Bangkok trip!

A few days after graduation, after returning back home, I rested for 3 days before I head down to Butterworth again. This time, for a 4 days intended trip to Bangkok, Just for shopping and eating and obviously, spending time with my lovelies!

It was my first trip with Xiao Shan after so many years past high school. We used to go on trips together, choir trips and it was so fun. This time round, since she finally took leave,and we traveled to Bangkok together for the first time! It was awesome to finally spend dome time with your bestfriend after staying apart for so long.

SA WA DEE KAAA

 We wanted to experience the train ride to Bangkok, instead of taking the flight, also, we wanted to save some money. Train ticket probably costs about.... rm120, if I'm not mistaken. It's cheaper if you would prefer to sleep in the upper bunk,.


We took the lower sleeping bunk. And at that time, we dint really know why it was more expensive, but being Bernard, he opts for the more expensive option. Thank God! We needed our rest and having a wider space to sleep was a seriously a very important factor!

We all had a good 12 hours of good sleep after sitting uncomfortably for the whole day in the train.. Lights off at 7.30pm - no complaints there! We needed the rest for the day ahead!

We had beer on train. Makes the ride less irritating. Sorry, they had beer, I had sleeping pills.:) I took 2 anti -emetics and 1 flu pill and after that, I was in a drowsy state. I went on a full sleeping mode during the whole ride. Which I was really happy about!

Toilet was pretty ok. Wasn't as bad as I expected. But it was tiny. And if you imagine, guys would be standing there and be pissing away and the train would be moving fast on the rocky bumpy tracks. I am guessing you would be able to imagine the full picture yourself. Yes, piss everywhere.

And hence, when I enter the toilet to do my business, squatting down, with the train moving so freaggin fast, and BUMPY, i sway towards the walls... and I dread thinking what would have rained on those walls.

Thus, carry a bottle of sanitizer with you,  - at all times! 

 

The next morning, we bought cup noodles ( got cheated here) In conclusion, the nicer the people in Thailand are to you, the more likely you will get cheated. We paid way extra for these tomyum cup noodles. And the man who sold it to us was like being so nice, saying he brought it specially for us from his home. 

But anyways, it was just a few ringgit extra we paid. The train food for dinner the night before tasted horrible and it was 160baht  for a simple meal. So cup noodles was our next best choice for breakfast. Be smart, next time, bring your own cups, coffee satchets and instant noodles. saves you a lot of money.

In the train ride, we were lucky enough to meet two Japanese backpackers. They just started their trip earlier from Japan to Malaysia and now to Thailand! and they would be travelling for a year ...i guess ... around the world.

Why I mentioned lucky? Well, because of them , we had some entertainment!!. 22 hours is a very long time to be staring at the same face, You definitely need some variations. They ended up teaching us some Japanese phases and to make the story short, we laughed- ALOT! 

Take care Atsushi and Daiki! Hope you travels around the world would be a great and memorable one!

Me and Rabbit outside the train station. It was approximately 10 minutes walk from our hotel. Don't trust the hotel tuktuks. Bunch of liars!

Mandarin Hotel In Bangkok

This toilet is so awesome. They incorporated the Japan toilet system! Amazeball! I certainly miss the heated toilet seat! and the hands free ass washing system. lol

Rabbit lost her tuktuk virginity this trip. We were used to sitting tuktuks back in India. Tukstuks in Bangkok is hands down much much safer than in India. Probably cause roads in India are so bumpy and there were pot holes everywhere. You need to bargain for everything. When in doubt, take the cab with the meter. It''s much more cheaper. Trust me. TukTuk drivers hike up the price too much. And it's difficult to bargain for a decent price with them. In the end, you will stay pay more than what the actual price is. Even after negotiating for a cheaper price.

Our first meal. I had, black pepper beef with rice. Wasn't anything special. I was still hungry after this meal. We did not know there were nice cafes just around the corner. So we settled for this.

                            

We went back to the train station to try to get return tickets to Malaysia. So we had beef noodles in the train station after the unsatisfying lunch.  It was delicious!! Mouthwatering, Tender and Flavorful beef! yummy! The noodles was equally interesting. It was springy, like wan tan mee noodles but less dense and more glassy. 

The next day, we went to the floating market. We got cheated to pay a hefty amount in the floating market. The whole time in Bangkok, people kept cheating us and we were so fed up about in. We had to pay 1500baht for the boat ride. And later, we realised that some just paid 150baht. Thats a whooping 10x hike in price!

Word of advise , if you are going to the floating market, becareful while talking to your cab driver. I think our driver got some sort of commission bringing us there. He probably was under the impression that we were rich spoilt brats. When we asked him how much was the entrance fees, he said he had no idea! When in his name card, it was clearly stated that the floating market was part of his package. Just can't believe how dishonest people are!

And if it's expensive, leave. Decline!. We dint really know what the price was, We had traveled quite a distance to the market and so we just paid without thinking too much. SIghs! Should have just left! Feel so stupid to let them cheat us so easily!

 This is really really yummy! This is coconut ice cream. A must try in Thailand! Probably the only good thing about the rm150 boat ride.STUPENDOUS!  This costs about 60baht. worth it! We shared among 2 people and ended up still eating quite alot. 

Beef noodles - again! Like a pig. If a pig eats beef. Shared this with Shan as we wanted to eat more stuffs before leaving. It was quite fun actually yo eat on the boat. But we were all still very very unhappy in paying 1500baht for the boat ride. We tried saving so much and lastly got cheated bug time. So it was rather an unpleasant ride for us. 

A little temple visitation. Which was part of the tour. Very little to see. Also, it was super hot. So hot you can get a heat stroke . I became very black. very sweaty. very unhappy.

Next, we went to the Amphawa floating market. The market was really amazing. Upon reaching the market, we headed straight to the massage area. For 200 baht, u get a decent thai massage. 

after a massage session, me chilling by the riverside sipping my cup of hot tea. It was quite cooling by the riverside. Away from the crowd. The massage was really good. It was done in open air so you could feel the breeze and watch boats going past.

these are vendors on thier boats... You sit by the stairs and place your order. The food is freshly prepared on the mini boat itself!

We were eating by the river banks. Sitting by the stairs. It was so dangerous and trilling at the same time! A wrong move and we could all tumble down into the dirty water.

 

Pad Thai, to which at this point, I'm really sick of eating it already! or anything keow teow related. Cannot tahan! It was like an everyday meal thing. Like our staple food cause we couldn't find any other source or carbs. 

Squid is so YUMMY! I could eat this every day! which I did!

Found this interesting. Squid eggs. Tastes like... normal soggy eggs. Really soggy and .. a little jellyish. 

Fried banana flowers. Tasted like cucur udang.

boat vendors... So many different kind of yummy food! :) So happy ! See where people are sitting and eating.On a normal day it would be rather unhygienic . But who the hell cares.

more seafood! yay! We did not try this fish, which they said was delicious. It is everywhere actually.I''m not really a seafood person. I like everything peeled. I don't like fish. unless its fillets. I like prawns without the shell. I don't like crabs. Too much work for such little meat. I don't like getting my hands dirty and stinky. 

At night, we went  to have some fun. watch some 'shows'. Was grossed out with everything. We were cheated to watch a Ping POng show in the back alley. 

All the hotel tuktuk drivers were telling us how it was the only show in the whole Bangkok. Which was ridiculous, cause, its Bangkok, famous for ping pong shows! Ended up paying 600baht to watch 8 kind of 'acts'. Literally watching porn in front of us. 

Yes, COITUS was involved ... on stage... few meters in front of our eyes! O.o It was really yucks for me. I can't even watch porn what more, live porn. Makes me feel a little squishy in my tummy. 

I just saw a fresh beach boy sign. oh la la. Hahahaha. But i highly doubt they wanted us .. They wanted Honjo and Bernard more. The boys were quite pretty to be honest.

We got a sneak peak inside one of the shows and we saw boys with their banana hammocks grinding on a pole holding a little lamp. It was only a sneak peak. Which we all ran after that. Watching that would probably tarnish my impression on boys. once and for all. I'm innocent that way. 

BBQ octopus everywhere! With the mixture of their special Thai chilli sauce, It was like heaven! And it's only for less than 60baht!

you cant leave Thailand without eating Mango sticky rice!

Bangkok was all about shopping and eating. We visited markets. So many I couldn't recall where we went. The best would probably be the Chatuchak Weekend Market. It is a very popular shopping centre to Thais and has become a popular place to tourists and foreigners who stay in Bangkok, has over 200,000 visitors every day during the weekend!.We went there at 9am in the morning to avoid the crowd, but everything was still close . It wasn't until 11am that all the stores opened up for business. 

Almost everything can be found here at a bargaining price! Antique wood carving, clay handicrafts, local souvenirs from every parts of Thailand, Buddhist amulets, wooden furniture, hand made decorated flowers, plant, ceramic wares, Chinese wares, garden decorated plants, stones, trendy fashions, silk, hill-tribe outfits, fluffy dogs and more miscellaneous, etc. Since we were like the first customers, hence bargaining was even easier. The vendors will receive the money and it's like you sort off blessed their business for the rest of the day!

We din't really finish exploring the market. It was too crowded and due to the slight downpour of rain earlier, the place was getting hot, and humid and stinky.

Me eating beef noodles in Chaktuchak market. They have food stalls in the mrket itself.You can get pretty much every Thai street food there.

                                   

More shopping and haggling. 

The next morning, Shan and I went for a walk near the streets of our hotel and we discovered a lovely coffee place. It was small and cozy and super nice. I forgot the name of the cafe but it was really awesome. 

So, we were supposed to return on 5th . But unfortunately, when we arrive to the train station in Bangkok, we were told that the tickets back to Malaysia on the 5th was sold out. Which was really bad , since we booked our hotel for a way cheaper price in Agoda.com. We were staying in  a four star hotel, we had no more money left with us It was bad. 

So fortunately, there was a train to Hatyai. And so we managed to book a hotel in Tune's for only rm40 for the room! *.*  

Due to an unfortunate event in Mandarin Hotel, who charged me a whooping amount of rm130 for purposely staining their hotel towel (which I did , but those stains, I managed to wash off with water itself.!) I don't know how staffs from a four star hotel couldn't do it, when I could remove those stains myself. And for those who knows me, I'm hopeless when it comes to any household related work.. This seriously baffled me. And when I wrote an email to them, I did not even get a reply! I had an initial reply saying that they will 'investigate'  the matter. But after that, no more replies!. So yeah, because of this, I had very little amount of cash left on me. 

Xiao Shan left earlier as she had work the next day. So she took the flight home. Train ride from Bangkok to Hatyai was about 12hours.  Not bad, it was like sitting on a bumpy plane ride. I slept through the whole ordeal. They provided us with yummy food for free. Probably was included in the train fare.  I was really happy for that. 

We had to wait for quite a while before our train arrive. We were out for the whole day after checking out from our hotel at 10am. We did some shopping in platinum mall and then we went back to Siam Paragon to have our desserts and we bid farewell to Shan. We continued on shopping in Platinum mall until it closes at about 7pm.  Then we headed to the train station and ate cup noodles there and continued waiting until our train came at 11.30pm. Train got a little delayed. In the end, we were glad to be in the train. We were stinky, my face was super oily and I was dying to go to the toilet. 

Also, did I mention, I got my period during the 12 hours train ride. Thank God it there was only 4 hours to go before reaching our destination. I was not in a good condition. Really grumpy and hormones was running wild. I'm so glad that is over and done with!

                   

So here's our dessert in After You. Which was super delicious. I am not kidding. The toast is to die for! And the chocolate drink was so heavenly!  We took our number, sent Shan off , went back to the shop and was just one number away to be seated. Quite a long wait actually. 

           

Here is the 3 stinky poos in the train. 

This is what we got for breakfast. It was not bad! Fragrance rice , fishball soup and Chicken curry! Yums! 

If you were well aware, four separate bomb blasts hit Hat Yai district of Songkhla hurting at least 6 people. A fifth bomb discovered near the entrance to some flats inside Prince of Songkhla Hospital was fortunately, safely defused.

4 bombings took part around Hatyai, and we were exactly in close distance to all the bombed areas. We reached Hatyai at 1.30pm, exactly the same time the bombings started. Which we were really lucky. We ended up buying face masks and putting it on while watching tv in our rm40 hotel room.  Had a terrible breakout all over my face from eating all the oily street food. A mud mask is exactly what I need to suck all those dirt out. 

    

The next day, we dint really do anything much. We went for breakfast and had beef noodles. This was super yummy! You can see from here, the meat is slighly reddish, not overcook and it was retaining the taste of the heavenly soup. The beef balls had a rather interesting taste to it. A little different from the ones I eat here in Ipoh but equally yummy!

After breakfast, we went back to Watsons to get more mud masks. It was good, so had to get more! Some Thai Herbal masks, which was super cheap!

And lastly, we went back to the hotel. They had a great Thai massage service on top of the hotel. The Thai Odyssey massage place had no 'dirty' business going on. 

We went for one massage near Siam paragon which was so 'dirty' I had to go home and wash myself up , scrubbing every part of my body which the girl had molested. Yes, molested. I'm not the only one!

This massage place was so much better. It was hygienic, and smells fresh and had a calming sensation to it. It was so relaxing I slept for the whole session. Was just so great and so professional. definitely recommend it if you are in Hatyai! They have branches in Malaysia too!

Then, we took a bus ride back to Butterworth. And immediately reaching Butterworth bus station, I managed to get a bus straight to Ipoh. 

8 days of backpacking experience - except for the 4 starts hotel though ! 

I would definitely return back to Bangkok with more cash! And, smarter this time! We won't get cheated anymore!

Hello! my new makeup space. I have efficiently divided all my makeup products neatly. I did a little spring cleaning for all my make up items and threw away everything I haven't been liking. No point keeping products that will not aid in making me beautiful! I realized that I actually had more skin care products for my acne than make-up. I also have  perfumes that can last me for another few years. All thanks to 2 loving sisters who are constantly getting me make up products and perfume!