After 48 years, here I am blaaahging away our misadventures in the city of Bangkok. Thailand, how can I possible describe thee journey. Hmmm....Well you know what it's like when you see a poster of french fries, so crispy and full that it makes your mouth water and fats quiver? But when you order it, it turns out to be soggy and half full. I knoooooow right?! Well, I can't totally say that our experience in Thailand was soggy, but I can definitely say that it was half full...
I've heard that Thailand is the mecca of everything cheap and as a cheapow I knew this was the pilgrimage I had to make. Unfortunately the currency fluctuated so it's no longer P1.00 = THB1.00, but P1.50 = THB 1.00. Damn you 50cents!!! Thank goodness that you're forgettable that it's pretty much like spending here in Pinas.
Where do I begin thee journey? To make the story short we left Pinas for Thailand, then left Thailand for Cambodia, and then left Cambodia for Thailand again. The end. joke! The start...
Here we are, my highly highly highly most recommended hotel or place to stay in Bangkok.....
The Mystic Place...
I cannot find enough superlatives to best describe this place. This is just soooo totally unbelievably amazing. In short, I love it!
I just found this place online, under the affordable hotels tab, and dear did their pictures looked so promising. And unlike the soggy and half full french fries, in reality, this place totally delivered, so crispy and full. In fact, choosing our rooms was very much of a decision making process, coz each of their rooms are themed differently, and all oh so very nice.
Unfortunately they are kinda strict on the number of people they allow inside the room, so my sister and cousin had to go rent out another room for themselves. Which perfectly suited their personality, so girly and flowery that they for sure SLEEP WELL (name of the room) in. But us, we are different. We ain't no girly, we ain't no flowery but we are coool like TROPICOOL.
wouldn't you agree to disagree?!..better not!... ;p
See all that up there? they are all taken from the different corners of our room. Don't you just looove the murals?! Totally inspired me to redo my bedroom for the nth time. The bonus part is that they're totally equipped like a 4star, but better than a 4 star coz their decos are clearly made of recycled stuffs. You know me, the biggest fan of eco friendly creations!
I'm not yet done. Their breakfast is probably the fullest breakfast I've ever had in my adult life. Not only was it semi-buffet, but it was also order all you want. It was shocking to see how full our table was with every kind of breakfast meal you can imagine. Too think we were just all girls and two of them so petite, not me included. Of course we didn't get to finish it! but we kinda felt guilty when the cook approached us carrying more platters on both hands. Lesson learned #1 never order when your hungry, same thing applies when doing the grocery, #2 order all you want is sinful! Therefore thou shall not dot dot dot.
Street Food
I have to admit this was one of the things that I looked forward to the most. The thought of it just makes me excited. And you basically can't help it when you're with someone who talks about the Thai street food like it's the closest thing to heaven, and no I'm not talking about Ciarra Lyn.
Forgive me if I forgot what the names of those street foods are, for my brain only has the memory of a big gold fish, but my taste buds remembers it to be deliciously hot and spicy. I particularly liked that barbequed thing, plus their raw cabbage that is astonishingly sweet. I also liked their fruits, but I've always liked fruits, so it's nothing new. Their pad thai not so much, but I've never really liked pancit-ish that much, so again, nothing new. But these...
I liked!
This was at the carenderia style resto in front of our place, and the food was soooooo damn goood! These food I could say are 100% authentic Thai, not only because the crew could hardly speak english but because most customers were locals, or maybe local looking like us.
It's actually spicy enough to set your tongues on fire, but because it's sooo good you simply just let it burn. YUMMMY!!!!!! okay stop. Hunger lurking. Next topic.
Streets
Cabs are cotton candies colorful, that you'd want to eat them (mean drivers, included). Tuk tuks are everywhere, priced like taxis but navigates easily c/o the daredevil-ness of the drivers. Traffic, can be bad like ours. Street can be narrow like ours, but clean unlike ours, and well cemented unlike ours, again.
Interesting part? The King.
Seriously his pictures are plastered everywhere. Like seriously everywhere, and not in the election kind of thing, but more like an altar kind of way. If I were the king I'd be really freaked out by it, but then it only goes to show how well loved he is. In fact, according to Ciarra, they love the king so much that you are not allowed to fold your bills because it's a sign of disrespect as it would crumple the king's face. Fascinating right?!
THAT river boat ride!
We got scammed! Never expected this from the land of deceiving smiles.
If ever you go to Bangkok and decide to go to the Golden Palace, remember this: NEVER EVER TRUST ANYONE, WHEN THEY SAY THE PALACE IS CLOSED BECAUSE IT NEVER CLOSES ON DAYTIME.
Ironically, my sister only remembered that warning when were already here in Cebu and already lost THB2,000 on that boat ride that just showed us houses and stilts and back gates of the temples. Actually we thought we'd be going to 5 temples as what was shown in the pictures of that scammer guy, as it turned out what he meant by go was to really just pass by. A perfect case of lost in translation.
From what I've heard, the boat ride would actually be worth it if it were a weekend in Bangkok, because that's the only time when their floating market bustles with energy. Unfortunately for us, that meant the day we leave.
This particular side of the boat ride actually gives a pretty great view of the city , but the strong cold wind can just freeze the sentimentality of your thoughts. In fact, I was pretty amazed by how cold Thailand was at that time.The weather may be a bit gloomy, but the air was just coooold. I was even near hugging myself just to keep me from shivering. I think all of us experienced the slightest bit of hypothermia, well except for my cousin who totally loved it. She totally soaked on the coldness of it, by simply dismissing it as something like springtime. Of course she lives in LA.
Shopping
This is the very main reason why I wanted to go to Bangkok, to shop. No matter what you hear about how cheap it is and how nice the clothes are, nothing prepares you for the moment when you finally step inside their malls and be dazed by the variety of this is and that.
I think I momentarily had an mental block because I couldn't seem to figure out what I wanted. The worst part about this kind of set up is that you end up wandering around comparing prices because big fat chances are you're gonna be paying for more for that exact same product in one of those farther stalls. Result is, you don't get to buy as much as expected. So this explains why I didn't get to buy your request, I just didn't have enough time to sink in my shock. Also the vendors were rude.
Maybe it's just me or something, but I've probably encountered the rudest people on this trip. The driver of our elephant ride in Cambodia was grumpy. The Thai drivers were snobs. And the vendors were mean. They not only let you not fit the clothes on, but they bluntly tell you that you're too big for the clothe. Worst they literally take out a measuring tape and measure your hips then and there! Like I was seriously screaming curses at him in my head. But was completely relived when the measuring tape proved that medium was too big for me. Mehn! I never felt victory like that. It was even tempting to jump and shout "in your face grumpy! I'm still a small!" But noted to self: Exercise the moment you get home.
BON VOYAGE
I really expected something more from Thailand. Friendly people, warm weather and happening. My fault was that I got way too excited for my own good. (Just proves my theory that something always goes wrong when I'm excited. So from now on, I officially cross out excitement from the list of my feelings). Another major fault is that we didn't go there on a weekend.We totally missed the biggest weekend market where they say all the cheapies are! That was a major major mistake!
However unfortunate some of our experiences maybe, I still would wanna go back there, but with my mom this time, coz I have a strong feeling she'll go gaga over the fruits and vegetables and the rest of the cheapie stuff, after all she's the queen of bargain and thrift shops. I may not resemble my mother, but cheapow-wise, I am very much my mother's daughter. hahaha. I think she'll also love the temples, which I didn't get to see. So basically, if ever, I go back to Thailand it's gonna be like seeing Thailand for the first time AGAIN. God I just hope for that opportunity to come.
To end this blog, I'd like to say that I am soooo diggin' the Suvarnabhumi Bangkok Airport. I've never seen an airport so busy, that midnight is just like middle of the day. But most of all I love its modern day architecture mixed with traditional Thai art.
Overall....This has been a great journey.
Till the next road to somewhere! Cheerios!
