Bangkok, Thailand

Kuala Lumpur: Getting There

A suicide trip I must say. I had missed my supposed morning sked to Kuala Lumpur so I had to book the night trip. Yay. I arrived around 10pm at KL Airport after the 40-minute air ride from Singapore. I had to travel another hour via bus bound for KL Central to meet up with JK and JLo. The fare was just 9 ringgit. ^^,

The bus ride was la-la-la-love. From my window seat, I was able to gaze upon the starry evening sky. There weren't HDBs, only a looong line  up of trees which I'd never experience to see in Singapore. Malaysia is quite a mass of land like Philippines. How I missed traveling for long hours in land like that!

At the terminal, cabbies went with their crazy persuasion for a taxi ride. Much like Pinas eh? There I saw from the escalator heading down were the two girls to fetch me. We hunted for coffee at a certain Old Town? Is it? Was it? Hah, I forgot. I had Starbucks in KL. ^^, I should have taken a picture!

We arrived at the penthouse somewhere in Asia Jaya? Yes, it should be Asia Jaya. I guess I was too tired to have an accurate record of the places I've been to. So off to bed these three kiddos for the next day was another plane ride to the Land of Thais!

JK, by the way, who slept the latest must wake up early for her blow dry session with the hair. :D

The Thai Land

Time check, Thailand is one hour late as compared to Singapore/Malaysia/Philippine time. No wonder JK, JLo and I got confused with how long the flight should be from KL to Bangkok. About two hours away from Malaysia, a few hundred feet above the ground, welcome to Thailand.

With first glimpses, I could hint that agriculture is part of the Thai's economic sources. Off Topic: Photo from the right reminded me of Dragon Ball Z with the scattered lumps of fluffy clouds.

Along with the uninhibited desire for exploration, we arrived at Suvarnabhumi which is the second busiest airport in the country with the H1N1 paranoia. Lookie at the gas masks! But apparently not even H1N1 can stop us from photo shoots. Adik!


After discussion with tourist guides, we closed the deal for city tour for 500 Baht. And another 150(?)/pax for the taxi ride from the airport to our first temporary Thai home, Baiyoke Hotel. I've read that Baiyoke Tower II is the tallest building not only in the city but the entire country. How amusing to know is that?

It was quite a long trip to the hotel giving me the chance to see shapes and sizes. People, buildings, houses big and small, establishments and street vendors! It's almost like I was home. "Very-Philippines", I must say.




Interestingly, who could beat MMDA's motif than the fun neon-colored cabs hovering around the busy streets? Pink! Taxi! And there were sky blue, green and purple too!

Since I was with the shopaholic JK, how should we spend the first few hours in Bangkok? Chatuchak! Probably Thailand's version of Divisoria.

Day Two

Buffet for breakfast was good. Situated at the summit of the hotel building, we can see the entire city in the morning. The ambiance felt refreshing as sunrise illuminated faces unknown to me in yet another foreign land! This city is a hodgepodge of races - Westerners, Europeans and Asians. Plus it felt warm to see that we weren't the only Filipinos in the dining room.

The food was 6.9 out of 10. Juice tasted with so much goodness of freshness and the larger croissant! It was so soft I loved it with the strawberry jam and butter. They got fresh fruit slices too. The pineapple was such a love.

What else and where else? Off we went to shopping part II. Let's try the infamous Thai local public utility to get there - the tuktok. How kind of manong tuktok to charge us with only 10 Baht for the ride! Well, it actually came along with the ulterior motive of we, in return, to sponsor him for free 5 litres of gasoline. For every tourist stop we'd hop on, he gets a stamp entitling him for the free fuel. He took us to a certain gem factory where we saw the raw stones - jade, amethyst, citrine, sapphire, etc - how the workers polish them and place each gem on their rightful spot. Thailand is also known for high quality gems as claimed by the receptionists we had talked to.

I so wanted to take a photo of the girl in metallic pink for the Thai attire but oh well, we ended up posing with manong tuktok and his tuktok for souvenir instead. ^^, Second stop was at a travel agency which features Thailand's best tourists' must-visit. The free fuel was apparently a strategy to promote tourism. Well, somehow I did have fun with manong tuktok anyway. Communication was a bit of a problem but it was a great opportunity to have actually dealt with a local.

Finally, MBK! It's a typical mall yes, yet another popular shopping stop. The craze didn't end there. Down the hotel building were bargain shops where we got cheap prices on wholesale.

The Dish of the Night

If there is one thing I had been looking forward to, it was the cruise that stretched along the main river of Thailand, the Chao Phraya River. I used to only hear it in stories from a friend who made it sound so interesting. Luckily, JK made a reservation. It was my chance to prove my friend's claims. It was, indeed, wonderful. We had seen the Grand Palace, Rama VIII Bridge and other temples with all its majestic silhouette amidst the lovely dusk. It was so romantic. And to describe it this way probably would not do it any justice.

To The Temples!

It's the last day - the city tour day. To the temples, we were actually required of proper attire - properly clothed that is. JK couldn't wear her tube. Karen must be wary with her neckline not to plunge deeper and JLo not to wear shorts. Else the gods will disapprove of them. ;)











Wat Pho Temple where Buddha reclines gave me a feel of sanctity. Paintings on the walls and symbols on his feet depicted the Thai life. Too bad, the tour guide was not with me all the time to explain to me this and that.

The intricate designs of the temples in ceramic and porcelain were an interesting sight. They may be a manifestation of the people's religious life and beliefs but I might say as well, it's Thai art.

More To Thai

Have you seen the largest photo album? Bangkok City is! It's a huuuge portrait collection of the royal family. Along and amidst the streets, were gigantic photos of the King, the baby Prince/Princess and most were portraits of the Queen as a couple of weeks ago, the people celebrated her birthday to honor her.


I thought the Tamarind was Thailand's national tree as I noticed that they abound the Thai parks and streets. Sweet tamarind candies, anyone? Perfect for pasalubong!

Fooood! Because to me nice mangoes are only found in the Philippines and next probably in Thailand, the first thing I did was hunt for mangoes on our way to Siam Paragon Mall. Alongwith a mixture of sugar, salt and chili, the fruit slices were truly delightful!

When hunger striked us during shopping and internet cafe-hunting, we came across mamang vendor of steamed meats wrapped like sio mai (photo below). We took pictures of it and I could tell from the face of a passerby, "These girls must be lunatic." Haha! Since it was pork, only JK and JLo were privileged to have a treat of this Thai street food.

So off I went and got this fish-meat-and-fish-ball-slices-on-top-of-shredded-cabbage-with sweet/sour/salty chili sauce (photo above). It was more than edible. It was yummy! That is, of course, if you can tolerate spicy.



Here's to our last glimpse of the Thai "land". Above is the tallest control tower in Asia.
Bye for now, Bangkok! :)







We Wanted More!

Because of time constraint and change of plans, those are the only landmarks we were able to go to. Probably on my next trip to this place, I'd be able to check out also these must-see and must-do Thai things:

The Grand Palace Tour
Elephant Ride
and
the Patpong which frustrated Bruno a.k.a JK. ;)