Are you ready for another adventure?
Last weekend, Jackie, Alice, Laura, and I traveled to Bangkok, Thailand. For four days, my life revolved around bargaining, almost dying in Tuk-Tuks, and getting stuck in traffic at all hours of the day. But beyond that, it was incredible.
So, for this trip, we decided to NOT pre-book our room. We thought we'd try the whole "backpacking adventure thing." So at the airport, we bargained with a couple of tourism companies and finally found one that offered us a hotel for three nights at a total of about $200 USD. Not too bad split between four of us. It was called P.J. Watergate and it looked absolutely delightful. It also came with free breakfast (which we found out cost 300 Baht per person).
*Side Note: In Thailand, you cannot book a hotel room for four people. Only three. So, because we didn't want to pay for two rooms, we pretended that Jackie was staying with her uncle and sneaked her into the hotel room. We alternated who got to eat breakfast. :p
Here's a pic of Jackie and me sharing a lovely roommate moment in front of the hotel:
We got to P.J. at around 9:00pm and we were ready to explore the city! We grabbed a taxi and told him to take us to the night bazaar. It's a pretty well-known market for its rows and rows of little shops selling everything from designer handbags (fake but extremely good quality) to one-of-a-kind clothing that you buy directly from the designer.
We worked on our negotiation skills and managed to get a few things for about half of the first price they give you. I got...(ready?) one black skirt, one salt and pepper shaker, two t-shirts, three dresses, and four Thai scarves. I'm pretty sure we could have gone on for hours but the market closed at midnight. Realizing that we hadn't eaten since we left Singapore, we found a restaurant to have some Pad Thai before heading back to the hotel for some beauty rest.
This is a picture of Jackie in a ridiculous hat that can also turn into a fan that we found in one of the aisles
*Note: Those yellow objects are indeed pictures of SpongeBob Square Pants.
For the ride home, we decided to take the infamous tuk-tuk, which we are convinced either means ‘rip-off, rip-off’ or ‘incredibly dangerous’ in Thai. The driver we had that night was trying to show off and kept doing pop-a-wheelies because all four of us were in the back. Our terrified screams only encouraged him and he kept cackling in this evil laugh. and would look back at us while driving. I know I probably shouldn't have included this since my parents, relatives, and other people who might be worried if something terrible happens to me are reading this, but all is well! I'm alive. :)
Here is a picture of us in the Tuk-Tuk (you know, when we thought it was safe and going to be a happy go-lucky time)
The next morning we went out in search of a tailor to have business suits made. Bangkok is known for having incredible tailors at low prices so we finally found one that would give us a good price and spent the next hour and a half getting measured, picking out fabrics and patterns for our new clothes. I thought about getting suits made like the rest of the girls, but then I found out that they made customized Chi-Paos (a mandarin gown). So...I was split. Do I get a suit made or a ChiPao? I should have gotten both, but I went with my roots--a gold and purple with purple pipping ChiPao. It turned out AMAZING and I'm SO happy that I finally got one made. The last one I owned was when I was 14.
Here it is -- Mom, Dad: I hope you LOVE it :)
*Note: This dress took 2 days to make with 2 fittings.
Our next stop was the Grand Palace. We got out of the taxi, ready to explore, when a man (whom we believed to be affiliated with the Grand Palace) informed us that the Palace was closed for the rest of the afternoon due to a special ceremony. WHAT?! NOOOO. We spent too much time at the tailors!! We found out later that the tuk-tuk drivers in Bangkok are all corrupt and lie to tourists to get them to use their services. So, not wanting to waste the day, we were talked into a tour of the city, as long as we made a few stops at these "shops" along the way. It turns out the tuk-tuk drivers get coupons for bringing tourists to these "shops." We were sent to the tailors and the jewelers and then we said, "ENOUGH! We just want to go on the canal tour!" But we only had to pay about $0.50 per person for the ride so all in all it wasn't that bad. We finally made it to the boat dock and we took a four person canal tour to see more temples and people’s homes. I think the reality of where we were finally sank in because the homes were on stilts over the water and it looked like they were going to fall in. They were built out of the oldest and dirtiest materials, but the worst part was seeing the people with little children bathing their kids in the water. It was pretty eye-opening to see another side of the city... makes you appreciate a lot of the things...
NOTE: Bangkok has the absolute worst traffic I have ever seen. At all hours of the day you will get stuck in a traffic jam. It is a miracle everyone in that city doesn’t have lung cancer from all the pollution. It took us nearly two hours to get home. We were all so tired that we decided to go to bed early.
BUT!!!! We found a massage shop that had one hour Thai massages for 150 baht (about $4.50 USD). So, tired as we were, we thought we could indulge ourselves a little bit and headed inside. Little Thai women stretched and pulled our muscles then walked on our backs. The day couldn't have ended any better.
The Grand Palace is a MUST SEE when in Bangkok, so we decided to try again on Friday. We had a little better luck and were able to find a really great tour guide to show us around. The tour
guide (Krishna) could not pronounce our names so he did his best. Instead of Alice, Jackie, Laura and Jes, we became "Alex", "Jack", "Lala", and "Jus." It was hilarious. (As is the picture I had to capture of Alice on the right) The entire area is full of little temples with relics and Buddha statues. It is all decorated so extravagantly and the buildings are plated in real gold. There is a Buddha statue named the Emerald Buddha but it is in fact made out of Jade and is the largest piece of Jade in Thailand. They also change its clothes for the different seasons which I find quite amusing because the three seasons are Summer, Rainy, & Winter. There are temples everywhere in Bangkok and they stand out so much from the surrounding buildings because they are built in traditional styles (yes, Krishna made us learn the difference between Thai, Shri Lankan, and Cambodian) with lots of gold. I don't want to overkill you with pictures...but it was too amazing not to:
Jackie has family in Bangkok so we went to their condo for dinner, but since one of their cooks wasn't working that day, we went out to eat with her cousin Lillian. She ordered for us and we dined on some local Thai food that we probably wouldn’t have ordered on our own, like catfish and these vegetable patty things. BUT. The most delicious thing we had that night was this Layered Crepe Cake Dessert. I promised you pictures and if your mouth doesn't start to water, well...there's something wrong with you. Haha just kidding. But really. This dessert was INCREDIBLE.
So...Jackie’s uncle owns a nightclub in Bangkok called “Bed Supper Club.” It is pretty famous so we decided to check it out with her cousin. It was mostly ex-patriots, so not a lot of locals, but it was still really fun. The club has beds and pillows lining all the walls and is super comfy. If anyone has seen the Sex and the City episode where they go to the club with mattresses...it was kind of like that. The staff were wearing t-shirts that said "Don't Tell Me You Know The Owner" which was kind of funny because we did...haha.
On Saturday morning we wanted to visit Siam Paragom before we did some more shopping but it was impossible to try to get a Tuk-Tuk driver to get us there without making stops for his coupons. It was quite frustrating which is where the phrase "No Coupons, No Stops Please" got its origin. Fed up with the mafia of Tuk-Tuks, we took a taxi there. It was quite nice but we didn't want to stay there long so we grabbed another taxi to the weekend market, called Chatuchak. It is similar to the Night Bazaar but it is only open on Saturdays and Sundays and during the day. We arrived around 1 and stayed until 4. Only three hours of shopping, but it was hot and smelly and we spent plenty of money, so it was a good time. This market has absolutely everything. Food, clothes, trinkets, animals…you name it. The whole trip, we had been good about eating at restaurants that looked clean and making sure to only drink things that came in sealed containers, but by this time we were so tired and hungry we decided to eat like local Thai people at a stall at the market.
Quite Tasty...
Like I mentioned, the traffic in Bangkok is so terrible so leaving the market at 4 pm gave us just enough time to get to the hotel and then to the airport for our 8 pm flight.
So I'm "home sweet home" in Singapore taking a small break from traveling and concentrating on my studies for a little bit. ;) I'll be heading off to Cambodia in early March so be on the lookout for that...
Hope you enjoyed reading!!
As always, missing everyone back home!!
P.S. Best Buy of the Trip (besides the Chi-Pao) :
Le'SportSac Fanny Paks!! :p
P.P.S. LESS THAN TWO WEEKS! <3 Hootie
guide (Krishna) could not pronounce our names so he did his best. Instead of Alice, Jackie, Laura and Jes, we became "Alex", "Jack", "Lala", and "Jus." It was hilarious. (As is the picture I had to capture of Alice on the right) The entire area is full of little temples with relics and Buddha statues. It is all decorated so extravagantly and the buildings are plated in real gold. There is a Buddha statue named the Emerald Buddha but it is in fact made out of Jade and is the largest piece of Jade in Thailand. They also change its clothes for the different seasons which I find quite amusing because the three seasons are Summer, Rainy, & Winter. There are temples everywhere in Bangkok and they stand out so much from the surrounding buildings because they are built in traditional styles (yes, Krishna made us learn the difference between Thai, Shri Lankan, and Cambodian) with lots of gold. I don't want to overkill you with pictures...but it was too amazing not to:
Quite Tasty...
Le'SportSac Fanny Paks!! :p
