Friday, June 12, 2009

A Race against Time

WARNING: This is a highly photo intensive post, DO NOT COMPLAIN!

The long awaited trip had finally arrived. Our flight to BKK was at 715am, in-laws were really nice, fetched us to the airport.

Baby and I, looking rather spaced out (him in particular) @ 530am.....

Thailand's tourism must have been badly hit. They were giving away bags of lychees upon arrival at the airport! They were in season and were amazingly sweet!
Arrived at our hotel @ Sukhumvit Soi 11, near Nana Station. It's a little boutique hotel called Le Fenix hotel. My dear friend Jan got me a good rate and I was delighted with its decor. Check out the lobby area! Feels chic does'nt it?

Our deluxe room. Was supposed to be upgraded but nevermind, this room's good enough for me. Clean and cosy, what more can I ask for. The staff there were all very young and friendly too.
Retro tiles. Pity the toilet didn't have a bath tub. Not that I had the time to soak though.

Famous Pubbing place -- Bed Supper Club was just round the corner. We didn't patronize the place coz I heard the cover charge was a rip off. Opened by a Singaporean I heard, so what do you expect!
After check-in, we zipped off in the oh-so-familiar BTS.....they don't seem to move with times. Their trains are still so short! Wonder why they built such long platforms then. Perhaps they are waiting for Singapore to sell off their trains.
Very creative.
A Must-have dessert! MANGO STICKY RICE! Kao Niao Ma Muang (i think)
Cool air drifted from the air-conditioning vents of MBK. Faced with a wide variety of items on display from the many shops and hordes of busy buyers pushing and shoving around, I felt instantaneously at home........ahhhhhhh.........
As the morning gave way to the hot and humid afternoon, the girls and I headed for Siam Centre and Siam Discovery Centre. We found this cool place which sells baking materials -- WHOLESALE! Elaine simply went insane! I did too! bought the most ridiculous thing there (which would be revealed towards the end :-P)
Dinner was at the famous German Brewery Tawandang. Heard they opened an outlet here in Singapore @ Demsey Road. Gotto check it out one day.
The food was absolutely awesome. Mouth-watering is an understatement! My tastebuds simply exploded when the palatable spread was laid before me! Euphoria was seeping into my veins, spreading throughout my body! Exhilaration exploded sporadically and my saliva as hanging dangerously at the tip of my mouth as I saw my favourite Pla Ka Pong Neng Ma Nao (Steam fish in spicy sour sauce). The pork knuckles were also to die for. I'm not a pork knuckle person for fear of the oozing fats, but trust me, one cannot miss this amazing dish! A satisfactory smirk was plastered across all our faces when we conquered the knuckle! It was whipped clean.
Beer. A Must have! 3-litre. The entire meal worked out to be around SGD100? Good food at great price!
Later that night, friends Xiong and Yue arrived. Hawkers were lined along the Soi leading to our hotel and we decided to bring them on a food tasting spree. Nothing beats roadside food. They have an indescribable taste..perhaps due to the "added ingredients"...Having dinner with rodents and cockroaches isn't something for the weak hearted.
Pipping hot bowl of Beef noodles. Addictive!
Day 1 and 2's achievement. Nothing to shout about seriously. I did so much better 2 years ago! This would have been half of what I had bought in a day! Guess as a person matures, one becomes more sensible? Or perhaps I've grown so much I can't fit into those teeny weeny outfits the Thais wear. Their sizes run smaller. If you are a S in SG, you'd probably fit in an M....if you are an M, you'd fit into a L. So guess what size have I ballooned into? Utterly demoralised and depressed!

After shopping on Day 2, we thought we deserved a good massage. Went to Healthland @ Ekemia. Walked almost 1.5km from the BTS station. Moral of the story, Do not trust maps you see online! We were truely relaxed (though some were in pain) after a good 2 hour thai massage. However, the boys on the other hand weren't too happy. They waited for us for dinner and trust me, the colour of some of their faces were as black as the dirt on my feet!Dinner was at the highly publicised Cabbages & Condoms. Spotted this restaurant on Discovery Channel and wanted to visit the place. It's a place which has a theme. You've guessed it -- COndoms! It's not a sleazy place, but promotes safe sex.

Food there paled in comparison to what we had on Day 1. Perhaps coz the food were not so much to my liking, or the mood was tainted due to certain reasons.
Creative Thais @ work. These costumes were all made from condoms!

It's a bird. It's a plane..It's Captain C?


Day 3: Jatujak Market. I'm all geared up for the day. The weather was pleasantly cool compared to other occasions. No sweltering heat from the merciless sun, instead, there was a light drizzle when we arrived at Mo Chit station. As usual, scores of young enthusiastic Singaporeans thronged JJ market. Which is probably why prices have gone up.
Different smells of meat and stuff mingled together to form an almost-nauseating concoction. I've never been a fan of their meat items. There's a weird marinate in them.
Sweetie would probably love this huge golf ball stool. Pity it's too bulky to be carrying back, else it'd really make a gorgeous pc for our home.
So MOLECULE!
The 3 oriental beauties! We figured at one point, we were melting under the suffocating environment, thus we each bought a fan. Soooo Kawaii des neh?
A refreshing treat -- Coconut ice-cream in a coconut husk no less! I licked the spoon with utmost satisfaction. It's only 25bht! A Steal!
Since the weather was nice, we decided to "lim teh"

The after photo. Check out the stuff we've bought! We looked slightly exhausted but looking delighted with our purchases. most shoppers there were in an indulgent mood. but of coz! It's SHOPPING we are talking about! However, I did not reign as the queen for the day. E bought a stool back! It's really nice and chic....wanted to lug one home too, but they didn't have the design I liked! HENG AH!
After a nice shower and a foot massage, the aunties who were earlier haggling over prices are now transformed into babes ready to take the streets by storm!
Feasting out at YES INDeED! Was there years ago. the food's still good, but portion seemed to have shrunk. It's kindof out of the way and we had a hard time hailing a cab for our journey there. Sweetie had to gesture wildly before the cab driver knew where we wanted to go. I'm very impressed each time sweetie speaks Thai. He does have a flair for language. A total turn on! The big head prawns and garlic squid were so fantastic we had a second round!
Chilling out at SLIM @ RCA......The live band there was great. Pity there wasn't much standing space.
mixers, plain water and even Ice were chargeable @ 50bht! Alcohol may be cheap, but those add-ons are rip offs!


The queen had a potent drop towards the end and it hit her bad!
The night did not end after RCA. I hopped to Xiong's room for second round of baileys. We had to finish em else it's a waste. Thus, filling our cups like chocolate milk, XY and I chatted and drank till wee hours of the night. Xiong could not care less and hit the sack. I was sandwiched between the two of them! haha Threesome!
Day 4. I rose lazily from my pile of warm blankets, my mind still in dreamland. Having slept for less than 4 hours, I was extremely lethargic. But no time must be wasted on this last day. We decided to "cheong" Platinum as we failed to cover 2nd and 3rd levels on Day 2. The place was simply huge with at least 5 levels to cover. It's a mini JJ market, only difference , it's air-conditioned! Shopping at such places require intense planning, else you'd probably miss a lane or two. Along the way to Platinum, we passed by Central World and there was some vintage car exhibition going on.


Last proper meal -- Japanese @ MBK.



This set is less than 200bht! which works out to be approximately SGD8! Where to find???? Faced with the large variety of food, I was really spoilt for choice. struggled to finish and was rubbing my round tummy at the end of the meal.

Was really tired. Kept yawning throughout the day. I inhaled deeply, hoping to breathe in the fresh scent of grass but my nostrils were assimilated by the pollution instead. The rest of the day was a rush. had to purchase the foodstuff and make our way for pedi and manicure!
Guess how much I paid for my pedi and mani? Complete with Blings? 500bht! ie approximately SGD20. I should simply migrate to BKK! Apart from the insane traffic jam which happens 24/7, it's a place which is made to measure for me!
OMG! I didn't realise I bought so much lingerie. I know I said I wanted to stock up, but errrr how many breasts and butts do I have!
Here you are, my most ridiculous buy -- PLASTIC PLATES! "occupational hazzard" i guess. It was sooo cheap. Couldn't resist la! only 70bht! There must have been 50-100 pcs in that stack!
Add ImageHandcarried those twigs back. Once again, they were too cheap to resist. ranging from 3bht to 30bht, how can I not lug them back! Tastefully pieced together.
This was bought with "permission" from sweetie. 24 pairs of chopsticks! We are always having problems finding cheap wooden chopsticks, thus when I found em at JJ mkt, I bought almost all their stock! 10bht a pair, how not to buy!!

That trolley was filled with our handcarries. Surprisingly, we did not exceed the baggage limit! Perhaps coz XY and X didn't do a good job at shopping! They were travelling light! Didn't even have a single check in! But Xiong made a suit for 4500bht...prices have sored since 2 yrs back when sweetie made his suit.
We came home and was disgustingly surprised by the fungus which plagued the tea leaves that were left to rot whilst we were away!
Even the tea had mould! Eewwwwwww
No wonder they said Good things don't come cheap, cheap things don't come good. After soaking the chopsticks, this was what happened! Sweetie spent the night attaching them together.
PHEW! I've finally come to the end of my post. I'm totally overwhelmed by this entry. Took me 1.5hours! Longest ever! A waste of time actually, but still, i had to do it. M extremely tired after this trip...think I need another trip to revitalise and re-energise!

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