Day 1
so i hopped on the plane! was seated beside this indonesian couple, the female half of which was absolutely shocked that i was travelling alone to a different country. i explained to her for 30 minutes that yes, 17 is a completely ripe age to be getting on a plane alone, and no, i’m not running away from home, and yes, my parents know that i’m going to Thailand, until she finally relented and agreed not to call my parents up to ask how they could let their only daughter travel alone without adult accompaniment. phew. got off plane, hopped into a limo, found out that the hotel my dad picked out for me is nowhere near downtown as i had requested (THANKS DAD, i totally see right through your thinly-veiled plan!), freshened up, then in the evening i took the Skytrain (Thai’s LRT) to SILOM!
Silom is this funky place that’s located in downtown BKK. by day it’s a sleek corporate district, by night it’s a lively area bursting with stalls and nightlife centres and roadside food. it’s like one big huge pasar malam split into many streets! it was awesome and i spent like 3 hours just walking the entire area. after a while i found Patpong, which is in Silom, and incidentally the red light district of Bangkok :D
Patpong is this street in Silom that houses several rows of Petaling Streetesque stalls in the middle, and flanked on the left and right sides are .. prostitute houses and go-go bars! hahaha i was staring like a wide eyed rabbit into the go-go bars, i sooooo wanted to go in but i was totally alone that day so i thought shit ler, better not. if a go-go girl came onto me or i got accosted into some stripshow i would not know what the hell to do. so nope, no go-going for me that night, so i exited Patpong, walked around Silom some more, met many new people, had yummy food, bought some (amazingly cheap, BKK is so kind to my wallet) stuff, and then went back to the hotel at midnight.
when i arrived, the doorman asked what i had been up to the whole day. so i grinned widely and said ‘i went to Silom and Patpong!’ really proudly, and i thought he was going to be happy for me but no, i actually got a lecture from the doorman of Rama Gardens Hotel about how young girls should not be going alone to places like Patpong. yes, thanks mom, i will try to remember that.
Day 2
woke up really early (marvellous feat, this one), and took a cab to the Grand Palace. my cabbie was like the nicest guy ever, he couldnt really speak English well but he was so kind and so helpful to me despite having to struggle really hard to communicate with me. he gave me recommendations of places to go visit, places with good food, and good shopping places. sweet! he then dropped me off at the Grand Palace, which is this huge walled-off complex that’s like a major tourist attraction. it used to be the official residence of Thai’s monarches way back when, but not anymore. now they charge 200 Baht (20 bux) for eager suckers like me to go in and gape at the totally cool architecture.
the Grand Palace complex is something else. really. there are many structures in there, from temples to statues to towers to belfries to a Pantheon-like building called Wat Phra Keow, which means the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. but from what i was told by some Australian tourist who dribbled ice cream on my shoes (he was very cute so i forgave him), the Buddha figurine in that temple isnt really emerald, but is in fact made out of jade. i dont know if he was shitting me or if it’s really true, but the figurine is very adorable. i expected to see a huge sprawling green round man on a huge sprawling gold altar, but i got this :
so cute right!?
after traipsing around the place taking more pictures and behaving more and more like a dumb tourist each minute, i had my VERY FIRST tuk-tuk experience to get from the G.Palace to a dock on the Chao Phraya river. for those who dunno, the tuk-tuk is like this little motorised vehicle with no doors and no windows that can seat abt 3 people. think of a trishaw, but roomier and made of metal, with a motor attached to it, that moves with a lot more gusto. i swear, the tuk tuk is the most fun vehicle i have ever been on. it’s almost *tilted* forward in anticipation to get you where you wanna go. i enjoyed the ride so much i even forgave the tuktuk dude for trying to rip me off (what, 100 baht to get 2km away? you think i stupid ah?) and could even dismiss the fact that the tuktuks dont REALLY make a tuk-tuk sound like i had previously thought.
got to the dock, and hopped in one of those boats after some serious bargaining of boat fare. 500 baht to travel a bit of the Chao Phraya by boat, not bad right? the guai lous behind me were ripped off for 2000 baht. i tried to tell them that they were being suckered but the dockmaster’s wife looked like she would kill me if i did :( sorry, guai lous! i tried!
the 1hour boatride was an excellent experience. yea yea i know it’s so overdone and stuff but i really really had fun. i had a nice boatman, he was one of those quiet resilient types who observed things going on around him with a keen eye, so he pointed out many things to me that i would have otherwise missed. like CROCODILES! wtf, first time i saw a crocodile that wasnt behind bars or being wrestled by the Crocodile Hunter on Discovery!!! then he pointed out this huge ass lizard to me, which i didnt see until it was WAY TOO LATE and he had parked the boat about 2 meters away from it!!!!! arghhhhghghg i freaked and screamed like crazy. i think he knew i was prepared to jump ship if he brought it any closer to the damned lizard, so he hurriedly steered the boat way. thankfuckinggoodness. that thing was so huge. nothing like those small green puny things you see in Pets Wonderland. i bet that huge thing eats those small green puny things for hor d’ouevres. *shudder*
oh hey did you know that people actually live on the banks of the Chao Phraya?!?! and that their MAILBOXES are actually ON the river?! their postman goes by boat and drops their letters that way too! funky stuff, their backyards are practically in the river! i saw some kids swimming in the river, some men fishing, and some monks throwing bread out to the fishes. it was all such a beautiful setting i kinda wished the ride would have taken longer than an hour. i just wanted to see more.
the boatman dropped me off at the opposite bank of the river at this temple called Wat Arun, which is the Temple of Dawn. took many pics there, met more new people, three of whom were MALAYSIAN! and from KL too :) it was fun speaking in BM after not speaking it for ages. sat down for a chat, got sunburnt, and then went off on my own to take more pics. at some point i realized i was being followed around by this weird dude who was discreetly taking photos of me with his digital camera. it was a hot day and i was having fun so i just tried to ignore him. when i thought i lost him, i went to sit down at the fortune teller’s stall and had my fortune told. i spent about an hour there, just chatting with the fortune teller and his friend who’s a monk, about my fortune, the fortunes of my loved ones, Thailand and my career options. i gotta blog more on this in some other post, he gave me a pretty accurate reading! Weird Digicam Dude was still clicking away the whole time i was talking to the fortune teller and the monk, but i didnt realize until the monk very kindly chased him away for me. he did it with such peace and calm that it was scary. hahaha! i later regretted not taking a photo of the Weird Digicam Dude taking a photo of me. that pic would have been a keeper!
after i left the Wat Arun island, a tourist police (WOW!) approached me and asked if there was anything he could help me with. it was only 3pm and i didnt know where else to go so he suggested that i go to the Royal Lapidary. i was like, huh? wtf is a lapidary? i then got a vocab lesson, he told me it’s a place where real jewelery is showcased and sold, and at the moment was open to the public for 7 days - which it usually never is - with the ice going for heavily discounted prices. diamonds are only like my best friend, so shit, of course i went. and wah lao, the stuff there is really very nice. AND REALLY DAMN CHEAP. i saw this GORGEOUS garnet pendant, the sapphire twin of which my mom owns and it cost her abt rm5000. guess how much this garnet pendant was?
RM990. i fucking kid you not. and i HAD the money too!!! i wanted so badly to buy it but i know my mother will kill me cos she’s jealous that i found the bargain and she didnt, but she’ll hide it behind admonishment at the fact that i paid an exorbitant amount for ‘fake’ jewelery. in case you dont know my mom, she’s the woman who thinks that all jewelery except for the ones she buys are fake. yeah.
so sad. i will never see that pendant going for rm990 again :(
as i was leaving the Royal Lapdipopdipary, a security guard told me that anyone who walks in to the place gets free transport anywhere they wanna go after that. wah! so nice hor! why malaysia dont have all this kinda thing wan. they usually just kick me to the curb and ask me to take cab. wow, we really need a Royal Lpadiuafiahday that offers such nice transport services. and i wasnt even a customer or anything! anyways i chose to go to Khao San Road, and omg Lim Su Ann, here is a pat on the back for making the best decision you ever made.
Khao San Road was MAD FUN. it was AWESOME. it’s like Myeongdong in Seoul - loads and loads of shops and services cramped onto two roads. (or were there more?) there was plenty of food there, tattoo and body piercing shops, hair braiding, CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP clothes and bikinis and shoes and bags and accessories .. and lots of really cute guys. it was like a total backpackers’ place there, so there were many dishy shirtless foreigners in board shorts playing pool and just having drinks. yum! once again, met many new people, had loads of fun, accidentally pissed off a Welsh dude because i didnt understand wtf he was trying to tell me, so i just randomly said “oh .. no i dont think so” when he blurted something in heavily accented English at me. after i said that, he called me a tease and then stormed off. i was like, HUH? i dont even want to know what the hell he really was trying to tell me.
Khao San Road was the best place i went to in Bangkok. seriously. it’s amazing. PLEASE GO THERE THE NEXT TIME YOU VISIT BANGKOK! and eat those bugs and cockroaches they sell at the stalls! and tell me what they taste like! i was too chicken to do it myself.
oh and for the girls .. you think Sg Wang ‘3 for RM10′ earrings are cool? wait till you see FIVE for RM10 earrings at Khao San Road!!! :D
Day 3
and Gook returns from his business trip in Hong Kong! finally i have familiar company, after two days of being alone in Bangkok. he came to my hotel in the morning to pick me up, and he brought me to his workplace and his house upon my request. his house is lovely!!! hugeeeeee and homey, and it’s a freaking workout just to get to his room cos it’s on the bloody 5th floor. with all that money you think he would install an elevator or something, but no, says the gym freak, he likes the exercise.
so i met his 3 cute doggies who eat fish food (?!?!?!), poked around his stuff for a bit, then went off to have lunch at Victory Monument. had Thai chicken rice, which was good! it’s salty and not sweet like msian chicken rice sauce — it was really different. i quite liked :) but they served coagulated pork blood with it too, and i nearly died when Gook told me what it was. thank goodness he eats that stuff so he took mine away from me.
after that he had to go back to work, so i took the skytrain over to Phrom Phong to meet up with Julian who was staying in Sukhumvit. hey i love their Skytrain man, it’s so nice! it’s exactly like Putra LRT but they’ve got like book + music stores and food stalls in their stations. so i got myself some soda, then bounded over to The Davis to meet Juuuulian. we went for coffee, then headed for Day 1 of the Bangkok 100 Rock Festival, which really is the reason we were in Bangkok in the first place.
thennnnn on the way to the concert venue, i realized that i had left my camera in Julian’s room. WAH LAO WEH. you mean to tell me that i am going to have to watch Deus, Ian Brown, Franz Ferdinand and OASIS perform without being able to take PHOTOS of them?! argh! i sulked and got kinda pissed but consoled myself with the fact that at least it wasnt Snow Patrol’s day that i forgot my camera on.
i had a good time, sans camera. Deus’ show was like …meh. failed to elicit any crowd response. Ian Brown also okok only lah, could have been better, but Franz Ferdinand and Oasis rocked the freakin house. Franz was great, they went all out and the crowd caught on their energy. Franz F has a damn chun bassist! talent sial. after them, Oasis was the final act and the climax of the day. man, listening to Wonderwall and Champagne Supernova live was orgasmic. and when they played Dont Look Back In Anger …. wahhhhhhh!!! <3!
Day 4
fairly uneventful day, woke up late, went back to my place to shower then it was off to Chatuchak Market with Julian. it was a Sunday, and Chatuchak is only open on Sats and Suns so this was my last chance to go and see this famous weekend market for myself. i was supposed to go with Gook the day before, but a change of plans led to lunch at Victory Monument instead. and how i regret it! one day at Chatuchak was definitely not enough. that place was MASSIVE. i remember when the bellhop in my hotel told me that Chatuchak housed about 20,000 shops and stalls, i kinda laughed and said ‘no way!’. but … well .. now that i’ve seen the truth i would like to apologise to said bellhop for having so openly scorned his honest statement.
Chatuchak was like a dream come true for me. i love flea markets, bazaars and all that kinda shit. not so much for the clothes cos they’re not really my thing, but for the food and for the knickknacks, and just being able to soak up the overall ambience and hustle n’ bustle. unfortunately we were kinda late that day, and it was boiling hot, so our Chatuchak moment was cut short with the viciousness of our country’s movie censorship board :( i probably only walked like, what, 1 section of the countless sections (sorry, donno the exact number) of the place! so sad. Chatuchak, i vow to come back for you! you must wait for me!
Julian and I bummed around for a bit after that, then we left for Day 2 of the rock festival. arrived at the place a bit late but still in time, thanks to a cabbie who didnt really know his way, who also pulled out a photo of his family in defense of his cluelessness. but he had a cute baby so it was all good.
2nd day of the concert rocked too - Maximo Park was the first act, and shit, they’re good ! i’ve never heard of them before this concert, but now i’m sold. their music is really good, and the band’s NICE too. Liam from Oasis was just being a prick on the first night — he kept walking off the stage (water break or whatever) everytime the vocals were done, and then at the end of the set he jumped off the stage and strutted down the press aisle like he was king of the world or something. of course, the crowd totally humoured him. nobody screamed that they wanted his baby, but then again i couldnt really tell cos the shrieks were deafening and i was in serious danger of being malaysian meat sandwiched in between sweaty beer-drinking shirt-flinging HUGE white men. yeah. Maximo Park on the other hand were really sweet. okay maybe that’s not such an accurate adjective, but you know what i mean. they connected with the audience and actually tried to achieve a rapport. that’s cool. cos the fans are what get you where you are. and i wish i could tell that to Avril Lavigne, oh that self-centered little ingrate.
Snow Patrol came on after that, and wow. just, wow. i can die happy now. seriously. if i thought hearing Oasis was orgasmic, Snow Patrol was a multiple orgasm that left me panting for more. their song Run changed my life in ways i cant begin to comprehend yet, so yes, now that i’ve heard it live it’s given the song a whole new different perspective.
oh Snow Patrol. i wish i could tell you how much i love you.
we left the concert after that, skipped out on Placebo and Stereophonics. dont pelt me with bananas or anything, it’s just that we’re both not fans of either band. Julian had to pack for an early flight next morning anyway, and i was feeling really creeped out for some odd reason so i just wanted to leave the place. it doesnt matter though. Snow Patrol is all that matters .. :D
Day 5
Day 5 was another overslept-day. Gook came to pick me up again, and we were supposed to go to Pratunam Market and Siam Square, but jengjengjeng … his girlfriend decides to suddenly get angry cos he’s spending so much time with me. (what?! it was only ONE DAY) so yup, plan foiled and we couldnt go anywhere. but after much wheedling and begging, Gook took me to MBK Centre for a look-see. well it was okay i think, sort of like a Sungei Wang place so it wasnt really my thing. lots of gadgets and techie stuff there though, so if you like that sorta stuff, you’ll like MBK! also had a late lunch there, where i had my first Pad Thai ever since i arrived at Bangkok. yummmyyy.
later on we just bummed some more, until his girlfriend thought it would be wise to join us. so we went to Sukhumvit to pick her up, and i had to swear on my life to Gook that i wouldnt tell her that he and i had spent the whole day together. HAHAHA. i only pray she doesnt read this because Gook has been nothing but the nicest person to me and i really dont want him to die at the hands of his girlfriend. we then went on a quest for TOM YUM GOONG throughout Chinatown but everything seemed to be closed? huh :( so we made our way to Surawong where we had like, the best traditional Thai dinner evahhhh.
after that i tried to beg Gook to take me to Patpong to watch the go-go girls but he wasnt having any of it. ‘you’re too young for that sort of thing!!’ he tells me. ‘it’s not good for you!’ and no matter how much i pleaded he just refused to bring me. even his girlfriend thought it wasnt a good idea. so no go-go girls for the pinkpau. dammit! i didnt even get to go clubbing (what’s this place called Bed Supperclub?! it sounds so nice!!!) cos Gook said they would kick my underage ass out of there faster than i can say Mango Sticky Rice. actually, i bet he lied to me about that :( shitadilly.
Day 6
my last day! thought it would be wise to not meet up with Gook lest his gf blows her top again, so went off to Pratunam Market on my own. it wasnt as fun as it was hyped up to be, so i went to the Pathumwan area to shop instead. now that was nice! ate more food, bought more stuff, looked around more, then had THAI MCDONALDS!!!! with about 1 hour to spare before i had to leave for the airport, i went and got a Thai massage at The Amarin. and oh my goodness, was it ever heavenlyyyyy. i want to marry a masseuse now.
rushed to the airport after that, got on the plane, and here i am, alive and kicking. all in all, i had a smashing time, and my only regret is that i didnt get the chance to meet up with the infamous Paul Ark! :( next time, old man, next time. you shan’t run from me!
anyways, yes peoples, i’m back forever and ever! DID YOU MISS ME?! :D
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