Lovin’ Thailand

The land of smiles… is just one of my favourite countries to visit!

Why? Great food, great bargains, interesting language, unique culture!

• Haadyai / Hat Yai – checked
• Krabi – checked
• Phuket – checked
• Bangkok – checked

Bangkok

Date: 5th – 9th November 2009
Travel Mates: Kenny, Shino, Su-Lyn, Winnie
Cost of Return Flight Tickets + Skybus + Luggage Check-In: RM 171.00 via AirAsia
Accommodation: Samran Place (9600 Baht for 5D4N stay, 2 rooms for 5 people – double & triple sharing)

Highlights

• We scrapped many ‘tourist attractions’ for the sake of spending more time SHOPPING! LOL. We spend all the time on shopping (and eating), well, almost all if not all 5D4N. The only ‘tourist-y’ place we went was Floating Market, Snake Farm (watched the Snake Show), Elephant Sanctuary (only a brief visit since the gang decided not to spend 600 baht on elephant rides, etc) and River ‘Cruise’ (no, not the one that comes with expensive buffet dinner but the public transportation.. hehe).

• List of attractions scrapped from our plans:
  • Sirocco Bar, State Tower
  • Grand Palace
  • Emerald Buddha Temple
  • Wat Arun
  • Wat Phoa
  • Elephant Sanctuary
  • Patpong – famous for Thai Girls aka Tiger Show

• We ate bugs! At Khao San Road – backpackers hunt! Nice place to hang out. Choice of bugs:
  • Me – maggot
  • Shino – maggot
  • Winnie – maggot
  • Kenny – grasshopper and cricket
  • Su-Lyn – cricket
  • Muk – cricket

• Place to visit, for all your shopping needs:
  • Platinum, MBK – wholesale price available for all sorta items from clothing, to accessories.
  • Central World – for lingerie / undergarments. Wacoal there is so much more cheaper and they have very good designs too.
  • Chatuchak aka JJ Weekend Market Suan Lum Night Market – must-visit. If not for the bargains available, just for the sight of seeing all sorta things under one-roof. Cute animals included. If only I could buy a dog back!

• For your eating needs:
  • Any road-side stalls are good enough for real good local Thai food.
  • For something more commercial, try Yum Saap, Tom Som in Siam Square and a place by the river which I can’t recall it’s Thai name. Direct translation of the restaurant name would be something like See The Bridge, Eat The Wind. Magnificent view really… of the Penang-like bridge.

Check out my Bangkok pictures here!

Album #1

Album #2

Album#3

Oh yeah, another note, taxi fares in Bangkok are so much cheaper. Sometimes, even cheaper than the traditional Tuk Tuk! And guess what, all the cabs are Toyotas… Altis / Corolla to be exact! So, make sure you pick the correct mode of transportation (group-size dependant) – taxi, tuk tuk, mrt or bts =)