Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Bangkok with Joy - part 1

Right before I was posted here, Joy and friends and I actually had a short vacation in Bangkok.

So, this is what we did a couple weeks back.

Day 1.

01 Trip to airport
Excitement (or rather energy level) is always high at the start of a vacation. Here we are on the way to the airport.


We stayed at the Budacco Hotel, within the Pratunam area. A nice cozy place to stay where the street was filled with food stalls, and peddlers and shops selling tshirts, dresses, underwear, you name it. Our location is also walking distance from Platinum Mall and many other malls. Perfect for the main objective of the trip, shopping.

02 Budacco
Welcome to Budacco, the living place.

03 Budacco
A fairly new hotel apparently, where everything is clean and in good condition.

04 Budacco
Joy inspecting the room.

So, the main objective of this trip was shopping. I was like "Yeah, lets do this!" thinking how much a person can shop.

48 hours later.

I CANT FEEL MY LEGS!!!!! CHOP IT OFF! CHOP IT OFF!!!!!!!!! HOW CAN THEY SHOP SO MUCH??? How can they? Sob sob...


Back to that present day.

We had a quick shower after checking into the hotel and headed out for some street food. Street food in Bangkok has always been awesome. Can never quite get sick of it, 5 weeks ago me thought.

The guys wanted to visit one of the famous shrines and off we went. They said it was just somewhere around the corner. We walked, and walked and walked, stopped to ask for directions and walked and walked again till we finally reached the shrine. I think we walked about 10km (exaggerated of course, should have been at least 5km, at least!).

05 Street
Some of the cool stuff we saw along the way.

05 Praying
"Gods...grant me the strength and will to carry on shopping, a quick tongue to haggle on prices, and rejuvenation of my body and soul when I'm weary."

06 Street
This shrine was flooded with people. If I recall correctly, it was the four face god, where people pray and offer flowers and joss sticks to four sides.

After that, the shopping began. It has begun.

It must have been haven for the rest I bet. For me, most of the clothing there were for women, and most of the shirts I liked didn't fit. I am like "COME ON! MOST OF THE PEOPLE HERE ARE FOREIGNERS! HOW CAN YOU NOT HAVE SIZE FOR ME, AN ASIAN!"

07 Gelate
But I did enjoy the ice cream here at Gelate. Can't recall if it was at Central World or Siam Paragon. Their presentation is amazing, teasing me, beckoning me for just a lick.

08 Gelate
"Come to me baby. You know you want me."

09 Gelate
"You like blueberries baby? Stop fighting so hard. I am here for your taking."

10 Gelate
It does taste as good as it looks. Rich creamy ice cream that tease your taste buds when it slowly melts in your mouth.

Joy: It wasn't that good lah.

Later that night, we had street food for dinner. I always believe that one must try the street food in a foreign country. That's how you experience the culture of other countries. Food symbolizes culture.

Joy: You are just cheap lah.

We had barbecued pork meat, sausages, intestines, prawns, squid , som tam, and the salted baked tilapia fish. I just love the salted baked fish. Hard on the outside, soft on the inside. Just rip off the hard char-coaled skin and the flesh inside is perfectly cooked to the right amount of saltiness. Simply delicious, and it doesn't burn a hole in your wallet.

11 Street food

12 Street Food

13 Street Food

And of course, what is Bangkok without going for a massage. Foot massages for only 200 Baht an hour here. Can it get any cheaper? After walking the whole day, the soles of my feet now gives out an electrifying and excruciating pain.

As the masseuse squeezes and massages my feet, the overwhelming comfort overcame me and I slowly drifted into sleep.

14 Massage
Joy (still smiling) feeling "tickled" by the masseuse. Poor baby. Massages gives her agonizing pain rather than comfort.

End of day 1.

..........................................................

Day 2.

The massage the night before really helped. The pain in my feet was almost gone now.

The day was spent shopping for more clothes, bags and shoes. Man, gals can really go crazy over here.

Later that evening, we headed to Chinatown for dinner. A busy street bustling with people, hawkers selling roasted chestnuts and fruits, restaurants brimming with patrons. The smell of food in the air, the flashing of neon light signs, the sounds of laughter and chatter.

15 Chinatown

16 Chinatown seafood
We had dinner at this seafood restaurant, Lek&Rut.

17 Chinatown seafood
With it being filled with this many patrons, there has to be something good coming from their kitchen.

18 Chinatown seafood
Yea, the food was good if I recall correctly. Sorry about the lack of pictures. We were starving by the time the food came. Finished in an instant.

19 Chinatown
Some restaurant sign which I thought was cute.

We then headed down the street for more food. For food, I can walk. So, we were headed for 'kue chap'. Flour, rolled really thin and chucked into a peppery soup with a mixture of pork (meat, blood cubes and intestines) and more, roasted pork (siu yok)

20 Kue Chap
Huge pot of peppery soup.

21 Kue Chap
The peppery taste was strong, but just right where you can still taste the meat. The roasted pork was still crunchy after being soaked in the soup. Mmmmmm, writing about this suddenly got me craving for it. Maybe I will have this for dinner tomorrow.

Went back to the hotel after that, and then for a massage.

End of day 2.

To be continued ...


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