Sawatdeekhrap!!! Heh... i'm finally back from Thailand, Bangkok! :) Okok, so i wasn't gone for very long, 3 days.. but still it was a big thing to me... holiday during my NS block leave... now how fun is that ok!! :)
Photos will have to wait as i just reached back today and rachel is still getting the photos uploaded and sent soon. :) but yeh, here's a brief run down of the holiday without photos. :) I journalled during everyday so dun worry.
Day 1 - Tuesday 12th Sept 2006
Woo! woke up quite late. Then was rushed to the airport coz i was like, late to check in. After chionging to the airport in a cab [the cab driver was really friendly and nice] I sat in T1 waiting for debz and jay. We boarded the plane at it was real exciting flying. I guess you can say that i'm deprived but i was really glad to fly. Then the plane flew over Tekong and i could help but feel a sense of thrill in me. Every day in Tekong whenever i saw a plane fly overhead, i'd wish so much i was in one of them... and i finally was! :P
Anyhow, the ride was uneventful. talked and "Himbo"-ed with Jay till Debz almost killed us. After safely landing and meeting up with Rachel, we got into our transport to send us to the hotel. After checking in and taking some pics of the awesomely nice room we had, we dropped our stuff and headed out for SPECS! I made my like, 4th pair.. ok so i'm crazy but... THEY'RE TRANSITIONAL LENSES!!! that means when i go out into the sun, my vampire glasses auto change to tinted lenses. :) it cost me a bomb, but a really much much smaller bomb than if i did it in spore... so i had to. :) the frame super branded too. haha levis. lolz. okok so i'm mad. :)
Debz and Rach made a pair too. spent half of my cash there la. my specs came up to about S$180 heh...
We had our first thai meal right after that. Road side Pad Thai... pad thai is like... char kway tiao... dun worry, there's pics... just not yet. :) Not bad... quite nice and.. cool that we were jus sitting at the road side eating while cars and buses whizz past...
After that, we went to reccee the MBK shopping centre... MBK stands for.. Mah Boon Krong... let's get the real spelling... ooo i was right. :) anyways, it's a huge shopping mall. and i love it to bits. So after looking around, jason and i had our eyes set on quite a few items already. Just waiting for the next day to buy them all. haha...
We met up with Jay's friend... Nat... will show ya a pic of her when i get the pics but she's a really nice sweet looking girl. Tall... but yet still a very good height. Elegant and i think she carries herself very well... reminds me of my sister a bit though... the way she's able to laugh and yet still remain quite composed. :) anyways, she was really invaluable... whenever we order food, we count on her and her thai expertise to save us from possible sticky [and i'm not talkin bout the rice] situations.
After window shopping, we ended up at a place that served tomyam and stuff... it was quite ok too la.. but didn't really think the food was smashingly nice.. jus, different. :)
Now, this is the interesting part... we came back to the foot massage place near the hotel and i had a foot massage done.. wahhh quite ok la.. relaxing and soothing.. but yet still weird... pain sumtimes, and it left me achy... but it was cool to do it once la... my guy was quite good... gentle and firm when it was needed... so i think i got quite a good deal. haha...
Day 2 - Wednesday 13th Sept 2006
Shopping day! Woke up to a vert nice wide spread of breakfast buffet. Eggs, danish pastries, ham, sausages, bacon, toast, juice... :) so after satisfying our stomachs, we headed out to empty our pockets. The girls went to Robinsons at the south of bangkok while the guys [jay and i] just went ballistic in MBK. Jay spent $3790B on stuff and i spent a total of $2800B. That's about almost S$120. :) i bought a dress jacket, a sweater... oh... i can't tell ya what i bought coz most of them are gifts.. but yeh, bought lots of stuff. :) Retail theraphy is SO shiok lor. felt so high after the shopping. It was real fun spending money i guess since everything was so cheap.
The rest of the day was pretty ok, uneventful. Met up with Nat again but this time, we had 3 more friends... debbie's frens [Grand, Pan and Jumbo]... we had Jap at this place called "Fuji"... it was SO NICE lor.. cheap and good... salmon belly sashimi... wow... really shiok. Oh, must tell you, there was this shop in Siam Paragon that is so cool. it's called "True". it's like a super designer place la... the internet terminals are like "Matrix" console controllers... they have really cool music playing in the shop and it's divided into 3 parts... one is the cyber cafe, music CD [jazz, fashion...] and designer books... the other section is dedicated to gadgets of technology like handphones, cameras, lenses... and the last section is the chilling section where you can use your ipod to listen to songs with their dome speakers... super cool place... really. :)
After that, we went to the night market to look see for stuff... it wasn't too smashing unless you're lookin for like trinkets and cute little stuff to buy that shouts "Thailand!"... not what i was looking for.. so yeh, wasted a trip there.. but it was still a cool experience seeing ang-mohs haggling the price down.
Day 3 - Thursday 14th Sept 2006
Woke up today but didn't really feel rejuvenated.. dunno why. We had our wonderful breakfast again and met up with our tour guide, Mr. Smith, who took us to the floating market. We had our own car and all for just $500B each... that's like S$20!... on the way, while the rest slept in the back, i spoke to mr. smith and talked to him about all sorts of stuff. he told me about the kings of thailand, the places we drove past and other stuff. Really nice man who reminded me of Uncle Alfred quite a bit... i think it's the way he wears his hair and clothes style. :P
So after the 1 and a 1/2 hour ride, we took this sampan like boat that took us thru the water area... lane which is lined with villagers living on like, kampongs on stilts.. it was really interesting seeing how they live. the river water is so dirty.. yet you see them cleaning clothes, cooking and stuff with it la... the ride thru was cool though... but once we reached the main touristy area, it got kinda boring coz the stuff there wasn't wad i was looking for. we ended up browsing and having pad thai. haha. we ordered across the river and this other lady who was selling coconut helped us collect it with her sampan. she was so nice. haha.
so we left and went to the hotel to pick up our glasses. love mine. They really change color when i go out in the sun. super zhai la. :) funky. ANYWAYS...
after we got our specs we headed out for the 2nd half of our 'tour the sights' day...
We made our way via sky train to the Chao Phraya river to take the river taxi to visit the temples and palaces... you'll see some shots of the river that isn't too clean la... mud color and vege floating around. haha... but it was a cool experience.. seeing all the temples all elaborately decorated and furnished... gold, purple, silver...
We got off and crossed the river via another boat to the "Temple of Dawn"... aka Wat Arun. and no.. it's not some Indiana Jones thing. haha... it's a temple that has wonderfully crafted designs on its exterior and it's like elaborate and intricate la.. old yes, but still wonderfully done. yeh, we took lots of pics there.. silly pics and normal pics so we'll see what gets posted at the end of this entry. haha
We headed back to the hotel for a short while then back to MBK to finish some shopping... i managed to get lots of gifts from that trip coz i was shopping alone. haha so efficient can. super funny... i left debz and rach at like.. 7.45 and then met up again at 8.30... i bought hmmm 4-5 items in that time and rach and debz had been stuck in one shop trying on 2 pairs of shoes the whole time. :) haha... sighz... anyways... after that, we met up with nat and jay again to walk paragon. Then we parted ways with our dear friend nat promising to keep in contact and of course to send pictures that we took with our cams.
Reaching back to the hotel, the girls went for the full body massage [mad chicks] while the guys took a stroll around the hotel area to search around for dinner for the girls and us... we managed to grab some take away from a restaurant... we dao-bao-ed Tomyam, Green Curry, Rice & Fried rice... then we had to start thinking smart so we went to 7-11 and bought chopsticks and plates... coz the restaurant never give... then we had to pour the curry into the hotel cups meant for the toilet brushin teeth one. haha super funny... ended up having a nice supper thing when the aching, but relaxed, girls came back. :)
Day 4 - Friday 15th Sept 2006
We left for the airport and since it was the new airport, lots of things were pretty top notch today... we ended up not having to pay airport taxes. there were cameras everywhere and news reporters reporting... why? well, our flight was the very first international flight out of that new airport.. it's not even officially opened to the public yet... so it was pretty neat la... being the first passengers leaving the airport on it's first operational day. :) the DFS were all not even set up so we couldn't shop or anything... jus go straight to the gate and wait... they ended up coming around and giving us a complimentary can of drink to welcome us into the whole, "we treat customers well" thinking. :)
Then upon boarding, they gave us all an individual cert that we flew on the first plane ride out of the airport... had to fill in our own name [which i still haven't done]... but it was quite cool. like some first class treatment thing...
On the plane, it just got better.. the pilot came out before we took off and talked to us all a bit... then he was sayin how since it's an important flight, he's gonna give away a bottle of red wine to whoever can tell him how long the runway of the new airport is. haha a bit of trivia competition... then we got a free cup of orange juice too since it was the whole "first flight" thing. haha
yeh, the flight was alrite... slept most of the way and the trip ended like that. :) relaxing.
now to the impt part... PHOTOS.

Car Ride from the Airport to the Hotel

Connecting room to Rach and Deb'z Room

Before Setting off in Thailand

Pad Thai - Local version of Char Kway Tiao

Eating Pad Thai at the road side. can see cars behind us!

Mah Boon Krong - Shopping Paradise. My Heaven

Breakfast at the Hotel. Wide variety, great taste

Coffee Me - Coffee place we chilled at... and loved

Coffee - The reason why.

Coffee Drinkers - Content, Cultured and Coffee-ed

MBK with Nat - Having dessert at Mah Boon Krong

Mango with glutinous rice - Dessert... very nice

Shopping result - Me posing a tired pose on the train after shopping

Paragon with Nat - High-Yah! Karate kick at ya!

Night Market - place to bargain like mad.

My sweet ride... well, soon i hope. LOL

Matrix Pose - Jay and I with our new jackets.

Fuji - Jap food with Debz friends and Nat

Foot Massage - Before the tortur... i mean, relaxation.

Driver Mr Smith - Informative and Friendly

Boat ride - The trip to the floating market was in this boat

Orange Madness - Debz and I eating Pad Thai, taken to remember our Orange day

Sleeping Beauties - Totally knocked out in the car

Caught peeking - Thot she might be asleep too. i was wrong. :P

Paul Frank Shop - Paul Frank is your friend! Whee! crazy shop can!

Boat along Chao Praya River - River Taxi

Transitional Specs - Here's lookin at you babes!

Temple Steps - Sitting on the steep steps that is the 'Wat Arun' Temple of Dawn.

Sign at Temple - Take a moment to read the Engrish if you can. quite funny spelling errors.

What ya looking at? - Hmmm. what's this dude looking at?

Group shot at Temple - Before Leaving the Temple.

We buy everything - Me?

Shopping bags and Debz - Debz and all our shopping bags from the last night.

Rach and Rui - Cute, fun, whacky!

Budget Dinner - Dinner Jay and I bought back to the hotel on the last night.