Bangkok revisited 23.06.10 – 27.06.10 (Part 2)

waking up early in the morning to take BTS to Victory Monument for an 1 1/2 hour van ride to our destination, Ayutthaya.

and boy, it is hot there…

since we are not taking any tours AND with only a map in our hand, as usual we had trouble finding the place.

what we found after 10 minutes of walking,..

after walking for like 30 minutes, we had reached our destination!!!

Yes, it is Wat Mahathat.

and this is where the famous Buddha Head is located

amazing isn’t it? there’s a certain calmness in the statue although the roots of the tree made it otherwise.

other than the head, i found that there is nothing special about Wat Mahathat as there’s only rubbles and ruins. look at the photos below and you will get what i mean…

this is what remains of the Grand Hall.

most of the Buddhas are beheaded. what happened back then?!

This is used to place Buddha’s relics!

one of the Buddha’s which is not destroyed

is this called ‘Klongs’, right?

Can you imagine how grand it is if it was not destroyed by the Burmese back in 1767 AD? screw them for destroying the royal temple!!!

after Wat Mahathat, we decided not enter the other Wats (there are like more than 20!) as they look the same (and most of them charge 50Bht per entry).

instead, we just take photos from the outside as we walk pass them

lunch was so-so…

thai style char siu + siew yoke + lap cheong rice for 250bht

on the way walking back to the van station, i saw a bus station to Bangkok. so… being TOO smart, i decided to take the bus home as that means we don’t have to walk any further.

the bus ticket. please take note.

the time it took to reach bangkok is slightly longer than taking the van. and the bus stops at a bus stop near Chatuchak market, in which we an take BTS back to hotel.

but the problem is…

once we arrived, we can’t find the damn market. from the map, it is just BESIDE the bus station. yet, we can’t find it. so near yet so far…

in the end we had to take a cab back and experienced how jam bangkok traffic can be, even though it is not peak hour. damn, money wasted on the taxi trip. damn…

next, is dinner time. nothing much can be done on the 2nd day as some time was wasted on the journey from Ayuthaya.

decide to go to Cabbage and Condom for dinner, a restaurant with condom-based concept established by Population and Community Development Association (PDA). read on the link provided to know more.

the ambience of the restaurant is very nice! and it really feels like fine dining, at one point, i even told them to stop serving us as i got used to do it myself. guess i’m just another ‘ulu’ people. haha! food is ok, and it is suitable for those with low tolerance for spicy stuff (as it caters more to westerners).

here', i’ll let the photos do the talking :

lanterns made of condoms.

music by student of university/school of fine arts.

fried noodles green curry. not my favourite though fried rice and tom yum, tastes good!

take a stroll after the dinner (or enjoy the free internet) and don’t remember to take photos too!

and don’t forget, by having a dinner there, you are doing for a good cause too!

after the dinner, took a walk around the town area before going back for my football supper.

last photo of the day. and yes, traffic in the town is bad, regardless of the time.

Bangkok revisited 23.06.10 – 27.06.10 (Part 1)

we are going to Bangkok again this year as we couldn’t get any free air tickets to other place last year. luckily all the riots have gone by the time we went there.

as we had been there last year, we had already planned what to do and skipped all the unnecessary trips and not-so good shopping markets.

instead of staying in Suk 11, we decided to change our accommodation to Maxim Inn. For 899Bht (which is cheaper than advertised in their website), you get a breakfast, TV (which is a must in World Cup season!!!) and it is near to Nana BTS station.

Not a bad choice for a budget hotel, considering the amenities they provide. and best of all, i don’t have to pay deposit beforehand. i just have to pay upon check-in. woo hoo!

not to waste anytime, the first place to proceed is to take the BTS to Sala Daeng station and then MRT to Hua Lamphong station.

 

Hua Lamphong train station.

 

first stop, take a walk to Wat Traimit, where the Golden Buddha is located.

 

looks grand, huh? can you believe it took us around 20minutes to find this big temple? and worse, it was standing right in front of us at that time and we spend so long locating it!

 

  we did not go in though as the entrance fee for foreigners are not cheap…

 

Next stop Chinatown! or more precise, Sampeng Lane.

intricate designs on the Chinatown gate. but don’t let the gate fool you! the distance from the gate and Sampeng Lane is still waaaaay to go!

 

again, due to some mistakes, we got lost on the way to there and wasted around 30mins finding the way.

it was not really wasted anyway, as we got to see the trades that they do along the road : hardware, gunny sacks, baskets, weighing scales, chinese medicine, etc.

what makes the chinatown area different from other parts of Bangkok? This:

  Can’t read Chinese? the photo below will explain.

 

  yes, it is really a hospital which looks more like a temple.

 

When you’ve seen the shops below, you know you’ve arrived at Yaorawat Road, the happening Chinatown!

    shops selling shark fins other marine products are everywhere

 

  same goes to goldsmith. Big goldsmith shops!

 

  Chinese medicines

 

  Lottery tickets anyone? but 95Bht seems a bit pricey. it better win millions!

 

  That’s a lot of fish maws in a shop!

 

just beside Yaorawat Road is the legendary Sampeng Lane. it’s not that legendary. but that damn lane is super long, selling all kinds of stuff. some even beyond your imagination (hailers, anyone?).

 

   Bags and beads.

 

  there’s even an ATM machine in the Lane!

 

  there’s a lot of Vespas here. not sure why.

 

and every one seems to use this lane, even motorcycles…

 

by the time we’ve done walking the lane, we were so tired that we had to take an hour break at the KFC…

 

and yes, it’s dinner time. some chicken noodles. they taste great. it is same as the one as we ate in Pattaya last year. only that this is the soup version.

 

the accompanying condiments that is a must in all of the stalls : fish sauce, pepper, sugar, chilli sauce, chilli flakes and lime juice.

 

Thereafter, we continue our way to the Grand Palace.

 

it amazes me that the traffic can survive without any traffic light in a big junction like this…

 

yeah, by the time we reached Grand Palace, it was already around 8pm. which is good. we don’t plan to go into Grand Palace since we’ve been there last year.

our mission in Grand Palace this year? to take a nice night view of the Palace.

stayed there for quite some time as we were trying to get the perfect photos of the palace. but without any DSLR, will it work? turns out to be ok with me.  the key is as follows:

anti-shake + stiff shoulders + steady hands

but of course, if we had a tripod, it will be a lot easier. don’t think i will be willing to carry a big tripod on my holidays though.

 

one of my good photos taken with a crappy camera. what do you think? Good?

 

upon completing the mission, we continued walking back, until it was drizzling, took a tuk-tuk back to Siam Paragon, had a stroll and had a supper before heading back to the hotel for my World Cup fix.

 

my supper? so-so only…

on the first day itself, we had walked about 4.7km on that day. if it wasn’t for the rain, we would’ve walked further. and that is only the first day. take it as warm-up. haha!