Bangkok (Part 1)

Many people said Bangkok is a dangerous place. Full with terrorists, violence and criminals. They painted the city with a scary canvas of blood and hatred. But nobody realize every city in this world have their own darker side. All we need to do is open up our eyes and see the brighter side of this beautiful city. The friendly people who are very well mannered, the delicious food, the wonderful views and their love for their own country and king. Can you find all that in your own country? The beauty of this city is much more worthy to be told than any other thing.

Brace yourself, super long post below. I divided each of them in different section. Easier for you to read, if you don't like the shopping part, you can skip it ;)

Alvin and I went for a short 3 days 2 nights trip to Bangkok. And when I said short, it was really short! It was certainly not enough to conquer Bangkok! Especially the shopping! We woke up at 5am in the wee hour and hopped on to our flight at 6.50am. Thank god Air Asia didn't delay our flight, which is what they are famous for. PRAISE THE LORD!

THE AIRPORT

We reached Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport at 8.50am (9.50am in Malaysia time). Like a country mouse, I saw so many ang mohs in the airport, not the normal ang mohs I usually see in Malaysia. They all look like celebrities! While Alvin and I were lining up to get our passport checked, the queue was tremendously long, we kept checking out the ang mohs and see which celebrities they look like. Yes, boh liao =_=

The walking distance to the custom counter was so long,
thank God they have this escalator. Do they call this escalator? O_o

THE TAXI

So many cabs were waiting outside the entrance. You don't need to worry about not getting a cab, the drivers will greet you with open arms, what's missing is pom pom =_= Oh, all their taxis are PINK! ZOMG!

PINK TAXI!!!!!

We approached a taxi driver with our hotel's name and he said yayaya. We got on to the taxi and after leaving the airport, he realized he didn't know how to go the our hotel =_= Y U NO SAY EARLIER! He kept looking at the address which I printed on my itinerary paper. Let me repeat, HE KEPT LOOKING AT THE PAPER! His eyes weren't on the road! So dangerous! But within half an hour, we reached our destination safely. Once again, PRAISE THE LORD!

THE HOTEL

Upon all the great recommendations and comments from my friends, I decided to stay at the boutique hotel, Mystic Place. One word to describe this place, INDESCRIBABLE. Once the taxi stopped in front of the hotel's entrance, yhe staffs came running out to open the taxi door for us and carried our luggage from the boot like as though we were some VIPs.

All their rooms have different designs. But the room I wanted was still occupied. Since we reached earlier and in a hurry for the famous Chatuchak market, we changed to another room. One of the staff (note: tall, manly and cute) helped us to carry our luggage into our room *melted*

The interior in the hotel. The walls are hand painted.
And most of the decorations are recycled items.

Even the lobby and reception is so colorful!

Toifu, the little guardian dog who always hide under the table, LOL.

Our room 409. The key with cute plushy keychain!
Check out the shower, kinky! Everything is so cute!

The room has a sticky note tree on the wall for people to leave their notes.
Reuben and Fann used to stay in this room too and left us a note!

THE WEEKEND MARKET

After settling down our stuff in the room and rested for about half an hour, we took the free tuk tuk courtesy of the hotel to the infamous weekend market, Chatuchak. I was awed by the hugeeeeeeeee market. We walked for about 4 hours. I refrained from buying too many clothes although I saw so many cheap and nice pieces because later on that day we were supposed to go the the famous wholesale fashion mall, Platinum Mall. BIG MISTAKE! Biggest rule in Bangkok, whatever you see and you like it, just grab it! Don't think twice! Or shall I say, don't even think!

The market is full with pickpockets so Fann told me to put a bag inside my bag to protect my belongings. Even if the pickpocketer tried to cut my bag, there is still another bag inside. Good advice! Thanks to Fann and Reuben!

Bag within a bag, we call it...bagception!

Our first time in tuk tuk! Weeeee!!!!

I was a bit reluctant to try the food in Chatuchak, judging from the cleanliness. I have a weak stomach. Therefore we just had snacks. I didn't get to try the sticky mango rice and coconut ice-cream =( But the fruit juice was awesomeeeeeeeee! It was pure juice with no added sugar, but yet it was so sweet and fresh!And not to forget the fishy thingy! ( Sorry I don't know what it's called). It was so good!!!! We whacked 2 bowls!

Frozen banana covered with chocolate and sprinkles.
Saw it in many of my friends' photos. Sadly, not so nice =(

We just managed to walk 50% of the market. Time was running out, we need to go back to the hotel to freshen up and attack the Platinum Mall!

PLATINUM MALL

We asked the front desk to call a taxi for us to the Platinum Mall. I was expecting the staff to call, but she went all out to the street to hail a cab for us instead. 5 star service! We were caught in a horrible jam and the taxi driver had to leave us at the opposite of the mall, we had to use the pedestrian overhead bridge instead. We were surprised that the mall was stuffy, packed and a bit run down. But still we managed to grab quite a few stuff.

Alvin was pretty tired after walking the whole day with his heavy camera bag. We wanted to take a taxi back but nobody wanted to fetch us because it was rush hour! Everyone was asking for throat slitting price instead of running on meter. Note: They don't run on meter during rush hour. So avoid taking taxi during tat period. We didn't take the BTS because we didn't want to walk with so many bags in hand, we were already exhausted.

So we decided to have dinner first, McD with pork burger! ZOMG!

While eating, Alvin asked "Why does this part of Platinum Mall looked so brand new?" Then only we realized we spent 4 hours walking at the old phase! O_____o

After dinner, we tried our luck went to the new phase for some late shopping while most of the shops were closing already. But even though it was last minute, I managed to buy 2 bags. The shop has so many cute structured boxy bags, I couldn't make up my mind! While I was looking and looking and looking, the lady were staring at me and I asked her, "Are you closing soon?" and she gave me a smile. Point taken, I quickly grabbed 2 bags and paid. BUT I WANT MORE! T_______T

THE HOTEL (NIGHT TIME)

It was about 9 and still no taxi wanted to take us back. So we paid 200baht, while it was just about 100baht if it runs on meter. The hotel is a bit outskirt, away from town. With no night life, we were stuck in the hotel. Having no proper meal for the whole day, we saw a noodle stall below the hotel, so we gave it a try. IT WAS DELICIOOOOO!!!!!!!!! Does all food in Bangkok taste so good and cheap?! 30baht for a bowl of noodle with free drinks! Though it's just plain water, but it's free! We need to pay for freaking tap water in Malaysia! And thank God for channel V, we spent our night watching TV and slept at 11ish to rejuvenate ourselves for tomorrow.

To be continued...