mussing with a “noun” and verb

Appears that I took a break too long… anyway, here’s the 3rd part of day 2 in Bangkok.

We decided to be adventurous and decided to walk around the area. There is no argument if I am to say I have a bad sense of direction. Imagine this: Alor Star is a small town (despite being named Bandaraya), and I still tend to get lost going around.

I’ll make this short, we left Wat Rachabophit and make a brief stopped eating something called “Thailand Hotdog” (at least that’s what a Thai local told us), teaching us how to eat it as well. I dont really know what I put in my mouth but its to be eaten togeter with cili padi, uncooked cabbage and garlic. I wouldn’t say its nice… but its worth a try, just not buy too much.

We walked, looked and experienced. BUT… time passes and we thought of going back to the pier to catch the express boat back to Saphan Taksin. Alas, we got sort of lost and tried to ask the local to get back to Grand Palace area. Unfortunately, they dont really understand what we were trying to say, and we sort of walk “aimlessly”. Of course, there was an EASY way out. We could just flagged down a tuk-tuk or a taxi and get them to drive us back to the area. Guess due to limited budget and we seriously couldn’t be that far off, also that we were being fed with “horror” stories on tuk-tuk drivers, we didnt do that. We resolved to so many different attempts, even bringing out our own name card just to ask them about their address but I doubt they understand. We ended up walking at the same square at least 3 times, going back to square one.

When all was in vain, we decided to retrace our own steps, based on our memory and my poor sense of direction. Hey, you know what? My memory wasnt that bad, coupling with Verb’s of course. We got back to where we came from, remembering little little things that we do along the road, like me pointing at the sign board, he looking at some CD players for cars, me sitting down rolling up my pants (its too hot and stuffy and NO, i wasnt being improper)… things like that.

Ha.. then we saw the familiar Wat Po! But, Wat Po is at a sort of like cross road. We didnt really recall which road we came from and the roads are pretty long, with our tired legs, it did seem like a long way to go & back if we took the wrong path. Then a tuk-tuk driver stopped by, offering help. I am pretty sceptical towards tuk-tuk drivers in Bangkok (no offence but… they are kind of aggresive). When all was vain, he was so-very-the-helpful and not taking no as an answer, Verb asked him which road to take. He answered and showed us the way using the map that Verb had in hand. Following that, he ushered us in his tuk-tuk which we graciously declined.

At that point of time, I didnt know he would be throwing some foul words at us, though expected that he would scold… yet, didnt quite imagine that we would be hurdled with multiple of the four-letter-F-word. Yah, thats what Verb meant by we kena maki-hamun by tuk-tuk drivers. Guess we were lucky that he only uses verbal insult.

Continuing our way, reached the Tha Chang Pier… and we took the wrong boat bringing us to the opposite direction. However after that, all was fine. It wasn’t so bad being “lost” anyway, we walked around, stopped by a flower market, saw different things…

Verb is not even hinting! Basically he just thrust back the whole thing to me, despite only writing that few paragraphs. Anyhow, I shall be good and pick up the pieces.

After going around the huge Grand Palace complex, together with the Wat Phra Kaeo Museum and The Royal Thai Decorations and Coins Pavillion, we were hungry, or at least my tummy was growling, telling me “Go feed me”. Wat Phra Kaeo Museum is a rather stuffy place, I think they didnt switch on the air-con. However, on contrast, the latter was dimly lit and the temperature was set at a cooling one. We then retrace our steps to Tha Chang Pier to have our lunch there. Sorry, no pictures to show as we were so hungry, never even thought of taking a picture first.

Verb went out to pick the dishes and I think he picked the ugliest (can I use that word to describe food?) food available under the spicy Thai food category. We had rice with eel, chicken ball and coconut tom yam. Yes, I repeat, all were in spicy category. I think I was on the verge of hanging out my tongue, the coconut tom yam was really hot & spicy but very good.

We resumed our walk after lunch, walking to another pier - Tha Tien Pier to cross the river over to the magnificient Temple of Dawn (Wat Arun). The boat fare to cross over is only 3 baht per person.

After that, we crossed over again and make our way to Wat Po that house the gold plated reclining Buddha. The reclining Buddha is 46 meters long and 15 meters high. Due to my limited height and the numerous visitors that day, I could hardly get a decent picture. In fact, sad to say, all the pictures I took on the Buddha was covered by other visitors’ head. Hence I’ve deleted the picture. However, herewith I post up a picture taken by my sister when she visited Wat Po about 6 months ago.

After making visits on 3 temples (Wat Phra Kaeo, Wat Arun and Wat Po) and the Grand Palace, it was already pretty late. I recalled making remarks that the National Museum would close in another 30 minutes. Hence we didnt go over that day, instead opted to walk around the area, hoping to get a glimpse of Giant Swing and checked out the Thieves Market. Armed with a map, we set off and the 1st other unintended destination that we reached was - Wat Rachabophit.

It’s now 1.43 pm showing on my PC clock. I’m sleepy… so I shall continue another day

Eikk…how ‘obvious’ is Nite’s hint. Let me quote: “I deliberately give a few days space for that counterpart of mine to blog something”. Then Nite ended with the ultimatum “We had the intention of writing down our trip as a journal…I guess, it should be Verb’s turn to write”. Ok, I think I have no choice to blog up something or else I would always be held responsible (Freshman - by Verve Pipe playing in the background).

Let me then continue where Nite stop. On 25/2/06, the second day of our little escape, we (or at least, for myself), did the most walking in our life. Our poor legs were so sour after that. As the day is pack, I’ll blog the first part of the day, and leave the rest of the day to Nite (muahahaha….).

The day begins early for us. We woke up around 8am. Finish our western style breakfast (included in the guest house list) . Each of us, armed with camera, a bottle of 1 liter mineral water and a bag leaves the guest house around 8.30am. We headed straight to Thong Lo BTS and asked for the daily pass. I’m sure that the BTS guy recognized us from the day before. From Thong Lo, it takes about emm….around 45 - 60 minutes to Saphan Taksin, with an interchanged in Siam. The ride is pretty painless, I would say.

BTS Route

In Saphan Taksin (which is the last stop for BTS), we catch a public express boat to Grand Palace. A tip for future travelers, don’t be con: There are actually two types of express boat, public and private. It does matter that you know which one to take because the price is significantly different. From Saphan Taksin, we stop at Chang Pier to visit Grand Palace. I don’t think, I’ll explain in detail what is inside Grand Palace, but believe me, it’s really Grand. Don’t believe me? Here are some of the pictures we took there.

Taken from the front entrance of Grand Palace

Inside Grand Palace

One of the Wat in Grand Palace

We spent half the day in Grand Palace. Before moving on to the next tourist spot. Hehehe…. be sure to read the next part by Nite. (Hint: The next part is more errr…colurful: How we kena maki hamun from a tok tok driver?). I wouldn’t reveal too much…

This is more to Verb’s area of blogging… but today had not been so rosy for me… and coincidentally, this is aired over Launchcast Radio. I’m not doing much reviewing of the music, so much so for the categories that I’ll put it under. But then again, the song’s lyric is pretty good.

Where is the moment we need at the most
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost
They tell me your blue skies fade to grey
They tell me your passion’s gone away
And I don’t need no carryin’ on

You stand in the line just to hit a new low
You’re faking a smile with the coffee to go
You tell me your life’s been way off line
You’re falling to pieces everytime
And I don’t need no carryin’ on

Cause you had a bad day
You’re taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don’t know
You tell me don’t lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don’t lie
You’re coming back down and you really don’t mind
You had a bad day
You had a bad day

Well you need a blue sky holiday
The point is they laugh at what you say
And I don’t need no carryin’ on

You had a bad day
You’re taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don’t know
You tell me don’t lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don’t lie
You’re coming back down and you really don’t mind
You had a bad day

(Oh.. Holiday..)

Sometimes the system goes on the blink
And the whole thing turns out wrong
You might not make it back and you know
That you could be well oh that strong
And I’m not wrong

(yeah…)

So where is the passion when you need it the most
Oh you and I
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost

Cause you had a bad day
You’re taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don’t know
You tell me don’t lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
You’ve seen what you like
And how does it feel for one more time
You had a bad day
You had a bad day

I deliberately give a few days space for that counterpart of mine to blog something as well… but I secretly (there’s no any secret to it) think he is a more big lazy bum than me… so its FAT chance that he will blog something … so here I am… ranting off again.

We reached Bangkok at 12 pm ++ (Bangkok time), lucky for us, our Thai acquintance showed us and hailed us a meter cab to the inn we made reservation - Sawasdee Sukhumvit Inn . I don’t really remember which site I went but you would have to google and shop around, who knows, it’s possible to get a lower rate, a few bahts perhaps. There’s 4 floors in total and our room is at the highest floor. The place is pretty good and clean though we dont get a very good reception of Channel V from the TV in our room. Otherwise, it’s furnished with a bed, basin (outside the bathroom), telephone and cable TV. Oh yah, and it comes with a breakfast too - a choice of scrambled eggs or fried eggs complete with either bacon/sausages and coffee/tea.

Back to the story, after each having our turn to take bath, we took off to have our 1st meal in the City of Angels. Walking to the nearest BTS station, Thong Lo (only about 5 minutes walk), we bought the One Day Pass for 100 baht for unlimited pass throughout the day. We hopped down Chit Lom, cos noted in the map that it’s where all the shopping centres are. We didn’t want to go to Khaosan halfway here and there… hence spent our 1st day roaming around the town.

So, it really were loads of shopping centres around Chit Lom, which also means that we are deprived of any cheap, budgeted, local Thai food that we were eyeing. Ended up, we had our 1st meal in McD - having the Samurai Pork Burger!! Haha…ironic. Well, we did walk around in those huge, towering malls, yet but things in those malls were way too expensive for us, little budgetted travellers.

Nothing much caught our attention due to the really expensive clothing and everything else, we got back to the BTS, and stopped at Siam (the interchange station between the Sukhumvit Line and Silom Line). There are a few exits and we noted of a small temple near the station and made our way there.

So, here’s the picture of the 1st temple we set our feet in Bangkok ~ Wat Patum Wanaram.

Outside the temple, there were some stalls selling great food and bargained price. We had a bowl of beef noodles, it was great. We spent our day roaming around the streets of Bangkok, around the area where BTS is accessible - Victory Monument, Lumphini Park, Jim Thompson’s House (but missed the opening time, but gave me idea where I can board a canal boat), Patpong Night Market and streets in Silom area. We even went to this place, also named Jim Thompson something something but its more to sell silk!!

~ Lumphini Park

~ Victory Monument (*whisper - its actually a roundabout)

~ Walking down from Jim Thompson House Museum, you will see this river, walking straight on right side, about 5-10 minutes would reach Hau Chang Bridge to catch a canal boat.

~ Outside Wat Patum Wanaram where we had our beef noodles, at 20 baht one bowl.

Note: We had the intention of writing down our trip as a journal… I guess, it should be Verb’s turn to write yah.

Hopping on a train in less than 14 days after initial proposal by Verb to go to Bangkok seems like a dream. Impromptu trips has never lose its appeal, well, subject to a smooth sailing and good one. I might not have said the same thing should things turned out ugly.

Anyway, Bangkok is a good place to visit. Well, some may prefer to set their feet to our neighbour down south, but a trip up north is well worth it. Never mind the long train journey. In fact, it really isnt so bad, perhaps due to my own loving to sleep. Boarding the train in the Butterworth Railway Station with transportation arrangement courtesy of my blogging counterpart, Verb. Train punctually left at 2.20 pm up north. Passing through Alor Star, my hometown, straight up to Perlis and finally Padang Besar where we left the train to get our passport viewed and stamped. Quite a number of aunties and uncles boarded the train at the stop in Alor Star, from their conversation, appears that they have frequent our northernly neighbour’s capital often, unlike both of us… where that was our first attempt there. Never mind that both of us came from North of Malaysia, funnily, neither of us been to Haatyai, the said shopping heaven.

Looking a little blur and unsure if we need to lug our luggage along, we follow suit of our “neighbour” sitting at the next seat, who casually only bring down her small knapsack. It seems pretty funny that immigration in airport where we need to pass through a few layers of screening, immigration travelling via train seems a little lenient. Upon a conservation with a colleague later, he mentioned probably the officers did went up the train to check, well, that seems logical enough.

After getting our passport stamped, and completing of a sort of like “pass card” prior in the train, we boarded the train again. Well, we’ve reached Thailand. That was pretty fast, the sun has yet to set. However, estimated time to reach Bangkok was at noon, the next day. We spent our time talking nonsense, listening to mp3 (mine loaned from a colleague, thank you) and observe our fellow travellers. I must admit, I did eavesdrop on the uncles and aunties conversation… unintentionally as the volume was not exactly tuned down.

Dinner time came, delicious aroma came from one of the uncle’s ta pau food. Heard his daughter fried rice for him, and he offered to share his food with another uncle. As for our more well-off western friend, they ordered dinner from the train’s operator together with 2 bottles of beer. Opps… you caught me looking. We being the budget traveller, armed with bread and milk… and that was our dinner and breakfast for the next morning.

We made friends with our neighbour, a Thai tourist guide … as well as a Filipino who left us at Huahin. What has gotten into my head for not taking a picture of the train, outer as well as inner beats me. However, do take my word, the train is really a comfortable one to consider. I slept really well at night, with pillow and blanket. By the time I woke up in the morning, Bangkok was just a few hours away.

The picture is not very good… but its a sunrise view, taken from the train.

The date was 22 February 2006. I walked from office to Bukit Bintang Monorail Station. I took a monorail ride to the station nearest to a Star LRT, the Hang Tuah station. I then took the Star LRT to Plaza Rakyat.. meeting Verb in Puduraya. We then took a bus to Penang. The journey has not quite finished.

We stayed over in Penang, his father fetched us in a car (obviously) to the Penang Jetty and we took a ferry to cross over to Butterworth. From there, we walked to the railway station and hopped on a train…. destination: Bangkok.

Reached Bangkok, we got in a taxi to get to the inn. After taking our turn to clean ourselves, we walked to the nearest BTS (Bangkok Mass Transit System), Thong Lo… and the holidays began.

Travelling within Bangkok, we took a BTS to Saphan Taksin to get to Central Pier to catch a Express Boat to get to the Grand Palace. Also on another journey, I took the BTS to get to the National Stadium, then walked to Hau Chang Bridge to get canal boat, before taking a cab to reach the Vimanmek Mansion.

To cut the story short, in the end, we took a cab to Bangkok International Airport and boarded a flight back to Penang. The next day, Verb drove us back to KL again.

So… how many types of transportation that I used in the end? Haha…