Saturday, July 21, 2007

evidently not best pleased about having our photos taken.. this is muangphol mansion, the guesthouse we stayed in. of course there were beds, but this was how cramped the bathroom was; if you nodded off while on the toilet seat, you'd probably lose your front teeth off the basin. once again, BUDGET.

dinner at this restaurant on the first night, its name i forgot. it was deja vu for me though, because my parents and i came here to eat once, when we were in bangkok in 1998. food had to be good, since it lasted 9 years in the same place.

on the skytrain, heading toward mo chit station, more specifically chatuchak market. characteristically, it was loaded with counterfeit goods, but K and i lasted only an hour there before we threw in the towel and decided we didn't deserve to endure the heat. having said that, we bailed and went back to the guesthouse before exploring mbk ourselves.

and you complain you can't find a parking lot in singapore?

lunch at NOODDI, somewhat an equivalent to NOOCH in singapore. they have bose speakers, a clear indication of their (projected) profit margins. the drinks in the picture are lychee freezes - absolutely orgasmic.

we had ice cream at baskin' robbins, one of those franchises that never made it to our shores. the quality of the ice cream was good, though. what made it feel better was knowing we were pampered in an air-conditioned mall having nice food whilst the rest of the gang were sweating like pigs trying to find the best bargains in a wholesale market. (:

stocking up for hungry times at night. each of these cost S$0.50. like i wrote on friendster, take that krispy kremes!

K and i both had this for dinner. this is a double big mac from mcdonald's. double, because there are FOUR beef patties instead of the traditional two. i am not pulling your leg.

before we left for thailand, i was persuaded to try out the massages, known to be cheap and good. i had my scepticisms initially, and i was worried it might turn out to be some sleazy services, if you know what i mean. however, having been assured by xiaoqi (girl, right) as to the respectability of this venue we were going to, i relented.

before the massage, and me not knowing quite what to expect.

after the massage, and take my word for it, this picture is not indicative of what transpired in the two hours that preceded this. nothing sleazy occurred (sorry to disappoint you dirty minds), but it was an eye-opener, literally - we discovered new funny bones in our bodies. it was 50% wincing, 40% laughing and 10% being on the verge of losing our consciousness towards the end.

that marked the end of an eventful second day of our vacation. shower and sleep was a welcome respite.

08072007

didn't take many photos today. somehow i wasn't very shutter-happy with the T9. anyway, i bought an all blacks jersey because the exchange rate meant that it was actually cheaper than purchasing it in singapore.

had chinese dim sum for lunch. by cheap, i mean a plate of fried pork buns, two plates of ha kao, a plate of fried spring rolls, a bowl of char siew noodle soup and a bowl of rice with black pepper fish for 154 baht, or S$3.50 per person. tell me where to find that in singapore, and your next meal will be on me.

stocked up on more snacks, namely donuts, pastries and chips. heineken too, which was also much cheaper over there.

we had dinner at this place called shaley's. pictured above is a teddy bear-shaped rice with chicken and vegetables that xiaoqi ordered. in a moment of sheer puerility, i said 'ouch' when she put her spoon into the rice.

09072007

i should have mentioned earlier, K and i pretty much split up from the girls in terms of our itinerary since the chatuchak market visit, which was on our second day.

today, we plotted our journey through siam discovery centre, siam centre to siam paragon and onwards to centralworld thereafter. of notable mention was siam paragon, which is light years ahead of its namesake in singapore. think two vivocity's linked together, loaded with branded boutiques from emporio armani to bang & olufsen to sports cars showrooms.

as above.

this was on the third or fourth floor, i forget which, but when i was coming up the escalator and saw these two showrooms at the top of it, my jaw literally dropped.

this murcielago was labelled as sold. in bangkok!?

as K forgot the models' names, it's the F430 and 575 Maranello. and these two were separated from the murcielago by the wall you see on the left of the photo. *drools

we had a fun time window shopping at paragon, though. despite the countless boutiques that neither of us could afford unless we paid with my sup card, because we were both wearing polo tees with standing collars and berms and flipflops, we sort of gave out the vibe to the salespeople that we were rich kids, so they accorded us as much attention as local salespeople would toward japanese tourists. it's good to be treated well now and then, you know.

lunch at pizza company. we kept seeing advertisements on the in-built skytrain tv monitors by this restaurant, so K and i thought we had to try this out. this was basically hawaiian pizza with fresh shrimp, with sausage and cheese stuffed into the crust. this was a serving meant for four, which was lapped up by just K and i. you may keep your comments to yourself at this juncture, thank you.

the greatest misfortune occurred today as well, when i came down with fever. it was paracetamols to the rescue, and by no coincidence, we had dinner at NOODDI again, but this time bringing a few other people in the group with us. along the way i managed to get up and buy a pair of leather shoes after having placed my orders for dinner. there was this thing later about manicures and pedicures, which ended up in naught for us guys. it was back to the bunker for K and me, hoping to recover from the fever with some sleep.

10072007

we were in the cabs by 5am local time on our way to the airport to catch our flight home. the cab driver did upwards of 140 kph while we were on the highways, so say K and candice. i was too damn sick to care, and at the point of time it didn't matter if i had the trunk of a car smash my head because it hurt so much already anyway.

this was the last shot from my own camera. sunrise outside of bangkok airport. my apologies, a decent camera in the hands of a less-than-amateur photographer with fever does this spectacle no justice.

waiting to get through passport control. evidently, i was having none of it.

the flight back was smoother than the one toward bangkok. i suppose the pilot was better, because K slept through take-off, haha. it felt good to be back in singapore and inhaling much cleaner air. of course, we raided as much of duty-free alcohol as we could (i was burning up with the fever but wtf) and scooted home after a quick meal at mcdonald's. we were home by about 2pm and i slept through more or less till the next morning.