Saturday, June 4, 2011

Bangkok Misadventures Day 0.5

Why Day 0.5? Because this is only half of our first day in Bangkok.
Good morning susnshine!! Bed hair against nicely-lit room. :) 
Woke up late (since we slept past 3 already) and my first misfortune happened. Yue's camera got fogged because our room was too cold. I almost panicked but deep inside I'm already dying.
THANK GOD FOR BLOWDRYERS!!!

First Destination: CHATUCHAK WEEKEND MARKET!
One of the world's largest weekend markets covers area of 70 rai (27 Acres) altogether divided into 27 Sections, contains more than 15,000 booths selling goods from every part of Thailand [source.]
I specifically chose a hotel near a subway station so it'll be easy to go around town.
Bangkok's MRT (mass rail transit) system is something we should adopt here in the Philippines -- efficient and on-time. I am honestly missing the "we're arriving at ____ station" voiceover already. :(
Other public means of transportation in BKK includes the tuk-tuk, candy-colored taxis, few buses and motorcycles.
Their MRT use tokens while the BTS line use cards. I love their token vending machine (see above picture)!
You just have to swipe the token over the turnstile and it will open. I enjoyed doing this everyday on our stay there (since we took the trains every single time we went out).

You can go to either Chatuchak Park station or Kamphaeng Phet station in going to Chatuchak market since it is located between the two stations.
Their trains are waaaaay nicer. If trains here are like this, I'd be more than happy to ride the train every single freaking day.
Found out that Mario Maurer is in Chiang Mai for a shoot. How I wish it was closer to the city because I will seriously go to there to see him *wink wink nudge nudge*, but noooo. :(
Obligatory reflection shot.
Welcome to Chatuchak Market! A place where you can find all sorts of odds and ends. I personally think it would take around 4 full days to see everything in Chatuchak (and that 4 days doesn't include stopping at stores and buying, just plain browsing). Crazy right? And the market ain't airconditioned, expect to be drenched in sweat after rummaging through alleys of stores and haggling (they don't really speak english and if they do, you'll still have a hard time figuring it out, so bring a calculator!).

There was too much to see. I seriously want to go back to this place and have a shopping spree (I better get a higher-paying job then). :P There were too many things as well that I wanted to buy but a) I was on a tight budget and b) we're scared of overbaggage. The mother made most of the shopping spree and I became the assistant who carried all the stuff she bought. I was the daughter slave. Haha.

The long-coveted faerie lights. I really wanted to get some of them but feared that it might get squished in the luggage *sadface*, so the mother advised not to buy one anymore.
After a few hours of shopping. We stopped by at one of the food stalls to have our late lunch. The menu was written on thai but the picture showed noodles, so we agreed on it. Our first thai meal -- how was it?
The face after having my first big munch of this...
IT WAS FREAKINGLY SPICY!! asajsfhdgahdgsjklsdha ;A; I almost cried. I regretted that I soaked the noodles well enough in this pool of evil spiciness. The noodles was good and I really liked the eggs but it was really spicy.
See the glory of that red pepper? It stood up to its fierceness. Plus the chili powder and the piquant soup. Every argument is invalid.
I was adoring photos like this on flickr before our BKK trip and I finally had my own shot and a taste of it too. Exactly what I needed after the hot encounter.
It's a popsicle! And it comes in my favorite orange mirinda flavor!! They sell this for 4 baht a piece (if I remember it right) and they come in other soda/fruit juice flavors.

The rest of our 1st day later!! Siam Ocean World!