Bangkok.

Okay, this is the Bangkok post that was delayed until now!

1st Day:

I remember waking up at 4.30 in the morning cause we had a plane to catch at 8 a.m.! It was insane waking up early, especially when I only started work that week itself, thus not having the sleep I wanted all week :(

We flew with AirAsia, arrived Suvarnabhumi airport and took a cab to the hotel. Hehe our hotel was.. quite unknown la cause it's apparently hidden in some uncommon area! (Mom chose one of the cheaper hotels as with the AirAsia package).

After settling down a bit, we headed to Platinum Mall! It's a huge ass building with millions of small shops inside.. They have this retail/wholesale thing where if you buy only one piece, you get the retail price. But if you buy 3 pieces altogether, you get the wholesale price for each! Good for those who wants to buy in bulk and sell elsewhere la.. But for me, I still bought wholesale for some of it cause I'm greedy and I wanna maximize the budget I have! Hehe..

My whole family shopped! It's a rare sight to see my dad shop as he hardly shops.. And guess what he bought that day? Pyjamas. My goodness... Hehe but it's his choice la.. My brothers thought they had overspent until they saw my acquisitons and the money I have left. We set a time and met up in the food court yet again, 3 times in total (we had our lunch, tea break and early dinner there). Then we left in the late evening, headed back to the hotel (our unknown hotel which most cabs do not know how to get there unless we show them the hotel card which has directions behind it).

Tada! Us outside Platinum Mall looking happy! :)

After showering and refreshing ourselves in the hotel, we went down to the lobby and asked for a nearby Thai restaurant. We were lucky as there was this walking distance fabulous restaurant! It's called Sotum Manayee and my dad likes to refer it as the "money" restaurant, easier to pronounce ma that way. Anyway they serve the best omlettes ever!! (I think they squeezed in lime). And the rice comes in turtle looking shapes. I took a pic of it but I accidentally deleted it...

Plus, we were extra fortunate that night as this guy who was performing on the little stage played some good english songs!! At first he was playing these Thai songs which obviously, my family and I didn't understand a word.. All i know was every song ended with.. "ha" or "aa".. Then, he started playing "I'll have to say I love you in a song" - my favourite!!! Go check it out ;) Then my family responded! Actually, it's only me la. I started fixing my gaze on him and clapped as loud as I can when the song finished. Bet he got the hint and started playing more english songs.. like Ronan Keating's "When you say nothing at all" and some others I can't remember. He even played a few mandarin songs which my mom hooted. Parents bought him a beer in the end.

I absolutely enjoy seeing guys or girls alike playing guitar while singing at the same time.

I decided to take a picture with him, but he wasn't looking at the camera! :(

2nd Day:

Woke up early (but not early enough to join family for breakfast at the hotel hehe) and headed to Chatuchak! Reminds me shopping in pasar malams and I was kinda sceptical if I could actually make good buys. But I was so wrong! Turned out that Chatuchak is the best place to shop!! They don't really apply the 'retail/wholesale' thing so it's much better! This time everyone shopped a hell lot.. Especially my brothers, as they don't really shop a lot in KL, here, it's like heaven to them. :) Their big wide smiling faces so visible as we met up at our meeting point. Happy for them.

It was such a sultry afternoon that I bought a cup of teh tarik. If you read closely, it says "Tae Ta Re"

It tastes sooo good! Needed some 'boost' continue shopping hehe :)

I looked at the framed picture closely and guess what I saw? Royalties being served Tae Ta Re!
(Let's hope it's the same one as I drank!!)


Lunch with family at this beautiful decorated restaurant planted right in Chatuchak itself :)


Hello everyone! Damn glaring la the sun hehe.


Busy, busy market!

With demand comes supply.. but with too much demand, the prices will be higher! Thank goodness for my amazing bargaining skills haha.


Walked past this stall and immediately snapped a pic of it. So lovely :)


I was amused with these cute little slimy thingy.

You throw it hard on the floor or any concrete surface and it will "melt" and regain its orginal shape. So cool and in the end I bought one green cartoon looking one for Nick. For him to release stress or anger la. But it's not that cheap you know!


Thank goodness for translations.


My two macho brothers & I with our acquisitions of the day. We were prepared and brought these hugs bags along with us :)


The shoe which looked so lovely but when I wore it in M'sia, it hurt like hell! With price comes quality, how true is that..

Oh and back in the hotel lobby:


Wanna learn Thai and be able to read Thai words? The computer keyboard can be a start.. was Ken's idea.. brilliant boy!

At night, we headed to Suan Lum Night Bazaar for dinner and to walk around. Seriously I thought the people there were ripping me off. The prices were so much higher than Chatuchak that I just refused to buy anything. And the way they negotiated was by asking you how much is your price. Like for this tank top, in Chatuchak it would cost about 100 Baht(roughly 8 to 9 ringgit then). But it was sold at 400 to 450 Baht in Suan Lum! When they asked me to give my price with the calcualtor in their hands, I said: "I was in Chatuchak and I saw it for 100 Baht" I was honest with them! They showed the hand gesture saying I'm crazy and probably cursing me when I walked away...

Family & I.
(Notice that everyone had to stand on one step higher than Ken as he's one scrawny giant.)

After Suan Lum when everyone was so tired already, my parents suggested to bring us to Patpong Street! For those who don't know, it's THE street where all the clubs and bars are.. and where women strip/pole dancing on tables are one of the very common sights. We call it the red light district. As we walked by bars and bars, we caught glimpses of women in lingerie dancing on tables and were offered promotion prices for beers. Of course we declined! My brothers looked scared as hell hehe. Oh and lots of transexuals too, it's very common in Thailand.

In we went to the wild and wet street baby! :)


This is only the entrance, very very quiet still.


Then I saw this pub! I wonder how "super" it is lol.

Hehe it sorta reminds me of Sammy and Siew Mei, cause they're so horny :p

3rd Day:

Woke up at 5.30 in the morning and rushed down for breakfast at 6. The van came at 6.10. We booked on a one day tour to the Floating Market and other tourist sites! Many who goes to Bangkok would miss the floating market as it isn't as popular as before. But my mom wanted us to see and experience how a market operates on the river.

In the small mini van, I took a picture of our tour guide cause he's just so adorable when he speaks English. His english is good for a Thai, the only grammatical mistake I could find was when he goes: "The cobra/elephant show is great. If you are interesting, you have to pay." HAHAHA at first I couldn't catch what he was trying to say, then.. I got it in the end. I wanted to politely correct him okay but I just forgot all about it after laughing it off silently in my head. Hehe.

Our first stop- elephant riding tour


Laughing at us is it, pa & mummy? More like laughing at me. :(


Shaun going solo!


Our Elephant's trunk. It's like saying hi :)

If I'm not mistaken, it was my first time riding on an elephant and I was scared, at first. I really pitied the elephants as they had those hard heavy wooden platforms on them to carry us humans around. Sigh.


2nd Stop- Floating Market


My sampat dad & bro! hehe they have such joker faces la. :)


Cooking on the boat~ Wow!


They have all kinds of fruits!

Coconuts!! It was really fresh, I had one :P

I was enjoying myself; despite me having a bad flu & allergy attack on my eyes that day. (blame the bad pollution in Thailand!)

Wah this lady trying to rip my dad off. Lol but can't blame her la.

Not only does the market sell food and fruits, it sells clothes too!

I've seen those "ang mohs" who bargained the price on the boat. The price is quickly settled between 2 parties as the boat has to keep moving. (there's a certain time limit apparently that the boat is allowed to wonder around) So, it's either you pay the price, or you pretend to go away until the sales lady calls you back and agrees to give you a cheaper price! Both party benefits, come to think of it.


Even handbags, shoes and accessories were sold there!


In the centre of the market, the boats were jam packed. We call it the river "traffic jam" hehe.

There was even a policeman to regulate the traffic! My goodness...

Floating it is :)

Then we saw this model on a photoshoot! I smiled and waved at her cause I'm so jakun, but she smiled back!! =)

Drinks are being placed and served in this, so as to save using trays! Quite a smart way, I'd say.

Our 3rd stop- the Cobra show

(taken by my brothers as my parents and I didn't fancy watching snake shows)

Look at the snakes also scared already! Reminds me of the serpent in the Harry Potters' series...

Our 4th stop- Handicraft centre

This masterpiece takes 1 year to complete!

This just proves how patient & "teliti" you have to be in crafting all these!!

Our 5th stop- Thai Cultural Show @ Rosegarden

It's called Rosegarden for a reason.. just look at the trees filled with flowers! Though it may not be roses, but don't you think the name of the place just sounds lovely & flower-ish? :)

Had to pay 200 Baht to take a picture with this elephant. He blew his trunk on me and I got scared hehe.


We get to see boxing! Which looked like the real thing..


Spot the Malaysian Flag hehe =)

Our last stop was at the GEMS GALLERY, apparently the world's biggest jewelry store. Thailand produces ruby and sapphire, I didn't know that until then. I wasn't dazed by the jewels and was walking, looking around until my eyes lay upon... pearls!! I do not own any pearls and so I asked mummy if I can have it for my birthday present. And yes, she agreed and so this will be my 20th birthday pressie from her :) She said every woman should own one pearl necklace, how true! Thanks mummy, love you!

Keke my wonderful pearl necklace ;)

Then the tour ended. The van dropped us MBK Mall as requested by us. Wanted to to some final shopping :) Instead, I ended up doing my nails as it was sooo cheap! 100 Baht for french manicure!

Oh lookie so pretty ain't it hehe :)

That night itself, we had dinner at Sotum Manayee again! And again we ordered omlettes(2) and our favo kangkung(2). I think we had 8 dishes and 11 plates of rice in total. My family sure can eat man..

Our Last Day:

Woke up and had breakkie in the hotel. Then started packing. Went for a short tan at the pool! Then it's off to the airport...

Thais respect and love their King a lot!! Everywhere you go you'll see the King's pics. So loyal right..

Cafes right in the middle in the airport. I'd wanna try eating there next time :)

PS: I forgot to mention that in the one day tour, I made friends with this korean little boy! Lol he's such a cuteeee little boyy with an American accent. I made him teach me some korean sentences/words. For instance, I love you in korean language is Sa-rang-hei.

Also, to say Hello varies for the ladies and men. For ladies, it's Sawadeeka. For the men, you say Sawadeecap with a 'p' behind it. Yep I just wanted to highlight that! :)

All in all, it was a chilling fun-filled enjoyable family trip! With very little quarells and stress. Hehe. That's cause Ken and I managed to wake up early on our own. Also, we managed to maximize our time as time was limited! We only had 3 days in Bangkok.

I really should thank my mom for planning this trip.. I told her that I wanted to go BKK when I was in Melb and she booked it straight away.. Thank you mummy, you're the best!