Revisit Bangkok Part 3. 13rd November 2007.

Finally, the last part of my trip. Shall resume with my usual food posts next week. :)

So, we’re in Pattaya and luckily after the heavy rain last night, the sun shines brightly the next morning. We went for breakfast… a heavy one as we’ll leave for Bangkok again later in the afternoon.

First round. Rice, veggie, frankfurters, potatoes and bacon.

Second round… rice, egg, ham, more potatoes and veggies. The egg was fried with butter which I don’t quite like.

I have no intentions to go into water, hence explained my heavy brunch. The streets here were pretty quiet at daytime. No much stuff you can do here, we didn’t see any place for shopping except a small mall. I guess the main attraction here is the beach itself.

So here we are, the Pattaya beach at daytime.

These beach chairs are for rent, RM3 and can only be used by one person. No sharing allowed O_O” But the beach is nice, didn’t spot much litter here, the water’s clean and clear. From the place I stand, I can see many tourists enjoying themselves with water parachuting out at the open sea.

While the guys busy splish-splashing, I walked around snapping pictures. My attention was on this little Japanese kid. So cute to see him running in shallow water, playing with his dad, occasionally lie on the sand and let the waves hit him (he seem to enjoy that a lot.. hehe). Quite difficult to snap as he’s moving around but I managed to get a few good shots.

There’s many Siamese will come over, asking whether you want to do tattoo or buy ice cream, snacks, accessories, sunglasses etc. This guy sells seafood, as you can see. Big prawns and crabs are placed in a pot with burning hot charcoal underneath it. We didn’t try it so I have no idea whether it’s nice or not.

We left and get ready to go back to Bangkok as the clouds marched over during noon time. Spent another few hours in cab without hassle this time as the driver knew very well the area we’re going to and reach the hotel about 3pm.

Hungry, so we went out to hunt for food… late lunch. And we stopped to buy the skewered pork from a stall at the roadside. Tastes not as good as the one I had before during my first trip. Aside from pork, the also have liver, intestines etc.

We had the fried kuey teow with chicken and vegetables which was a bit dry but flavourful nonetheless. Dinner was at KFC where I had the foldover similar like McD but it’s fried chicken inside. (No pictures) We were so tempted to curi their plates and glasses and bring back here. :P

The next morning, flight was at 9.25am so I got to witness my first sunrise at Bangkok in these few days. Well, see you again sometime in the future, Bangkok. I’ll be back.

Revisit Bangkok Part 2. 12th November 2007.

Before I continue with my post… I think I forgotten to upload the things we ate the previous night. So here they are. :P

After spent the whole afternoon at Chatuchak without lunch, we’re back to hotel and then ended up at a roadside stall opposite Starbucks to have chicken rice. The good thing about chicken rice here is… boneless. The bad… with skin attached. But the poached chicken is nice, tender and not dry. The rice was also fragrant (fragrant rice?) and not too oily compared to those we get here. Only RM3 per plate.

Dinner, Stanley had Samurai Pork Burger at McDonald’s…

While we had the new BBQ Rib Burger, very much alike our Prosperity Burger except this is… pork. Pork patty pan grilled and coated with BBQ sauce, topped with sliced cucumbers, onion and tomato, sandwiched in between burger buns. Very nicely done, juicy and smoky flavour. The patty is quite big portion too. This is one of the thing we can’t get at our local McD.

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The next day, we missed our breakfast cos woke up late! But never mind, we don’t mind going out to hunt for breakfast though :P While the other two went to Floating Market, Stanley and I came across this shop at Silom…

Condiments you can add to spice up your meal. Chilli powder, green chilli, crushed peanuts and sugar. Add sugar to the noodle??

Taada! Stanley’s siew yoke and siew cheung (barbequed stuffed pig’s intestine, I think) rice which he likes very much. I stole one piece of the siew cheung and my, it’s really good! I don’t quite remember the price but I think it’s about RM3-4.

My siew yoke rice with hard-boiled egg. The siew yoke tastes pretty good, although it’s not the best I’ve ever eaten before but still, it’s good. The skin is crispy and the meat, just the right texture; not too tough and not too chewy. I sprinkled a generous amount of my favourite crushed peanuts on it before start attacking it… Sedap!

While we were eating, this lady was busy wrapping the spring roll or popiah with incredible speed.

We went for a walk and some shopping before back to hotel and pack up as we’re leaving for Pattaya when the other two done with their Floating Market trip. But by the time they’re done, it’s already 1pm++ and I’m very sleepy. Initial plan was to catch a bus but changed mind and took the cab instead. And that’s how the trip started to get ugly.

Pattaya is much further than we imagine. By the time we reach the town, it’s about 4pm+. Then, it started to rain. Very heavy rain till it ruined our mood. To futher worsen the situation, the cab driver lost his directions and have no idea where our hotel is located. We ended up going round and round, stucked in the cab as the streets were flooded (as if tsunami has just strucked the place) and he refused to stop and ask the locals.

Me: How about call the hotel and ask for directions?
Ipoh Friend No. 1: I don’t have the number. The website didn’t provide the phone number when I booked.
Me: What??!? How come they didn’t provide phone numbers???
Ipoh Friend No. 1: I have no idea too.

At this point, I was literally cursing in my heart. How come someone still uses the site to book for hotel rooms when he noticed there’s no phone number and map provided, as if this is the first time he travel??? Ok, I know I’m a bit over the limit but I just can’t stand it.

Luckily for us (maybe), we saw a travel agency and asked the driver to stop there. The ladies there were super friendly and helpful to us, they sketched a map and tell us the directions how to go to our hotel. We’re saved but by the time we reached the hotel, it’s already 6pm! *cursing again*

Basically nothing much we can do as the sky is getting dark, we showered, took a short rest and went out for dinner. We realized that the hotel is surrounded by plenty of bars, restaurants and cafes which I think it’s a bit too noisy. Most of them are not fully occupied as I see there’s not much visitors on the street….

Fake or real? I think it’s fake.

Pattaya beach at night, overlooking the skyscrappers.

Suddenly I feel like I’m in Hong Kong!

Sorry, no pics on the dinner cos the guys attacked the food like hungry wolf… wouldn’t want to stop them just because I wanna take pictures. :P

Revisit Bangkok Part 1. 10th & 11th November 2007.

My trip this time was not as fun or exciting as the previous one, probably due to my travel companions or because of the long travelling hour to Pattaya. But anyway, enjoy the pictures.

This time, I went there with Stanley and two friends from Ipoh. Supposingly, there’s 6 of us. We booked our ticket during the AirAsia free ticket promotion in April. Sensei and her husband got the free ticket but the four of us only managed to get the RM39.99 deal. But then sensei realised she’s pregnant and it’ll be around 8-9 months old by December, so she and her husband decided to give the trip a miss. That left the four of us. Both friends from Ipoh boarded the flight earlier than the two of us.

Chinatown at night.

Our flight delayed for about 25 minutes but it’s ok. As our flight was at 2.05pm (due to the delay), by the time we reach Suvarnabhumi International Airport, it’s already 3pm++ Bangkok time. We drop our luggages at hotel (Silom Residence @ Trinity) and took a nap before dinner. We regroup and after some discussion… off we go to Chinatown!

Giant durians!

My boss told me that she had a good experience eating at one of the roadside stall here and we guess this is the place she referring to.

The place is really crowded with customers and I can hear some of them speaking in Mandarin, Cantonese, Thai and English.

This should be the original shop.

There’s another stall opposite it which attracts plenty of customers as well.

We waited for about 15 minutes to get a small table and we had Seafood Tom Yam which is a tad too mild but came piping hot and loaded with squids, fish fillets, button mushrooms and prawns.

Kai Lan with mushroom and crabmeat. The veggie is a bit too hard to chew and as you can see, not much leaves.

Best dish for the night. Oyster Omelette with plenty of big, fresh and juicy oysters (about twice the size we get here) and fluffy egg, minus the flour! No flour detected in this dish, just egg and oysters. Win any of our local stalls hands down.

The guys also polished two grilled crabs which I think is just ok. They also had the coconut juice and they love them. We went to Patpong for some shopping and also along the Silom Road after that.

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Next morning was Sunday, so it’s shopping time!

Simple breakfast at hotel. Pork and chicken frankfurters (plain), some pancakes which is fluffy but plain also, fried rice with peanuts and green curry fried vermicelli. Downed them all with a glass of orange juice.

We took the skytrain to the last station of Mo Chit and giggle constantly over the commercials showing in the train. When we’re down from train, I saw this line of colourful taxis outside Chatuchak Park.

I like these pictures and the shop too! It’s so colourful, I just can’t stop myself from taking pictures. Vincent bought two packs of the rubbery balls, mixed colours and red for Chinese New Year. Just poke them with the light bulbs at the hole provided and it’s ready to be hanged.

*Pictures below are dedicated to Precious Pea and all dog lovers.*

Silky Terrier?

This one was moving around constantly. I only managed to capture one good shot.

Sleeping Pumpkin! LOL… it’s a Pekingese I think.

Very cute and the fur is so soft. So nice to touch and pat.

Big pile of finger food. Fries, fritters, mini bread with stuffings etc.

Fried quail eggs. The aunty selling these cracked the quail eggs with ease onto a big wok with small indents. Didn’t try them though as I know they’re laden with bad fatty acids.

Ice blended juice. Pick any cup you want, pass to the girl and she’ll blend them into smoothies. Well, not really smooth as I can bite some apple chunks and ice cubes but it’s good especially during a hot afternoon.

We left Chatuchak around 3.30pm and went back to hotel. Tried to go to MBK Centre after dinner but realized the shopping malls there closes at 9pm, so basically just went there and grabbed a CD for a friend and back to Silom for more “look see look see”.

That concludes my day 1 and day 2.

*to be continue…