ENTRIES PROFILE TAGBOARD LINKS EXTRA

bangkok trip photos!!!

i didnt feel excited that i was going bangkok. but the few nights before leaving, i wasnt able to sleep well. maybe i was subconsciously excited...i dont know. ha.

initially, the plan was that nigel, his sis-in-law sylvia and me were to go to bangkok on thursday 26th july, then have nigel's bro and bro's friend join us on friday.
BUT, sylvia pulled a stunt on us. she called 20hours before the flight to add her friend, kitty, to the group. frantic arrangements were made to include her on the flight and hotel accomodation. lucky for her the flight wasnt full yet, or the hotel overbooked. not so lucky for the rest of us who had to endure her bimbotic-ness.

so anyway...

thursday, 26th july 2007

arrival in Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok, Thailand, at 10.30am(bangkok time).



kitty is a chinese national with singapore pr. apparently, she requires a visa, but the queue was super long. we had to wait 1hr for her to clear immigration. coz of that, the airport transfer to the hotel left to pick up another group to bring to the airport. so we had to wait another hour for the transfer to return. wasted 2hrs just like that. dammit.

while waiting for the airport transfer..


at long last, we reached the hotel around 1pm. after checking in, we went up to our respective rooms. i was super awe struck at the bigass room. omg.


it would have been a bigass suite if it was singapore, with the large and separate living, sleeping, and bathroom areas. loved it man.

view from the 35 floor

after a hurried buffet lunch at the hotel, we went to siam square to get our hair and nails done. nigel was the unfortunate victim coz he practically wasted 1day waiting and not doing any shopping.
i got hair extensions finally! for only 1200baht. wahaha. didnt expect to pay so much, but for the sake of having long hair for the first time in my life. it was worth it.

getting our hair done~


from behind

then it was on to our nails!!

getting our nails done;P

after the manicurist was done with my hands, she disappeared under the table.

she went to blow her nose and i thought maybe get ready to do my toes. but..she never did come up again. this is why...

she just sat on the floor while doing my pedicure. omg. it was hilarious.

sylvia had a 3D nail design on her nails. it took a whooping 1.5hrs. all hand drawn.

by the time we were done, it was getting late, so we crossed over to mbk to walk around abit. we had the steamboat at MK restaurant, which was affordable yet not too bad. kitty started complaining about being tired, so we headed back to the hotel.
since it was still rather early, around 10ish, we left kitty in the hotel while the rest of us walked at the pratunam market just outside the hotel.

washing my hair that night was pure torture to my scalp and my patience. pain like hell. spent half an hour blowdrying my hair. so troublesome.

friday, 27th july 2007

we began our day quite late. around 11ish. sigh

having to constantly wait for some people..

while waiting, nigel and i went to explore the hotel. Baiyoke Sky being the Tallest building in Bangkok.

my office needs this..

practising our tuk tuk bargaining skill.
"..eh, to baiyoke sky, how much. 50baht? no?? how much, how much??"

"..so heavvyyyy.."

looking at the view

the view from the 77th floor(where buffet meals are served)

in the special glass elevator from 1st floor straight to the 77th floor

nigel thinking he can fly thru.

we climbed up to the ulu revolving roof deck. apparently there's an entry fee during the night. since it was in the morning, the roof was revolving and there wasnt anybody around, we took a walk around!
the view from the non-revolving roof deck.it kinda looks like we are caged.. but waddaheck.

we visited the four faced buddha temple to get some blessing. from my last visit in a tour group, i vaguely remember the tour guide saying that you were supposed to walk in one direction and place 3 joss stick and a flower offering at each face. also, each face has a certain significance. like one is for you to pray for wealth, health,etc. but i couldnt remember which face is for what. so blind follow blind. i just prayed for health and happiness at each face. just to be safe. either one should be correct right?!

at the four-faced buddha temple


then it was off to shopping at siam square. we walked the entire way to siam square from the four faced buddha. havent even start shopping and my legs were aching. no photos to show for the time spent shopping. rather uneventful shopping at siam central, til we arrived in mbk. coz the group split into 2. sylvia and kitty went off, and nigel and i went to the third floor area of mbk to look for his soccer jerseys that my bro raved about. close to 3hours later, he got his grade A fake barcelona and 07/08 man u jerseys and 3 dvds, while i got 2 pairs of jeans, 1 denim pedal pusher and one dress. wahaha. his bro and friend arrived, so we met up with them in mbk. got quite lost navigating the techie level. every other shop looks like the one we just walked past. a few expensive phone calls later, we found them in a small corner of a tiny shop. we had dinner at sukishi charcoal grill in mbk then walked over to this massage parlour beside novotel hotel. the traditional thai massage i received wasnt what i had expected. i expected it to be more painful and uncomfortable. but it was so relaxing and ticklish. weird.

now that the group has increased to 6, we squashed into ONE cab to go to patpong night market. the infamous agogo strip bars and the brazen soliciting within.
in the cab

nigel and i headed back to the hotel shortly after, while the other 4 explored the night life at rca.

saturday, 28th july 2007

the day was spent at chatuchak weekend market. it was super hot and humid when we arrived, then it rained damn heavily. but there wasnt much to shop. didnt see anything nice. another day without photos. hahaha.. lazy. after chatuchak, we went to pratunam and platinum malls to have a look-see. nothing much there either. super run down. walked back to the strip of massage parlours beside novotel hotel, and checked in for a foot massage+head&shoulder massage for 1.5hr for only 400baht.

dinner at coca suki restaurant was super expensive in bangkok terms. omg. 4000+ baht for 6 of us.

visited suan lum night market next. so many queer yet interesting stuff on sale there. mostly furniture or decorative items. saw a really funky wall clock that you can scribble and adjust multiple timezones on just one clock. not so funky at 3500baht. but i didnt want to spend. dunno why. no mood. but seeing all the pet puppies of at different shops did put a faint smile on my face. the puppies all so guai, they won't run out of the shop, and mind you, some of the shops are open concept. without a frontal glass or barricades to keep the dogs in. i wanted to bring them home lahh.

sunday, 29th july 2007

checked out of the hotel before doing last minute shopping at mbk yet again. this time, nigel and i explored the whole shopping mall from one end to the other, from bottom to top. haha. managed to get some sale items, foodstuffs and dunkin' donuts! brought a huge box of donuts home. haha

then it was time to leave bangkok.

happy to go home


minor hiccup at the airport tho, and an advice to all. if you are buying durian kueh(the long tube of sticky durian kueh), DON'T HAND CARRY IT. dump it in your luggage and check it in. COZZZZ, we handcarried all the foodstuff and the durian kueh got taken out and thrown away. dammit. abt 300baht into the trash. apparently the durian kueh is classified as a 'GEL', thus exceeds the 100ml restrictions. so either eat now or throw away. i bet those *beep* thai officers would have picked the durian kueh out of the trash when we walked off, coz the durian kueh was in a pack of 4 tubes. easily retrievable. dammit. we should have opened the packaging and squeezed out the contents into the bin. *mumblegrumble*

~~~~~~

so that sums up the bangkok trip. nothing fantastic. it could've been better. oh well.

itching for the next trip. truly been bitten by the travel bug. ouch.