Advertisement
Published: September 16th 2015
I have to see more! This is what I told myself before I leave Bangkok (my first blog) in March.
After that trip, I listed things I would do this year:
•
Travel more. •
Start a legacy. Be more than "Luisa". •
Laugh more. Read more. •
Invest for future. •
Learn how to swim You read the last one right. Yes, I can't swim. For my 30 years of my existence I can only stay at Kiddie pool. Haha. TRAVEL MORE
First, what are the things to consider. Below are my list:
• Budget - You can see me spending hours browsing through different website fishing for a good deal of flight.
• Location (Beach vs Scenery) - I am a sentimental person, I go for scenery. Probably because I can't swim. Let see if this preference change once I'm good in swimming.
• Significance of the trip - For me, it is experience and overcoming fear. The lesson learned and the people you cross path with molds you into a better person you ought to be.
• Transportation - I'd love to try different transportation there is. But if I'm too tired, a nice
That's Us!
Guess which hand is mine?!ride in limo would be okay.
• Itinerary - I prefer free and easy.
• Food - I love spicy food. I am not a fan of curry but I guess I can try. I don't eat avocado. I might need to find courage to eat some exotic foods.
• The right time to travel - They said it would be best to do a research before a travel. I agree but I have to admit, this is still an opportunity for me.
Second, I'll continue my blog.
They say ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find. So to find your passion in life, you have to seek. My take is, one have to construe moments that stands out. Maybe the phrase "I can feel it in my bone" is true. No one can ever tell but you just know it when it's there, a great hunch, just a matter of accepting or not.
What is my passion? I just found it. It's Traveling, I guess, and inspiring others by sharing my experiences. It would be fulfilling if I'd have the confidence to stand infront of the crowd and motivate them with my words.
Who knows? Maybe one day..
Having attended a Fashion Fair drives me to explore more and gain more knowledge. This time Food Fair! Who doesn't love food? No one. That is the fact that some still denies but secretly keeps a bar of chocolate instead of granola. It's okay!
So the date of my second trip to Thailand is confirmed. It would be best if I don't have to travel alone.
I've been spending few late night coffees with two lovely ladies. You can call it besties. The laughter is incredible. So it would be great if the three of us go. And as you've already guessed, three of us headed to Thailand.
And as promised, I bring more! Now I'm with 2 friends to explore what the country have to offer.
To start the gratifying experience, I indulge myself in watching Benedict Cumberbatch's movie of Alan Turing's life "The Imitation Game" while on a 2-hour flight to the Kingdom of Thailand. I'm always fascinated to watch movies that inspires and give you a glimpse of the past. I'm not so into chic flicks.
When we landed Suvharnabhumi Airport, it was 9
in the morning - local time. We decided to take the train and walk to the hotel as it's just next to the Ploenchit station, convenient. This time the train trip is longer as we have to transfer from the end of SA City Line to BTS Skytrain, and alight after 4 stops. Ploenchit is just 2 stops away from Siam, the centre of shopping in Bangkok. Not sure if this is a good news, especially when you are with girl friends.
The hotel allows an early check-in, we just added extra bed so the three of us stays in one room. We decided to wander around on our first day, find something nice to eat, shop, street foods, night market and massage. We love massage, so much!
It was a sunny Wednesday, the weather was so hot. Where else would girl friends on a hot daY other than beach? Yes, remember Siam is just 2 stops away. We stayed in shopping malls until dusk. Oh, we had our meal at Billion Beef. Superb. Our first day is considered as Mall Hopping. Selfies everywhere!
In the evening, I toured them along the familiar streets of Ratchaprarop for
street foods, night market and massage. We had a full body massage. It was relaxing.
Day 2, Food Fair!
We head to Hall 9 for registration, the bridge that connects the main hall to hall 9 resembles an S design and in white. It's like being in a white tunnel. I wanted to commend the person who designed it, brilliant. Upon entering the room I was amazed by its interior - classic and elegant. There are paintings on the wall that stretches from the ceiling to about 2 feet from the floor.
After registration, time to fill our stomach! Well, it's part of it, it's food fair. There's food everywhere.
We enjoyed drinking coffee, tea and juices. We spent almost half an hour in one of the coffee stalls there that uses iced coffee maker. The coffee is sweeter when it was processed thru this technology than brewed. I was delighted to find a stall with barrells of chili. I can only guess the how many chillis are actually blended there. A million or so I supposed.
You can find delicacies and products from different countries like Korea, Japan, Germany, Philippines, Myanmar, Indonesia,
Thailand, etc. Foods are served hot. We don't have to step out for lunch! It's called "loving the food around".
Everyone is so friendly and accommodating, they wanted people to try their products and share their backstory.
Well, as for me, I bought some tea! I'm a tea lover.
We had problem with our transport back to hotel so we had to hail a cab, it was a long ride. It took us about 2 hours to reached the hotel because of heavy traffic. At that juncture, we were so thankful to be in a cab and not a tuk tuk so we could rest our feet and had a nap while in the midst of jam.
We went to bed early for our city tour the next day.
Day 3, Tour
Excitement filled my heart when I woke up, looking forward to wonderful day.
Here's a list of places we wanted to go:
• The Grand Palace
• Temple of Emerald Buddha or Wat Phra Kaew
• Reclining Buddha
• Chatuchak Market
• Let's see what else.. (In case we still have time)
After breakfast, we hail a cab to our
Wax Image of Abraham Lincoln
"The President who abolished slavery in the USA" first stop. The driver was so friendly, we had good laugh with him. He suggested to bring us to The Human Imagery Wax Museum in Khun Kaeo Area before heading to The Grand Palace. It was fated to board his cab, we didn't regret saying yes. The history of Thailand is told through the wax gallery, this includes the 8 Kings of Thailand. The culture and belief of the people was carefuly illustrated through the human size waxes. A sensitive story of slavery is also well elaborated. Some of the highly regarded leaders were also included, to which are Abraham Lincoln being the President who abolished slavery in the USA, and Sir Winston Churhill as an inspiring war leader, orator and known as "The Greatest Living Englishman".
It took us almost an hour to finish the maze of wax. It was a window of Thailand's history. We were lucky to be there.
Next stop, The Grand Palace and The Temple of the Emerald Buddha. There was a long queue at the gate. When it was our turn, we were told to change! Dress code. Sleeveless is not allowed as well as shorts and miniskirt. I was wearing a
blue sleeveless jumpsuit, but I was lucky I brought a shirt so I just wear it on top of the jumpsuit. My girl friends were wearing sleeveless dress and short. We joined the queue to rent a shirt for both of them. It was noon, we have not started the sight seeing but we were already sweating, the temperature was about 36 degrees celcius.
At the temple's entrance is a signage that reads "Thai and Guide" with a green arrow pointing to the left path and another "Foreigner this way please" with black arrow pointing to the opposite direction. This will lead you to the ticket booth. For Thai and Guide, it is for free. For Foreigners, it costs 500 Baht ($23 SGD).
It was a struggle to take a good photo as there's a lot of people who wanted to grab a snap as well. So you can imagine taking photo and the background would be people taking photos too.
The details of the temple's design is remarkable. It was built to last the test of time. I can guess it can last over a hundred more years. I prayed my heart's cry and hope for
blessing.
I told you I am sentimental.
The Grand Palace is majestic. The royal family had lived there for over a century since its completion in 1782 during the first monarch. It is made up of of small buildings, pavillions, gardens and halls. The main building is rectangular and it's roof is designed with nagas, a magical serpent-like creature that symbolizes peace. The royal family no longer resides in The Grand Place since 1925, now it's main purpose is for ceremonials, coronations and other important occasions.
Surprisingly, though there's a large number of crowd, I was able to take a wonderful panoramic shot of The Grand Palace. Something that I can be proud of and brag about.
Next stop, lunch and it was 2 in the afternoon. The restaurants and eatery opposite the palace are full. We entered Subway hoping for a vacant table. We were lucky to find one upstairs. But the stairs are so narrow and steep, one needs to be careful on steps while carrying the food up, else it will be a disaster.
Energy is back and we forgot about the hot weather. We're ready to see The Reclining Buddha. To
our dismay someone told us it's closed for a ceremony. We believed him. We freshen up and went on a boat tour in Chao Phraya River instead.
Later on, we came to know from a friend that it could be a scam, they would tell you that the temple is closed so they can lure you into taking a boat tour or go to gem's gallery.
If this is true then, it was such a waste not being able to see the Reclining Buddha. But it was not totally wasted as we enjoyed the boat tour and items at Gem's gallery. We also stopped at King Rama V statue and the tuk tuk driver was really nice. He dropped us off at the nearest MRT around the area so we can proceed to Chatuchak Market.
We reached Chatuchak Market at dusk, shoppers were everywhere. It's a long stretch of shops. For shopaholics of bargains and trendy clothes, this is the best place to be. A singlet cost about $4 SGD only. We bought few singlets as "pasalubong" to our friends in Singapore. I bought shawls for my mom, aunt and grandma.
It was a long productive
Great Collection
The taxi driver who sent us to the airport have an interesting hobby! day.
We reached the hotel at around 8:30pm. But the night did not end there, next to the hotel lounge is a bar and a live band. We decided to eat first and have a drink. I don't drink but for some reason I agreed to try a margarita. Well, it's drinkable, the salt at the tip of the glass helped mellow down the tinge of tequila. I liked it. I had two that night. It was a wonderful day indeed.
The next morning, we were so lazy to get up but we had to. We had a flight to catch, we were leaving Bangkok. The weather was hotter, temperature was at 38 degree celcius (saw it inside the taxi while on the way to airport).
I am browsing through our photos taken during this trip, each one tells a story and a strand of memory.
I'll continue to elaborate and talk about my list of To Do's this year on my subsequent blogs.
•
Travel more. - done •
Start a legacy. Be more than "Luisa". - next •
Laugh more. Read more. •
Invest for future. •
Learn how to swim
La Kxn Thailand!
'Til our next visit.. Feel free to subscribe to receive notifications for any new blogs posted, you may also leave a comment or message should you have suggestions in mind.
Thank you for visiting my posts.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.095s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 9; qc: 53; dbt: 0.0508s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.2mb
