Bangkok Fabulous Day 1-2
So, as most of you know, I went to Bangkok, Thailand with my good friend Ravin! It was totally an impulsive trip! We bought the tickets like 2 days before we flew on Monday!!! hehe (Gee, theres something about Thailand and impulsive trips with me......if you recall, I did pretty much the same thing last year around this time....See HERE!) We had a load of fun and discovered so many things! I can't believe I missed so much the last time I was in Bangkok!
Day 1
We took off from Terminal one in Singapore super early!!! Our flight was at 9am so I had to wake up at 7, though there wasn't a problem because I was excited!!! After a relaxing breakfast at Burger King, we were off!
We landed at about 12pm Bangkok time (behind sg by 1 hour) and hopped into a cab headed to the backpacker district on Khao San road! BOY am I glad the Thai taxis are cheap! We were stuck in the traffic for at least 2.5 hours from the airport!!!
Khao San road is a nice (touristy) place to be. There are backpacker hotels all over the street and outdoor stores lining the outside of the buildings. We checked the prices of a couple hotels before we settled at Khao San Palace. On average the prices are about SGD30 or THB900.
The room was super simple: 2 beds, a table, tv and small shower (I could wash the toilet at the same time I was showering, but this was at least clean. lol I've been in worse ;)).
Khao San Palace
our room!
bling bling!
Afterwards we had our first Thai Lunch a couple of shop houses away from our hotel. We had Phad Thai! One of my favorite thai dishes ever!! The food was delicious, the service was nothing to comment about but the ambience was god aweful! They were playing such sad and loud music next door and the place reeked of sewer or garbage or something. Ohh what a memory. Lol, I did like their classic coke bottles though ;)
Yum!
waiting
Anyway, it was nice to get out, we never made it to the proper destination because they didn't seem to have a riverisde walk! LOL but we walked around the Kings palace, some markets and temples.
Speaking of temples, it's Ravin's little tradition to pray to whoever (meaning the most popular god of the visited country) for protection and whatever. So we had to find a temple! We were looking at a tourist map (yea silly us, we didn't bring one) on the street when a stranger came up to us. He asked us where we were planning to go and reccomended a temple and a shopping mall. Then said it was only 60 Bhat to get to all 3 places he reccomended and out of no where a tuk tuk came!!! Ravin and I looked at eachother and then back at the man. We told the man and the tuk tuk driver we were walking! 1. We were in a foreign country without a map 2. The man smelled of booze 3. My momma always told me never to talk to strangers!
late night walks in shady places!
Happily chatting and watching out for roadside rats, a dark road ranger approached us from the back. Its windows were tinted and it slowed down nex to us. Scared and ready to run, Ravin says we should look like a couple so they won't bother us. Then we start to panic! OMG they're going to kidnapp us! The human trafficking trade is big in this country! What if they have guns?! The Window rolled down...............oh, it was just the guy we asked earlier for directions. He actually wanted to drive us there because he said it was too far to walk!! awww!! We hopped in and made our way straight to the temple! (sorry mom! this was an emergency! and he was a nice man!)
hehe, our thai friend!
entrance like a creepy picture frame!
in the courtyard
main building, Ravin giving his offerings
elephant!!!
sermon
super creepy courtyard at night
*rub rub*
40Bhat back to Khao San!
super annoying touters with frog noise making thingys
dinner!
The next day, we decided to walk to the Kings Palace and the other sighseeing areas. It was actually not far at all. You know what they say: You can experience the place much more when you're walking. I always believe it's true! We found a war memorial at a little park. As I was wondering what it was, a Thai man overheard and told me it was a war memorial with the soldiers' names inscribed on it. He was very friendly! We discovered he was from north Thailand visiting his girlfriend who lives in Bangkok. He loves his country and is also a war veteran. He told us quite a few helpful things about getting around in Bangkok. I kinda makes me think that people from the countryside are much more friendly than the people from the city.
memorial park
walking by
international conference building with the most scary gate ever! Because its pointed and theres barbed wire behind it!
another war memorial
the gates
big big compound!
wise words to heed
the lawn
LOL look at the outfit I had to wear!
Entrance! Rav had to get thai pants lol
Dual tickets! (we will see the reigning king's throne room later in the trip. These tickets are reusable for 5 days!
The statues and roofs were detailed to the last dot- as much as the eye can see. I loved the pointy roofs and window sills. The main temple had many pagodas lining the outside and many altars with smaller Buddhas. When we got inside to see the Emerald Buddha (no pics allowed) the display was so awestriking that we sat down and just stared for awhile. I believe many other visitors felt the same. If you watched them, you'd see their heads look up and they'd just sit without taking thier eyes off the statue. lol The statue is actually carved out of jade. The monk who found is thought it was emerald when he first saw it's color. It sat high on a throne surrounded by gold and diamonds among other bling. This temple's walls too were covered in handpainted murals of Buddhist proverbs. Many of their buildings and sculptures are protected by garudas -Ravin's favorite god/symbol.
There were at least 3 temples on the compound and 3 meeting halls.
The tour path led us toa whole different side of the King's palace. It was like stepping from one time zone to another really. Though, different than before, the building still exhibited supremacy. It was a western cream colored building with roman pillars and cute London lamp posts. Of course the Thai people still made a statment by incorporating elephants to guard the entrances and a beautiful, pointed, Thai-style roof. This building that boasted a finely trimmed lawn and manicured shrubs, houses all the weapons the Thais have used in the past (No pics allowed for this one as well). The tour began with just knives and swords and spears, displaying the advancement in weaponry. It continued on to guns and bombs. Wow there are so many types of guns it's insane!! This is the part I must stress to you, my dear dear readers....Please! Make love, not war!
Next up, there was an enormous throne hall. The building was the most plain I'd seen in the compound, but pretty nontheless. I was very surprised at the entrance as it was just a small narrow stiarcase to the door. The inside (no pics allowed) was spacious (in this case bigger than my house x10) with gold trimmings and in the middle sat a golden throne. I believe the place would be a lot more interesting if they had left more things in it.
Throne Hall entrance
cannon corridor
Our next sightseeing stop for the day was the Wat Pho temple where the infamous sleeping buddha lay. On our way over, we got drinks at a stall that had a pet squirrel! It was so cute! and curious! and gentle! the drink stall seller let me play with it and it climed on my arm! *loves* Ravin also found this amazing man selling his drawings of Thai mermaids, buddhas and garudas among other things. They were drawn on black pieces of paper with gold and silver gel pens. The pieces of work were completely detailed, without a single mistake. Some people are so gifted! Ravin bought a Garuda as a souvenier! Good choice as there probably isn't another person who has the same picture!
drink stall squirrel!
awesome drawings!
Further down the road, a man pointed us to the entrance of Wat Pho. The huge walls look suspiciously like the King's Palace walls but as we recalled from the night before, Wat Pho had pretty much the same type of wall. At the entrance, there was a man who told us the temple was closed for Buddha day. This guy was so freaking convincing, we have to give him some credit! He said there was another temple close by and the tuk tuk could bring us to a shopping mall after and one last tourist spot for only 60Bhat. A tuk tuk arrived and we hopped in. THEN Ravin whispers to me that he thinks the guy was lying. I freaked out, "why didn't you say so before?!" Just then, we saw the entrance of Wat Pho that we were standing at the night before and it was totally OPEN! We shouted for him to stop, gave him 20Bhat and left. It didn't occur to me at the time, but I now hear the tuk tuks are part of the scam! I should've given him a piece of my mind! -not that he'd understand english, but still! Kidnappers!
here's when we were getting kidnapped. I think Ravin is telling me he thinks the guy was lying right about now.........
they had a friendly one and an angry one guarding the entrance. I much prefered the happy looking one, so I took a pic of only him!
Big Buddha
this temple seemed to be a fan of empty picture frames
Big Buddha's feet
Around Wat Pho's complex, there were many courtyards, pavallions and chedais. Almost all of them were covered in flower tiles! I can't believe people had to individually stick them on! What Pho also houses more than a thousand buddha images! They lined all the walls- some in black, most in gold. The other half of the compound (which we didn't go into) is a working monastary where monks live. Personally, I think they need to step up their teaching because I didn't think monks were allowed to wolf whistle at girls. Yes, we caught a goup of 3 doing just so (--,)
in the main courtyard surrounded by mini pointy things
all the pointy things were decorated with these individual ceramic tiles!! Even the big ones! *wow!*
the temple's famous 3
inside one of the outer temples
one of the hundreds of rows of Buddhas!!
haha look at me all sun burnt and brown
I found a kitty in one!
Can you spot it?
one of the many painters at the temple
One guess what's down the next corridoor! No prizes for winning guesses!
anothe big buddha
super colorful pointy things that I thought were pretty!
monks cooperating!
some shady room some man told us to go into
nice from a distance......
not so pretty close up...but its under renovation!
*Traveler's note: This temple is under a lot of renovations! We couldn't go into a few courtyards, but you can still see everything from the outside because everything is so massive!
Speaking of monks, it was super funny as Ravin and I were looking for the dock to the last temple of the day we had planned to go to and we saw a monk in a red robe. All day we had been seeing monks in orange robes, so I asked Ravin if differentcolored robes mean different sects.....then if they couldgo shopping. Beacause I also saw a few monks on the amulet street shopping and barganing. Ravin goes on to tell me that there had been cases of monks who change into "normal" clothes and go clubbing, even in the gay district!! Some monks can really be corrupt! Look at the one in Singapore who stole all that donation money and drove a bmw.........
Just then, the monk turned around and said, "what are you saying?!" OMGGG So I politely explained that I was just asking if they could shop and what his robe color meant -.-" He briefly told me that he would not spend money and his robe was red as he was from a different sect of Buddhism. He was actually just visiting from Burma and knew a couple of languages. That goes to show, boys and girls- don't ever assume people can't understand what you're saying, even if they're from a non English speaking country!!!
Anyway, we eventually had some lunch and found the dock we were to leave from. The ferry ride across the Chao Praya river was 3Bhat! I tried to calculate it in my head to SGD and came up with minus money! But for the record, its SGD12 cents ;)
Beef noodles for lunch!
(it was good but gross at the same time cuz im prett sure they put random parts of cow in there which I didn't eat)
Finally found the dock!
on the boat with the locals!
temple ahead!
war memorial with elephants!
Back at Khao San, we went for a much needed hour long foot massage! Same place, same cute boy. Wow he will have a lucky wife! lol
After a delicious dinner, Ravin and I headed out to look for Soi 4 (which we later found out that it just meant "road" in a district and that our map was not to scale) -the gay club scene! After a very long walk, we found Soi 4 to be in Pat Pong (the club/hooker district) and settled at a place called The Balcony. We sat at the perfect spot! We made friends with a British guy who sat behind us and had moved to Thailand to be with his boyfriend. It also happened to be the eve of his boyfriends birthday! He said he usually did't go out, but he wanted to be there at midnight when the clock struck twelve because he had bought a mickey mouse cake to celebrate! (mickey mouse because they have 2 pet squirrels- one named mickey and the other minnie) *awwwww*
RED LIGHT DISTRICT!!!
night market
an elephant shaped bush I was amazed with!
New friend!
midnight!
Happy couple!
of course we got some cake too!
and then there were some cake attacks!
a friend from the next bar
~Love comes in all shapes and sizes, love no matter what the circumstance~
Our night ended with drunken snacks off a pushcart and HBO! Good times!!
Phad Thai to go!
Travel tips: *Use only pink taxis and make sure they use the meter! (try for taxis driving by and isn't parked by the road already)
*The pirate trend right now is Threadless t-shirt copies!
*Don't listen to anyone who may seem halepful except an authorised visitor's information booth!
~Check in soon for day 3-5 in Bangkok!~
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Wonderful quote: Why buy the whole pig when all you get is a little sausage?
Khao San
sneaky fail!!
First tuk tuk ride!
Ginormo guards
temple housing the Emerald Buddha on the left. Look at the awesome pillars!
little pagodas in the temples courtyard!
man touching up the wall
bling bling!
Garuda
loving the roofs!
if you look carefully, you can see the emerald buddha lol
another temple
elephants!
Super Thai!
pillars to another temple under renovation
mini re-make of Ankor Wat in Cambodia!
Ravin and his Garuda lol
random building
outside one of the meeting halls (though it kinda looked like a temple too)
courtyard of meeting halls and such
love the lamposts!
poor guards in full uniform in the scorching heat!
tickets!
climbing to the "base" level
2 levels to the tippy top!
me and my home dawg
first level up! (if you look carefully, you can see Ravin chickening his way down lol) and there are buddhas behind the cages
Hellooooooo Bangkok!!!
second level!
check out that view!!
no more levels to climb, so this was the closest I could get to the god on top!
its porcelin
WOW the way back down was scary!
details count!
3 bhat back to Khao San!
Dinner at our fav place!