Bangkok Day V - Wat Pho...the learning center. Shopping again!

We overheard our landlady in Urban House recommending Wat Pho to one of her occupant, so we decided to visit the temple. We have no high expectation but our trip there turned out to be marvelous. We spent almost 2 hours in the temple complex.

Early morning, we walked to Wat Pho from our hostel...passing the Amulet Market and the Royal Palace. It wasn't that far but neither near especially on a hot sunny day...along the way, we stopped by a stall selling fried fritters for breakfast...

freshly fried...very 热气...but yummy!

This temple complex was seen on TV for numerous time....finally into our first temple within the complex, it was the huge reclining Buddha temple featured in ... show. The Buddha was in fact way too huge. It spread across meters and with the building pillars around, we just couldn't take a complete photo of it other than from the typical ivory decorated feet.

one of the many entrances to the temple complex

Buddha between the giant pillars

Buddha on his high rise pillow

English man guarding the gateway for monks?

few of those golden Buddha statues in the complex

one of the many stupas in the temple complex

Besides the astonishing Buddha, the rhythmic sound of the coins dropping into the dozens of metal pot behind the Buddha was surprisingly calming. I was so excited to join in the crowd, quickly donated a note and got an accurately weighted bowl of coins. I started my walk along the metal pots....dropping my coins into each of the bowl, adding to the rhythm, ward off the bad spirit as according to the believe and forgotten about photographing...luckily Phaik and Stella followed later...so manage to get me in action... :D

The Wat Pho temple complex was really a must visit here in Bangkok. It was a very popular learning center here. There were classes running at all corner...school children of all age in their beautiful uniforms. There were also traditional dancing classes going on with parents companies. There was also a highly recommended massage center in it but for our still tight budget, we decided to skip it till the last day....only if we still have money to spare...that's the problem when traveling without doing budgeting :S

junior traditional dance class...thanks teacher!

girls after teacher...great potential!

senior class...they are really good dancers!

After the Wat Pho, we travel to the Siam Paragon via Express Boat to Saphan Takhsin, then BTS to Saladeang and a short walk to Siam Station where we took the MRT to the Siam Center Station. From the station, we walked a long way to the Erawan Shrine. This place house one of the famous Four Faced Buddha in Thailand. I have heard a lot about this Buddha from my friends and family members. Many described that this place has been so happening for it was very 灵and very convenient and reachable by MRT and situated in the Siam Center area, right in front of malls....but never mentioned to us which station was that. So we just tried our luck and stopped at Siam Center...Anyway, it was a great walk around the busiest walkway in Bangkok, impressed by those high scrappers and giant malls.

Erawan Shrine from the walkway on top...really crowded even at 12 noon

me at the Four Faced Buddha

dance...performed as a way to thank God

there were many stalls selling these flowers...offerings to Lord Buddha

congested traffic of Bangkok between sky scrappers of Bangkok

Then we went back to the Siam Paragon to visit the Thai Health and Beauty Show 2009....This trade fair wasn't as grand as I thought it would be. Anyway manage to buy good product at a very cheap price...a big tube of hand cream at 100Baht and a mango body scrub at 200 Baht...satisfying round!

After few days of tiring walk around, we finally decided to stop for a coffee at Starbuck...yes...got my venti size of ice blended Frappucino...finally my crave for coffee was answered...we sat there for almost 2 hours...自拍 and reviewing our travel experiences at most of the time...had a great time there.

my frappucino...so satisfying

We made a move to Platinum Complex...another long way on our feet...passing by the CentralWorld...another giant complex which has nothing fit for us :S. After 15 minutes walk, we finally arrived at the Platinum Complex. This complex's layout was much similar to Sungai Wan...many 6"x6" shops, very in trend stuff but relatively very cheap. I got my best bargain here. Purchase a bag at 300Baht... :D

We got back to our hotel after much difficulty getting a taxi...we stopped about 5 to 6 taxis which only the last willing to take us on the meter. All the previous were sharks, pushing for 300 to 500 Bath when the meter only took us 100...@#$%!!!

At night, we had our best dinner in Khao Shan area...we were eating in a local only stall along Rambutti Road. For main course, we got an extreme smooth home made chicken cake with porridge top with an egg and a seafood noodle...dessert, we have pumpkin egg pudding and mango sticky rice....yummy!

porridge with chicken cake

seafood noodle

huge portion of desserts...sweet :D

Slept at 11pm...Recharge for hectic schedule in Ayuttaya the following day.

This was a relaxing yet satisfying day! We would have spend more time in Platinum if we knew how it was...anyway just nice when we were very dry.

Bangkok Day IV - Yes! Shopping in Chatuchak! In downtown Chinatown.

This was a much relaxing day. We have no time to beat.

We started our day at about 8am. We got on the no.53 public bus to the market. We kept looking at the conductor to inform us when we were to get down at Chatuchak Market...It was really cheap compared to getting there by a taxi.

Arriving at the Chatuchak Market, our first stop was a local restaurant. We were so hungry...we ordered a Thai sausage and a shrimp salad with rice noodles...those were good. The salad was so appetizing :P

locals would normally ordered few dishes and take them with either rice noodle or sticky rice

We started to shop around 9.30am...starting from section 8. Lots of local designers items sold here. I bought 20keychains, 1 t-shirt, 1 mirror, 1 watch and 1 packet of dried jackfruit. Shopping in Chatuchak was so satisfying...we got to bargain and got all our things at a very reasonable price :D

one of the many street

We stopped for lunch in a stall frequent by locals...Section26, Address 316, Soi 1. The stall was very crowded. We were lucky to be seated on a sewing machine turned table, a 4" x 1.5"...all seated on the same side as we were at the walkway. Anyway we have an excellent meal there...the best we have got in Bangkok. We ordered a Thai sausage, Thai style fried chicken, mango papaya salad and Vietnamese noodle soup with 2 plates of rice noodles.

best meal in Bangkok...on a 4"x1.5" sewing machine top

really crowded...we discovered that Thais can really eat a lot

We continued to shop till close to 3pm...really tired and hot. Decided to stop for a coffee break in a local cafe. Sadly there was no table available in the a/c section. So we dropped the idea, quickly head to the dried food corner to get more things, then head for our coffee break.

We took a taxi to the Yaowarat Road or the local Chinatown. Our first thought in Chinatown...wah wah wah...they seemed to be more Chinese than us...look at those sign along the road....reminded me of Hong Kong. We walked along the road in search of cafe and fast food outlet but could not find any. So we just dropped by a 7-eleven and purchase a cold drink and enjoyed a little while of a/c.

the traffic in Chinatown...really congested

We walked around Chinatown and visited a local Chinese temple which I could not recall its' name and have not taken any photographs there. I remembered the temple were similar to ours in many ways...the deities worshipped, the offerings and etc. The noteable different was the architecture. Most of the chinese temples I have seen and visited have a main 2 panel wooden door, each with a 门神 but here there was no wooden door. Normally there were many pillars in chinese temple but there wasn't many here. The main altar seem to be very spacious and no pillars in between.

We have another stopped at a local chinese restaurant for a bowl of birds' nest each...very cheap...RM10 per bowl. We walked along few streets and allys in search of my coins collection but gave up after an hour. We left Chinatown at about 6.30pm.

We went back to our hotel...arriving at hotel, it just came to my mind that we might be able to catch the sun set by the river bank. So we walked to the bank...we were in time, however the view wasn't as good as we imagined it to be. It would be superb if we were near to the famous Wat Arun or the sun set temple. Anyway this was another sunset watching experience for me.

King Rama IV bridge

SS... overlooking the bridge...

sunset from Phra Artit Pier

Sunset along Chao Phraya River

Went back to our room to refreshen ourselves. Then visited Khao San Road for dinner. We finally ended up taking McDonald...our first fast food meal there. We all agreed that the Samurai Pork burger tasted the best and regreted sizing up our fries and drinks...it was too much for us :S...greedy us!

Back in our room at about 10 pm after walking around Khao San road and Rambuttri Road. This was a less tiring day...no time to beat and no bus to catch...it was all about shopping.

a petrol station turned into restaurant near Khao Shan road

Bangkok Day III - Tiger Temple and Floating Market

Another early day in Bangkok. We woke up at 5.30am as we were expecting our tour agent to pick us up at 6.20am. After refreshing we went down to the living room. We were very pleased to be greeted by our landlady. She bought us a croissant and a packet of milk each. We did not expect this as it was stated that breakfast will be serve from 7am onwards and in fact we have already packed some sandwich from the 7-eleven the night before. I was really glad to be here in Urban House even only for 2 nights and having all the troubles moving over to New Siam II later.

Our tour agent came and picked us at about 6.30am...we got to experience what Bangkok traffic was really like. Besides the jam, we were kept waiting for a while for some others to join in the tour. Finally the van was filled and we left Khao San area for our first destination the Floating Market Dumnoen Saduak.

The journey was about one and a half hours long. Our guide Noi explained our itinerary to us. Besides, she explained to us on the dressing needed to visit the Tiger Temple. We were expected to wear knee length pants, no sleeveless top allowed and no red, orange or pink clothing allowed in. She suggested that we buy our clothing at floating market or at River Kwai...t-shirt for only 99Baht and pants at 150Baht. After the briefing, we got a power nap...so nice!

We were really excited to be at the floating market. First we were transported on motor powered boat from the terminal to the market. It was a cooling ride with soft breeze. We passed by many local houses...each have a small pier in front of their house. Then arriving at the Dumnoen Saduak Floating Market, we were transferred into man powered boat.

Stella and I on the front seat

This monkey look so 'tao' but actually very pityful...being chained there

Peaceful 'Klong'

This market was the central business place of the local. All necessities and daily groceries can be purchased here. Fruits, meat, cooked meal, u name it, they have it. This was indeed a different experience...different from what I have seen in Vietnam. Interestingly most of the boat rowers were females and users or purchasers like us could be very fast at bargaining and buying. We didn't want to make everyone on the boat to wait long for us. Each boat could not stop too long on at one shop or else all the boats would get jammed up...the 'klong' could only fit 3 boats side by side at one time....however at times the 4th boat manage to squeeze in between pushing others away.

all sorts of things available here

our boat seemed to be on top of another

busy market

A:22...d boat that we ride

We did not buy much while in the boat. I bought only a spring roll...Phaik and Stella have Bangkok belly.. in need of toilet badly.I continued to shop for my pants when we were back on the ground...bought an ugly pants for 150Baht, fresh fruits and coconut pancakes. Wished I could have a longer time here to taste their noodle soup.

while waiting for the aunty to pack our pancakes

We continued our tour to the Snake Farm. The show was ok but we were not in interest with snake show...only if I knew this was the outcome, I would surely save up my 200Baht.

Mr Snake...he can catch 3 snakes at one time...2 on his hands and another using his mouth

Then another long journey to our dining place. We stopped by a restaurant and served with simple Thai meal...some paprik like chicken, fried mixed vegetable, omelet with white rice and rambutan for dessert. 3 of us enjoyed the meal but most foreigners just could not enjoy the meal...

We continued our journey to Kanchanaburi...to the River Kwai. We were there to see the rail bridge or the Death Railway. The bridge was built during the WWII to connect to Burma. This was a site that marks the brutality of Japanese invasion back then...hundreds of young men gave their life to this rail. There were also a musuem sits next to the bridge but with our short stop there, we could not make it to find out more about the history of this deadful place.

Stella, Phaik and me on the Death Railway...not that errie here...

River Kwai Bridge...beginning of the Deat Railway to Burma

another shot on the bridge

there goes the train

Our next stop was the Tiger temple. We were on the van for another half hour before arriving at the Tiger Temple...tired of traveling from one place to another. We had about an hour within the Tiger Temple Complex.

The Tiger Temple Complex or the Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yanasampanno Forest Monasterywas not what I imagined of...not physically a temple, not wat...just a few monks around. It was a huge secondary forest...lots of cows, bulls and goats running wild. As for the tigers, they were all chained up...unlike those in zoo, they still got to roam around. These tiger were taken care by the monks and volunteers. I was glad to be able to get so near with them...to touch and pet them. I love the cubs...they were as tame as a cat can be. This was the best of our tour today.

3 of these tigers were playing when I approached

he was so quiet

didn't realize that he wasn't chained up...not sure if he was taking a nap...perhaps I pet him to sleep

it's only a cub...no harm kissing

see my cat?

3 of us...couldn't wait to take this photo with him

this was the largest tiger aound...4 yrs old

We left the temple at about 4pm and headed back to Bangkok. We arrived Bangkok or specifically the Khao San area at about 7pm, thanks to the Bangkok traffic :S. Upon arriving at Khao Shan, we droppedby at the AirAsia office to confirm our flight. Glad to confirm that our flight has been cancelled and we were scheduled into the next flight of the day...giving us another morning in Bangkok.

Then...the worse part of the day...we have been walking from one pier to another to board the Express boat to Saphan Takshin but to later learn that the last boat was at 8pm...very frust...tired and hungry. Finally, we just catch a taxi back to Urban House and to our surprise, it wasn't expensive at all.

Grab our bags and thanked the landlady, we left Urban House for New Siam II. Checked into our room...202. After a quick shower, we went to a stall nearby for dinner. I enjoyed my fried rice. :P On bed at about 11pm...

This was one of the most exciting day so far in Bangkok. I loved my first encounter with the tigers...didn't mind paying 500baht on admission...hope that with this, the tiger will soon get a better place to roam around. For more info of the temple, please visit http://www.tigertemple.org/Eng/index.php

he is smiling to me :D