BANGKOK - THE FOOD

Ah... this shall be the last part of the Bangkok series. The Food! My taste buds have had such a wonderful treat! Let's have a look what was devoured.

I was really craving for durian and mango with sticky rice. So naturally we had this less than 2 hours after we touched down. YUMMY!!!!!! Look at the yummilicious durian. Isn't it sinful???

At the local coffee shop, we also ordered chicken rice (boneless and so so smooth chicken meat), satay, fried eggs with oyster, rice noodles soup.

At chatuchak weekend market, we had fried quail eggs, fragrant fish cakes, fried pineapple rice, interesting looking fried thai rice noodles and juicy chicken pieces in yam basket, fleshy coconut juice and miniature cute looking burgers.

In the Silom area, Alex brought us to this really nice cafe called Bug & Bee. Didn't know they are so famous until all the reviews from my web search of this cafe. This is a small sample what we ordered as I too busy digging in to take more pics. Hahaha..

Fish cakes with wasabi mayo

Chicken Salad

Hong Kong Fried Rice & Prawns with Crepe Noodles

Crispy Prawns

Chicken with mango

While waiting for our cabaret show to start at the Asia Hotel, of all things, we had mooncakes! hehe.. why not since it's not too long to go before Mooncake Festival. We had a durian flavoured and lotus seed mooncake. Can't say it's the best mooncakes I've had but still a good experience nonetheless, eating mooncake in the hotel bistro with full cutlery! How luxurious!

On the last day, after all $$$ has dried up, we ate at a fast food kinda place at MBK mall called Santa's. Very good value as all the meals are 39 to 49 bahts (approx NZ$2!). Here's one with fried chicken strips, eggs and fried rice. See what I mean?

So this concludes this series of my Bangkok trip:) Of course there are still loads of food which we tried over there but if I were to post all of them, I think Blogger will be overloaded! Hehehe. Look forward to more travels in the near future!!!

BANGKOK - THE PLACES

It was such a whirlwind 4 days, hopefully I could recall the places that we've been to. Here are some highlights:-

1. Boat trip around the Chao Phraya river

The 4 of us had the boat in the picture all to ourselves for 1 and half hours, 400 baht each. Basically it went along the river and we could stop at a few places if we wanted to, such as the crocodile farm. You can actually see how some of the locals live while travelling along the river, passing through the backs of people's homes. You along go pass a few temple along the way, the one which I really wanted to go to was Wat Arun. Somehow we must have missed that stop. The tour ended by the Grand Palace which was our next destination. Though on that day, it was only openning at 2pm and we were suppose to meet the others at 2.30pm. Since we have 2 hours originally planned for the Grand Palace, we opted for tours on tuk tuks around the different temples around that area.

Beware of the very cheap tuk tuk drivers hanging around there as they will take you to souvenir shops and tailors before actually taking you to your destination. Nice experience on the tuk tuks, I guess when you're on one, you just have to trust the driver to be careful of your safety! haha.. Anyway, the guy took us to a few shops and it was quite frustrating since you get wanna get to your destination straight away instead of all these unnecessary stops. They'd get petrol vouchers it seem, if they bring tourists to the shops. Anyway, we told the driver NO MORE SHOPS after the last one, so he brought us to the temple we wanted to go to. Guess what? When we came out, he was gone! Yes, no where to be seen and we haven't even paid him yet! He was supposed to bring us Siam Paragon to meet our friends! Probably made enough from our stops along the way. hahahaha... Here are some pics from a few temples which we went to:

2. The Malls

I am especially impressed with the interior design and the exterior landscaping of the malls. So beautiful!

3. Chatuchak Weekend Market

This place is amazing, so many things to buy, to see, to eat & to experience! You can get anything there, clothes, shoes, homeware, food, etc. My favourite part of the market has to be the pets sections, especially the puppy, kitten & rabbit section. I couldn't believe that so many adorable animals were to put out on display for shoppers to touch and play with. Unlike the ones here, there are no glass panels to separate you and the small animal. You can actually TOUCH them! If not for my eyes, I would have hugged all of them!

4. Calypso Cabaret Show

This show is at Asia Hotel. Really didn't expect such a stylish and elaborate show! 1000 baht well spent for the show (1 1/2 hours) which includes a drink as well. I think this is a must-see show when in Bangkok. I'm sure you will be as impressed as I was!

5. Massage

Of course must go for massage when in Bangkok. I went to Health Land Spa & Massage. The main entrance looks as if it a resort that you're arriving at, very luxurious. I had the aroma therapy massage (850 baht), 1 and a half hours ( I just realised a lot of activities are 1 and a half hours in BKK) and it was so relaxing with private room and shower. Total relaxation with soothing music and oil massage.

Since we're on the topic of relaxation, here's a pic of pool in our hotel, Indra Regent Hotel.

So there you go, the highlights of some of the places which I visited while in Bangkok. Trying to pack so many things into the short 4-5 days is so hard. Nevertheless, I had a wonderful trip and fully enjoyed myself, every minute of it :)

BANGKOK - THE PEOPLE

What a fantastic holiday! One minute chatting with friends over coffee of my desire to go away for a short break, the next thing I knew, I was giving out my passport name to book a holiday to Bangkok, Thailand. Thanks Ivy for organising the trip! You see, Nothing is Impossible!

Now, who went on the trip?

Charles, Anthony,Ivy

Peter, Me, Ivy, Anthony at Bangkok airport

There we met up with,

Rongo, Alex & Samuel

As you can see, it was a BIG gathering for all of us. I haven't travelled abroad with such a big group of friends before. How fun!

This is one of the very few pics of me without sunnies on. Why? My eyes (yes, notice the plural, BOTH eyes got eye infection!) started to swell on the way to the airport from Auckland! Hahaha... Great, what a nice way to start the holiday. Hehehe... I am determined not to let this eye infection business ruin my catch up time with great friends, my eating adventures and, shopping!

Just to let you see what I mean about my poor eyes, feast your eyes on this! As you can see the swelling is on the upper lid on the right eye and lower lid on the left. Believe me, this picture is already toned down for sensitive readers. Hahaha. Yikes!

Not to worry, just put on my stylish sunnies, problem solved!

Now, isn't this much better? hahaha... tricky bit is how to conceal this during night time??? Being in a shopping paradise has its advantages, just buy a lighter shade sunglass! As you shall see in the coming up posts!