best trip so far! day 4, 5, 6 and 7!
shopping in bangkok: priceless (ok la, actually a lot of money spent. heh)
-day 4-
oh, we flew to bangkok on air-asia. the plane had old leather seats. hmm, suffice to say that i was quite nonchalant about air-asia. nothing to gush about. no frills, lor.
we left phuket without one side of my diamond earrings. it was quite gek sim for me coz i didn't wear them throughout all the water activities, but once i put them on AFTER the activities, i lost one side. ONE SIDE ONLY!! i'd really rather lose both, so i don't have to see my remaining side and moan about the loss. :(
and my mom gave me those!! ultimate sian.
oh well, it was gone. we also left phuket without trying some dunkin donuts to bring up the plane coz i thought i'd be able to get them in bangkok. but well, in the end shopping came first, and there were a few instances where i was so high on purchasing everything in sight, i forgot to eat. and ended up eating at weird timings. haha!
we stayed at samran place, which was a really small hotel, but it was good enough, and cheap (USD50 for 3 nights, per pax) and clean! we dumped our stuff in the hotel, (i don't even think i changed) and left for chinatown.
we took separate cabs there and tried the 'follow that cab!!' but the traffic in bangkok made it impossible, and soon enough, we lost sight of the cab alvin, angeline and chuu ling was in, leaving me, han bin and adrean to traipse through the streets of chinatown to try and locate where the other cab dropped off the other three.
along the way, binbin kicked over a bucket of dirty water which splashed onto adrean... walked past a lot of goldsmiths... and walked past a gigantic chestnut (binbin refused to take a picture of it - it was bigger than my head. okok, bigger than ALVIN'S head, even.)!!
we found the rest soon enough, had lunch, then left chinatown coz all the shops were closing already. the thing we noted about bangkok was that most of the shops closed around 5pm. damn sian, i was supposed to find lots of bags and shoes there! anyways, we trooped down to khao san road next, the backpacker's haven.
when we arrived, it was still pretty early, so the roadside stalls were still setting up. i was gushing about the banana pancake i had in phuket to adrean, so when i saw a similar stall, i got adrean to try it. of course, it wasn't as good as the one in phuket but it was ok la. the skin was a lot more like roti prata.
the first thing i tried to buy was this pink tuna shirt which they had in my size. but the guy was selling it a little too expensive for me, and i wanted a few happy tree friends shirts as well, so i tried to bargain for a better price. fast forward a few minutes later, he pissed me off, so i was gonna walk away already, then he dropped his price to my price. but by then i wasn't gonna get anything from him already, so as i walked away he shouted, 'you want so cheap, don't come khao san!'
:(
even after we finished walking through khao san, when i walked past where his shop was, the shop wasn't there anymore... not even after i came back on the following day. oh well.
so after that i began a quest for the pink tuna shirt (in my size). i'd wanted to get that for xinwei because she's asked for it before. but my gosh, it was so elusive!! in the end i went back to khao san and settled with a brown one for myself. heh.
-day 5-
we woke up EARLY and made our way down to platinum fashion mall. I LOVE THAT PLACE. i love it so much, me and the girls spent about 4.5 hours just browsing through the shops in the basement, and half the first floor. it was nuts!! everything is wholesale and in most shops, when you get 3 items, it's 300 baht in total. SO CHEAP, MY GOODNESS.
the boys got bored and went straight to pantip plaza. hahahaha. poor adrean, kena dragged along with the 2 tech-geeks.
we tried going over to pratunam by the time we were done at platinum, but it was already closed by then (it was already evening, sigh). so binbin suggested this place called 'the night market at memorial bridge'.
we took separate cabs again, and alvin, adrean and i were in the first cab. we were supposed to dump everyone's shopping back at the hotel, before meeting at the night market. once at the hotel, as alvin ran upstairs to dump our belongings, i turned to the cabbie and said, 'er, uncle? next we go to memorial bridge? yar? u know, memorial bridge?'
he replied, 'oh, yes, i know where memorial bridge is! but do you want to go to the night market, or the second hand market?'
i was stunned. he spoke english so well, WITH AN AUSSIE ACCENT TO BOOT.
'uh, night market.'
'oh, ok! thank goodness i can speak english, otherwise other cabbies would've brought you to the second hand market! hohoho.'
and then he continued the entire conversation about singapore, the places to visit in thailand, lee kuan yew and lee hsien loong in queen's english.
geez.
but he was really helpful, coz he gave us the exact name of the night market and we sms-ed it to binbin and bunch so they wouldn't get lost.
anyway, the night market was huge, and as we kept walking, binbin's face became as dark as the night, so we girls were quite alarmed and decided to head back to the hotel asap.
after the first 2 days, my calves and the bottom of my soles started to cramp up, but hey, never underestimate the power of shopping. i just continued limping for the next 2 days of continuous shopping.
-day 6-
we took a tuk-tuk to chatuchak (the weekend market) and we got persuaded to allow the driver to drop us off at a gems factory - 'you stay 15 min, i get $10 discount on petrol! help me, please?'
so ok lor. i wanted to replace my lost diamond earrings anyway.
eventually i left the factory with a pair of zirconite studs set on white gold, and alvin was 1700 baht poorer. (the original price was 4800 baht)
XD
chatuchakkkkk!!! was very boring. we walked around and saw cute little puppies (which we could TOUCH!! but were not supposed to let them lick our hands/take pictures of) and pretty cats (but couldn't touch because they were in cages, not like the puppies that were placed in a pen). it was the pet section, and other than the usual birds, hamsters, cats, dogs, fishes, rabbits, they also had squirrels, monkeys, lizards, and snakes.
*shudder*
but the monkey was pretty cute. i kept staring at it and thinking 'monkey, gorilla, CHIMPANZEE!! muahahahaha.'
why yes, i am rather weird.
we left chatuchak for MBK during lunch time. we headed straight to MK Suki, which was a steamboat place, a recommendation by aileen. and she was right, the soup was GOOD! and it was healthy because they don't use MSG. well, i didn't taste it la. and it was cheap. and their rice is very nice. *slobber*
i'd actually not planned to stay at MBK for too long because everyone kept telling me not to shop there... but i thought it was ok leh. i kinda regret i didn't spend more time there actually. *pout* and i bought 2 pairs of Levi's there! and i am upset to know i've grown by one size. hmph.
we then went back to khao san after MBK started to close. there was this one shop where i had a lot of fun bargaining with the seller the first time round. she was a sport, and we were totally enjoying the bargaining game. so when we went back for a second time, she recognized us straight and waved. her friend, who was at the shop, also recognized us and straight away gave me a 20 baht discount. shiok la!!! the top was 250b --> 200b --> 180b --> 160b final price. heh. i was so stoked i bought 3 at a shot. *hangs head in shame*
i guess she won.
-day 7-
we were going to buy bras at la senza!! which was only available at central world plaza so we took the opportunity to hop on to bangkok's train ala singapore's mrt line.
their mrts are so new! and clean! and apparently full of the hip and young people of bangkok. heh.
we got off the wrong stop but eventually got to central world. i bought a lot of lingerie (U NEED TO BUY LINGERIE IN BANGKOK OTHERWISE NO POINT OK.) and the rest... walked around? coz the place is in the atas area of town, so they had all the boutiques. so after i got my la senza, we zipped back to platinum while alvin and binbin separated from us and went to MBK.
last minute shopping was extremely tiring. by the time we got back to the hotel, we were all exhausted.
we left for the airport and timing was really tight, so we checked in and wolfed down our fast-food/microwaved dinner and got on jetstar!
jetstar is clean, and i was SO GLAD because all their crew were singaporean. it was a nice feeling to know i was flying with people from my country... i just wanted to go home! i missed my mummy and daddy. :(
the plane ride back was very eventful, if you know what i mean (heh-heh), and the 2nd best part of the eventful thing was that i saw SO MANY STARS!! it was great to see clouds below you, and stars above you unhindered by anything. very, very pretty.
so there, came back to sg safe and sound. gimme a short while, before i am ready to leave the comfort of my bed at 430am in the morning to do crazy snorkelling/shopping again!
-day 4-
oh, we flew to bangkok on air-asia. the plane had old leather seats. hmm, suffice to say that i was quite nonchalant about air-asia. nothing to gush about. no frills, lor.
we left phuket without one side of my diamond earrings. it was quite gek sim for me coz i didn't wear them throughout all the water activities, but once i put them on AFTER the activities, i lost one side. ONE SIDE ONLY!! i'd really rather lose both, so i don't have to see my remaining side and moan about the loss. :(
and my mom gave me those!! ultimate sian.
oh well, it was gone. we also left phuket without trying some dunkin donuts to bring up the plane coz i thought i'd be able to get them in bangkok. but well, in the end shopping came first, and there were a few instances where i was so high on purchasing everything in sight, i forgot to eat. and ended up eating at weird timings. haha!
we stayed at samran place, which was a really small hotel, but it was good enough, and cheap (USD50 for 3 nights, per pax) and clean! we dumped our stuff in the hotel, (i don't even think i changed) and left for chinatown.
we took separate cabs there and tried the 'follow that cab!!' but the traffic in bangkok made it impossible, and soon enough, we lost sight of the cab alvin, angeline and chuu ling was in, leaving me, han bin and adrean to traipse through the streets of chinatown to try and locate where the other cab dropped off the other three.
along the way, binbin kicked over a bucket of dirty water which splashed onto adrean... walked past a lot of goldsmiths... and walked past a gigantic chestnut (binbin refused to take a picture of it - it was bigger than my head. okok, bigger than ALVIN'S head, even.)!!
we found the rest soon enough, had lunch, then left chinatown coz all the shops were closing already. the thing we noted about bangkok was that most of the shops closed around 5pm. damn sian, i was supposed to find lots of bags and shoes there! anyways, we trooped down to khao san road next, the backpacker's haven.
when we arrived, it was still pretty early, so the roadside stalls were still setting up. i was gushing about the banana pancake i had in phuket to adrean, so when i saw a similar stall, i got adrean to try it. of course, it wasn't as good as the one in phuket but it was ok la. the skin was a lot more like roti prata.
the first thing i tried to buy was this pink tuna shirt which they had in my size. but the guy was selling it a little too expensive for me, and i wanted a few happy tree friends shirts as well, so i tried to bargain for a better price. fast forward a few minutes later, he pissed me off, so i was gonna walk away already, then he dropped his price to my price. but by then i wasn't gonna get anything from him already, so as i walked away he shouted, 'you want so cheap, don't come khao san!'
:(
even after we finished walking through khao san, when i walked past where his shop was, the shop wasn't there anymore... not even after i came back on the following day. oh well.
so after that i began a quest for the pink tuna shirt (in my size). i'd wanted to get that for xinwei because she's asked for it before. but my gosh, it was so elusive!! in the end i went back to khao san and settled with a brown one for myself. heh.
-day 5-
we woke up EARLY and made our way down to platinum fashion mall. I LOVE THAT PLACE. i love it so much, me and the girls spent about 4.5 hours just browsing through the shops in the basement, and half the first floor. it was nuts!! everything is wholesale and in most shops, when you get 3 items, it's 300 baht in total. SO CHEAP, MY GOODNESS.
the boys got bored and went straight to pantip plaza. hahahaha. poor adrean, kena dragged along with the 2 tech-geeks.
we tried going over to pratunam by the time we were done at platinum, but it was already closed by then (it was already evening, sigh). so binbin suggested this place called 'the night market at memorial bridge'.
we took separate cabs again, and alvin, adrean and i were in the first cab. we were supposed to dump everyone's shopping back at the hotel, before meeting at the night market. once at the hotel, as alvin ran upstairs to dump our belongings, i turned to the cabbie and said, 'er, uncle? next we go to memorial bridge? yar? u know, memorial bridge?'
he replied, 'oh, yes, i know where memorial bridge is! but do you want to go to the night market, or the second hand market?'
i was stunned. he spoke english so well, WITH AN AUSSIE ACCENT TO BOOT.
'uh, night market.'
'oh, ok! thank goodness i can speak english, otherwise other cabbies would've brought you to the second hand market! hohoho.'
and then he continued the entire conversation about singapore, the places to visit in thailand, lee kuan yew and lee hsien loong in queen's english.
geez.
but he was really helpful, coz he gave us the exact name of the night market and we sms-ed it to binbin and bunch so they wouldn't get lost.
anyway, the night market was huge, and as we kept walking, binbin's face became as dark as the night, so we girls were quite alarmed and decided to head back to the hotel asap.
after the first 2 days, my calves and the bottom of my soles started to cramp up, but hey, never underestimate the power of shopping. i just continued limping for the next 2 days of continuous shopping.
-day 6-
we took a tuk-tuk to chatuchak (the weekend market) and we got persuaded to allow the driver to drop us off at a gems factory - 'you stay 15 min, i get $10 discount on petrol! help me, please?'
so ok lor. i wanted to replace my lost diamond earrings anyway.
eventually i left the factory with a pair of zirconite studs set on white gold, and alvin was 1700 baht poorer. (the original price was 4800 baht)
XD
chatuchakkkkk!!! was very boring. we walked around and saw cute little puppies (which we could TOUCH!! but were not supposed to let them lick our hands/take pictures of) and pretty cats (but couldn't touch because they were in cages, not like the puppies that were placed in a pen). it was the pet section, and other than the usual birds, hamsters, cats, dogs, fishes, rabbits, they also had squirrels, monkeys, lizards, and snakes.
*shudder*
but the monkey was pretty cute. i kept staring at it and thinking 'monkey, gorilla, CHIMPANZEE!! muahahahaha.'
why yes, i am rather weird.
we left chatuchak for MBK during lunch time. we headed straight to MK Suki, which was a steamboat place, a recommendation by aileen. and she was right, the soup was GOOD! and it was healthy because they don't use MSG. well, i didn't taste it la. and it was cheap. and their rice is very nice. *slobber*
i'd actually not planned to stay at MBK for too long because everyone kept telling me not to shop there... but i thought it was ok leh. i kinda regret i didn't spend more time there actually. *pout* and i bought 2 pairs of Levi's there! and i am upset to know i've grown by one size. hmph.
we then went back to khao san after MBK started to close. there was this one shop where i had a lot of fun bargaining with the seller the first time round. she was a sport, and we were totally enjoying the bargaining game. so when we went back for a second time, she recognized us straight and waved. her friend, who was at the shop, also recognized us and straight away gave me a 20 baht discount. shiok la!!! the top was 250b --> 200b --> 180b --> 160b final price. heh. i was so stoked i bought 3 at a shot. *hangs head in shame*
i guess she won.
-day 7-
we were going to buy bras at la senza!! which was only available at central world plaza so we took the opportunity to hop on to bangkok's train ala singapore's mrt line.
their mrts are so new! and clean! and apparently full of the hip and young people of bangkok. heh.
we got off the wrong stop but eventually got to central world. i bought a lot of lingerie (U NEED TO BUY LINGERIE IN BANGKOK OTHERWISE NO POINT OK.) and the rest... walked around? coz the place is in the atas area of town, so they had all the boutiques. so after i got my la senza, we zipped back to platinum while alvin and binbin separated from us and went to MBK.
last minute shopping was extremely tiring. by the time we got back to the hotel, we were all exhausted.
we left for the airport and timing was really tight, so we checked in and wolfed down our fast-food/microwaved dinner and got on jetstar!
jetstar is clean, and i was SO GLAD because all their crew were singaporean. it was a nice feeling to know i was flying with people from my country... i just wanted to go home! i missed my mummy and daddy. :(
the plane ride back was very eventful, if you know what i mean (heh-heh), and the 2nd best part of the eventful thing was that i saw SO MANY STARS!! it was great to see clouds below you, and stars above you unhindered by anything. very, very pretty.
so there, came back to sg safe and sound. gimme a short while, before i am ready to leave the comfort of my bed at 430am in the morning to do crazy snorkelling/shopping again!
posted by feline @ 10:41 PM
