When I returned from my virgin Bangkok trip earlier in March this year, I firmly decided that I would not be visiting the city for at least two years. I was unimpressed. Funny how I made another trip in barely nine months, and here I am back home, equally unimpressed.
Day 1
23 Dec. 2006
19:19 hrs
Flight to Bangkok
"The ever-changing sunset
I'm afraid to blink
God's palette of fiery hues
Too beautiful a sin.
Infinite horizons
Darken in rosy light
Laws of the universe bend
As day and night collide."
Sunsets never fail to mesmerise, but watching one while thousands of feet above ground is breath-taking. The crescent moon and a single star shared the canvas with this rich-hued sunset, and the overlap of day and night truly awed.
Day 2
Ceci demonstrates the way of trying on clothes in Chatuchak Market. You slip on a sarong skirt, wiggle around like a klutz, then make your decision. To buy, or not to buy. Subsequent jaunts around the city proved that we looked Thai! Until we open our mouths to speak that is, haha. I had abit of a kick nodding and pretending to understand what they were talking about. Cheap thrill, I know.
We took a quick breather from all that shopping with a plate of tasty chicken hip, and a plate of weird fishy papaya salad for lunch.
Christmas at PJ Watergate Hotel was a quiet, almost silent affair. We treated ourselves to Swensens ice-cream and a foot massage to soothe our overworked muscles. Counting down to the 25th was in the outdoor cafe of our hotel, huddled in our shawls and sipping hot drinks. Bangkok was oddly chilly at night.
Day 3
What better way to celebrate Christmas Day than to spend it shopping? Our first stop was to Khao San, an area overpopulated by foreigners and underpopulated by locals. Caucasian tourists were the majority, and I'd forgotten that it was Christmas until I heard them wishing one another "Merry Christmas". It was in one of the dusty bookstalls that I got a second-hand South-east Asia on a Shoestring Lonely Planet guide at approximately 30 Singapore dollars. So it isn't brand new, but I kinda liked the idea of using one that has been to places.
I finally had my pad ka prow, a minced meat stir-fry with basil and chillies, and Ceci had her first taste of pad thai for lunch. It was at the streetside cafe that we met Mr. Nice Lashes Joe, the Irish lad who had missed his flight home. He had had a bit too much to drink the night before and was looking painfully uncomfortable sitting in the sun. But hey, sunlight might be an age-old Irish cure for hangovers.
And then there was Hack, the hippie vendor from whom Ceci and I bought each other a leather bracelet for Christmas, and who was really insistent on getting my number and email. Maybe he could sense my hippie vibes. Haha. I've always had a soft spot for scruffy hippies, but he was a tad TOO scruffy and hippie.
Khao San turned out to be less of a shopaholic haven than we had expected, so we spent the remaining afternoon on yet another sidewalk cafe drinking iced tea and munching on a Dunkin' Donut. If you're wondering which my favourite donut is, it is the Bavarian. Has been, probably always will be.
We then hopped on a cab to Suan Lum Night Bazaar, and the cab driver was extremely amused that we fancied Thai music. Dinner was a cosy affair of us in our pjs and take-away from the night market. Yum. We were so ravenous, we forgot to take a snap of the food.
Day 4
Aware that it was Boxing Day, I awoke feeling a little melancholic remembering the 2004 tsunami, but all was fine the moment we stepped out into the sunshine and hit Pratunam wholesale market.
Lunch was at A&W where we discussed the plausible reasons why the fast-food chain was so unsucessful in Singapore. The last two snaps are a pictorial demonstration of how to eat a burger my way:
1. Remove the tomatoes
2. Squirt on some chilli sauce
3. Squirt on some ketchup
Easy peasy!
While it was extremely tempting to rest our aching feet and spend the night having room service in the hotel, we hauled our asses into a cab and down to Saxophone pub. It was quite a challenge trying to find the place, but we did. There was a live band playing the blues, and we had some temporary fun perving on the drummer.
A few more closer looks and we spotted a beer belly, and his, well, aged face. Haha.
The chow at the pub was surprisingly good and reasonable. We had, pad ka prow (I know, again!); tom yum soup and a veggie stir-fry for a total of 14 Singapore dollars. Utterly delicious. All pubs should serve grub this good.
Getting back to the hotel was quite a bitch for the first cab we hopped on missed the turning into our hotel and brought us on a huge merry-go-round. He was getting increasingly grumpy, and we decided to alight and end all our misery. We roamed the streets of Bangkok for a bit, looking for familiar landmarks, before hopping on to another cab which thankfully, we managed to direct back to our hotel.
The night out at the pub inspired a little something about the primal nature of the mating ritual.
27 Dec. 2006
00:16 hrs
Hotel room
"Stolen glances
at a pleasing face
Lives entwince
over a lingering gaze
A secret moment
when the eyes meet
Dance a silent tango
to a primal beat"
Day 5
We spent a few short hours at the unimpressive MBK shopping mall before heading back to Pratunam for our final shopping fix.
Ceci headed back to the hotel for an early start on her packing, while I zipped off nearby for another massage. Considering that it was our final night in Bangkok, we decided that it was time to give street food a try, and we had some really awesome pad thai and fried rice. I bought two sticks of what I thought was grilled pork on my way back to the hotel, but it was really chewy, and we both gave up after a bite when Ceci pointed out that it could be pig ears. Right.
Day 6
I awoke feeling disoriented, and for a splitting second, I thought I was back at home! A final breakfast at the hotel, and we set off for a final jaunt around Pratunam. We were hoping to get a final taste of pad thai for lunch, but we ended up at one of the upmarket bar/cafes within the airport. Enroute to our gate for boarding, we passed by another cafe serving, you guessed it, pad thai. I was peeved. Haha.
And finally, home sweet home.
I concluded that I was more of the resort-type when I returned from Bangkok earlier in March, and I am going to conclude the same. That said, each trip is a trip worth remembering.
Many, both Thais and friends, expressed surprise that Ceci and I visited Bangkok with only each other for company. Perhaps it was abit gung-ho, but I'm glad we did it. Nothing makes you grow more than surviving alone in a foreign land. It is a crash course in responsibility, independence, safety and a whole lot of other lessons they don't teach us in school.
Two trips and four flights in two weeks has left me a little exhausted. It'll be awhile before I jet off on yet another get-away, but I can almost be sure that it will involve nature, and perhaps the sun and sea.
I concluded that I was more of the resort-type when I returned from Bangkok earlier in March, and I am going to conclude the same. That said, each trip is a trip worth remembering.
Many, both Thais and friends, expressed surprise that Ceci and I visited Bangkok with only each other for company. Perhaps it was abit gung-ho, but I'm glad we did it. Nothing makes you grow more than surviving alone in a foreign land. It is a crash course in responsibility, independence, safety and a whole lot of other lessons they don't teach us in school.
Two trips and four flights in two weeks has left me a little exhausted. It'll be awhile before I jet off on yet another get-away, but I can almost be sure that it will involve nature, and perhaps the sun and sea.
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