BANGKOK!! 12TH-16TH DEC.

bangkok was veryy fun coz we shopped for 3 days straight, whough i wouldn't mind a lil more sight-seeing..

on the way into the plane!

ok, we took budget airline, but i didn't expect the plane to be so small and squeezy!! it was so uncomfortable!

we reached bangkok's international airport at around 8pm singapore time or 7pm thailand time.. we chartered a van to take us to our hotel..

our room!

i thought finding muslim food would be veryy difficult, but no it wasn't. we had our first dinner at bangkok at nang phaya restaurant. the food was NOTHING like what we have in singapre. TOTALLY different taste altogether. so it was quite refreshing. i really liked the food in bangkok.

yep, the food was good.

we saw an elephant on the streets! i felt so sorry for the poor creature since it's totally not the kind of environment an elephant should be in! apparently it's being led through town while its owner tries to get tourist to buy food prepare by him to feed the elephant. loll..

the first night we went to the platinum fashion mall, but it was already closed. closes at 9pm thai time.

2nd day! first breakfast at hotel. i had the pancakes set. LOVED the pancakes, they're so thick and soft!

then we're off to shopping! took the train to chatuchak market.

the train was clean. better than in malaysia.

at chatuchak weekend market...

there were HUNDREDS of shops there selling ALL kinds from clothes to food, furniture to souvenirs and there were even pet stores! the clothes shop had sooo many nice pieces and dresses. we shopped like crazy. dad gave us $100 each which is 2300 baht, to spend.

my arms were beginning to feel tired from carrying all those bags.

haggling!

after 4 hours, shopping at chatuchak finally ended.

but wait, the shopping itself wasn't over yet! next stop: the Platinum fashion mall. from its name, you can guess the mall's FULL of shops selling clothes, shoes, and accessories!!! there wer 3 sections of the mall and 6 levels! there was hardly any guy stuff. lol.

there i was. trying on a pair of jeans. they didn't have changing rooms. had to use this huge skirt-like thing. so embarrassing, but what the heck, i wanted those jeans.

then we had dinner after that at a different restaurant from yesterday's. i still rmb how tired and FAMISHED we were. once again, the food tasted very different, but yummy!

this is mango with sticky rice and coconut and cereal sprinkled all over. it's a very popular dessert in thailand. not surprising, coz it's yummy!

3rd day! we hired taxis to bring us around bangkok. i was surprised how clean the taxi was. so unlike m'sia. first destination was Gem Production Co. Ltd.

i think we spent like 2 hours there? omg all the jewelry! so prettyyyy! and cheap compared to singapore. and all the stuff are authentic and pure.. my whole faily (including my dad!) bught a birthstone ring each and my dad bought my mom another more ex ruby white gold ring and kak isyah bought herself another zircon ring.

kak nana's amethyst.

my blue topaz. my birthstone's diamond, but duh, it's too expensive. so i settled with blue topaz instead.

kak isyah's yellow citrine.

lin's ruby.

mom's aquamarine and dad's paridot.

after that the taxi driver brought us to a leather warehouse. there was sting ray, elephant and crocodile skin. ugh i hated the trip coz i felt so sorry for the animals. and there were even baby crocodile heads on wallets for sale!!! so evil right??

then we went back to chatuchak again! haha more shopping. had lunch there too.

all of us split up into groups (coz it's such a hassle having to wait for so many ppl when we wanna get from shop to shop fast!) and i was with kak nana and kak isyah. we already planned where to meet after 2.5 hrs, and three of us were first! we sat on some steps facing that ugly black canvas. i think ppl were staring at us, but we didn't care coz we had our backs to them and we were TIRED!

next stop! Ma Bu Kong SHOPPING mall! hahaha. the stuff were expensive except for the top floor, but at last we concluded that the platinum mall was much ore worth a trip.

a lil more shopping outside MBK.....

4th day! guess what? the night before, my dad and cik raihan went back to the hotel while we continued shopping at MBK.. so we gave all our chatuchak shopping to him to bring to hotel. guess what happened? he left kak isyah's and MY plastic bags at the tuk tuk!! the worst thing is, he said he saw the plastic bags! one of the bags was transparent and he said he taught it was KAIN BURUK! wthhhhh.... there goes kak isyah's 6 dresses and sandals and my 4 tops!!! kak isyah was soooo angry and sad she actually cried. i didn't know why i wasn't affected. i accepted it as takdir or fate..

so btw, next day, we went to pratunam market AND platinum fashion mall.. couldn't get anough of platinum, coz the stuff there are cheap and if you buy wholesale, you get CHEAPER! haha.

then seafood dinner at Halong Restaurant at First Hotel. damn cheap ah... and yum yum, delicious!

empty plates...

filled plates!

the service was great and we were the only ones there so all the waiters concentrated on our every need. haha cool eh.

dessert! cheesecake with ice cream. double yum!

last breakfast at hotel. every morning i had the same thing: pancakes set, but morning we were rushing to catch our morning plane, so i had to settle with scrambled eggs on toast.

the international airport. the name's too looong. Su..sth. can't rmb...

Things i noticed different about bangkok:

1. it's so CLEAN!!! sseriously, the sidewalk and pathways and road are litter-free! and the best part is, i don't see a SINGLE rubbish bin anywhere. there weren't bins dotting the town like singapore. but there weren't piles of rubbish like the ones you see in malaysia! either thai ppl do not liiter, or they have a very good garbage collecting system.

2. 90% of the cars on the roads looked new, almost like s'pore.

3. there were taxis everywhere (mostly pink ones!). and the taxis were new! unlike in m'sia where the taxis are so old and ugly. and i oso noticed most of the taxis were empty. not many tourists yet i guess. and the fare is also cheap. a whole day of taxi-ing only costs about 100 baht which is abt $5.

4. the ppl there are SOO POLITE and PATIENT! serrriously! when back to singapore at changi airport, i felt quite embarrassed at some arrogant singaporeans i encountered.

5. tais are small-built and skinny.

6. the air was quite polluted, my eyes hurt.

well, that's it. i had an enjoyable time. told you there was so much shopping.