summery beats: bangkok
Tuesday, August 5, 2008,8:02 PM
Just got back from Bangkok. It's been about 5 days or a bit more than that since i've been away, and it seems like nothing much has changed even though it feels like it's been ages.
bangkok's so modern. i went there not quite sure what to expect, but it turned out to be a lot like s'pore because of all the high-rise buildings, underground trains and skytrain.
the hotel i stayed in was connected to the skytrain, so it made things so easy. thai people kept speaking thai to all of us. This random lady on the skytrain asked mum what was the next stop in thai, a random caucasian guy asked sis to press the number four on the lift in thai.
despite us looking thai of some sorts we still stuck out like sore thumbs when we used the skytrain. The coins wouldn't go in, because we were using 1 baht when only 5 baht and 10 baht could be used. We got pinned down by the gates at least three times while carrying shopping bags (embarassing). Later we noticed thai people carrying bags put their hands clear of the sensor thing-o, so we did the same whenever we had a lot of shopping bags.
The hotel we stayed in had a cabaret show that had she-male performers. According to the tour-guides, these men were more beautiful than his wife. He even went on to explain how they got their boobs done, and he kept trying to persuade us to go. (we didn't go.) But the tour-guide was right. Some 'ladies' we met on the skytrain had shaved smooth legs and were decked out in skinny jeans and shorts!
Another thing, thai people walk a lot. Almost all of them wear shorts all the time in all places, they all have skinny, skinny legs. Almost all thai teens have dyed hair in a layer cut. Almost all the guys appear to go to the same hairdresser and they all wear skinny jeans. The girls' uniform skirts that are even shorter than my miniskirts! I wonder what they do to get so skinny, because thai food in super-yummy. It's not all hot and spicy. The desserts they make are good. Sugar made from coconut, used to make their lovely desserts. Mango and sticky rice, coated with coconut santan. The tour guide also brought us to the market where dad got durian and smuggled it into the hotel :D we also got longan and duku.
Another market that was lovely was Chatuchak. It's every bit amazing as they say it is, but it's so very hot. The place is humungous, so big you could get lost. Every corner there are shops chock-full of printed t-shirts with all those rock prints all over them- the beatles, the libertines and so on.
The tuk-tuks are scary, the first day we went there there was one tailing us and trying to get us get on his little buggy. Scared us so much we never ventured on foot on the street, we used the skytrain instead. Wondering why we didn't get on? The tour-guide said apparently they overcharge people, making them go around in circles instead of going for the shorter alternative route. Now for photos.
edit://6th of August.
yes, the taxis in Thailand are the cutest. They come in all colours of the rainbow: blue and red, pink, green and yellow, orange and purple.
This is not your typical temple. This is Wat Arun.(temple of the dawn)
every bit of this structure is made of broken porcelain that they found off sunken Chinese ships. A great way to recycle eyy.
bags in the market at Wat Arun.
This is on a longboat sampan on the waterways which lead to the floating market. This waterway went through A LOT of backyards and frontyards of people's houses in thailand.
Everywhere in Thailand there are traffic jams, even in the Floating Market.
The tour guide insisted he take hold of the camera to take a picture of this man. This ah-pek(old man) is 80+ and apparently, he looks like on of those chinese old men with the beards. I think he's modern, advocating for world peace.
Intricate wood carvings. They even do the detail of each wrinkle on the elephant!
Labels: trips
