Thursday, September 21, 2006
Travel Diary: Bangkok
Came back to find that my beloved lappie of 5 years have conked out, so I guess I won't be online much for the time being. Now using my cousin's laptop typing these posts out. Any nice souls wanna help me choose a new lappie?
Had a nice weekend in Bangkok. We sort of made history, being the 2nd airline to fly into Bangkok's new Suvarnabhumi Airport. And we got a certificate for that! Shall upload the photos at a later date.
Basically spent most of our time shopping (duh...haha). Din buy much though, cos found that I could get some stuff cheaper in S'pore or Jakarta and the ppl r becoming more resistant to bargaining. We also managed to eat some really good food, some from roadside stalls somemore. Thank God nobody got stomach upset. They r cheap, too, so it was really satisfying. We oso ate a lot of bird's nest soup and Raine felt that her skin improved from it heehee :) Managed to try great tzi char, traditional Thai food, creamy ice coffee and even Jap food from the Patpong area!
I was glad we managed to see the famed Jim Thompson's house, which exceeded all of our expectations. Amantha declared that she will recommend it to anyone visiting Bangkok. Its architecture and interior decoration is very pretty indeed....traditional Thai-style, yet with combination of craetive innovations. We were so amazed to find out that what we thought was some nice cat figurine on the dressing table turned out to be a chamber pot for boys! The girl's chamber pot was in the shape of a frog, by the way. Hahahaha u learn something new everyday.
Sadly, we din have the time to enter into the Grand Palace cum Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Took some pictures outside just to show we have been there before I led Raine on a long detour in the sweltering mid-day heat hahahaa. Bought a new book on the Thai king, who is still one of my research interest, as souvenir.
I liked taking the boat down the Chao Phraya River. The boat or river taxi as they called it, was a tad too crowded, but I have always had a bit of a sailor in me :) Walked to the front to take photos of Wat Arun and nearly missed our stop becos on the way out, we had to make a detour becos a group of monks were standing near the doorway. One of them politely motioned to me to not get near.
Bangkok is a lot more developed than Jakarta. I liked the MRT and Skytrain system, which was pretty efficient and convenient. The city was also quite clean! The traffic jam was not as bad as it was hyped out to be. Try Jakarta for comparison haha.
And the people were of course very friendly and courteous. We kept oggling the Thai girls, who look quite "hot" and possess good figures. The Thais are quite good-looking people. We oso met a lot of transvestites, who work as waitresses and salesgirls. Interesting indeed. But there are some things happening in the Patpong area that really made you think: is it really the relative open-mindedness of the society there that permitted such things, or is it poverty that drove them?
Wanted to watch Thai kick boxing but Raine, Amantha and Ming Siong not interested heehee.
Just a side thought. Was telling Raine it is indeed rare to find travel companions who can make you enjoy a holiday even when you are not doing anything new or supremely interesting. Had that experience before I went back Jakarta, but I guess some things will never be the same. There will be other people.
Had a nice weekend in Bangkok. We sort of made history, being the 2nd airline to fly into Bangkok's new Suvarnabhumi Airport. And we got a certificate for that! Shall upload the photos at a later date.
Basically spent most of our time shopping (duh...haha). Din buy much though, cos found that I could get some stuff cheaper in S'pore or Jakarta and the ppl r becoming more resistant to bargaining. We also managed to eat some really good food, some from roadside stalls somemore. Thank God nobody got stomach upset. They r cheap, too, so it was really satisfying. We oso ate a lot of bird's nest soup and Raine felt that her skin improved from it heehee :) Managed to try great tzi char, traditional Thai food, creamy ice coffee and even Jap food from the Patpong area!
I was glad we managed to see the famed Jim Thompson's house, which exceeded all of our expectations. Amantha declared that she will recommend it to anyone visiting Bangkok. Its architecture and interior decoration is very pretty indeed....traditional Thai-style, yet with combination of craetive innovations. We were so amazed to find out that what we thought was some nice cat figurine on the dressing table turned out to be a chamber pot for boys! The girl's chamber pot was in the shape of a frog, by the way. Hahahaha u learn something new everyday.
Sadly, we din have the time to enter into the Grand Palace cum Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Took some pictures outside just to show we have been there before I led Raine on a long detour in the sweltering mid-day heat hahahaa. Bought a new book on the Thai king, who is still one of my research interest, as souvenir.
I liked taking the boat down the Chao Phraya River. The boat or river taxi as they called it, was a tad too crowded, but I have always had a bit of a sailor in me :) Walked to the front to take photos of Wat Arun and nearly missed our stop becos on the way out, we had to make a detour becos a group of monks were standing near the doorway. One of them politely motioned to me to not get near.
Bangkok is a lot more developed than Jakarta. I liked the MRT and Skytrain system, which was pretty efficient and convenient. The city was also quite clean! The traffic jam was not as bad as it was hyped out to be. Try Jakarta for comparison haha.
And the people were of course very friendly and courteous. We kept oggling the Thai girls, who look quite "hot" and possess good figures. The Thais are quite good-looking people. We oso met a lot of transvestites, who work as waitresses and salesgirls. Interesting indeed. But there are some things happening in the Patpong area that really made you think: is it really the relative open-mindedness of the society there that permitted such things, or is it poverty that drove them?
Wanted to watch Thai kick boxing but Raine, Amantha and Ming Siong not interested heehee.
Just a side thought. Was telling Raine it is indeed rare to find travel companions who can make you enjoy a holiday even when you are not doing anything new or supremely interesting. Had that experience before I went back Jakarta, but I guess some things will never be the same. There will be other people.
// posted by Jenn @ 5:25 PM 
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