Bangkok Trip Part 2

after rotting for nearly 2 wks plus since i got back from the trip, decided i shd blog abt it b4 i forget any details ;p

day 1

flight scheduled at 12.45 but went to airport at ard 9 for breakfast with my parents and colleague... checked in early n decided to explore the dfs shops and even had time to play ard with the internet ;p

suan lum night bazaar

reached bkk on time ard 2plus but due to traffic jams on our way to the hotel, we had to give chatuchak a miss that day *sobs*... hotel itself less glamourous than in those internet pics (as always) but still "can do".. better than first hotel which i went to last year. hotel itself quite big and the room was quite spacious and not too moldy.. since it was oredi 4plus by the time we settled down, decided to go down to mbk for a bite first (coz we were starving, had breakfast ard 9plus and since no food on jetstar flights, p.s. even though we were actually in a valueair flight physically, in name itz a jetstar flight so no free meals n the sandwiches were xtremely ex, $5!!).. it was a long 17 min walk from our hotel to mbk and along the way nothing much to shop...

rows and rows of shops

anyway after a quick meal at a local fast food restaurant, took the bts to sala daeng and later their subway to lumphini stn where suan lum night bazaar was. wanted to go there coz quite new and nvr been there but it was recommended in mags and on tv. the place turned out to be a more organised version of chatuchak (but still cant win terms of variety and prices) and was a great place to spend the evening as it was relatively safe as mostly tourists (had tour buses bringing loads of tourist over) and there was a huge open air food court where you could sit down n relax while watching soccer on the 2 big screen tvs or stage singing and dancing performance. prices were acceptable too.. didnt buy much coz it was our first stop and was hoping to get better deals at chatuchak so we went off ard 9plus..

open air food court. can see the stage?

day 2

got up really early the next morning coz had to hv breakfast b4 our complementary half day tour, i.e. a cruise down chao praya river and a visit to wat arun as well to a local gems factory. coincidentally, realised that the other lady in our tour looked suspiciously like my ex-discipline mistress at cedar and which was later confirmed by my colleague... she had brought along her maid for a holiday coz she had been with her for 6 years and according to her was very much part of the family. so generous rite? she also treated me n my colleague to lunch at the nice restaurant which me n my sis found on our last trip ;p

wat arun 24hrs flowers mkt beside the riveraft the half day tour ended at the gems factory, the guide ask us for tips and unlike all the previous ones i had on my trip, this lady demanded a flat rate tip of 100bht each!! 1st time i heard of tis coz on all our previous trips, we paid wateva we like and she wasnt as nice as the previous guides as i had.. onli plus point was they arranged to drop us off directly at chatuchak (but previous guides also did so ;p)... by the time we got to some serious shopping st chatuchak, it was already 1plus... didnt manage to shop thoroughly this time round coz the weather was xtremely hot and scorching hot (can literally feel the heat prickling on the skin at the back of my neck n arms) causing us to tire easily. manage to get some stuff (but less than my previous trip ;p) and decided to head off ard 4plus coz really tired.

ex-discipline mistress and her maid :P

our lunch, foc :P

chatuchak!! more shops @ chatuchak shops galore!went back to the hotel to rot abit and abandon our stuff and enjoy the aircon before dragging ourselves out to tesco nearby for dinner coz couldnt think of anything to do but was too tired to go anywhere too far... surprising full of pple despite it looking really quiet from the outside. lotsa restuarants in there for us to choose from. chose a fairly priced jap ramen restuarant which i tried on my previous trip at another branch at siam discovery centre. managed to get a decent affordable meal. aft dat shopped ard in the supermkt which was very much like giant or carrefour and bought some snacks back. spent rest of the evening watching show on cable.

speaking of which, we really enjoyed watching tv there esp the mtv channel where we got to see shows like "punked" and esp tis show abt guys/gals choosing out partners thru the deco of their rooms...ended up watching tv till 11/12plus every nite.

tesco near our hotel (mostly restuarants and a supermkt, not much shopping) ramen @ tescoday 3

woke up ard 8 plus and headed off for a slow breakfast (didnt had much time for breakfast the previous day coz had to rush b4 they picked us up for the tour at 8am) after which, strolled down to national stadium stn to take the bts down to erawan shrine where the famous 4 faced buddha was housed. after which we headed to siam sq. walked along the overhead bridge attached to the bts line this time round instead of walking on ground level. was a really gd idea coz it was much cooler up there, air much better and easier to walk. wonder why i didnt take note of it on my previous trips...

erawan shrine

heard abt siam sq fr friends and recommendations but havent really been there so decided to go this time round. alas, it wasnt as "fantastic" as i thot. was pretty much like bugis st type (but bugis much nicer) selling stuff for youngsters but not as much shops as expected. decided to take a cab down to pratunam market instead. lotsa of shops selling accessories, bags and clothings there and realised that my previous hotel, first hotel, was juz nearby and we didnt realised it! as usual very crowded despite being a weekday and aft wondering ard for a while, decided to go to the new pratunam fashion mall nearby instead.

siam square

had lunch at the food court there and walked ard. quite nice there but you have to buy in bulk, i.e. 6pcs and above for accessories, in order to get cheaper prices. h/r didnt buy much coz the clothes sizes there are really small ;p... headed back to mbk for more shopping ard 5plus. finally decided to head back to the hotel but this time took a cab back. was veri cheap coz we were juz nearby, ard 35baht, which was the start off rate... more tv watching but also had to pack up.

pratunam fashion mall

day 4 (home sweet home)

actually regretted not taking earlier flight coz both of us had done most of the shopping and running low on cash (didnt wanna change some more coz trying to save $$ ;p)... went back to hotel room aft breakfast and managed to catch a movie on cable before checking out time. managed to leave our luggage with the hotel (one thing i liked abt the hotel is that unlike the first hotel, they stored our things in a room instead of on trolleys in the lobby which was very assuring. was abit worried earlier on as i didnt see any luggage deposit areas earlier on) and went off to mbk for last min shopping and lunch. manage to get some last min gifts for the family and both of us really exhausted our baht that we ended up having ramen again instead of pizza as planned and worst still, we couldnt afford a decent set of kfc each at the airport later on (did i mention kfc there was really ex, ard 200bht a set which is like SGD8plus!!!)

came with the small backpack and half full qoo luggage bag but went back with all these :P

got back to hotel early at 3plus despite our transport coming onli at 5. hung round at the comfy sofas lined against the corridor at the lobby and luckily we came back earlier coz the pick up came half an hr early and we could hv missed it. took an hr to reach the airport as we had to pick up other passenger along the way there. there was a shortage of trolleys at the airport and we had to try to balance our things ard to find the correct check in counters. rotted at the airport dfs till boarding time. no delays this time round but the flight back was horrid coz the jetstar flight was really cramped compared to value air. it was so cramped that we had problem getting into our seats and the leg space was so tiny that i finally understand the term "economy class syndrome" ;p... even the aisle space was so narrow that i had to walk slighted tilted to one side and eventually ended up skipping side ways in order to reach my seat fast...

got bacl to sg on time ard 11 plus. lotsa planes landed at the same timing so queue was pretty long at the counters. manage to get the ume wine which mum wanted at the dfs even though we didnt see it when departing from singapore on the 1st day... dad n pat came to pick me up coz mum was tired aft work. my colleague's daughter came too with her hubby and the little gal was quite emotional coz start crying upon seeing mummy at the luggage collection area. rushed up to mummy the moment she stepped out and hugged her and also blur blur gave me a hug too :P...

regretted not taking leave the next day but was too late to take urgent leave so dragged myself to work the next day. finally managed to finish blogging abt my trip! YEAH! looking forward to next yr's annual "pilgrimage" to bangkok, the shopping paradise!!