After a hectic 2.5 days in Bangkok..we are back!! Special thanks to Warura (pee sao) for booking the hotel for us and also to both my pee saos for bringing us out for the great dinner we had last night!!
Day 1 - Budget Terminal, Platinum and CentralWorld.
Our flight was at 1045. Ma wanted to send us off and Mich too. Mich was at a chalet all night so she looked really tired in the photo below.
We took Tiger Airways and it departed from the Budget Terminal. Though I've been to many airports, this is almost what I remember seeing in Phuket and erhm let's say I was almost shock that it belonged to Singapore. Nonetheless, the place (like all the other terminals) was clean and had DFS in the departure hall.
For those that have never taken a flight from the Budget Terminal, there's only 2 flights there - Tiger Airways and Cebu Air.
Boarding time!
As you can see, the terminal only has 1 storey - ground level. The plane lands right in front of the boarding gate and we walk over, climb the stairs and we are at the entrance of the plane!
Last photo before taking off.
Arrived Bangkok around 1230pm, took a taxi and checked in to the hotel. It was time for shopping! Not before we settle our tummy. We went to Platinum Mall's food court since it was our first stop for shopping.
Our lunch - crispy pork, stewed pork with rice, satay, crispy noodles and Yong are curry rice which was like cai fan.
As the sun sets around 6-7pm, the mall was closing as well. Look at all the bags I was holding! We were really 'shopped' out!! Had to go back to the hotel to place the stuff before heading out again.
Yes, these are some of the loots I was sorting while on the phone with my pee sao to discuss on when to meet the next day and where.
Dinner time! This was at the food court above Central World. Had my favorite Pad Thai and Fried Oyster. Ami ate meatball with noodle soup and I think Yong ate Tom Yam noodle soup. Obviously I am the one that can't take spices so my food was usually spice-free! Continuing to shop - we went to Naraya, Boots, Watsons and Big C for some gum and daily essentials shopping =)
Day 2 - Baiyoke Suite, J.J, MBK, Suan Lum and meeting with my Pee Saos.Baiyoke Suite is a really old hotel with 43 floors. Breakfast was served on the restaurant on the top of the building. The view was what I would call a bird's eye view. We stayed on the 41st floor so it wasn't that bad either. We all agreed that maybe 10-20 years back - Baiyoke Suite was a really grand hotel as it was a really tall building.
Platinum Mall
Amari Watergate's just opposite Platinum
After breakfast, we rested in the room and headed out to J.J. aka Chatuchak market at about 0930am. It was crazy trying to look for a stall that Yong's colleague had asked him to and it was my first time walking J.J. with a map. I usually head out to my favorite section and just start combing.
That's me and my pee sao from Singapore..shopping!
Well, obviously its difficult to talk photos shopping so next up its lunch!! We had local Thai food at one of the roadside stalls. The lady thought I was Thai and passed me the menu with paper and pen expecting me to write out my orders. Some times I really feel pretty at home in Thailand maybe because I look Thai and people treat me like a Thai. Think its time I've gone to learn their language. Well, lunch consisted of rice, fried chicken, spicy minced pork soup, papaya salad and spicy squid. The cooks at this joint was really happening, they wear singing and clanging to the music. The atmosphere was just great!
After lunch, we headed back to the hotel as it had started to rain. We had wanted to get this bench but we were afraid we can't check it in. It was really cheap - 1,300 baht. Oh well...
Cam-whoring in the hotel after bathing..
We had some time as Apple and Warura had a wedding cocktail to go to so we headed out to MBK to get some local products. We could have gotten them at Suan Lum but we decided to go MBK so as to get some of their famous 200baht shoes!
We took a tuk-tuk as Yong had never sat on one before. For Ami and me, we had a pretty interesting experience some years back and we tried not to take tuk-tuks. Satisfied with our local products, replicated longchamps and 200 baht shoes later, we took another tuk-tuk back to the hotel to put down our stuff and wait for Apple's call. Headed out to Suan Lum thinking of getting some pet tidbits for Roxy and Buffy before getting Apple to pick us up to go for dinner - to our horror - upon arriving at Suan Lum, it started to pour! Trust me, it was not cats and dogs but more of horses and cows! In a matter of minutes, the night market was flooded!
We waited at a corner for Apple to come pick us up. The whole place was flooded and there was no way to shop. People were trying to get cabs at the corner we were standing maybe cause they thought we were waiting for cabs.
I was getting bored so I whipped out my camera and decided to have some fun...
See the water? haha..it was like 2 inches high I think - my slippers barely made it. Apple had found the restaurant but we were opposite from it so I had to trouble one of the shop sales girl to speak to Apple on the phone to let her know where we were. We had to dash out into the rain to get on to her car - we were all drenched. But thanks to Apple we managed to get out of the place! Sad to say, we did not get anything for the dogs on this trip and Ami probably caught a cold from this incident.
Was absolutely thrilled to see the 2 girls! I last saw them 2 months back. We sent them off at the airport after their trip to Singapore.
We had dinner with a whole gang of tour guides and they were all so friendly! Absolutely would love to go back and visit them again! The alcohol there was pretty cheap and as you can see from my face - I had a couple of drinks. The food there was awesome too! Really ate and ate - loved the fried crab sticks with Wasabi Mayo, the seafood cooked in something like chili crab sauce, the coconut curry and the fresh oysters!! Thanks babes for taking the time out to meet with us!!! Headed back to the hotel around 11pm as the royal family was going to be driving past the street and Apple had to move her car anyway.
Day 3 - back to Singapore.
Ami was really not well so she opted to rest in the hotel while we went out for breakfast. Wanted to have MacDonald's as I saw the logo downstairs but apparently it was only serving the sweets so we headed to 7-11 to get Ami her orange juice and some bottled water. Back to the hotel for breakfast.
Mine - eggs, potatoes, sausages, macaroni and roti prata!
Below photos were when we were nearing the airport. Well, the cab driver went on a longer route that circled behind the runway probably because we were running on the meter. I've never been on this route before but look at the sky I got to see because he took a longer route.
To me, I think they can't really earn a lot more from going the longer route - at most 50-80 baht more (at best). It's their livelihood and I believe even Singapore drivers do that so I don't blame them in any sense. I've seen tourists bargaining for items at J.J which are like 100 baht for it to be cheaper. I know that on websites there are comments that Bangkok is a place to bargain at night markets and J.J etc..but come to think of it the things there are really so cheap that I can't find these prices in Singapore. Usually, if I am nice to the seller, she'll give me a discount automatically and its not because I look Thai - Yong got that treatment too. Most blogshops that sells stuff go to Platinum and JJ to get their stocks and they jack up the prices so many times - why not bargain with them?
Back in Singapore, we were travelling the TPE to CTE when it started pouring buckets while the sun was shining brightly! Tell me about freaky weather! At CTE, I saw a rainbow - the full arc! It was un-blocked!! It was really really beautiful but I couldn't get my camera out in time to take a shot of it since I was in a moving vehicle.
P.S. Ami's really feeling bad. I hope she gets well tomorrow after sleeping it off.
