It was my first trip together with my best friend’s family to Bangkok and also my very first to this capital city. Well I would said it’s pretty nervous for me as I’m kind of worried of flying after reading and watching the news about the tsunami happened in India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Phuket. However I was very ecstatic when we finally touch down in Bangkok International Airport.
My friend did told me about the air in Thailand is actually polluted and yes it is, well it’s still breathable air but you can smell something in the air like it has gone bad. When arrival, it was already 12.45am Bangkok time. Streets of this fascinating city is actually pretty chaotic. Taxis are everywhere, however what interest me was this three wheel open air taxi called “Tuk Tuk”, oh these drivers are always aggressive with their prices and not forgetting their driving too.
I was the first amount the family group to be awaken the next morning, couldn’t wait for my adventure to start off I guess. Sooner as you know, we had already finished our delightful breakfast. As we were walking to the main entrance, our guild is already waiting by the van. The guild greeted us with her cheerful “sawatdee krup” which mean good morning, good evening, good afternoon, good night, hello or good-bye. Yes, at last my adventure begins!
Our first stop was the sun flower farm up on the mountain top, the ride was about one and a half hour long. We were told by our guide, there are many other farms but the one we are going has bigger and fresher flowers and yes I do believe what she told us. They were much bigger and brighter then any other sun flowers from across the farm, however it is not just sun flowers that they have but they too do own an elephant for tourists to have a few pictures with. It is rather a small elephant but attractive enough to bring in more business.
We head on to our next destination, it’s a vain yard up on the mountain too. The weather up there was much cleaner then in the city and cooler too, I had tasted some grapes which are meant to be sampled for guests, they were as sweet as honey fresh from the plant. The scenery was breathe taking, the green from the fragile jungle just helps to relax your eyes and our everyday busy life. Soon it’s time for our next adventure again.
Hitting the road again with a refreshing mind, it’s about lunch time everyone is hungry already and wanting to taste the famous “Tom Yam” soup, the delicacy of Thailand favourite dish. It’s an almost must have dish in every home of Thailand. We had our lunch at an near by beach and an cow farm, an unusual experience but something new that we don’t get to have your meals with the cows everyday. Yes the food is finally here and of cause the “Tom Yam” we’ve being talking about is on our table too. Just a little sip I had tried, oh man, it;s just burn my tongue for awhile. At first the soup has a taste of sour and the sizzling spicy came in, after awhile the soup tend to be delicious. It was boiled with numbers of spices and ingredients, so that’s where most of the fragrance of the soup came from.
Ah yes, we are heading off again. Yes! Jumping with joy when I heard we are going to “Wat Maha That” a ruin city, if i did remember correctly, this city was build actually in the12th century 1372. I was overwhelmed once I stepped inside this city, somehow it just came alive, I could actually feel the peace in my heart and also at the same time the contrast of its truth past too had interest me. There are lots of statures of Buddha with their heads missing, we were told by our guide, during the old days the head of the Buddha is worth lots of money so people would try to steal the head by cutting the head off to sell to any foreign countries.
It was about 7.30 am the next morning, we had to get up early to meet our guide. That morning we were going to “Damnoensaduak” the floating market. Ah yes another picture taking time, we actually took about 1 hour plus to reach there. Before we would embark ourselves at the floating market, we drop by a real Thai family. The visit basically is to educate us what is their life style is like, they live and sleep altogether is a hut, it was rather dark however they need not any fan at all as the habitat is cooling enough, the cooking area is within their living space too. I didn’t see any electrical appliance anywhere, they do really living a simple lives. But where would their income come from, they make couple of useful things out of coconuts to sell them, one of their products was coconut sugar for cooking, the rest would be coconut oil for the skin to be apply on, hats, plates, forks and spoons, etc, etc.
At last we’ve reach the floating market, our guide didn’t had her breakfast and so she will head off first to had her bite, my friend and I decided to follow her because we too wanted to try some local dishes around the market. We soon sat down by the edge of the river to have some sweet and spicy noodles called “Pad Tai”. It’s some fried noodle made out of rice, topped with peanuts and dried chilli, this dish will actually sweeten your heart. Once taken, you’ll get hook by it so beware. Again around me were boats in two sizes, the small ones which is meant for selling of their foods and fruits own by the Thai's, the other is called the long boat which is for the tourist or some form of transport to go around the river bank. There were some other stalls around too that sells cloths and also souvenirs too and do remember ask for discount when you shop.
So that is the end of our trip for now, but wait we still need to go down to China Town to get some herbal spices. When we stop by at some shop to pick up what we wanted, I look around on the street of China Town in Bangkok, man! The streets are like an ants nest, always busy and moving without their eyes. The Traffic is like there is no law at all, however it would be dangerous for any tourist like me who didn’t know how their system works. The toilets there are not easy to find either, the only washroom to go to is either the near by hotel or restaurant and must remember to ask for “Hong Nam” which means toilet, if not they might not be able to understand what you are trying to tell them.
The next dawn has started, today we’ll be shopping around the city. “Mah Bon Kong” is one of those well known mall that we would be going, it has almost everything in there from brand of bags to contemporary cloths and food. Unfortunate most of any recognised products like Adidas, Nike, Puma, Jeep, Timberland etc, etc are always still expensive, the only item would be always having offers will be Giordano. Being browsing the mall for about three hours, we’ve decided to head to another shopping place which the Thai’s called it the “Weekend market”. Before our shopping craze start again, we needed to replenish what we’ve burn on all the walking. Buying food at their food court was pretty unusual for us Singaporean, in order to buy whatever we wanted to eat, first we’ll need to purchase coupons for the food we want.
Now our stomach had being filled, time to head towards the Weekend market. getting there would be another interesting experience for us, we’ll need to take the sky train to our destination. The train happened to have a larger space then our local MRT train and also have more and rear bars then our trains. I would hope the Singapore MRT train will use their idea as I feel it is much safer for everyone to hold on to something when on the move. The tickets they are using are the ones we had once used. On arriving at the market, we had came across huge banners and poster of Thailand’s King. Later I’ve learnt it was the birthday of His Majesty.
Yes finally we’ve come to the very busy weekend market and yes it’s very crowded, we couldn’t even walk pass one stall yet, but beware of your belongings when you are there to shop, we happened to come across a pick pocket caught by the police. Thank god he was nap earlier if not who knows, any of our valuables may be stolen.
After a day of shopping and two days of adventure around this such lively capital with a culture so vibrant that I would like to learn more about them. Bangkok is a beautiful capital with a mixture of aromas, sights and of cause visual delights. A city of infinite layers, get beneath one and you'll reveal another however that could take years to be discover.
