy has befallen the man in 1967, He had disappeared while holidaying at, get this – Cameron Highlands, Malaysia! An extensive search failed to reveal any clues of his whereabouts. By then, Thompson had been in Thailand for nearly 22 years. His house was fantastic! I can see that he was such an ardent collector (be it paintings, potteries, gems & accessories, etc) and It was great to know the legacy that he left is now protected and preserved as part of Thai rich culture heritage. If you’re in Bangkok, this is a must see place! (at least for me). That night, after an early dinner we took BTS train (Nana to Asoke) and then interchanged for subway ride to Thailand Cultural Centre Station. From there, we catches a free shuttle which then brought us to a special show ‘Siam Niramit – Journey to the Enchanted Kingdom of Siam’ Wowee! The show was so extravaganza and fabulous! We were so mesmerised and entertained by the show and personally, I think it’s worth the money spent.
4th Day
Whole morning of our fourth day was spent at Chatuchak Market. With rows and rows of shops if felt like you’re walking in a big giant maze. We were separated, got lost and regrouped back at our hotel. After checked out from hotel, we went to few shopping complexes around Sukhumvit Road and killing time while waiting for our flight to go back home. We were bone tired but I’m so happy. I finally managed to explore Bangkok albeit just a short trip and I’m not sure when I’ll be there again. The political situation is worrying and honestly, I’m thankful nothing untowards had happened during our stay there.
I would consider myself quite a trooper and doesn’t mind to do any spontaneous things during travel but the heat was so major turn off and I relished the time when we’re back in the cool hotel rooms and had a short nap before venture off to discover the Bangkok streets again. I went there with my 2 other officemates J & Kak L.
1st Day
Arrived at Suvarnabumi Airport with Air Asia. My first impression of the airport is that it’s huge but no so convenience to walk around. Took a cab (make sure you take the reputable cab company, one with proper counter and ticket/voucher purchase before hand) and we proceeded to our hotel. It is called Bel-Aire Princess Hotel at the ever famous Sukhumvit Road. We checked in and prepare to sleep straight away because it’s almost 11 pm and we reminded ourselves that tomorrow will be hectic if we are to follow our planned itinerary.
2nd Day
We woke up and ready for breakfast by 7.30 a.m but outside, the sun is already shining bright. The breakfast spread was good and later we walked about 10 minutes to the nearest BTS station (Nana) and had our first collide with the Bangkok morning crowd on the BTS. It’s a public holiday in Malaysia, but here people were all busy going to work, school and of course there were also tourist like us. We got off at the last station, walked a bit and took a boat ride on the famous Chao Phraya river. We snap few pictures and decided to start the tour at the Wat Pho, temple of reclining Buddha. The place was beautiful. To be honest this is my first time visiting a Buddha’s Wat and I am not sure what to expect. According the information that I googled before we came, it says…
” At 20 acres large, it is the largest Wat in Bangkok, and is technically the oldest too, as it was built around 200 years before Bangkok became Thailand's capital. However, today the Wat today bears virtually no resemblance to that originally constructed, as it was almost entirely rebuilt by Rama I when the capital was moved to Bangkok. It holds the dual honors of having both Thailand's largest reclining Buddha image and the most number of Buddha images in Thailand. The highly impressive gold plated reclining Buddha is 46 meters long and 15 meters high, and is designed to illustrate the passing of the Buddha into nirvana. The feet and the eyes are engraved with mother-of-pearl decoration, and the feet also show the 108 auspicious characteristics of the true Buddha “ http://www.into-asia.com/bangkok/attractions/watpho.php
It was indeed a huge statue and I got heady and bit suffocated from the smell of burning incense everywhere. We then walked around the vast ground, snapped few pictures and do some people watching while drinking our fast-depleted bottle waters. From Wat Pho area, we took our first Tuk Tuk ride and got conned into visiting our first (of many) Gem/Handicrafts/Souvenirs shop. After spent about an hour wandering around that huge shop, we were driven by our TukTuk guy to the Grand Palace. Unfortunately for us, there was a praying ceremony for the sister of King who had recently passed away. We only managed to take pictures outside of the Palace, as there are so many humans cramming around the area and we don’t want to be in their way, so off we go with another TukTuk to find our lunch and that killer tomyam that we hoped for. To cut a long story short, we found a seafood restaurant, had a good seafood tomyam and rice but boy! Communication was hard, as the waitress doesn’t speak much English and we ended up laughing at how silly we must looked, what with hand signal and all. Before we left, we’d decided to head to MBK Center (MahBoonKrong) but then, the ever conniving TukTuk driver drove us to another Gem/Handicrafts/Souvenirs shop. As we were getting more annoyed, we did try to ask him what the deal is. He later explained that for every guests/tourists group they send to the shops, they were given petrol chit/vouchers for their TukTuk. No wonder.
3rd Day
We woke up early and ready for our next day of adventure in Bangkok. We took TukTuk and instructed the driver to bring us to shop selling Thai Silk. Wah! The boutique was good. (don’t ask me where, can’t recall the place’ name) Lots and lots of fabulous Thai silks and watching palette of colours for few hours enough to made me drooling and 5 pairs later, they have to drag me out from there. Aiyoh! Tak bley tahan. We also went to Jim Thompson House & Museum. I love this place! There are schedule tours around the complex of houses and the guide explains about the history of the place and who is the guy – Mr Jim Thompson. Well, he was an American who came to Bangkok after World War II and was responsible to revive the Thai Silk production and recognized for his success to rebranding the industry. However, a tragedy has befallen the man in 1967, He had disappeared while holidaying at, get this – Cameron Highlands, Malaysia! An extensive search failed to reveal any clues of his whereabouts. By then, Thompson had been in Thailand for nearly 22 years. His house was fantastic! I can see that he was such an ardent collector (be it paintings, potteries, gems & accessories, etc) and It was great to know the legacy that he left is now protected and preserved as part of Thai rich culture heritage. If you’re in Bangkok, this is a must see place! (at least for me). That night, after an early dinner we took BTS train (Nana to Asoke) and then interchanged for subway ride to Thailand Cultural Centre Station. From there, we catches a free shuttle which then brought us to a special show ‘Siam Niramit – Journey to the Enchanted Kingdom of Siam’ Wowee! The show was so extravaganza and fabulous! We were so mesmerised and entertained by the show and personally, I think it’s worth the money spent.
4th Day
Whole morning of our fourth day was spent at Chatuchak Market. With rows and rows of shops if felt like you’re walking in a big giant maze. We were separated, got lost and regrouped back at our hotel. After checked out from hotel, we went to few shopping complexes around Sukhumvit Road and killing time while waiting for our flight to go back home. We were bone tired but I’m so happy. I finally managed to explore Bangkok albeit just a short trip and I’m not sure when I’ll be there again. The political situation is worrying and honestly, I’m thankful nothing untowards had happened during our stay there.
Chio
p/s: Pics will be upload later, so lazy aa fasting today..
Listen : Suatu Hari Di Hari Raya - M. Nasir
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