1 Jan 2008 (Tuesday)
Mad, LZK, Chris & Harry showed up at 5am to join us for breakfast at Hanis (haha, its the halal branch of HANS') at the Budget Terminal. Thanks guys! You had the honour of having the first meal of 2008 with me! Haha. Im sure it was really funny to see me chasing after LZK because he abducted my suitcase before I could check in.
After the flight there, we arrived at the BKK airport and napped a 500B cab ride back to our hotel--- the good old reliable Twin Tower Hotel. This old thai uncle couldnt understand any word English. haha. He had to go a few rounds around the airport before he started onto the highway into the city centre. Due to that, we have figured out how to communicate with the Thais. Its not merely Twin Tower. It must be Twin To-WER (in the thai accent)! Haha. That helped alot for the rest of the days we were there. FYI, the guys thought it'd look like petronas tower or something, but they just 2 stunted looking blocks. They said it looked like the Twin Blocks, rather than twin-towers. hahaha. Biatch.
So after we checked in, we walked to Hualamphong train station to buy tickets. It's really near to TwinTower and we were surprised at the chilly wind which blew around us as we strolled through the shabby looking alleys. Because the last few times I was here, it was Very WARM. We ended up at this gate which looked like the train station and asked the security guard for the ticket booth. He looked puzzled and then gave an OHhh-look of enlightenment, and brought us across the railway tracks and gestured in some direction. As a result, we walked on for the next 15minutes along the dusty and empty platform, past rusty train carriages. Eventually we reached the main building and managed to buy 11.40am tickets to Aytthaya for 15Baht each! We werent prissy so it was class C, i believe, along with everyone else. We boarded the train relatively late, because almost all the seats were taken up. We ended up near the front of the train, next to the cordoned off section which said "reserved for monks/handicapped".
The train is the most old-fashioned one which I've taken. Pretty cool ride I think, through the back alleys of Bangkok, into the outskirts and then into the rural countryside outside Bangkok. I saw a monk seated in front of us throw a few pieces of litter out of the window. Tsk tsk. I guess some times monks abuse the privileges they are given.
After a rocky 1.5hour train ride, (the boys slept for most of the way), we reached our destination safely. We met this helpful and cheery driver who offered to provide us the transport around town, to the various attractions of our choice. Haha. He told us that he has a car & then we were showed to this tuktuk with a motorcycle motor. He's an interesting fellow. So we went around the ruins, temples & markets, taking many pics in our trail.
The above are all the main pics taken on our route around Aytthaya.Although it was very very picturesque,
After so much...
we then decided that we have seen enough ruins, enough temples & enough Buddhas.
Haha.
The highlights include was probably the very very steep and high climb at Wat Chaiwatthanaram. We paid 30Baht for entry, so might as well as make our expenditure worth it. Haha, by the way, the boys wanted to loot some bricks from the ruins to auction off on Ebay as well. Haha. There was this King Rama memorial with an insane army of multi-coloured chicken around the area. After everything, we paid our driver 300Baht each and then rushed to catch the train back to Bangkok.
The train back was packed as sardines! Imagine those crowded trains in India you see on Channel News Asia, where people hang out from the sides. Thats the condition of the train! Thats not the best part, the most amusing thing is that there was a mad man standing on top of our train carriage. He refused to get down and almost the whole village was there either as spectators or trying to coax him to get off the train carriage. Because of his crazy antics, he had helped us to delay the train and that was how we managed to catch the train ride back although we were late. They called the police and they tried to drag him off by force. First by pulling off his pants and eventually he fell down unto the tracks and they carted him off in his underwear. Haha. That's our dose of drama and adventure on the first day.
After a loonnnnggg journey back stuck in the train carriage connectors with nothing much to hold on to, I met some lovely thai kids who showed me kindness then. We had dinner at the train station foodcourt. My cold had gotten pretty bad by then and i had lost my voice. :( The boys werent very sympathetic and they bought all the sweet/fried/baked goods sold at the train station to eat as supper. We walked back to the hotel and spent the night watching EPL on TV. Haha.
2 Jan 2008 (Wednesday)
We had breakfast at 9+am, after that we went in search of the Grand Palace and Wat Pho(reclining Buddha). So after we got into the cab, he decided that we should take the ferry instead, and sent us to the RiverCity pier. The cab driver said I was "PIAO LIANG". Haha. So sweet. We took the orange flag express ferry to the Wat Pho stop and followed the crowd to the temple. We found out that we need to pay to get in, so we merely walked around the compound. After that we decided to find the Grand Palace, to finally meet Joshua's best friend, the King, whom he claimed, was expecting him. Hahaha.
Wat Pho wasnt as interesting, me think.So after consulting the map, we walked in the opposite of the human traffic flow, around high white walls and reached an entrance with a flood of people inside and outside its boundaries. Apparently we need to be dressed properly to enter. The guard said that Josh need to wear long pants to enter. I was wearing a skirt & he didnt say that wasnt unsuitable. After Josh rented this ugly looking printed cotton pants, the 2nd guard motioned at my skirt. Now I had to rent those ugly sarong thing too! Rental cost 50Baht, that was our entrance fee i guess. Both of us looked like jokers in the gaudy batik print, I dont think we had any photographic evidence though! Haha. Anyway, we had thought that it was the Grand Palace, but it was not. We had ended up at the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. The entire place was lavishly decorated. The walls glinted in the sunlight. The details of the architecture, paintings and carvings etc were soooo intricate, it took our breath away. After which, we decided to go in search of Lunch at KhaoSan road area.
With our trusty map, we started our walk there. We were walking along the perimeter of the royal field which has been blasted with tons of pigeon droppings, this woman started to bug us to take the corn to feed the pigeons. Az & I had successfully ignored the woman. BUT BUT, our dear Josh had succumbed to her pressure and let her stuff 2 packets into his hand. So we sighed and went to help him get rid of the corn. After that, we asked her how much. She said 150Baht!!! We were horrified. This was a major ripoff! Then she saw our disgust and so she called her thuggish looking boyfriend over, and he grunted- YOU MUST PAY!!! We tried to haggle with him and we paid 50Baht each. It was an extortion! Haha. On hindsight, its a really funny incident to disturb Josh.
They love their king very very very much, as you can tell.Anyway, we were there when the princess passed away.
It explained the Half Mast flags which we saw on 2 Jan.
Soon after, we landed in a foreign looking land. I knew it was Chinatown because some of the shop names were in Chinese! We just walked randomly, hoping to find interesting stuff, including guns. We saw provision shops, shops dealing with dried goods, wholesale shoes! So many many shoes, but I couldnt buy any because I need to buy at least a dozen. haha. Imagine my PAIN. Then we walked through many narrow alleys in the marketplace, selling everything that you can think of. We gave up on our search for guns and decided to go back to the hotel. Most Thais were very generous with their directions when we asked them for it. Haha, after navigating our way back to the pier, we decided to just take the tuk tuk back to the hotel.
We cleaned ourselves up before heading to Tesco-Lotus for dinner. We ate at the Pizza Company and then roamed around Tesco, the HUGE supermart. We got back and Wanhua finally arrived at the hotel and visited our room.
Anyway, i think there was a night-time swimming pool event, but im not sure if it was on the 1st or 2nd night. Anyway the boys went to the pool at 9+pm, after the pool closed. So AZ & Josh were daring each other to go in first. hahaha. So they pretended to do stretching & warm-ups went to the poolside. Az was in halfway, counting 1, 2, 3 and Josh jumped in with a splash. Then the security guy came & told them to get out. Hahahaha. So Josh was the only one who was completely wet while Az was still fine. Hahaha. That was funny. Az had his eye-power thing going. Haha.
3 Jan 2008 (Thursday)
I met WH's family during breakfast and then met Mad & LZK who had reached the hotel lobby at 9+am. So after they dumped their things in WH's room, we headed to MBK to start on SHOPPING, after 2 days of exploring with Az & Josh. Haha. Our first stop was at the FBT outlet near MBK, and we started on the "this is a respectable place" joke. Hahaha. (Insider joke, sorry if you dont get it. haha.) After that, we reached MBK and we couldnt find our Loreal Salon anymore. Thats why i didnt manage to highlight my hair as planned. Therefore, we just went to our favourite Divi Diva shop for buy 199-250 Baht clothes. On the way, we saw this hilarious advert which said- "God made you a man, but we make you a Gentleman." HAHAHA. Its a tailoring shop which makes suits & stuff. BKK rocks eh? Well, we had lunch and went to Siam Square to look for cheap shoes. I think the boys became happier there after they found some nice tees, shirts and skinny ties. We didnt get our massage session in the end because they werent free when we visited. :( I miss my regular masseur. haha.
We managed to SQUEEZE 2 boys & 3 girls into the backseat of a cab. Az sat in front & subsequently became the CAB-man for us. Hahaha. Hes in charge of showing the cabby his Twin-To-Wer (AKA Biceps). Flaunt the BKK map & try to look intimidating. hahahaa. Well, we got back safely and prepped to go on a night out.
Our first stop was to The DOME at State Tower. Az, Josh, Wh's Bro (KaiJun) & myself shared a cab to the Dome. The uncle was again an old guy who didnt know a word of ENGRISH and he got lost. We got stuck in a horrible traffic jam which cost us 15baht extra. We were in the stationary cab while the meter ticked for 15baht, and if you know how slowwwww the taxi meter ticks, you'll understand the agony of waiting we went through. Thank goodness for good company in the cab. We reached eventually, to find WH's family famished and upset. (Hungy people are angry people.) So we walked back, against the traffic to find some decent food. We ended up in a quaint romantic looking alley which looked rather out of place in chaotic-urbanised BKK. It was lined with cobblestone pathways, flanked by romantic looking european-ish shophouses, complete with the lamp post, a tree and hanging lights on it. It was a small cafe serving home-cooked food. We met this adorable thai-girl who was just as irritating as LZK. She kept making faces at us from the 2nd level when we waved and smiled at her, through the glass window.
We waited forever for dinner, since its home -cooked. LZK simply had to prove me right about him being extremely annoying, so he spilled my green tea as well. Haha. After that, WH's family headed back to the hotel, although they were supposed to join us up at The Dome. Nevertheless, we headed back to The Dome, went up the lift to the 63rd floor. And PHOAR. We were blown away. By the view and by the wind, literally. It was freezing up there, but the view was sooo worth braving the chilly wind for. We were treated to a gorgeous night skyline of Bangkok. So we had drinks, took many many photos, behaved like idiots on the comfy coach, trying to get some body warmth. haha. We also witness this Male Gay Couple make out with each other in full view of everyone. SO SCHWEEET. hahaha. When we left, we shared the lift with them and they were chuckling at all the dumb things we said. I forgot what we said exactly. haha. But it was a lonnng lift ride down because it stopped on many many floors along the way frm 63rd to L. Haha.
The only pic from the DOME which I bothered to take with my lousy camera.Do wait for Josh or Az's version with their ZAI cameras equipped with fabulous resolutions & high powered zooms.
Next, we headed to Royal City Avenue. The cab driver insisted its not open & he wanted to bring us to this place called the Hollywood and we refused. We reached that street, which looked quite forlorn and run down. We walked along the whole road, looking for things to occupy us before going into the club. We ended up at RCA Plaza looking at their indoor go-kart circuit. Looks damn cool, but we werent dressed for it. Next time!!!
At 10+pm, we slinked into Route66, one of the biggest clubs there and waited for the party to get started. Cough cough. the SMOKE. We are too used to the smoking ban in Singapore, so we were choking abit in there. The party didnt really get started until about 12midnight. which was sad, because we left at 12.30am! Well my party of friends seemed really tired out and it didnt help that they have no dancefloor inside. Haha. I found myself dancing with a Thai girl standing near our table! Haha. I couldnt keep up with her because i was plagued with a cold & very tired after 3 days of walking ALOT. Haha. Nvm at least i had the company of WH, Mad & Az for some parts of it. They sort of took turns to dance. haha. Everyone's tired. Josh & LZKs' bums were glued to their seats. We met some Singaporeans too, who poured us some whisky. But he spoke mandarin to Az & he was like ????? So we just showed some hand signs of appreciation. I only managed to drink about half of 1 cup. The rest of the cups were untouched and we passed them on the the thais who wanted our table when we were leaving.
We walked out and we got mobbed by some thai kids who wanted to earn money hard-selling us stalks of withered roses. Haha. As usual Josh kena-ed with his "come bully me" face. But i think we left in peace. I cant remember the exact details now. Haha. We went back & K.O.ed soon after.
4 Jan 2008 (Friday)
Our post-breakfast morning started off with a trip to Platinum Fashion Mall- the paradise of clothes sold at wholesale prices. After 1 hour, WH & I were armed with many plastic bags. haha, whereas the guys had less luck. Nevertheless, we all had good progress after that. We had A&W for Lunch! Then a Swensens Fondue to top everything off. We then proceeded to Khao San road to look for Az's Billabong Berms haha. He managed to bargain frm 700+B to 450Baht. Damn zai. Then Josh just jumped on the bandwagon conveniently & bought a pair of berms at the same price too. The boys bought quite a few tees from the same guy. So it was a fruitful shopping trip to Khao San for the boys. Wh & I restrained ourselves. We met this thai guy who tried to give us his kittens for free. They were adorable and I think I accidentally kicked one on my way to the loo, because it was sooo puny i didnt notice it on the ground. Sorry! It started to whine loudly after that. Haha.
We headed back to the hotel & the guys decided to go for a proper swim during sunset. However, the water was FREEEZZZZINGGGG COLD. Thank goodness I forgot to pack my bikini! haha. I was laughing seeing them freeze and shiver & chattering their teeth in the water. Hahaha. There was a stoic 50+year old looking aunty who seemed ok with the temperature! After she left, there was a pair of farang uncle & son. They stuck their toes into the water, frowned & left. That was how cold it was. Haha.
Sunset at Twin TowerSo after that, we went back showered & headed to the TESCO foodcourt for dinner. I finally got my papaya salad! The boys were stoning by then. Prolly tired out by their swim. I wasnt anywhere better, because I almost went on the wrong route, on the way back. We then met WH & her Bro at the lobby, to watch the 9.40pm Cabaret show called Calypso. Its basically a tranny-fest with fake boobies and weird faces. I liked the Male comedian who acted as a shy japanese girl. Haha. The rest were :S. Josh took a video of them as we were leaving. It was scaryyy.
We went back to our rooms and we watched this F grade horror show on tv. It was so bad its funny. The cop got stabbed by a stick in his ear. Another cop got stabbed in the back with a half-eaten corn cob. The villains are this monsterish mother & son duo. The hero is mainly the 1st cop's cat called Clover. Haha. That was how we spent the last night. Zzzz...
5 Jan 2008 (Saturday)
Chatuchak! We took the train there and the adverts on the train's screen were extremely entertaining. Haha. Random seems to be the IN style of marketing. There was an advert for horlicks, but it looked like some slimming ad. Another advert for lays potato chips looked like one about romance??? Well, saturday was the day to buy stuff for people who came to us with shopping lists. Josh had to get stuff for people like Melvin & other camp mates. Az had his family members to shop for. WH & I had ourselves to shop for. Haha. We went past this entire row of Mat-shops selling the Mat attire like skinny jeans, vans, skates etc. And this malay uncle suddenly told us that hua & i were "PIAO LIANG". Hahaha. Since when "Piao Liang" (Pretty in mandarin) became part of the Thai colloquial vocab? Haha. So he asked where we were from and whether we can speak malay. I conveniently pointed at az. Haha. We made some small talk & left. We had lunch there & lost the boys on the way. We found the boys along the main road again & started on the way back to the hotel to get cleaned up before the van arrived to send us to the airport. Josh went off in search of locks for his luggage. He came without locking up his suitcase!!! Can just conveniently use him to smuggle drugs lah! Well, the best part was that instead of coming back with just a pair of locks, he showed up at the door with many shopping bags. haha. It was quite a sight.
Finally we all checked out and waited for the van to arrive. We reached the airport just in time for WH's aunt to check in, we were the first few to check in for Tiger Airways. We showed the boys the uber weird S shaped travellators and had them whizz me around while seated on the push-cart thingie. I think josh had an un glam video of that. :S haha. It was fun anyway. Well, we finally went on board & it was a quick 2 hour flight back to Singapore.
6 Jan 2008(Sunday)
I woke up in my own room feeling very weird because I didnt see my 2 roomies. Then it hit me, I'm home. :(
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