Bangkok

I have to get this blogged before I forget it completely. We spent two nights in Bangkok at Bangkok Cha-da. Quite a nice hotel. The kids and I had adjoining rooms....we could had just bunked into one room as the room and bed are very big.

Bangkok is so much like KL. It's hot and humid. We really missed the north where it was so cooling and nice. The traffic was horrible especially when we returned from the Floating Market. I think it took us an extra hour to reach the next destination.

We tried to maximise our time. The first day we hired a van which took us around. Around was just the Floating Market (an hour away) and The Grand Palace (which is in the city) and finally a shopping complex where we had our dinner.

We headed off to the Floating Market first thing in the morning. Took us an hour to reach the jetty. We had to pay 500baht a person for the ride to and fro. Very very expensive. Actually the other option is to get the driver to take us straight to the market and we can just hire a boat there to take us around for a shorter distance.

We got into one of these boats. We were given a welcome drink each....coconut water.
It's actually narrow canals and pretty smelly. The dirty water sprayed onto our faces. Before reaching the market, we passed by people's backyards....so you can imagine the smell when you pass the backyards.

The boatman stopped by this place. All part of the sales gimmick. Here we were shown how they make coconut sugar but half of the place was taken up by souvenir shop. Want us to buy the stuff there....I didn't get a thing...it's the same everywhere.

The market....interesting place. They sell almost everything; from souvenir to food. I bought my favourite sticky rice with mango here. Really delicious. Also got myself a leather handbag; which Albert claimed to be genuine. The price started at 5500 baht; I finally paid 2500baht. I think it's still expensive. Just the other day I saw a handbag almost like the one I bought and branded...Hidesign; cost slightly over RM200.

Spent quite a while walking through the market before leaving for The Grand Palace. Another expensive tour. 400baht....but Thai citizens get to visit it for free. I think that is good. Malaysia should implement this too.

The whole place is big and massive. There is also a big temple in the palace ground. Am so amazed at how they preserve the place.

Each of us were given a brochure of the place. We needed it as we need to know where we were and what the place is. So the kids read the brochure and tried to guide us around. Architecture is amazing. I can imagine Mongkut and Chulalongkorn walking on those grounds that I walked.

There is a long mural along the wall of a corridor. I guess it tells a story...but don't know where the beginning or ending is. The kids made their own story as they walked along.

This is outside the weapon museum. This place got the boys real excited. Again I was impressed to look at the weapons that they had kept and preserved. Not just a few but lots and lots of them. Really put Malaysia to shame....look at Melaka and what weapons from Kesultanan Melaka is left in the museum??

We were not allowed to take pictures in the museum so nothing to show from inside. The Thais really take care of their own people. Before going upstairs, we had to remove our shoes. They actually had different shelves for foreign shoes and local shoes.

We left the palace before the agreed time...too tired. Outside the palace, a woman kept pressing packets of corns into our hands. I didn't want but she insisted that we take it. It was to feed the pigeons. When we wanted to walk away, she made KC pay her 300baht (that's what KC said...bit too much right?). So if you are here....don't take anything from these people...just ignore them and walk away.

The next day we decided to take the MRT to Chinatown. We walked around the place. It was hot and we were all sweating. We were quite lost....didn't know where exactly to go and what to look for.

After a long tiring walk, we jumped into a tuk tuk. Dan had been pestering to sit in one. Albert said it's scary; they ride real fast like in the James Bond show. The boys were imagining 'Hawaii Five 0' theme as they rode along. The tuk tuk which KC, Lyn and I took followed behind the boys.....it was an interesting ride.

All along the buildings, sandbags like this was a common sight. The flood was indeed very bad but the city was really clean. The only sign of flood was the sandbags.

Our final destination was a shopping complex called Terminal 21. It is new and very impressive. Each level is themed after a city. There is London, San Francisco, Tokyo, Bangkok, Istanbul,Paris and Carribean. The toilets are beautifully decorated according to the city. The first place we visit at each floor was the toilet!!!!!

San Francisco.....the toilet was bread themed....even smelt like a bakery.

London...

Japanese themed door outside the toilet on Tokyo floor.

We didn't get to visit all the floors. This place is really really nice.

Overall....I will not visit Bangkok again. It's just like KL but maybe nicer. The MRT is more organized. Lyn asked why the rail system in other countries like HK, Singapore and even Thailand is better than Malaysia? Oh well....Anyway.....I've no intention of visiting Thailand again. Enough for my lifetime!!! Want to visit elsewhere.