heya..

it's been raining and raining these few days.. the sheets of rain hv not stopped since i woke this morning.. ><". wellls. plans to go out cancelled due to this wet and sleepy weather. i'm starting work tmr..

the bangkok trip was lots of fun=). haha.. not going with a tour agency rocks cos it's so free and easy:)). but of cos you'll need people like my brother who's been there before and is streetwise and has a knack fr directions and maps. he just has this internal radar fr the right way. haha. and my sis loves reading maps. i don't. frankly. haha. but i realised i'm not such a direction-less person aft all((:. hohoh.

although bangkok's famous fr her traffic congestions, we didn't really see this (in)famous side of her during our 4D3N trip. the skytrain and mrt were the best form of transportation there.. comfortable and fast and of cos safe.. the mrt was less crowded and instead of ezlink cards, they hv these arcade like chips which you tap to get through the gates, then drop into slots at the gates when you get out. haha.. the air was extremely bad, in my opinion. haha.. it's was foulsmelling and smokeeyy. with all the exhaust fumes emitted by the vehicles, esp the motorbikes and tuktuks. didn't realise the bad air until we gamely sat on a tuktuk once to get to yaowaraj (chinatown). the tuktuk trip was rather memorable. it wasn't as thrilling as it seemed on Goong, when shin and his (ex)gf were trying to escape from the prying lenses of the reporters in bangkok. when the roads were a tad congested and the tuktuk had to stop from time to time for a while, we tried hard not to breathe. when the roads were finally cleared of hoardes of vehicles, and so the tuktuk raced on, we could not breathe. one word- scary. hahah. the speed was not a problem, but the way the tuktuk driver weaved in and out of some of the cars, stopping suddenly and stopping just an inch away from the vehicle in front... ... ... and we squeezed four people on the tuktuk when the seats were just enough for three. my mum sat on the "floor" which had a elevated part at the side of the tuktuk. and the tuktuk driver told us it was "buddha day" and yaowaraj was closed, and said that he wld bring us to a place with good seafood instead. my bro was sceptical cos he had been cheated by a tuktuk before, thereby the tuktuk driver drove he and his friends to some jewellery museum, ignoring their initial request and begged them to tk a walk round the museum so that he can earn some exta cash. ~_~". so we rejected the tuktuk driver's kind offer and insisted on gg to yaowaraj. the driver cunningly brought us to a quiet and dark street. aft asking arnd, we confirmed that yaowaraj was opened fr business and was a few streets away. and the taxi episode the following day. we hopped on one from the Grand Palace, and the driver took us for a nice long roundabout ride, so much that after the meter went up to 100+baht, we were still miles and miles away from our hotel. supposing our hotel was in the southeast direction, the driver took us up to the soutwest direction, and his excuse when my bro confronted him with the map, was that there was traffic jam at the other side and it was a oneway road.. lame crap. so we got him to drive us to the nearest skytrain station.

getting cheated instances aside, it was still a greeeat trip=). our hotel was a residence hotel so it was like a 3room apartment, with 2 toilets and 2 tvs! somerset lake point. it really felt like a home as there was a supermart nearby and we will mk a trip there before returning to the hotel each night.. mum fried noodles fr us on the last night, with their local brand noodles, some mushrooms and eggs and chilli padi..

not a lot of shopping was done cos a lot of bargaining had to be done.. got tired of seeing black faces as well.. hmmm.. food was fantastic tho!! chanced upon some nice restaurants during our shopping trips and sightseeing trips..breakfast was sumptuous affairs each morning as we had some complimentary breakfast vouchers.. our first dinner was settled at mount fuji restaurant, a jap one, thereby we spent 1288baht on a variety of stuff, completed with desserts. i love the unagi sushis that were wrapped in avocado slices=D. there was this ethnic thai restaurant where we had our lunch on the 2nd day and it was super cheap, amounting to S$3+ per person.. we had green curry, duck soup, rice, dessert (chendol!), padthai (a kind of fried thai noodle that looks more like beehoon), red curry, 2 drinks (ice plum tea). at the roadside stalls at yaowaraj, esp enjoyed the skewered meatballs and cheecheongfun-alike that had gu chai (jiu3 cai4) or meat fillings in them.. the birdnest was normal.. didnt really taste like birdnest tho.. on the 3rd day aft the floating market and when we got back to mainland, we tried to search fr a place to hv lunch aft passing by some roadside stalls that didn't look extremely hygenic and finally my mum's sharp eyes saw this western-like restaurant at the corner of the street.. the seafood in the fried rice and noodles were very fresh and the coffee and waffles at the 2nd floor of the restaurant were a great way to finish the meal..

went sightseeing on the 3rd day aft the floating market and lunch.. took boat rides along the sea.. visited quite a few temples, which had amazing infrastructure, and a church/cathedral which was under renovation.. walked quite a lot on foot as we followed the map to get from the boat piers to the temples.. as we walked, we passed by some more rural areas and peeped blatantly into the residences.. most did not have front doors ma.. it was interesting to walk along the rural areas rather than the modernised and industrialised city-side of BKK, which is not much difference from sg.. saw the more primitive kind of playgrounds as well.. around dusk, when we reached the boat pier to wait fr the boat that will bring us bck to mainland, we saw this small white dog with an extremely friendly+cheeky+adorable face. its small ears flopped at the sides of its small face as it jumped and frolicked on the grass.. then its owner came to claim it and brought it to her motorbike, where a man and another dog were waiting fr them.. this small white dog pawed at the bigger golden dog and snapped at its ankles playfully, like a spoilt child clamouring fr attention... it was soooooooo cuuuuuute=DD. the big dog climbed onto the motorbike and rested its paws expertly at the front of the bike, while the owners straddled across the bike, with the woman at the back holding the small white dog in her arms.. my bro took a photo of them but apparently it was not caught on film when he went to develop the photos cos his camera had run out of film... so saad. what a pity. my sis's dig cam had run out of battery as well..


WHEEEEE.

i've finally boarded an aeroplane. the taking off bit was not really scary and my ears didnt get too blocked.. the pre-taking off bit was exciting, when the plane collects speed and zooms along the lane and finally takes off.. lolll. the whizzzzzzing and whirrrrring of the motors=O. ^^. the clouds were beautifulllllllllll. it was really cotton wool!! i've seen cottonwoollike clouds finallllly! they've always been high up in the sky, unreachable and unseeable-up-close. but i've seen them upclose now!! HAHA. i know i sound like an ignorant fool, but who cares.

yc has tken an aeroplane.

woooooots.

the terrains, bird's eye views of sg and bkk were amusing. the legolike houses, toy cars, mini rivers and mini padi fields and grassylands.. loll.:). the terrains of both countries were really different. the flight back to sg, passed by all the familiar buildings before the plane landed bck on the lanes of changiairport.. even caught a glimpse of where was supposed to be tj. x). had a blocked nose on my way bck, so my ears ended up blocking like hell and throbbing like hell.. they didn't pop until a verrrrry long time ltr. =.=".

these few paras cant really sum up the 4D3N spent in BKK. but all the same. wooooooooooooots. i'm so glad i went on this trip with my family=DD.

above are some photos tken there at bkk=). sis's collection hv nt been passed to us yet. ;).