29 April 09, Wednesday
Went over to Yew Tee to stay over @ Sabrina's place so we could share a cab down to airport the next morning. First time visiting her home, it's warm n cosy, flats were shared among a few others too.
30 April 09, Thursday
Woke up early at around 4am n head down to airport liao.. so early hor! but am excited! Had sandwiches at Budget Terminal - HANS. Actually wanted to try their fried mee but it cost like $6 for a small plate. *Faint* so expensive. Better save up and munch on sandwiches instead. Board the flight n start to position myself in the most comfortable position n SLEEP! I am flying on Tiger Airways and this would be my 2nd trip with them. The first one was a bad experience as the seats were very small, uncomfortable n cramp. I cannot even move my legs. (i know my legs are considered too long) But this time round the seats are much more spacious and comfortable. It's the same as Jetstar plane. Very good improvement.
Land in Bangkok Airport at around 9 or 10 BKK time. Was walking towards the taxi stand when we saw this sign pointing to Airport Express bus. Hmmm went ahead to try taking the bus for a whole new experience. Paid 150 baht per person and there are several bus route which you can take. The bus journey took around 2hrs to reach the city. Super duper long dist, bus is slower den car and there are massive jam at certain places. Haiz simply a waste of time however it's a whole new experience on its own. Next time round should be taking cab rather den spending so much time on the bus travelling.
Alight at Pratunam stop from the Express Bus n oh my god we are in the middle of no where. Lucky Sabrina borrowed this tourist guide whereby they publish photographs of Bangkok. Looking at the picture of Baiyoke Sky Hotel (staring at the tip of hotel in the photo) and comparing it with our surrounding building to see if we could locate the tip of the hotel. Wow we saw it but it is like 3 streets away from us. It does look near but when we start walking the heat keep torturing us. So we cross the road the the Family Mart to get some water and food. We shared this pre-packed chix tom yum fried rice from the fridge and it is super duper delicious.
Time to continue walking...
We are fortunate to have the tourist guide book. If not we will be stranded on the street trying to find our directions. Been walking non-stop before we locate our hotel at around 12 plus BKK time. Shit thing is that we cannot check in till it is 2pm. Sian so we left our luggage with the hotel front desk n run out for lunchie. Was actually waiting for Sabrina's Uni senior who happen to fly to BKK on the same day but was on the late morning flight; to meet up for lunch. We had been walking around Siam Discovery and will be fainting due to hunger. We then do not want to wait anymore and head for our lunch. Had Japanese food at a restaurant and it is cheap compare to Singapore. Had this Katsu rice set which consist of a katsu, one plain rice, one pickle veg, one seasoned fish and a miso soup at only 140Baht before gst n service charge. Which is definitely less then S$10. WOW!!!
Didn't bought anything from Siam Discovery as most shop are selling designer wear which are expensive n couldn't be wore everyday. Shop at BOOTS pharmacy too which is similar to our local Watson and Guardian. Boots has alot of their in-house brand makeup, hair and body care item ranging from cheaper ones for youth to expensive ones for tai tai. I got a Maybeline mineral foundation at 279Baht which is S$12.13 but it is selling in Spore for like $25.90. Haiz what a big differences. But not all of the things are cheap. So better to look around and compare before buying anything.
Then we move on to Siam Paragon (nothing to get also) to look around and to Central World where we head straight to Naraya only. Didn't walk around Central too. At Naraya Sabrina and I bought around 1o tissue pouches as gift. She got pearl brooches too as it is very elegant and cheap, only 50 Baht each. I got this lady bug series tissue pouch n little lunch bag for myself. Been looking at it since my last trip to BKK one year ago but I didn't bought it at that time. Stupid lor.
Next stop, Big C, it is a hypermart similar to Spore Giant or Carrefour. Went to shop for tibits and stuff. Sab was going rounds and rounds to hunt for their BIG C brand of permanent marker as she is helping Ken to get. Reason being the marker smells nice. **Faint lor. Ken is so into Bangkok till he can differentiate the smell of the marker. Pay up and wow we have bags and bags of stuff. Have to walk all the way back to hotel to check in and drop our stuff in the room.
Settled the procedures and got hold of our room key. Went up and guess what. We were looking for the room's main switch where u can struck the room key for power supply. But hey we could locate any and I tried to switch on the lights but no response. Sabrina called the front desk who couldn't understand what we are trying to say also. While she is on the line the light switched on suddenly. Strange! Then we realise they do not have any main control and we can leave the lights or air-con running 24 hours. It's good but not environmental friendly. There might be other guest who just leave the air-con running non-stop even when they are not in the room. Daphne this type of hotel suits you. =D
Rest for a while and we chiong out again to visit the Four Face Buddha at Siam area. Return my wishes made last year and head down to Mah Boon Khrong to meet Sabrina's senior - Sunny and another guy (I forgotten his name =P) for dinner. Went to this unique steamboat restaurant which does not serve in a big pot with lots of soup but it is a metal wok lookalike with a big hump. You will cook meat item on top and the natural juice will flow down to the rim and where we use it to cook udon and cabbage. Heard from Sabrina that there is a outlet at Kulau Lumpur too.
We had dinner till 9plus and alamak all the shops are closed. So sad, can't shop at all. Have to come back again. Now back to hotel and sleeping time.1 May 09, Friday
Break time. We are excited to see what we are going to have for makan. Anticipating for a sumptuous breakfast. The buffet breakfast is packaged with the hotel stay. However the selection is very limited. There are bread, porridge, chawamushi, rice roll, rice and noodle and American breakfast items. For drinks there are only orange juice, fruit punch, plain milk, coffee and tea. I know I know. All these are better than nothing right.
Done with breakfast. It's shopping time at Pratunam market which is just below our hotel. It is so convenient. Pratunam market is similar to our Bugis street but cheaper. Quality wise is almost the same. Not those best quality so you will have to double check your item first in case of any fault. I got a hand carry luggage with burberry lookalike prints at only 200Baht. Got 6 t-shirts at only 50Baht each and they are so comfy. There are lots to see over there nice to walk around expect that it is a wholesale market whereby you have to buy at least 3 item for a cheaper price or they do not sell less than 3 item per sale.
Some tops are like 250Baht per pc but 150Baht for at least 3pcs. So it will be a great place to shop with lots of girlfrens so u could share the order. That explains why I bought so much t-shirts, 3 each at 2 different stores. Just beside Pratunam market is a wholesale shopping mall called Platinum Mall. Most Singaporean who fly to BKK will definitely visit this place for irresistible bargain.
t-shirts i got
At Platinum mall, most of the shops are group together like shoes will be at lower floor near the escalator. As a wholesale mall here they will also offer lower pricing if we get a min of 3 items. There are lots of shoes which are affordable too. Around 200 ++ Baht onwards. There is this particular shop selling all the shoes at only 100Baht. So cheap. Their shoes look like those being sold in Far East Plaza. But too bad my feet is too big making it difficult to get shoes. But it's cheap so I keep asking till I got a slipper of my size. So happy. After shopping non-stop at Pratunam area we head back to hotel to drop all our stuff and return to MBK again.
had this kuek chay at Platinum mall and it's served in a claypot. inside there is pig blood too.
it's something diff for me.
At MBK, we went rounds and rounds to look for a 199Baht bag shop which is very neat. However after walking for so long and could find any we give up. Thinking that shop should be closed. There is only two 199Baht bag shop left so we went to both and I got 3 bags in total. So Happy. We also bought lots of local snacks to give out back home. Did not get to see any road side stall selling insects but I was suppose to help Anvie get some back. Luckily at MBK snacks stall we saw this container full of fried worm. They had tibit pack it. So strange. I tasted some and it just taste of oil and it's super crispy.
Totally exhausted. We rush back to hotel and have a quick bath before visiting a massage parlor nearby for foot massage. The shop was packed and we waited around 15 mins for our turn. The massage cost 180Baht for an hour.. It's so comfortable or am I too tire as I slept throughout the massage session.
2 May 09, Saturday
Yeah our last full day in Bangkok and the weekend market - Chatuchak / JJ Market is open. Had a heavy breakfast and took a tuk-tuk to Chatuchak. The driver told us Chatuchak does not open so early so asking if we wanna go temple visiting and jewellery shop before he send us to Chatuchak. (This is the usual tactics in Bangkok whereby the drive will bring you to shops before bringing you to your destination and they charge lower or free ride and they get petrol coupons in exchange from the shops) Sabrina didn't try this before so thinking that we have ample time, we go ahead. The driver will charge us only 20Baht and he bring us to a temple first as the jewellery shop opens only at 9am.
Paid 20Baht to get in this local temple and there is a family doing some prayer session. First time seeing it. Then he send us to this jewellery shop which I went before during my first trip to Bangkok. But this time round we really went round look at the jewellery as Sabrina is looking for one for her grandma. In the end we didn't get anything in the jewellery section but at the souvenir section we both got a pearl necklace and bracelet each. As explain by them it is cultured fresh water pearl and the knot is gold plated. Sound so good. Was wondering if it is real. But everything cost me 900Baht. (S$39.13) Which is way cheaper then you getting it in department store counter. Finished shopping now RUSH to Chatuchak.
At Chatuchak, Sabrina was only browsing around as she had cleared her shopping list while for me my to buy list is still very long. We bought flower embossed recycle paper for gifts wrapping at 15Baht each. Bought t-shirts for my brothers at 39Baht or 100Baht only. So cheap!!! Simple ladies bermudas cost only 89Baht which I had got for Li Ling. There, I was shopping like mad. At the animal section, there are lots of puppies, kitten and baby squirrel. We had a great time there except for the torturing weather.
Our dinner we met up with Sabrina's friends and went to highly rated CABBAGE & CONDOMS. It's a Thai restaurant which appears on quite a number of travel shows for their unique cause - for AIDS. They do a lot of charity/community work with regards to promoting prevention of aids and giving out condoms. We walk in from the main street and the restaurant was located very deep inside. So far and it's quite packed. Wonder how all these people found the place.
At the entrance, there are manikin wearing clothes make out of condoms. So interesting to see hundreds of condoms stick into a dress or a shorts. Food wise is similar to what you can get outside at food court or roadside stall but the ambience is great. Simple but romantic. For 4 of us we had - 4 drinks, 4 main dishes (steam whole fish, crab meat, green curry chix and tom yum soup) and 4 plain rice. The bill costs us around S$90 so expensive. However the interesting part of the whole dinner is the after dinner mint they give out. It is not a mint; it is a condom.
After dinner went strolling around Suhumvit area and we saw this volswagen van converted into a outdoor bar. So cool! The van top portion was open up and adding lights with music turn it into a bar crowded with Ang Mos... Interesting. Maybe we could start this in Singapore.
3 May 09, Sunday
Time to go home and we are on the first Tiger flight of the day. Haiz can't shop anymore. Had a very very heavy breakfast and head out to take cab to airport liao lor. Can't wait to get home and rest...
For more photos go to
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=253317&id=690755233&l=705fca1589
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=257608&id=690755233&l=c06301a01c
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