Goodbye Bangkok!

This is my last post on my 2010 Bangkok Trip.

This trip was not very adventurous as I did not visit a lot of Bangkok's famous tourist places. But that's OK as I had visited most of the tourist attractions last time.

It was however, a very happening trip as I got to shake hands with Enrique Iglesias, attended a live concert by K-pop artists like Super Junior and CN Blue and stayed in one of the most expensive hotels in Bangkok, which is Dusit Thani Hotel.

And so on my last day in Bangkok, it was with heavy hearts that my friend and I checked out of Dusit Thani and headed to the airport.

The first thing we did when we reached Suvarnabhumi Airport was to have our lunch. I forgot the name of the restaurant but I ate tom yam goong.



Well, I had to. I knew that once I leave Bangkok, I would never get to eat this favourite dish of mine.

My friend ate fried rice.



And we both had Pokka Japanese Green Tea for drinks.



I enjoyed my tom yam goong. Look! I almost finished the soup! Yummy!!



After checking in our luggage, we walked towards the Departure Area and passed by this structure with Buddha figurines. There were two people cleaning it.



Actually, I was not sure if they were cleaning, dusting or painting it!



I like Suvarnabhumi Airport. It was very grand, modern and nice.



I watched the TV while waiting for our plane to arrive.



And then I looked at the seats and could not help laughing. Priority is given to (please look at pictures from right to left below) .....



Women with babies, Pregnant women, Disabled people, Senior citizens, and ........
what is that? Mummified people? Mummies? Mumm-ra? Hahaha!!

I wished they had included a picture of a panda in there too! Then I will surely be assured of a seat! LOL!

Soon, our plane arrived and we left for home. Goodbye Bangkok! I hope to see you again soon! Well, here's my latest update - I just bought AirAsia ticket for my next trip to Bangkok for RM150 return flight. Is that cheap or what?

For those of you who have missed some of my Bangkok posts, here is the complete list.

1.I Discovered CN Blue In Bangkok
2.I Finally Own AirAsia
3.My Very First Ride On The KLIA Ekspres
4.Walking Through KLIA Jungle Boardwalk
5.Flying Thai Airways
6.My Stay At Dusit Thani Hotel
7.Exploring Dusit Thani Hotel
8.The Best Sticky Rice With Durian!
9.I Discovered The Juciest And Most Affordable Steak At Jeffer!
10.Food I Ate During My Bangkok Trip
11.Massage And Welcome Drink At Dusit Thani
12.The Four Faced Buddha Of Erawan Shrine
13.My Favourite Crispy Durian From Bangkok
14.Walking The Streets Of Bangkok

Coming Up Next : My Very First Trip To Manila!

FIRST COMMENTER

Walking The Streets Of Bangkok

I enjoyed walking around in Bangkok.

During my Bangkok trip late last year, my friend and I spent most of our time walking around and shopping.

There was this statue located opposite Dusit Thani Hotel where we stayed. It was actually the statue of King Rama VI, who reigned as King of Siam from 1910 to 1925.



The statue stood at the southwestern entrance to Bangkok's famous Lumpini Park at the junction of Rajdamri Road and Rama IV Road. It was a pity we did not have the time to visit the park as it has a man-made lake where visitors can rent boats. It is also a good place to jog and cycle and it contains a public library, an indoor stadium and even a dance hall!

Well, I will make sure I visit Lumpini Park the next time I go Bangkok! Oh! I even found a map of Lumpini Park HERE.

By the way, I saw these below the King Rama VI statue.



Although walking is good, I actually enjoy traveling around in tuk tuks! Here I took a photo while traveling in one!



Tuk tuk is one of the fastest ways to travel in congested Bangkok roads. The drivers simply know how to weave in and out of the traffic at breakneck speed! Sit in a tuk tuk if you want to get somewhere fast!

There are lots of temples to visit in Bangkok, but this time I chose just one, if you don't count The Erawan Shrine. But I forgot the name of this temple!



I was told that it was not good to take pictures of humans with these holy statues together inside a temple. However, taking pictures of people with Buddha statues outside the temple is OK.

This is the front view of the temple. It is not a very grand looking temple, I must say.



Although I stayed at Dusit Thani Hotel, that did not stop me from visiting other hotels along the Rajdamri Road.

This is the Grand Hyatt Erawan. Yes, it's the one just next to the famous Four Faced Buddha or the Erawan Shrine which I blogged about previously.



The lobby looks rather grand, doesn't it?

I took this photo of the Rajdamri road when I exited from the Grand Hyatt Erawan. Notice the Skytrain line that runs parellel with the road.



The next hotel my friend and I stopped by was the Four Seasons Hotel.



I like the elephant!

The hotel had a nice pond outside the main entrance.



Inside, I was awed by the pictures on the wall!



I think it was beautiful but it would be quite dangerous if you lose yourself looking at the picture while climbing up the stairs!



Love this tall tree at the courtyard. (not sure if I can call it a courtyard)



From the first floor, looking down at the lobby below.



Thai people seems to like elephants a lot! I saw an elephant while walking along Silom Road. Of course, it was not a real elephant.



But then again, I heard that they were so crazy about the pandas at Chiang Mai Zoo that an elephant was painted black and white just like a panda to get some attention! See the picture of that "panda" elephant HERE!

Ooh! I love it that Ronald McDonald is doing the wai (ไหว้) here!



Did you know that there is a Madame Tussauds wax museum in Bangkok? Yes, there is and it is located on the 6th floor of Siam Discovery. It was in fact, the 10th Madame Tussauds to open worldwide on December 4th 2010.

Unfortunately, my friend and I were in Bangkok in November and the wax museum was not ready yet! So we were just contented to read about the launch from a counter selling the tickets.



Looks like there will be wax figures of Michael Jackson and Brad Pitt from the brochures.

If you plan to go Bangkok, don't miss Madame Tussauds Bangkok! More info HERE.

I came across Mr. Bean Coffee & Internet shop at MBK Mall and took a photo of it. It was a shop selling coffee, sandwiches and cakes but I did not eat there. Well, don't worry. I will visit Mr Bean the next time I go Bangkok!



Another shop or restaurant I must visit next time I go Bangkok is Yum Saap! I saw the advertisement while boarding the SkyTrain. This restaurant franchise is famous for serving traditional Thai food at cheap prices!



One night after shopping at MBK Mall, my friend and I were walking to the SkyTrain station when we saw a busy night market right next to the station! We did not buy anything though.



After shopping the whole day, we just wanted to go back to our hotel to rest. It was fun walking around in Bangkok.



I am falling in love with Bangkok all over again!

FIRST COMMENTER

My Favourite Crispy Durian From Bangkok

I love durians! And I love Malaysian durians! I think our durians have more aroma and flavour than Thai durians! Do you agree?

But Malaysia does not have this durian snack that I found in Thailand!



It's called Siam Crispy Durian. I had tasted this durian snack many years ago and fell in love with it! So during my Bangkok trip late last year, I made sure that I buy some of these snacks back home!

I had forgotten where I bought the snacks years earlier, but I remember it was from a shop somewhere inside MahBoonKrong (MBK) Mall. It's the same mall where I ate the delicious sticky rice with durian!



I did not know the name of the shop so I walked round and round the mall but could not find the shop! Don't tell me it's no longer there!



And then I found it! It was located just outside the food court on the 6th floor where I ate the som tum, sharksfin soup and my favourite sticky rice with durians!

It's unbelievable how I could have missed it! The shop is called Champ.



Champ sells all kinds of tidbits and snacks. If you love "junk food", then this shop is a MUST VISIT when you go Bangkok! You will surely find something you want!



OK you can't find the above. I just quickly took a picture of these cute piggy bolsters while searching for Champ.

Of course, during my trip to this shop, I was not interested in any of those tidbits and snacks, except for Crispy Durian!

There were a few brands selling this Crispy Durian snack. But Siam Crispy Durian is the best! The Crispy Durian snacks came in two packaging styles. One was in packets like the first photo above and the other was in boxes like this one.



Inside the box contains 4 tins of Crispy Durians. The tin looks like this.



The Siam Crispy Durian box package retails at 240 baht (RM24) whereas the packet retails at 120 baht (RM12). The packet contains about the same amount as 2 tins of Durian Crispy. I don't know about you but I think the prices were pretty expensive!

This is how the Crispy Durian looks like.



I took a bite and could not stop eating the rest of them! It was delicious and full of durian flavour!

By the way, this snack contains about 94% durian, 4% sugar and 2% palm oil. It's a high quality product (matched by its premium price) and I doubt you can find it anywhere else except in Thailand!

Guess what? After returning from my Bangkok trip, all my Crispy Durian snacks were gone within a day! Boo hoo! Now I am craving for Crispy Durian! Anyone going to Bangkok soon?

FIRST COMMENTER

The Four Faced Buddha Of Erawan Shrine

Have you ever visited the famous Four Faced Buddha of Erawan Shrine in Bangkok?

This is one of the most famous tourist spots in Bangkok and is always filled with visitors from all over the world! This was my second time here, the first time being many, many years ago.

After spending some time shopping at MBK Shopping Mall and Siam Paragon, my friend and I decided to visit Erawan Shrine by walking instead of sitting the Skytrain.



It was about 5pm and the traffic was getting heavy. Hmmm, I noticed that taxis in Bangkok were mostly Toyota Camry models!



After a short 15 minutes walk, we reached the Erawan Shrine, also known as San Phra Phrom. It is actually located at the heart of Bangkok, next to the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel, at the Ratchaprasong intersection of Ratchadamri Road and Sukhumvit Road.



It is also very near to Skytrain's Chitlom Station which has an elevated walkway overlooking the shrine (as can been seen from the photo above).

Directly opposite is Gaysorn Shopping Mall, which houses some of the world's best brands and within walking distance is CentralWorld Shopping Mall.



In the middle of the shrine is the Four Faced Buddha, which is not really a Buddha but actually the Hindu creation God, Brahma. I wonder why they called it the Four Faced Buddha!

Anyway, when we were there, we could see lots of people, both locals and foreigners, seeking blessing from the Four Faced Buddha.


Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Each of the four faces of the deity are said to represent different elements. In a clockwise direction starting from the entrance, the first face represents the Face of Peace and Health, followed by the Face of Good Fortune, the Face of Good Relationships and the Face of Protection Against Evils.

So did I pray while I was there? Of course I did since I was already there right? The only problem was I did not know the correct way of praying. I knew that I had to pray to all four directions but from which direction should I start first? And do I go clockwise or anti clockwise?



Firstly, what we did was buy the candles, joss sticks and flowers from the stall inside the shrine. These were required offerings to be made to the Four Faced Buddha.

Then we lit up our candles and joss sticks (like what the lady in the photo above did).

After that we prayed to the Four Faced Buddha, one side at a time until we covered all four sides. On each side, we placed the joss sticks and flowers as offerings.



So did we do it right? I honestly do not know!

Some people said you can start from anywhere and can go clockwise or anti-clockwise, it does not really matter. Well, I chose anti-clockwise for no reason whatsoever.

Also, you must pray on one specific thing at each direction. For example, you might want to pray for good health at one direction, money and wealth at another direction, good relationships at the third direction and perhaps protection from evil people and evil forces at the fourth direction.

When I came back home to Malaysia, a friend told me that the proper procedure is to state your name, birth date and where you come from before saying your wishes. Also, you must promise to return and give thanks and pay respect if your wishes were to come true.



According to my friend, most of his friends who went to pray there had their wishes fulfilled and they were so grateful that they return to the Erawan Shrine year after year to give thanks!

Whether you believe in this or not, I still think it is a good place to visit if you ever go to Bangkok.

Besides, you can get to see performances by the resident Thai dance troupes! Yes, these are dancers paid by worshippers in return for having their prayers answered.



There seems to be an interesting story behind the creation of Erawan Shrine, how it came into being, why it was built and how the original statue deity was destroyed by a demented man and quickly rebuilt. Read more HERE.

FIRST COMMENTER