Bangkok trip 22nd Jun 10 (Day 2)
Woke up 8am SG time… had Amercian breakfast provided by the hotel… omg the chicken sausages and omelette was yummy! SY and CZ came down later then 4 of us, while DY, GT and PG went back to their rm to shower b4 we all set off to Chao Phraya River. Anyway, we had to ask help from the receptionist since we dunno which exact stop to alight at the river, and the helpful lady helped talked to the cab driver for us… price and direction. 6 of us squeezed in 1 pink cab lor… super squeezy sia~ SY had to sit on CZ’s laps. *And we were joking if PH came, she’d hav to sit on the top of the cab liao.* Reached one of the stops like 15mins later… THB 91.
Each of us paid THB 200 for the half hr boat ride… er in which we all reckon the pricing could hav gone even lower since the person somehw readily agreed to cut the price. I tell u the boat was definitely speeding some part of the way lor~ the water was splashing all over sia LOL. Gt to see some Thai ppl in who living in those stilt houses on the river, an auntie selling stuff to us on her boat, and even dogs swimming in the river haha! There’s a pt whereby I tot the boat’s gonna crack into half even lol! Others seem to find the ride boring, but I liked it somehw. It’s like getting to know BKK more than juz those shopping places we see. 
Gt up at some stop and we even hav to pay for “alighting service fee”… THB 20 per boat lol. Walked along and we saw many地摊. SY, PG and I bought tidbits… I bought 1 banana crackers and another tidbit for THB 40 nia eh… cheap. The weather was terribly hot. We literally strolled the whole stretch of street for about 30mins ba… looking at those地摊and making one big round about the Grand Palace… which was supposedly planned in our initerary for the day. Why so? Cos there were diff entrances for locals and tourists… being tourists, we had to go thru from the front big entrance which would need foreigners to pay fees~ It’s funny cos as there’s a certain dress code for ppl into the temple, I was clad in jeans, tees and cropped top so was looking kinda smart casual… and this policeman who was in charge of reminding tourists about dress code, was like pointing to my hands, and then to my jeans, and he gave a “thumbs up” sign haha! *I tot he was referring to the fact tat it’s gd for me to hav hairy arms LOL.* Others wore like shorts, so they had to rent attires b4 they can go in. And since it was lunch time for the monks, we were told to come back in an hr.
Well, we tot the weather was rather hot, and we din hav anywhr nearby there tat we wanted to shop ard, so we hopped onto a cab and headed to “Chinatown” (Yaowarat Road) for lunch le. *Haiz… walked one big round under the burning sun but still din go into the Grand Palace in the end~* CZ recommended南星酒家for their famous shark’s fin and bird best soups. So glad the place’s air-conditioned cos it’s kinda hard to find air-conditioned places in BKK except for hotel and shopping malls. The free flow of chrysanthemum tea was wonderful… tasty and I had like 6-7 glasses? Haha. The waitresses knew hw to speak mandarin too which was kinda rare u find Thai ppl knowing hw to speak mandarin. *I guess maybe cos tat’s Chinatown?* I had the红(?)尾勾翅 for THB 300… which was a bit salty for me… still gd overall. SY and CZ shared their 1st grade bird nest lor… omg shiok~ I had a mouthful and dang it tasted heavenly haha! *CZ’s craving to go back and eat somemore lol.*
Walked further down and we knew we’re in Chinatown cos we saw signboards written with big chi words everywhere haha. We passed thru many small alleys kinda aimlessly… congested traffic sia. Bought some souvenirs and guess wat? I think it’s nt easy to杀价over there too.
Decided to go to Khao San road for their night market but we asked ard and it seems no one knew whr Khao San is (or was it due to our wrong pronounciation?) and lucky in the end, someone directed us to take bus no.53 there. Din noe exactly whr to queue for the bus so we followed the crowd standing along a pt of the rd haha. Soon the bus came and we hav to quicky hop onto it… cos it seems the bus doesn’t really stop fully for passengers to go onboard. It was non-air conditioned, and the min we hop on, the bus ticketing officer lady was yelling at us somehw… cos we were like standing up and dunno whr to pay the fares. It was until I sat in front of her, then I gave her THB 7 and she slipped the coins into a bamboo-like case, and slipped a piece of small, squarish ticket with many numbers on it, onto my hand. Began to twirl in my mind when the bus changed direction… gt a bit giddy cos it was too warm I think. Still, it was quite an experience to see BKK streets from on a bus haha. *The bus uncle was kinda smiley… hehe.*
Reached Khao San rd in like 15mins… and we gt to alight fast enough cos again, the bus doesn’t stop juz to let us alight haha… it’s still moving slowly as we go down the steps. As it’s a night market, and we’re like 3hrs earlier than 7pm, we went to a nearby “Just Coffee” café to rest our legs and had some drinks. *Am like drinking throughout my journey in BKK lol~* I tried the strawberry soda… juz gd enough for me to quench my thirst. After tat, we walked ard the street markets, and SY and I gt skirts for ourselves at THB 180 each… already cut the opening price by 30% lol.
SY bought and we tried the mango sticky rice on the way… oh the smell of mango so gd! Then, we cabbed down to Mah Boon Kong Mall since we tot there was nth much to shop at Khao San le… 10mins drive and it costed us ard THB 90.
Had dinner at MBK’s food court… din noe wat to eat cos I was kinda full but then I tot of some pork meat YL recommended as a must eat in BKK and juz nice I saw a plate of猪腿饭 at a table somewhr, so I went to order the same thing (THB 40). It was very nice! We had coconut ice-cream too (thks to ZZ’s recommendation)… with 3 toppings and it was THB 25.
Soon, we split up into 2 grps to shop again. CZ, SY and I walked together. CZ gt himself a new trolley bag while I bought a “shoe shape bag pack” for myself at THB 190. *Shopping with diff ppl can be difficult at times… u really gt to share the same “shopping habits” to enjoy shopping loads haha.*
Soon, it was night. And we din noe it was pouring heavily when we were about to leave MBK! Shocked to see hw heavy it was cos the roads were all flooded with water. We joined the long taxi queue cos it was almost impossible to even hail a taxi by the road, but we realize the queue wasn’t moving at all cos no cabs came. In the end, the guys decided to go and take the MRT over there since it’s oni 2 stops to our destination station, Chit Long. We crossed the overhead bridge, reached the control station and queued up to but the fare tickets (THB 20). *It’s those ticket SG used in the past lor… nowadays we’re all “ez-linked”.* Nw for the 1st ever time in my life… one uncle tried to give up his seat to me… cos I think he saw me carrying a big plastic bag. *LOL~ am I tat old!? And SY joked tat cos I was pretty so he gave up his seat haha.* It’s like all closed up in their MRT train… we couldn’t see thru the windows at all. But I tot it was more spacious in their train somehw.
Cabbed back from Chit Long area since the train doesn’t reach our hotel area directly. *GT insisted no “tuk-tuks” haha.* We din argue about the price of THB 100 since it’s a rainy day and we were stranded there for like 20mins no cab till one finally came. And whoa when we saw “7-11” store sign somewhr, we were so happy and tot we’d reached near our hotel… and oni to realize we alighted at the wrong “7-11”! Gosh… it was flooded almost on many stretches of the road. We had to walked thru waters, and asked ard for directions. Thai ppl were willing to help, but few knew the way to our hotel haha. *We made one big round walking back sia~* My stupid flip-flops kept on dropping out while walking in the flood… and at one pt of time I even took it out and walked barefooted haha. *Held on to SY while I walked for fear of falling… and CZ helped took my bag of stuff.* And man u can literally see water “bubbling” out from the holes in those flr tiles on the road… oh no. It’s kinda an experience too la… to feel like we’re by the “seaside” in BKK haha… cos when a car drove past, it sweeps the “current” towards us passer-bys while we walked along the pavements LOL. *Oh someone driving a bike slided and fell down right infront of me while I was crossing the road!* Finally, we reached the hotel at Thailand time 11+pm.
*So, a lesson learnt: Bring umbrella, dun wear flip-flops and long pants/jeans in BKK in case it rains and floods!* 
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