Sunday, February 25, 2007
I conquered 60 storeys of the Republic Plaza today!!! 60 storeys in less than 30 mins is really no mean feat...
talked more trash @
10:45:00 PM
*******
Saturday, February 17, 2007
February 14th alone in Bangkok…After breakfast, I asked the ladies at the hotel concierge to recommend me places to go for shopping. They recommended some places. Knowing I am alone there, they comforted me by saying that I can still feel the love on valentines’ day even when alone, “coz love is in the air”. I certainly hope so…
** She sent me an sms this morning:
“Hey happy vdae! I bet no one’s celeb w you so I decided to b nice n drop you a msg to ease e pain. Haha! Anyway have fun!”I hope she doesn’t know about my feelings for her, or else this sms will seem so cruel. **
After work, I took the Bangkok skytrain to Siam station again. Destination this time: Pratunam night market. I went to MBK’s food court to have dinner. It was a nice place with good ambience, even with a live jazz band. Since it was valentine’s day, every table had rose petals and candlelights on them, and some service staff were wearing red dresses, giving roses to couples. I must have seemed out of place there: I was the only customer who is dining alone.
I had a decent and authentic Thai
tom yam goong dinner. I wanted to complete the meal with a Thai dessert: sticky rice with durian, but it seemed that durian was out of stock. Oh well, I would satisfy this craving somewhere else.
My tom yum goong dinner... Only remembered to take the shot after I took a bite... hahaI journeyed through the posh shopping centres to reach my destination: Discovery Centre, Siam Centre, Siam Paragon, Central World, etc. The price tags of their products are as posh as these places.
One of the buddhist shrines I saw along the streets. Many couples are praying for blessings on valentines' day.Pratunam night market was not as interesting as I imagined. There are many roadside food stalls (which I never did dare to try anyway…) and low end fashion clothing which are not very interesting to me. I took about one hour to finish my tour of the place without buying anything.
Next destination: Suan Lum night market via skytrain(BTS) and subway (MRT) to Lumphini. They call their subway MRT as well! They are much stricter than in Singapore, checking everyone’s bag before allowing entry. Believe it or not, their pass to entry is a black round plastic token which I would have mistaken for a carom piece if my colleague did not tell me in the afternoon!
The MRT token: a carrom piece lookalike.Suan Lum is a great place! I fell in love with the place the moment I arrived. The layout of the stalls here are similar to the Bugis Market in Singapore, where all of them are well arranged in rows. There are many stalls here that sell only art pieces, and there are quite a variety of genres ranging from traditional Thai to post modernist impressionist art. Phototaking is not allowed by the owners, or I would love to take pictures of the art pieces.
The ferris wheel at Suam Lum... I would have tried it if not for the huge crowd (consisting of mostly couples) queueing for it.There are some minimalist shops with only about 5-6 art pieces hanging on the white-washed walls and a large bean bag for furniture. The shop owners will just lie on the bean bags, waiting for appreciative customers. They are what I would call real artists, and I can only envy their lifestyle.
A pavilion in Suan Lum looking majestic at night.Apart from art pieces, there are many furniture stores, unique fashion stalls, and of course trinket stores. Too bad I am on business trip, or else I would have brought back a cargo box of the things here with me. If I were to buy a house in Singapore, I would definitely come here again to shop for decorative items for the house. Not allowing myself to leave here empty handed, I bought some tasteful T-shirts and decorative lamps, at good bargains of course!
The alfresco "food court" in Suan Lum. There are 2 large tv screens in the front and back of the large area, showing soccer games. The stage below one of the tvs had a live band playing Thai ballads.I would have stayed here till the wee hours if not for work tomorrow and so I caught the last train back to Silom, back to the hotel at one in the morning.
So ends Valentines’ Day 2007 for me. Till next time, Bangkok. I will definitely be back again.
A large display in the Suvarnabhumi Airport depicting a scene from a Thai epic.
talked more trash @
6:03:00 PM
*******
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Alone in BangkokI am writing this entry in the Swiss Lodge hotel room in Bangkok…. Yes, I am on business trip again, this time to Bangkok.
My hotel room in Swiss Lodge... Very huge bed this time...
First night in Bangkok:
After dinner with my colleague, I started out on my first night in Bangkok on the streets of Silom. Since it was Monday, most Thais wore yellow as part of the celebrations of their King’s 80th birthday. It is really an amazing sight to see people wear yellow all around. I can’t help but feel awe for the King for the people of Thailand is honoring him in their everyday lives: his portraits, banners and shrines are all around the city.
Since it was a Monday, hawkers are not allowed to have their stalls on the streets. So, I went to a department store (Robinsons) just to start on my shopping spree. I was very impressed with the kind of details the sales assistants put attention to when they display their products. Every sleeve on every shirt was neatly pressed and tilted to the exact same direction. It was so perfectly neat that I couldn’t bear picking up the shirts just to look at the price tags. It’s the first time I have ever seen a department store arranged with such detail. Too bad the price tags were as exquisite as the displays as well, so I just bought a pair of trousers for my daily office wear.
Patpong was my next destination. Before I came, I heard stories about sleaze they have over there. True enough, lining the street bazaars were sleaze clubs with people touting outside with naked photos and cheap menus. The street bazaars were very similar to the ones in KL, Hong Kong and even Singapore. One special feature was the astounding number of t-shirt shops and fake accessories shops. To be frank, I was quite bored with seeing the same wares appearing again and again in the same night market.
As I was looking for somewhere else to go, suddenly I heard a long and loud car horn. For a moment I thought it was a disgruntled driver but upon finding the source of the din, I was shocked out of my life. There was a vehicle on fire! Policemen were running around and shouting; people along the streets were even afraid to stand and watch. I was completely freaked out and immediately ended my exploration to head back to the hotel.
Second day in Bangkok:
Breakfast was a simple affair as compared to other hotel breakfasts I had. There wasn’t much variety but at least the food is nice. I watched the morning crowd passing the window as they went pass. Food stalls now line the streets as if they sprouted in the night and were selling breakfasts to the students and working class. Workout fanatics were working out profusely at the gym below my office; cars were inching around as always. It was a very surreal start indeed to my second day here.
After work, I immediately headed to the hotel to drop my laptop and documents, before rushing to the train station. During the day, as I was traveling in my colleague’s car, he told me of the different places I should visit during my stay here. One of the places he mentioned was the famous MBK in Siam. It was my first time on the Thai MRT and I was felt that the MRT here really brought the one in Singapore to shame. The fare was really cheap for traveling for 2 stations and the interior of the train was very clean. There was a TV screen featuring advertisements just like some trains in Singapore and Hong Kong. I suppose its counterpart in Singapore will never reach this standard even with their higher fares.
Saw this parade of students on my way to MBK. They are giving out roses (to selected ladies only, haha) and promoting safe sex.
MBK was a typical bargains building with everything under one roof. The same repetition of wares happened here as well and though I walked there till their closing hours, I had bought nothing except for 3 locally made silk ties for over 1400 baht (yeah, stupid me) in the departmental store.
For dinner, which was at 9pm, I went to the Food court at Siam Paragon, supposedly one of the most posh shopping places in the city. There was nothing here that fits my budget; in fact some clothes were more expensive than they are in Singapore!
The famous Siam Paragon...
So back to Patpong I went, this time shopping for some gifts for my friends and fellow trainees in Singapore. It was freaking expensive (250 baht for 10 keychains?!) and I have a strong feeling that someone made a good profit out of my pockets. Oh well… I can’t go back empty handed…
In such a bustling city, there are always some who are living at the edges of survival and begging on the streets. It always breaks my heart to see children involved in the same plight. I emptied my pockets of a bunch of shillings to one of them tonight. It may not be much, but at least it will cover for her dinner tonight.
Night 2 ended without big surprises. In fact I was starting to wonder about what to do for valentine’s day (which is the day after). We shall see how adventurous I become tomorrow.
talked more trash @
2:31:00 AM
*******
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Pictures of 2006:
talked more trash @
1:57:00 PM
*******
2006 匆匆的過去，帶走了所有的感慨，留下了快樂的回憶。I am on an internship again, just to make my last semester in university more fulfilling and more challenging; a dramatic change from the 2 years of varsity activities. This internship allows me to visit various countries all over Asia Pacific and is rewarding in more ways than one.
So far, I have been to KL. Going to fly to Bangkok on Monday, Indonesia and India in the following weeks. No time for day visits to the popular places coz its after all a business trip, but I take on the role of a tourist after work. Can’t visit many places either coz of the limited time, but I would take in as much of the city as I could each time.
Here are some pictures of KL, taken with my lousy phone camera:
My hotel room in PJ Hilton. Yeah... all by myself...
The famous fountain outside KLCC .
The famous Petronas towers taken near KLCC. And me of course... hehe.
talked more trash @
1:39:00 PM
*******
My hotel room in PJ Hilton. Yeah... all by myself...
