Day 2.Woke up from a dreamless sleep due to sheer exhaustion. Washed up and hopped down for the delicious breakfast buffet provided by the hotel. Here I viewed the prowess of Pretty Sunflower devouring down bowls of porridges, grilled tomatoes and hams. Haha.
Views of traffic jams outside our hotel while having breakfast.. Hee~
After stocking breakfast and lunch in our tummies, we took a free shuttle bus provided by the hotel to a nearby Skytrain, equivalent of our MRT, to visit the famous Chatuchuk market.
Regarding the photo taken at the train station, I can only say.. Man.. I feel like those who take pictures in our trains stations. =__+"
Let me tell you.. The Chatuchuk weekend market is not for those with weak legs. The market is enormous, gigantic and a crazy dream paradise for shoppaholics like me. Although the market was swarming with people and hot blazing sun was practically boring into your skin, one can get in the mood of shopping where goodies are just waiting for you to bargain with shopkeepers to bring them home. It's really a market where you definitely can get something at the end of the day, ranging from clothes, hats, shoes, belts, bags, food, arts/exotic/cultural stuffs, gardening essentials, gifts for your pets, etc. Well, you get the point. You name it, you find it..
A few sentences that are absolutely vital for you in the art of negotiation..
"How much?"..
"Can cheaper?"..
"If I buy more, can cheaper?"..
And of course, if you are a girl, you can "teh" with the shopkeeper if all fails. Heh.
After non-stop shopping for 5 hours and constantly being on the heel, my feets were practically breaking but we hadn't conquered the market. Just imagine how big it is... We did find ourselves a little lost at this point in time because every corner of the market looked the same. Was the Skytrain to the left or to the right of the market? Haha.. And after starting at the map and not making any sense out of it, we walked and walked until we finally reach the train station only to discover that it was not the train station that we came from. It was a underground train station that brings one to Chiang Mai and other parts of Thailand. Oh my.. It was another round of walking back and finally did we managed to find the Skytrain. I sweared my legs were almost collapsing by the time we did reach that station. Boo~
Next, we travelled to the Siam Square in the town. Had to run errands to help my colleague buy some stuff and almost made Pretty Sunflower die of hunger. Oops. People highly recommended us to dine at the Outback Steakhouse located in Siam Discovery Center as dining here was super cheap compared back in Singapore and so, we went along. Food was really quite good and servings were big.
Bigggg.. Fish n Chips..
Live entertainment of Halloween competition below the restaurant where we caught sight of a kid's talent of swooping his big plastic knife to awe the judges.. =P
After dinner, it was time to check out the shops in Siam Square. Spent a bomb in the Levis boutique because jeans were really cheap inside that I came out with 3 bags. Hurhurhur.. One for me and two for my sisters, plus two free Levis bags.. Woh~
Reaching our hotel, it was time to count my loots......
1) 2 work jackets
2) 3 jeans
3) 1 hollister jeans skirt
4) 1 hollister shorts
5) Belt
6) Earrings
7) 2 bags (free.. yeah yeah)
Muahahaha.. I feel so proud of my conquers.. =P
Day 3As usual, tired us had our breakfast at the hotel..
Today, we hit the 6 storey shopping center MBK which was another bargain paradise.
Even for the departmental store, Tokyu, the price tags screamed "cheap" relative to Singapore. Okay, like where can you get an authentic Elle wallet at S$30 plus? Wacoal bras at S$20?
We stopped by Starbucks for tea break..
Taking the cab back to our hotel that night was quite a taste of the real Thailand way of life. Queued behind a long long queue and finally got a cab. Cab driver agreed to use the meter but failed to live up to his agreement and tried to extort us 100 baht for just a short ride. In anger, Pretty Sunflower said loudly and firmly, "We get down". Haha. And so, we went back to queue behind a long queue again and finally got on a cab where the driver was blur because he got lost (in my opinion). Ended up, we paid 80 baht for the short ride which became long.. Anyway in gist, tourists are rich people in Thailand and cab drivers like to "chop" us because we looked like big dangling carrots in front of them. Although it's really just quite little in our local currency, I don't believe paying extra for something not worth it.
Anyway, our dinner was soggy McDonalds as result of the prolonged trip back to our hotel.
Our combined shopping bags..
My loots..
Day 4.The last and final day in Thailand. Our free halfday tour to the temples...
The visit to the temples was interesting but very hot. Sunglasses and caps are essentials to survive the onslaught of the mighty Sun while the walk around. To be serious, the temples looked all the same to me. Hah. The most memorable part was perhaps the throwing of 108 coins into the little pots along the sides of the temple with the Buddha lying half down to signify for good luck. By pure luck or so, I had exactly 108 coins from the bowl to throw and the tour guide raised an eye brow. =P
The last stop of the half day tour was to the gem factory where the sales staffs were bascially stationed to psycho tourists into buying their gems in red, green yellow and black. What a great way for Thailand to develop their gem market... Haiz.
The rest of the afternoon was a quick shop to get our last minute lemmings. Bought a bikini, so earrings and fake Birkenstocks sandals called Birkensports. Haha..
And it was time to rush to the Bangkok airport and we actually got our VAT refund from over-shopping at Tokoyu from the previous day.
Quick bite at Black Canyon Coffee before we boarded Tiger Airways..
As we boarded the plane after hearing the last call (yikes..), the plane was basically quite filled up passengers already. While I tried to find an empty space to put my bag in the compartment, the lady sitting next to me told me not to put my bag there as she had some fragile stuff up there. I had already cleared a space up there before she said and thought "Wah.. Then where I put?". I looked left and right, but there was really no other space. I turned to the air stewardness for help but other than looking stunned, she helped me naught. Luckily, the guy sitting behind me helped me to clear some more space but making his laptop bag sitting upright. The lady next to me still looked worried that I'll break her stuff before I finally told her there was enough space for all. Haiz. Actually, I was more stunned than angry hearing what she said. It was a little unfair that she said I cannot put my bag up in the compartment because she had fragile belongings up there. Anyway, it was no biggie. It only reflected that the air stewardness didn't seem to be very competent in giving assistance. Haiz.
The plane ride was "squeaking" more severely and the landing was ultimately scary. Haha. I'll need to think twice before booking another ride with this budget airline again.
Now, here's some end of trip thoughts...
People say that Thailand is the land of smiles and excellent customer services are what one can expect from there. I can only say that this statement is very true. In comparison to our Singaporean definition of customer service, there's really a huge disparity. Example being just after my taxi ride home after reaching Singapore, the taxi driver looked anxious in receiving his money but left me alone to carry down all my luggages from the boot. Disbelief was the word to describe what hit me while standing behind the boot. Haiz. At least back home, our consolation is that we don't have to fear that drivers will try to extort us money for the ride. Bleah.
