Visiting the Land of Smiles

After the days of stressing over booking hotels and flights for my Chinese New Year break, the holiday has come and gone. Nine full days of freedom. Actually I stretched it to nine and a half.

I left the office during lunch break to catch my flight later Friday afternoon. I then flew to Bangkok on my own. Can I just tell you how unlucky I am? There were so much potentially cute foreigners in my flight but I ended up sitting beside a smelly bumbay. Geez.

The Don Muang Internation Airport is a bit worn down. Reminds me of the domestic airport in Manila. But I heard they were building a new one. They better. Our Terminal 2 in NAIA is much better. And of course, I'm already used to the standards of Changi Airport here in Singapore.

Immigration was quick. I got my luggage immediately. But the gueue for cabs was long. And I ended up with a cab driver who extorted from me 400 Baht. But I was thinking, he brought me to the hotel safely. I might as well give it to him.

The hotel, well, it has seen better days. It's in between a hotel and a backpackers hostel. Or so I think. But the room was huge. The bathroom was pathetic but it did it's job. Breakfast was mediocre. But still filled me up. It's quite sad eating breakfast on your own. Haha. But I knew my parents and sister were arriving noontime, so that's okay.

I ventured to the nearby mall and market (We stayed right next to the Pratunam Market). Disciplined myself not to buy anything yet. We have yet to go to the Weekend Market where stuff or reportedly cheapest.

So that afternoon, my folks and sis arrived and we went straight to the Weekend Market, Chatuchak. It was the closest I've been to a flea market. Cool feel! Mostly the stuff we bought were for my other sister, brother and nephew. But that's okay. We had the next day to come back.

So for the next four days we visited the main shopping destinations in Bangkok: Chatuchak again, Suan Lum Night Market (must have been the basis of Manila's Tiendesitas with the live band and food market as well), MBK (disappointed me; everyone knows this but the shops weren't even great), Siam Square, Siam Paragon (One of the newest and one the most gorgeous malls I've been too! They house the best grocery as well!), Gaysorn, Platinum Mall (walkable from our hotel; newly opened; really promising; my mom, sis and I spent more than half a day going through the shops), Pratunam Market, and Chinatown (really yummy dried pork and cheap dried plum!).

I've never been more tired shopping. Five days in a row. I ended up buying less than I expected. For myself, that is. I was disappointed that most of the clothes that caught my eye were in free size only. Meaning, free size for the Thai frame. Can't they think that many tourists go to Bangkok? How about the Caucasians, huh? A couple were extremely expensive, so no thanks.

Bangkok is also good food. A bit spicy for my parents but I found them very flavorful. Of course though, some days we just ate at Pizza Hut (Pizza Company) or KFC (their original recipe is so not the same)

So that was Bangkok. Thursday, my sister and I flew separately to Phuket, while we left our parents to fly back to Manila. Our hotel in Phuket was much better than where we stayed in Bangkok. Walkable to Patong Beach. Mostly caucasians. I don't know what season it is, but everywhere would be caucasian senior citizens. My sister called it Cocoon, after the movie. But there were still several cute guys. I haven't been to Boaracay before but my sister said there's still more life in Boaracay. I'm not a party animal anyway so just bumming in Phuket is fine with me.

My sister and I spent Friday morning soaking in the sun. We spent late afternoons in the hotel pool. Then spent the nights at the restuarants and bars along Patong Beach. It was relaxing, except for the pesky vendors along Patong Beach who use up all their English whenever you pass by, "Where are you from? Hello. How are you? Beautiful! Tuk tuk?" That was EVERYTIME! Gawd!

But a few days after our trip was over. I flew back to Singapore Sunday. The flight of my sister back to Bangkok was unfortunately delayed and she almost missed her flight back to Manila. But I guess it was an experience.

This trip is memorable. Of course, I would have loved if my whole family joined us. But maybe there's next time. Probably another time this year we could visit a place in the Philippines we haven't been to.