Tuesday, 3. October 2006,
It's Luang Prabang.. or Luang Phabang..
Flying with Bangkok Airways. It's really good. Not so many people on board and most passengers were foreigners. I even doubted if there were really any Lao..
When the plane landed it was raining tho' but fortunately it stopped in the afternoon, took a tuk-tuk with standard fee of US$5 to town..
Luang Prabang is a small city in the Laos PDR.. Everything is slow, no rush, calm.. I stay in a guesthouse that's called Tum Tum Cheng , cost $15, rooms with fan only..
The atmosphere of the city is so laid back that you can't even bring yourself to walk too fast. I just seem to enjoy every step I'm making..
There are wats (buddhist temple) in every block and little monks in orange robe EVERYWHERE!
At nights there are night market opening and with food market too. Heard Laotian eat fried spider.. Might bump into one hahahhaha...
**after notes** No, they dont sell it in the night market. Some people do eat it but not selling it in the market
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Monday, October 02, 2006
Ayutthaya
Monday, 2. October 2006, 16:02:42
Today, sooo many people in Bangkok wear yellow t-shirt. Haven't figured out why...
Anyway, there's the new Thailand's Prime Minister appointed today..
And it's raining all day.
Would not expect the Ayuthaya trip to be something extraordinary. The weather is killing your mood.
The 2 hour train to Ayutthaya is cheap, 15 baht and we took the 11.21 train.....
Arriving like in 3 hours, I met some fellow travellers from German, and it really made it better having a travel companion. At least we could talk a bit instead of staying silence all the time in the rain. Sounds sad, huh?
We shared the tuk tuk and asked the driver to drive us to some of the sites in the city. Well, they were all temples though. We knew
As expected, it's raining all the way. I'm soaked, and well, at 6pm I'm back already in Bangkok. Slept a bit........
Then later I had dinner, in the Khao San area, Pad Thai (again)...... but it was a nice one
Today, sooo many people in Bangkok wear yellow t-shirt. Haven't figured out why...
Anyway, there's the new Thailand's Prime Minister appointed today..
And it's raining all day.
Would not expect the Ayuthaya trip to be something extraordinary. The weather is killing your mood.
The 2 hour train to Ayutthaya is cheap, 15 baht and we took the 11.21 train.....
Arriving like in 3 hours, I met some fellow travellers from German, and it really made it better having a travel companion. At least we could talk a bit instead of staying silence all the time in the rain. Sounds sad, huh?
We shared the tuk tuk and asked the driver to drive us to some of the sites in the city. Well, they were all temples though. We knew
As expected, it's raining all the way. I'm soaked, and well, at 6pm I'm back already in Bangkok. Slept a bit........
Then later I had dinner, in the Khao San area, Pad Thai (again)...... but it was a nice one
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Indonesian man in Bangkok - Scammed!!
1-10-2006
Waking up a bit late, I took the breakfast quite quickly. Anyway, there's nothing much of the menu anyway. At the counter they asked you what type of egg you want, fried, omelette or scrambled. On the table there were selections of toast, orange juice, fruits, cornflakes etc..
But it surely fed me
Before starting the trip I have had made some gross plan about what to do in Bangkok. Today's plan was actually to see the Wat Pho and Wat Arun, and also the Catuchak weekend market. But as yesterday I skipped the Grand Palace and the Wat Phre Kew, I took all 4 in today's program..
Bangkok was boiling today.. So hot!!!
Instead of taking the bus or tuk tuk, I took the boat ride to the Grand Palace,.. cost only 13 bahts, I hopped out and arrived directly to the Grand Palace...
Now to my big amazement, the Wat Phre Kew is not joking about being one of the greatest Temple in Bangkok. Big complex, big temples building, and we are talking about Thai architectural decorations at its highest level. It also house the Emerald Buddha...
After this I headed for Wat Pho..
Arriving at the door, I stopped by and buy myself a bottle of water.. A nice, polite Thai mister approached me and we had a little conversations. He said the today the Wat Pho is closed because the monks are praying and it will be re-open by 2 o'clock. I was quite surprised....
Then he suggested me to visit some places that he thought would be very interesting. It's the Lucky Buddha temple and some export market etc etc... He also called for a tuk-tuk and told me that I would pay no more that 40 baht for the ride around town and go back to Wat Pho at 2 o'clock.. I was so stupid not to check whether Wat Pho was really closed or not, and hopped in to the tuk tuk......
In the temple of so called Lucky Buddha, there was nothing that I expected. Actually, no tourists, and the temple itself was undergoing some restorations project. Good for him though..
I bumped into a Thai mister and, of course, asked for the Buddha. He told me, again, that it's closed and anyway the monks are praying inside so I could not enter.. One good point that I missed was, how the hell the monks pray if the workers were still working???????
OK never mind.. he told me I could wait for about 10 minutes and the praying would presummably end.. During this 10 minutes, he told his stories.. Jewellery stories.. He's working in Singapore and coming to Thai every year to buy jewellery. And today is the last day of the BIG PROMOTIONS sales in the export market.. WOW, cheap prices are expected as the lift up the 195% tax usually charged to business clients. How the make fortunes by buying the jewellery and re-sell it in Singapore in a doubled price.. bla bla bla...
Coincidentaly enough, that's exactly the place the Wat Pho guy told me to go..
So this Lucky Buddha guy was suggesting, half pushing me, to go the this Market. I was expecting big market, you know, many shops, jewellery center with lots of people buying. Well, it's not. It's just a little jewellery shops.. I entered, not sure, but entered. I saw a couple of foreigners was coming out.
The manager himself greeted me by the door and well, for a promotions, there are surely NO clients... I'm beginning to feel somehow uneasy..
He guided me to the second floor where they have the better quality stones.. Actually the manager himself is kind.. He explained to me some little things about the precious stones, saphire, ruby, etc etc..
Well, I could not afford it anyway, so making execuses like, I have to ask my mom first, since I'm buying for her, bla bla, I took off..
At the door, the tuk tuk guy was fixing his tuk tuk machines. Seemed that I had broken down.. So I waited,..
Another Thai mister, living in Aussie (he said), was asking questions. It was quite irritating though, since I was pretending to write sms and he was just there, talking and talking. But thanks to his talkings, one thing was unfolding. This Aussie guy is telling the exact, same stories as the guy from Lucky Buddha temple. How it's so cheap that you must buy it and re-sell it at your country, it's the last day of 7 days of promotions. I'm sure if I go back tomorrow someone will tell me that it's the last day. He even say the same stories about he paying half in cash and half with credit card, as did the Lucky Buddha temple guy.. The greatest scheme of it all was the involvment of a "frech" in the Lucky Buddha Temple, with the assurance that he had already done it for the 3rd time.. hmm..
There I decided to go and ask the tuk tuk guy to go back to Wat Pho. He said, nooo,.. he will take me to other jewellery shops, bigger but please do not go back... I can see around, not buying is also ok, but 20 minutes for him to wait to earn him a free gasoline voucher..
After so much arguing, I even offered to give him 50baht, I give in. OK take me to this place and after that we go back. OK.
It's called the Pan Siamese Gems Co. Ltd. The sells jewellery of course.. This place is a wholesaler shop.
But it seemed more of a serious place, while the first place was like a total set-up... The guy who "attended" me was cold, not many smiles and said some things about the quality of the saphire which was contrary to the guy in the previous shop.. I ended up buying a saphir pendant for aping. I hope it's not fake, but it's nice, I liked it and I wanted to buy.
Back to Wat Pho, it didn't close at all.....
I should've known.
It's nice with chinese influence scattered in the complex, Kwang Kong statues, some ornaments, etc.
The reclining buddha was HUGE!, and the frescoes on the wall are impressive..
But you know, after those ride with the tuk-tuk to the jewel shops, I was quite torn off..
So, I headed to hua lamphong and took the MRT to Catuchak weekend market. It was hot and I wasn't really into buying something so the whole scene was quite frustrating, it was just too HOT....
I took off not before long and headed back to Wat Pho.. Wanted to be able to catch the sun setting by the Wat Arun across the river...
I arrived there alright but well, the sky was not so friendly. It was all greyish, cloudy.
Never mind, I was there, already crossed the river, so I might just take a few picture..
And went back to the hotel to rest.....
Waking up a bit late, I took the breakfast quite quickly. Anyway, there's nothing much of the menu anyway. At the counter they asked you what type of egg you want, fried, omelette or scrambled. On the table there were selections of toast, orange juice, fruits, cornflakes etc..
But it surely fed me
Before starting the trip I have had made some gross plan about what to do in Bangkok. Today's plan was actually to see the Wat Pho and Wat Arun, and also the Catuchak weekend market. But as yesterday I skipped the Grand Palace and the Wat Phre Kew, I took all 4 in today's program..
Bangkok was boiling today.. So hot!!!
Instead of taking the bus or tuk tuk, I took the boat ride to the Grand Palace,.. cost only 13 bahts, I hopped out and arrived directly to the Grand Palace...
Now to my big amazement, the Wat Phre Kew is not joking about being one of the greatest Temple in Bangkok. Big complex, big temples building, and we are talking about Thai architectural decorations at its highest level. It also house the Emerald Buddha...
After this I headed for Wat Pho..
Arriving at the door, I stopped by and buy myself a bottle of water.. A nice, polite Thai mister approached me and we had a little conversations. He said the today the Wat Pho is closed because the monks are praying and it will be re-open by 2 o'clock. I was quite surprised....
Then he suggested me to visit some places that he thought would be very interesting. It's the Lucky Buddha temple and some export market etc etc... He also called for a tuk-tuk and told me that I would pay no more that 40 baht for the ride around town and go back to Wat Pho at 2 o'clock.. I was so stupid not to check whether Wat Pho was really closed or not, and hopped in to the tuk tuk......
In the temple of so called Lucky Buddha, there was nothing that I expected. Actually, no tourists, and the temple itself was undergoing some restorations project. Good for him though..
I bumped into a Thai mister and, of course, asked for the Buddha. He told me, again, that it's closed and anyway the monks are praying inside so I could not enter.. One good point that I missed was, how the hell the monks pray if the workers were still working???????
OK never mind.. he told me I could wait for about 10 minutes and the praying would presummably end.. During this 10 minutes, he told his stories.. Jewellery stories.. He's working in Singapore and coming to Thai every year to buy jewellery. And today is the last day of the BIG PROMOTIONS sales in the export market.. WOW, cheap prices are expected as the lift up the 195% tax usually charged to business clients. How the make fortunes by buying the jewellery and re-sell it in Singapore in a doubled price.. bla bla bla...
Coincidentaly enough, that's exactly the place the Wat Pho guy told me to go..
So this Lucky Buddha guy was suggesting, half pushing me, to go the this Market. I was expecting big market, you know, many shops, jewellery center with lots of people buying. Well, it's not. It's just a little jewellery shops.. I entered, not sure, but entered. I saw a couple of foreigners was coming out.
The manager himself greeted me by the door and well, for a promotions, there are surely NO clients... I'm beginning to feel somehow uneasy..
He guided me to the second floor where they have the better quality stones.. Actually the manager himself is kind.. He explained to me some little things about the precious stones, saphire, ruby, etc etc..
Well, I could not afford it anyway, so making execuses like, I have to ask my mom first, since I'm buying for her, bla bla, I took off..
At the door, the tuk tuk guy was fixing his tuk tuk machines. Seemed that I had broken down.. So I waited,..
Another Thai mister, living in Aussie (he said), was asking questions. It was quite irritating though, since I was pretending to write sms and he was just there, talking and talking. But thanks to his talkings, one thing was unfolding. This Aussie guy is telling the exact, same stories as the guy from Lucky Buddha temple. How it's so cheap that you must buy it and re-sell it at your country, it's the last day of 7 days of promotions. I'm sure if I go back tomorrow someone will tell me that it's the last day. He even say the same stories about he paying half in cash and half with credit card, as did the Lucky Buddha temple guy.. The greatest scheme of it all was the involvment of a "frech" in the Lucky Buddha Temple, with the assurance that he had already done it for the 3rd time.. hmm..
There I decided to go and ask the tuk tuk guy to go back to Wat Pho. He said, nooo,.. he will take me to other jewellery shops, bigger but please do not go back... I can see around, not buying is also ok, but 20 minutes for him to wait to earn him a free gasoline voucher..
After so much arguing, I even offered to give him 50baht, I give in. OK take me to this place and after that we go back. OK.
It's called the Pan Siamese Gems Co. Ltd. The sells jewellery of course.. This place is a wholesaler shop.
But it seemed more of a serious place, while the first place was like a total set-up... The guy who "attended" me was cold, not many smiles and said some things about the quality of the saphire which was contrary to the guy in the previous shop.. I ended up buying a saphir pendant for aping. I hope it's not fake, but it's nice, I liked it and I wanted to buy.
Back to Wat Pho, it didn't close at all.....
I should've known.
It's nice with chinese influence scattered in the complex, Kwang Kong statues, some ornaments, etc.
The reclining buddha was HUGE!, and the frescoes on the wall are impressive..
But you know, after those ride with the tuk-tuk to the jewel shops, I was quite torn off..
So, I headed to hua lamphong and took the MRT to Catuchak weekend market. It was hot and I wasn't really into buying something so the whole scene was quite frustrating, it was just too HOT....
I took off not before long and headed back to Wat Pho.. Wanted to be able to catch the sun setting by the Wat Arun across the river...
I arrived there alright but well, the sky was not so friendly. It was all greyish, cloudy.
Never mind, I was there, already crossed the river, so I might just take a few picture..
And went back to the hotel to rest.....
Saturday, September 30, 2006
And let the journey begins....
Finally on the 29th september evening, I took off heading to Singapore and stayed for one night. Had the opportunity to meet up with kwang again. The last time we met was last year after returning from Italy... this time, without the typhoid.. :-)
Stayed in the Changi Village hotel, a hotel near the airport (only 10 minutes).. Did not want to take the hotel in the city as I was just need to sleep before continuing to bangkok..
Changi Village is a very nice hotel, modernly designed and decorated, it did not give the cold and distant feeling, yet it still maintain its warmth and the relaxed atmosphere...
BANGKOK!
The city of Angels, they call it..
Booked the Shanghai Inn Hotel in Chinatown, it turned to be not a bad decision at all, nice and unique hotel also.. a boutique hotel that tries to keep the chinese style in the room design.. Very nice..
Chinatown itself is a complete madness and chaos during the traffic times... but at night, it transformed into a street of food vendor, thai food especially sea food, nice and fresh, is everywhere to be seen. The noodle with fish ball that I tried was also a delight..
But it didn't stop there. Tried also a small portion of pad-thai, cooked by a lady that speaks tiociu :-) what a surprise..!!
Another "snack" (if I may call it so) is a small bowl of cold sweet light soup (if I may call it soup) with lotus seed, mushrooms, dried fruit and a type of autumnal nut. A perfect thirst quencher.
Why does it seem that I'm writing only about food???????
anyway, actually I (try to) went to see the Grand Palace and some temple nearby but at 18.00 they were all closed already...
Be going there tomorrow morning..
Stayed in the Changi Village hotel, a hotel near the airport (only 10 minutes).. Did not want to take the hotel in the city as I was just need to sleep before continuing to bangkok..
Changi Village is a very nice hotel, modernly designed and decorated, it did not give the cold and distant feeling, yet it still maintain its warmth and the relaxed atmosphere...
BANGKOK!
The city of Angels, they call it..
Booked the Shanghai Inn Hotel in Chinatown, it turned to be not a bad decision at all, nice and unique hotel also.. a boutique hotel that tries to keep the chinese style in the room design.. Very nice..
Chinatown itself is a complete madness and chaos during the traffic times... but at night, it transformed into a street of food vendor, thai food especially sea food, nice and fresh, is everywhere to be seen. The noodle with fish ball that I tried was also a delight..But it didn't stop there. Tried also a small portion of pad-thai, cooked by a lady that speaks tiociu :-) what a surprise..!!
Another "snack" (if I may call it so) is a small bowl of cold sweet light soup (if I may call it soup) with lotus seed, mushrooms, dried fruit and a type of autumnal nut. A perfect thirst quencher.
Why does it seem that I'm writing only about food???????
anyway, actually I (try to) went to see the Grand Palace and some temple nearby but at 18.00 they were all closed already...
Be going there tomorrow morning..
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