Bangkok June '07

so well, i went to bangkok like almost a month ago, and it was well cool. always like a new place to explore and walk around in. it's refreshing. not the weather though, it was super hot, cos well, bangkok is a city, not a garden city like singapore. it's a real urban jungle. singapore is half urban jungle half real jungle. i've never noticed the number of trees in singapore. but i guess it's a pretty large number. in fact there are so few trees in bangkok that you can count them la. i think.


so my theory is:


bangkok----> no trees---->very hot


singapore----> got trees ----> not so hot



so yep, trees are important. besides housing hantus and looking creepy at night and blocking my second floor view of the world, they can replenish and freshen the air up. what's the process called?? i don't know la. but ents are pretty useless. ents should just be used as firewood la. orcs should have enslaved them.





pretty uninspired, lame. lack of direction. okay, time to move on to pictures in such situations.




so i touched down at bangkok's international airport, the name is so long i only remembered it starts with an S.




there you are.







the airport is spanking new, some parts are nicer than changi airport la. but i still love changi's carpeted surface. somehow makes it cosier.






very nice-looking, lots of glass.




and random scary things around....





told ya it was new. the bugees look straight out of a pimp my ride west coast customs garage.









many art pieces all around too....




okay so that's it bout the airport.






then my first meal in Bangkok.... authentic thai food.


was at a humble restaurant behind my hotel, Asia hotel. it's called Siam House. yeah was kinda expecting to find the whole of thailand in it. ohman, so lame. don't laugh it's not even funny.






people in there were grouchy and unfriendly, untypical of Thai people actually. but well, usually this is good, cos....













it means the food is better. =)))
(chao lian hawker, best food theory)


so what was meant to be a quick lunch before setting off for shopping was actually pretty delicious.





thai sprite was pretty good. it tasted like well, sprite.




some fried olive rice thingy. doesn't look good here, but tastes pretty fine. kinda tangy and spicy. very heaty.



then there was some deep fried prawn in bread or something. super heaty, but well it tasted good.











and finally some mango with sticky glutinous rice to cool things down. i actually tried making this in sec 2, but obviously it didn't turn out as good. it turned out to be something like mango, with rice. and in the end it got so bad, i mashed it up and it became a dare for someone to eat it up. hahaa.


so yay, after this i flew off to do my own exploration of bangkok.



it's easy with the BTS, which is the bangkok equivalent to our MRT.






Asia hotel is the only hotel in bangkok that is connected directly to a skytrain station (Ratchatewi station), and that is probably the only reason we chose it. not only is it pretty rundown, there was a bombscare in the lavatory before. scary stuff eh.







so this is what a BTS train station looks like, the guards are there to make sure no one gets trapped in doors as a result of frantic rushing to catch the train.


the train isn't exactly long, it's like 3/4 the length of the mrt. when it stops, it doesn't even fill the length of the platform.




this is where you get your one way tickets. basically you just change your notes into 10 baht denomination coins at the service counter then buy your tickets. it works on coins only.

















the map on the back of a single trip ticket.




no fines, only penalty.



the inside of the train. nicer than you thought eh?? it's pretty new, newer than the NEL trains.




shopping information on the train. basically most major shopping centres are connected to the train stations, so it makes it pretty darn convenient for tourists. and by connected i really mean sheltered bridges and stuff.



this is ze one day pass, which i recommend if you are using the sky train a lot, like i did. you probably will, since the traffic and pollution may be pretty bad. besides the taxis are never trustworthy, and the tuk tuks are just plain crazy. remember the visa ad that had the tuk tuk zooming all over?? it isn't all the far away from reality.






and this was delightful, they played music videos and stuff on the mobile televisions. while the NEL trains play super fascinating stuff like safety procedures and messages that show enactments of bombings. zzz man. they were playing a few music videos, namely some thai one, christina aguilera, and michael buble's "everything". i like that song.








my first stop was National Stadium, where all the sports stuff was haha. but i had to change lines at Siam interchange station, perhaps BTS' Dhoby Gaut. it's like the busiest station, since the place is like our Orchard. there's the super posh Siam Paragon, the teenage haunt Siam Discovery Centre, Siam Square. well all the malls are linked, so basically people just shop and drop.



an interesting shampoo advert. which had like this huge shampoo bottle "crash" into the wall.



so first stop, national stadium. i like the national stadium station, not only isit linked to the mega mall Mahboonkhrong centre (MBK), but the station has probably my favourite food. yes, within the station.







duum, da dadi dadi duum, da dadi dadi duum, daddadi da di

love love me, love love.




LOVE.

it's some cheese sausage in bread. and it's just so nice la. i think i ate like 5 of it in the duration there.






an outdoor gym.






not the stadium la, just some random field/track.





locals playing sepak tekraw.




omigosh man, you can even see the bad air in my lousy quality photos. but the focus of the picture is of the very nicely snipped shrubs. i can't remember the name for it.





so well, got my stuff for my friends, and then went back to hotel to rest for a while.















ohhhhhhhhhhhhh well. continue with the rest of the trip some other time. it's already late, gotta sleep! bye!