bangkok, thailand: land of smiles

Posted at April 20, 2007

I’d always wanted to go to Bangkok; obviously I’d never been there, and even though people tell me that it’s a polluted place and not the main to-see in the whole of Thailand, there’s just something about it. Can’t explain why, so I’m not gonna.

Since last year, me and FA had wanted to go to Thailand for Songkran. Then one night Terence messaged me that AirAsia was giving out FREE tickets, starting from 12 a.m. that very night. So I told my sister about it, thinking that she would be interested in the same deal. At the end, we booked ourselves a family holiday to BKK (the process included calling family members and the FA at 2 in the morning for their I/C details). No doubt some people would be asking, why is FA on board our family trip? I don’t know, it just happened. LOL.

We could only get tickets flying to BKK on the last day of Songkran. Reached around 10 in the morning and we passed by vehicles that were splattered with plaster (from the whole plaster+water tradition). Went to our hotel; the Chaophya Park, checked in, then went for lunch.

I don’t remember what we did on the first day. Probably not much, but they had Thai massages. Me and my dad were the only ones who didn’t go for it. We don’t like massages. Pinky was like, wtf you went to Thailand and you didn’t have a massage?!!?! Yeah :P

Second day we had a boat tour on the Chao Phraya Canal. It was dirty, polluted, and many of the wooden houses along the canal were in serious danger of falling apart. Some houses were dangerously tilted, the middle part almost touching the water… you get the drift.

I asked our tour guide; an amiable chap where the residents go when their houses fall apart.

“They go to second floor.” LMAO!

There were many temples along the way, and the final stop was the snake farm before turning back to the main stream. Didn’t go in either; I don’t like snakes :P

On the way back, we stopped at Wat Si Sudaram (I think) to feed the catfish. It was a great way to make a profit out of BKK’s leftover bread, but it was also somewhat fascinating.

Feeding catfish along the Chao Phraya Canal
Fireangel, me and one of my sisters feeding the hungry and greedy catfish

There were lots and lots of them around, we got splashed with drops of dirty canal water as the fish fought for the bits of bread. Makes you feel somewhat superior to have living things so eager for the essentials of life outta your hands. Maybe that’s why people keep pets :P

Hungry Catfish along the Chao Phraya Canal
Mmmmm… dinner!

Waved to a few kids who were bathing in the water… I hope they don’t get sick in the long run :(

We also stopped at Wat Arun aka The Temple of Dawn aka the most visited temple in Bangkok. Interesting…

The magnificent Wat Arun along the Chao Phraya Canal
I don’t think they look like the Petronas Twin Towers :x

This is me with my folks, photo taken by a brother-in-law who kindly lied on the grounds on his back :P

Suanie with parents at Wat Arun

Do I look like my mom or my dad? :P

After the canal tour, we were taken to the city. Stopped at two places meant to get the tourists’ money. We didn’t want to get down, but the tour guide explained that could we do him the favour as the owner of the two shops also own the tour company, and it was a ‘requirement’ to bring the tourists there bla bla bla. So we did. Boring, but what to do :)

By the way it was Monday and almost everybody was wearing yellow. Apparently the king was born on a Monday, and everybody loves the king, and so they wear yellow shirts on Mondays. I know it’s common knowledge that the Thai King is revered by the Thais, but it was still very fascinating to see. Especially when I think of the Johor royalty and all I could remember was one of them killing some dude and got away scot-free. Why can’t every Malaysian king be like Sultan Azlan Shah, hmmm?

Stopped by Chatuchak, got bored, so I went to the mall next to it and had Starbucks-like coffee for RM2. Crazy!

That night, me and FA took the Skytrain (which was friggin’ awesome!) to Sukhumvit. Walked around for a bit, explored the streets, had a beer each at an open place, then had a jug of Singha at a pub with a really good live band. Can’t remember the name nor URL (yes they had one) to save my life.

Next day, we went shopping again at the Platinum Fashion Mall. Then at night, brother-in-law belanja-ed us sharks’ fin and similarly expensive stuff in Chinatown. Thanks!

After dinner, me and FA took a tuk-tuk to Patpong. It was dirty (from the cars, bikes and buses passing by), loud and we had a really fast and crazy driver. In short, I loved it! :D What a typical tourist thing to do, awesome! :D

Suanie and Fireangel in a tuk-tuk
On the ride of our lives

We walked loads in Patpong, just exploring the various nooks and corners. Got held up by pimps many times too; “you want girl show, boy show, ladyboy show, sex show, ping pong ball show?!?!?!” No thanks (not at your ridiculous prices anyway). Stopped at one of the open bars to have cheap Singha beer.

Suanie and Fireangel enjoying cheap Singha in Patpong
Meaning of life = cheap but good beer

Somehow we turned into a ‘hot boys’ lane, where a male hooker held on to my sweaty arm and exclaimed sultrily in Mandarin, “I LIKE FAT GIRLS”. LMAO WTFBBQ BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Suanie in Patpong
Along the main PP road. I guess this is a famous sign.

Took a taxi back to the hotel. The taxi driver was really friendly, so we asked him where to see shows. He said the good ones wouldn’t be in Patpong — he could take us to a good and cheap one if we liked, but it was a 2-hour show and we were tired. He then asked:

“You girlfriends?”
Huh… “no, we friends, not girlfriends, we like boys.”
“Ohhh I thought you girlfriends… you want to see girl shows…”
“Yes we want to see girl shows but we are not girlfriends :) ”

Erm, that was about it :) Came back and FA bought loads of alcohol at the duty-free shop. She is going to be a very happy lass.

Notes and observations:

1. The only thing I bought in Bangkok was an ornament in MBK. The only reason I bought it was because I took it up to admire it, and the lady was saying, “this no break! No break!”. She meant that thing would not break easily, of course. Maybe it was my sub-conscious or something that wanted to prove her wrong, but the ornament fell from my hand, hit the group and was chipped. I swear it was consciously unintentional. So I had to buy (a new) one to shut her up.

2. The only thing I regret not buying was this awesome T-shirt that had the words, “Confucius says… YOU NUMBER ONE!” with an image of a Chinese fella with his middle finger up. It was too large for me, then I couldn’t find the same T-shirt anywhere else. MCH!

3. Thai people keep their public toilets very clean. Respect.

4. In general, Thai people are damn skinny.

5. Their food portions are also a lot less than what we are used to in Malaysia.

6. Starbucks was also cheaper in Bangkok, by about RM1.50.

7. Maybe it was the Songkran, but I didn’t see a lot of people everywhere. The traffic wasn’t that bad either. But apparently we didn’t go to the business district, where the real bad stuff happens.

8. Yay I finally went to Bangkok and all I got was this lousy blog post ;)

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