Thailand in a Weekend part 2

DAY 2

Day 2 started with breakfast, again courtesy of the girlfriend.

kakagising lang pero puro pagpapa-cute ang iniisip... :)

After breakfast, we prepared for our trip to Chatuchak Weekend Market. We walked from the serviced apartment to the Thailand Cultural Center MRT station. From there, we took the MRT to Kamphaeng Phet MRT station, and walked to Chatuchak Weekend Market.

Chatuchak is Thailand's version of Divisoria. It's got everything from clothes, souvenirs, handicrafts, pets, and of course, food!

We wanted to taste some of the street foods Thailand has to offer, so we went around the market:

chicken, pork, pork, and oh look! pork!

more street foods, papaya and green mango salad, and mama noodles

local icedrop

the refreshing icedrops (and yes, we were wearing matching shirts... can anything be more spectacularly cheezy?... hehehe)

another local favorite: coconut ice cream

So after buying some souvenirs and stuff, we felt a bit thirsty, so we went off to try the local drinks.

We saw one small stall offering our version of "samalamig". We bought one which looked like buko-pandan juice. After giving our money, manang tindera takes it, and gets a plastic cup with some pre-made buko-pandan juice. After that, she uses her BARE HANDS to grab a hand-full of crushed ice and unceremoniously puts it inside the cup. Yum Yum! Buko-pandan juice with a dash of manang tindera's sweaty palm extracts with a light hint of water-based bacteria and quite possibly Hepa A!

can you just see my utter excitement over drinking this buko-pandan juice?!

So obviously, drinking it was not an option. (although I sipped a little just to know how it tastes like... infairness, masarap! hahahaha...) The best and safest option at this point was to buy canned drinks:

I've never been so happy to see a hygienically processed canned drink! Pero si girlfriend, picture pa din ang nasa isip! Hehehe...

After that refreshing drink, we proceeded to walk back to the MRT station to head back home.

While waiting for the train, we decided to sit for awhile since our feet were aching!

sakit ng paa namin e!

Once back at the Thailand Cultural Center MRT station, we walked to the Esplanade Mall to have dinner at Paula Pop Thai Restaurant.

yup, let's end the day with the beautiful food model... :)

After dinner, we walked back home to watch a DVD of Pursuit of Happiness.

By 9pm we started preparing to go to the airport for her trip back to the Philippines.

We arrived early in the airport so we spent a few minutes just standing near the entrance of the immigration counters. A lot of people were there too, some were couples emotionally hugging each other goodbye. Haaay, sadness...

Another sad goodbye. (is there such a thing as a happy goodbye?)

Thus ends Day 2 of the happiest weekend of my Thailand exile.

Thailand in a Weekend part 1

As I've mentioned previously, my dear company has decided to send me alone as sacrificial lamb to Thailand.

Being alone in a foreign land is only good when you're there for a short period of time. But if you're going to stay for more than a few days, it's gonna drive you insane! (not that there's much sanity left in me to drive-out!)

Thank goodness, on my third week, the girlfriend decided to visit me over the weekend. Wooohooo!!! :-D

Given the limited time we had, we only went to the places which were near the serviced apartment.

DAY 1

Day 1 started with a hearty breakfast courtesy of the girlfriend. Toasted bread, ham, eggs, bacon, and sausage. I finally had a chance to drink the coffee that the girlfriend promised to make me when we first met. And the verdict: Yup, it's as good as she said it was, probably even better! If only all mornings started this way, I wouldn't mind waking up early! (yes, I will stop the cheeziness here...)

After breakfast, we cleaned-up and prepared the stuff we need to bring. And as usual, the girlfriend took some shots before leaving... Adik sa pictures...

It's poses like this that make me doubt the year of birth they put on my birth certificate

We walked to the Thailand Cultural Center MRT station and took the MRT to Sukhumvit Station. From there, we then took a Skytrain to MBK shopping mall. From MBK, for experience's sake, we rode a Tuktuk to the Grand Palace. A tutuk is Thailand's version of our tricycle.

The Tuktuk we took (say 10x, just for kicks) to the Grand Palace

The ride reminded me of the Philippines, the traffic, the heat, the pollution... Pinas na pinas ang dating!

After a couple of minutes, we were already in the Grand Palace compound.

The monks outside the compound

One of the scary statues that guard the temple entrance

The wall paintings in the compound near the Temple of the Emerald Buddha

The girlfriend and me... ay mali...

...ito pla...

The "macho" girlfriend and the Grand Palace

More pictures of the Grand Palace grounds in a separate blog post. :)

Anyway, after going around and taking pictures, we decided to go back to MBK Shopping mall to have lunch and to buy some pasalubong.

We had our lunch at MK Restaurant located at the 2nd floor of MBK Shopping mall. MK Restaurant specializes in hot-pot dishes, which apparently is one of the girlfriend's favorites! Ang galing ko talaga manghula! :)

Ang pagbabalik ng dakilang food model...

After lunch, we walked around and bought a couple of stuff for our friends back home. After a good walk around the mall, we decided to have some coffee at Starbucks and of course, we bought one of those huge-ass city mugs. After coffee, we decided to go back home to prepare for dinner.

The girlfriend promised to cook her "famous" carbonara, and some shrimp (my favorite!!!) So the moment we got back to the serviced apartment, we started to prepare the things we needed. We cooked dinner (and by that, I mean I cut some of the stuff and made some mess, and she did everything else!).

A few minutes later, dinner was ready!

Hmmmnn.... Sarap ng dinner! :)

Thus ends Day 1

The fat and 'sossy' Thai dogs of the CBD

One thing I've noticed so far about Thailand are the stray dogs. Since last week, I've seen more than 10 stray dogs. Let me remind you that I'm staying in the Central Business District. It's strange to be seeing wandering animals in a place of business. So far, I haven't encountered any stray dogs in Makati. Nor have I encountered any of them in Singapore (even in residential areas)

Another strange thing was that majority of the stray dogs I've seen so far are FAT!

It was only after a one or two days ago that I realized that they weren't stray dogs after all, but are owned by the people selling streetfoods. (imagine all the left-overs, eat-all-you-can-streetfoods?! no wonder they're fat!)

Another thing I've noticed is that they don't bark. I guess they have already gotten so used to many people that they find it somewhat barbaric and unsophisticated to bark.

Funny thing, the other day, while I was walking outside to buy dinner, a dog passed by me. Hanging from it's mouth was a clear platic bag with a piece of fried chicken inside, as if it had just purchased it from one of the roadside stalls.

Even though I was hungry and very much in a hurry to buy food, I had to pause for a moment and looked back at the dog. I thought to myself - "What the hell just happened?!" and then I contemplated whether I can try to snatch the food from the dog... (hey, I was hungry!) I fought the urge to bully the dog, only because I think it can take me down any given day.

Up until now I am still wondering about that day. (I know, way too much time on my hands...) Was it delivering the food to someone else? Did it buy it for itself and decided to eat it at home because it's so "yuck, kadiri naman, eating in the streets. eww..." They are, after all, in the CBD. :)

Yes, it's a slow workday today... waaaaay too much time on hands for posting non-sense... :))

Sawat-dee from Thailand!

(Hello from Thailand!)

I'm in Thailand right now for the support and maintenance(read: babysitting) of one of our platforms on one of the Telcos here.

I've been here since Wednesday, and plan to leave by the 4th of Feb. Since I'll be staying for quite a long time, we got a serviced apartment instead of a hotel room. The unit is nice. It's got a kitchen, a washing machine, a fridge, a dining area, a sofa, 2 TVs - one in the living room, and one in the bedroom. For a homebody, it's a great place to stay, but it's kind of sad to be alone in such a big place. Maybe if I had someone with me, it would be perfect. *ahem* girlfriend *ahem* hehehe...

As for the country itself, so far, so good. The prices of stuff are cheaper than in Singapore, especially the food and clothes. The streets kind of remind me of the Philippines, including the traffic jam! :) The people are polite and friendly. My only problem is the communication. Most of the people I encounter are not very fluent in English, which could be very frustrating. (especially when you're hungry!)

I'll try to post some pictures soon.

Sawat-dee!
(goodbye!)

*yes, "Sawat-dee" both means hello and goodbye! Great, right?! That's one less greeting to memorize! :)