Day1...took airasia to bangkok. it was my first time taking a budget flight. though it definitely pales in comparison to normal flights, i cant complain much. but at least there wasnt any delay and we even arrived slightly ahead of time. and probably being a budget airline, the plane parked near the last gate towards the end of the airport. thank goodness for the shuttle service or we'll have to walk a long way. though a new airport, changi airport is still way better. we took a minivan to our hotel, Samran Place. it was a small hotel with only 24 rooms but the toilet was new and clean, which was most important. We went to Mah boon krong shopping mall and had a light snack. tried their traditional mee, which i found similar to the penang char kway tiao and another dish similar to our carrot cake. the taste was ok, a little sweet and sourish. one thing i noticed was that thai people LOVE beansprouts and vegetables. half the plate of 'carrot cake' consisted of raw beansprouts which i didnt like. the best dish was a thai dessert, sticky rice with mango. it consisted of glutinous rice drizzled with coconut milk with a generous helping of sweet and juicy mango. my favourite! its aboslutely delicious. after shopping we ate dinner at fuji, a japanese restaurant. the food was ok but relatively cheap. then we watched a movie, 'what happened in vegas'. 'chocolate' was already out on vcd then. one special thing about watching movies there is that they will play the national anthem before the start and everybody had to stand up to pay respects to their king. thais really love their king and huge posters can be seen everywhere.
Day2...the day started out with going to the Grand Palace after breakfast. even before we got off the cab, i saw one tuk tuk driver walking towards us, telling us that the grand palace is closed today and wanna bring us elsewhere. i read about this scam online so we ignored him. besides, we were 10 meters from the gate and people were streaming in and out. who is he trying to kid? the buildings were magnificent and in intricate detail, covered in gold, ceremic or shiny glittery pieces. but the weather was so HOT, we were sweating in our jeans. next, we went to the nearby Wat Pho, temple of the reclining buddha, and Wat Arun, temple of dawn, across the river. Wat Arun wasnt as beautiful as i had imagined but we still took many photos. took a cab back for lunch at A&W. the rootbeer float is so refreshing! we took a cab everywhere cos its really cheap, cheaper than 5 people taking the BTS skytrain. and i'm really amazed by the traffic in bangkok. the roads are always so busy, with as many cabs and tuk tuks as there are cars. the cabs just cut easily across 4 lanes or even do a u-turn whenever there's an opportunity. and the thing is, nobody horns. everybody justs try to give way. buses also mostly slow down without stopping and people can just jump on or off. dont think any singaporeans can drive there. Next, we shopped at Platinum mall. the mall is very big with 7 floors and endless shops, much like our far east, that we took 3 afternoons to finish shopping there. wanted to have dinner at coca restaurant in siam centre but it seems quite expensive so we ate at sizzler's instead. cheap and good! wanted to go suan lum market but it rained heavily! the weather forecast actually predicted rain for all 5 days of our trip but luckily it only rained at night.
Day3...shopped at pratunam market and platinum mall. wanted to go to baiyoke sky hotel for their international buffet lunch cos of the good reviews and magnificent view. but it turns out to be more than double the price of what people have said! didnt get to go there and was very disappointed. went to T & K seafood in chinatown for dinner. it occupied the whole of a small shophouse with i think at least 5 levels. really crowded and we were looking forward to a good meal especially the fantastic review given in yu's guide. we ordered shark's fin soup, tom yum soup, steamed fish in lemon chilli and garlic sauce, curry prawns etc. the meal was quite good and reasonably priced but it didnt have that much WOW factor as mentioned in the guide. the steamed fish had a little freshwater taste that i didnt quite like but the sauce was very good. after dinner, we wanted to go to the memorial bridge night market. the helper at T & K said its about 2km away and we started to walk there. after walking for ages through the ulu and dark chinatown, we finally reached to find a bustling market. but it was so cramped and crowded with only space for 1 or 2 persons to walk through. couldnt stop to see anything and just felt like quickly walking through to open space. after 2 long days of walking, we decided to go for a foot massage next to our hotel. the experience was very unique and it was more itchy than painful. seeing ny by my side was totally comical. haha...
day4...our last day! we decided to forgo going to chatuchak market and instead, this day was spent revisiting the same shopping malls to finish buying things we put on kiv. went back to pratunam, platinum and MBK. yu, ny and i went to chinatown in the afternoon, cos we heard that there are alot of cheap and ncie accessories there. but i think the cab driver probably took us to the wrong place cos we only saw shoes and bags there. there were mainly locals doing wholesale shopping. and the streets were small but there were cars and motorbikes buzzing through from time to time. kinda scary and fustrating walking there that we gave up. another disappointment. hai... at night, we went to suan lum market. finally we could go there after 2 failed plans to go. a pity i didnt bring my camera cos the plae is really nice! its set up in a enclosed compound and looks like its meant for tourists. but its much more spacious and organized. really good to shop at. but we didnt have much time to look around and didnt buy anything. cooled down for some drinks at the open-air area where there was a live band on stage. nice ambience and end to our trip.
i enjoyed this trip of shopping and eating but regretted not buying more stuff. still left so much money! haha...so many things that i still wanna buy. let's aim to go taiwan or hongkong next!
p.s. go to my facebook for pics!