We reached Suvarnabumi Airport at about. 6pm including some delays. My watch was showing 7pm. I adjusted my watch an hour early coz Singapore and Bangkok has a time difference of 1 hour. The moment I step into the airport, there were many taxi agents standing there, bargaining taxi fares. My best advise is, just ignore them, as you can find the cheapest taxi outside the airport lobby coz its metered taxi ranging up to 350 bath for town distances. It can be cheaper than that. But make sure the taxi driver uses the meter. Some of them may refuse. Don't be bothered by them. :P We were victims.The taxi ride was about 30-40 min to the town. Before that, we strolled around the airport for food and an introduction on Thai people. See how they talk, how they dress, how they behave. :)
Me looking at the map in a restaurant at the airport. Trying to search for our hotel location.
After the long jam towards the city, we finally reached Malaysia Hotel. Not a luxury hotel but good enough for our vacation. We wont be spending time in the hotel anyway except for sleeping.
Our first destination was PatPong. We took a tuk-tuk costing about 50 baht..Actually its expensive. We didnt know about that until the next day when it only cost us 50 baht to stroll the whole city. PatPong is heaven for guys> :) Strip dance are everywhere but don't be cheated. Some are black market. Once you go in, you wont get out unless u pay them a huge sum of money. To be safe, go for those open air ones. Don't go to those that are closed. :) Open air ones have prety girl. Those closed ones have aunties, and very ugly ones. :0
PatPong Street.
We walked around the street and tried some junkies by the road side. Yum Yum!The street was so pack and the roads were so busy. Those cars wouldnt stop at the zebra cross at all. We had a hard time crossing those roads. And sometimes we got to use "the power of the palm". :) On the way back, we stop awhile at Mcdonalds. I think it's football fever. Even the toilets are written "Footballer" for mans and "Cheerleader" for ladies. We decided to take a walk back to the hotel. Turns out to be a 30-40 min walk. Hahaha... lost in the city of bangkok. Legs are tired, body smell of sweat. 1130pm~ tuck into our warm cozy blanket in our hotel room.Zzzzzzz.......
Lumpini MRT Station28th July~ Woke up at 6am. The sky was already bright. We started our Bangkok city travel. Lumpini MRT was 10 min walk from the hotel. I wouldnt say very near. But it is still a walking distance. Walk pass a lady selling "kueh-mueh". Bought some for breakfast. Our itinerary for the day begins with Wat Arun~Temple of the dawn. Stopped at Silom MRT and took the Skytrain to Saphan Taksin. Then took a boat along Chao Phraya River and stopped at Tha Thien. Almost got cheated by the private boat owner. He asked 500 baht to take us there. Immediately, we decline him. It was impossible that it would cost that much. Then we look at the local people, they were waiting at the jetty not far away. We walked there and found out it is a public transport waiting spot. :) The ferry only cost us 35 baht. :) After reaching , we took a crossing pier boat across the river to Wat Arun.
Ferry on Choa Phraya River.
830am:WatArun~One of the best known landmarks and one of the most published images of Bangkok. It is open every day from 8.30am to 5.30pm. Officially, entrance to the Wat is Baht. Perfect angle. Hehe...We took it by ourselves. Wonder how we took it??
We are about to climb the stairs of Wat Arun. Steep and high. That scaft was rented. They dont allow sleeveless.
It is possible to walk a limited way up the (very steep) stairs of the main prang, which gives a reasonable view of the Chao Phraya river. Beatiful view of Wat Arun along Chao Phraya River.
9.30am we took the crossing pier ferry again and headed for Wat Po. That is where the Reclining Buddha lies peacefully.
Wat Po - It is the largest Wat in Bangkok, and is the oldest too. Mainly famous for the huge Reclining Buddha statue. It's open every day, opening hours are from 08.00am to 5.00pm, with a break from 12.00pm to 1.00pm.
Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho. This angle was hard to take pictures coz this is the only spot where the whole Buddha can be seen. So everyone just stood there and keep blocking the way. I couldnt get the Buddha toes in the picture. :P Everyone is pushing me.1030am, we were suppose to be at the Grand Palace but unfortunately the Palace is closed till 230pm for some Thai events. :) But we were lucky coz one of the inspector saw us outside the gates and explain what's going on and he suggested that we visit other places and come back at 230pm. So our next destination was Wat Ratchanadda also known as Loha Prasat.
Loha Prasat- The pagado is a replica of the Loha Prasat built in India. The central tower has steps that lead you to the top. Wat Ratchanadda opens 08:30 to 18:00. There were people making movie when we visited this place. Haha, they got us in the background.
1pm: Wat Benchamabophit also known as Marble Temple. Maybe coz all the floors in the temple are made of marble.
Entrance of Marble Temple - It is not heavily promoted as a tourist destination, and therefore the number of foreign visitors is relatively small. Opening hours officially are between 8 A.M. and 5.30 P.M.
Phra Buddha Chinnarat at the Ubosoth of Wat Benchamabophit. Inside the temple. Another blue scaft.
Floors are marble
Small river outside the Wat Benchamabophit. Very nice
1.55pm: Tuk Tuk left us at the Seafood cruisine restaurant nearby the Grand Palace.
2.30pm: We took a 5 minutes walk to Grand Palace & Wat Phra Kaeo. We were wearing shorts and sleeveless. The guards wouldnt allow us to go into the palace. So we walk to the changing room beside the entrance and borrowed their thai attire. :)
Thai attire just to get into Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaeo . Open daily from 08.30 a.m. to 15.30 p.m.
Dusit Throne Hall
Grand Palace. On the way out coz its closing at 4pm.
4.30pm: We took a tuk tuk to Wat Saket. It closes at 530pm.
Climbing up the stairs to Wat Saket (Golden Mount). DingDong bell all the way up. :P
It is an artificial hill topped by a gilded pagoda. Finally reach the top after climbing 318 steps.
Windy and bells keep rhythming the air.
6.00pm: Headed for the mrt back to Lumpini. Across the road just opposite Lumpini Mrt is the Suan Lam Bazaar Night market. Its a very happening place. We did alot of shopping there. Luckily there's an atm that accepts singapore atm card. We walk and walk and walk until 10pm.
Shopping in Suan Lam Bazaar. The market is very big. Sells clothing, decorations, shoes......... watches... so many things.
In the market itself, there's a place for food and beer. There's a big stage with live band too.
We were back to the hotel room by 1100pm.
29th Jun~ We were supposed to wake up at 530am. But the alarm was set wrongly. So we woke up at 430am. Only 4 hour sleep. Today we are going out from Bangkok. Heading north towards Ayutthaya the ancient capital city of Thailand. We took the MRT from Lumpini to Hua Lampong. 2 hours train ride in a 3rd class seat. My backbone ache and really damn hot. But its quite an experience. Every time the train stops, sellers would board the train and sell their stuff~ drinks, cookies, dry food, sausages, vegetables.
On the train. 3rd class??? I think its like 10th class. :PAs the train travels further, cities begins to dissipate and jungles begun to evolve.
After 2 hours of sleepy journey, we finally reach Ayutthaya at 9am.
Got down from the train and we were approach by travel guides. They were willing to take us around for 200baht per hour.
Well and good. We accepted and boarded the tuk tuk. Driver's name was Prasit.
We reached Wat Yai Chai Mongkol (Chedi)
And we like it better compare to Bangkok. The Wats here are all ancient and very historic. It has some similarity with those wats in Cambodia.
Wat Yai Chai Mongkol-Reclining Buddha
The Great Chedi Serves as a symbol of prowess and sacrifice of the King and his soldiers, who with their national and religious devotion have brought about calm and peaceful assurance to the Thai people.
Chai Mongkol from a distance.
Chai Mongkol at the back.
Around Chai Mongkol. Buddha statues
It is already 945am. We boarded the tuk tuk but dont know where we were heading. He did say something about elephant. Well, he really took us to an elephant riding centre, Elephant Kraal. One ride cost 1100Baht per person. We both took the ride and it was scary and fantastic at the same time. No safety belts. The ride was about 1hour and 30 mins. It walked us around several ancient Wats ~Wat Kudi Dao , Wat Maheyong , Wat Na Phra Meru, Wat Phra Ram
Elephant's waiting for us.
Scary....!!
Something amazing about the elephant is that, it only hears its master. When the master call its name “Tao”, it blew its trunk. The master was just a boy about 20 plus. He has taken care of this elephant since he was 13 years old. And they both were best friend. He could control the elephant movement just with his bare foot behind its ear. Amazing. When the elephant was sturbborn, he hit its head so hard like it didnt hurt.
So we strolled and strolled and back to our tuk tuk at 1130am. Time was running out. We added 1 extra hour and that means another extra 200 baht for the driver. The driver was quite helpful. He drove very fast to save time. We stopped by the reclining buddha just to take a photo. I think its the biggest one. Then we continue heading towards Wat Chaiwattanaram.
Wat Chaiwattanaram is one of the important place in Ayutthaya. There's no way we could miss this. 
The architectural style is reminiscent of Khmer temples, like Angkor Wat
We walk into the ruins and the sun was so hot that I could barely see the sky. But something very special caught my eyes and I tried to look at the sky. I saw a huge rainbow circling the sun. Rainbow on a sunny day???? And a round rainbow??
That's very special isn't it? We took photos of it. :)
The temple was used as an army camp when Ayutthaya was besieged by the Burmese, in the attack of 1767. When Ayutthaya fell, Wat Chaiwattanaram suffered massive destruction, looting and decapitation of its many Buddha figures.
1230pm: We were ready on the tuk tuk but the driver wasnt there. :) I think he thought we were still strolling around. He saw us and quickly hop into his sit and drive like crazy. We reach Wat Mahathat . This will be our final touring place in Ayutthaya.
Wat Mahathat is famous of the buddha head inside the tree roots. That's one of the trade mark of being in Ayutthaya. I dont know why the head is there?
Wat Mahathat~ It almost looks like the tree is giving birth to him.
Wat Mahathat
Its time to go back to the railway station. Reach just right in time before the train move. On the train we both doze off but quite suffering becoz the seats are very straight up. And the windows are open, its hot and wind blowing very strong at the face.
3.30pm: Reach Hua Lampong railway station. Very sticky and smoky all over. There still time to catch a tuk tuk to Vinamek Muzeum and the Anantasamakom Throne Hall.
I manage to quickly snap a picture of the Anantasamakom.
In my opinion, both at that place is so boring. They have exhibitions on the kings stuff. Mostly made of gold. They don't allow photo takings there. And the worse part is that they don't even allow you to take photo of the building and any surroundings. Then what the heck are we going there for????
I find that the city, the government buildings, almost everywhere, the guards look like soldiers. They are very strict and they are concern on giving respect when entering any temples. No shoes, no short, no sleeveless, no eating... maybe no kissing too. Its like heaven and hell when u go to the temples and patpong street. Maybe in the morning some goes to the temple, then at night they go to patpong street. :0
Its only 4.30pm, we went to China Town. Many people say Chinatown is a great place to eat. But I find that, Chinatown is where the Chinese slaughter your wallet. Almost the whole stretch of restaurants are seafood, bird nest and shark fin .
Chinatown
We don't have any slightest interest in eating those. We walked around and stop at a sidewalk stall to eat. Its good enough for us. Cheap and delicious.
Food at chinatown street.
Then we continue walking along the streets searching for Wat Trimit. We founded it but its under construction. So, we headed back to the mrt station and straight to the hotel.
Wat Trimit under construction.
Took our bath and suddenly “thai massage” came into our mind. I didn't go for it, just Ah Soon. He enjoyed it while I walked back to my room to watch tv and take a rest. The massage center is next to the lobby. Very convinient. Not very expensive. About 200-300 baht per hour.
10:00pm: We took our supper at the hotel cafe. There is an after dinner set which starts after 1030pm. Hmm, we saw something special on the menu, “Chilly Morning glory”. So we ordered. :P Kakaka.. its actually sambal kangkung.
1130pm: Good night.
30th June~ Woke up very early to go to Chatuchak Market. But to our disappointment, it didn't open coz its a weekend market. And its Monday. But at least we where there right?
Chatuchak Market close on weekdays. :(
I took photos of the empty street. We stroll around and got stomach ache. We search everywhere for toilets. Lucky us, we manage to find one in a restaurant. It wasn't open yet. But they allow us in. Wow, world war 3 begins in the toilet! Maybe becoz of the spicy food we ate during our stay here. Then we went to Siam Paragon.
It wasn't open yet but we took some pictures of it. We went to Dunkin Donuts. Yum Yum, the donuts taste great. 
We were on our way to the mrt. We stop by Thao Maha Brahma at Erawan Hotel.
Thao Maha Brahma at Erawan Hotel. A man described to be mentally-deranged hammered the most-revered Pra Prom or Brahmin creator god at the Hyatt Erawan Hotel and reduced it into pieces before he was lynched to death...
We went back early to our hotel to check out. We try to pack our luggage into 2 bags. Its damn heavy with those stuff we bought from Suan Lum Bazaar.
Key to our hotel room.
After checking out, we headed for all the shopping complex nearby Esplanade. Someone with disabilities came askng for donation. We gave him 60 baht and he give us a keychain.
Donation gift.
What fruit is this? I saw it at the supermarket.
I dont dare to eat. Octopus!!!!!!
Mini cooper carshow at Esplanade
We had our very luxury ice cream treats there.
We took the taxi to the airport at about 5pm. We check in our bags and waited for our 6.15pm flight. 930pm we arrive Singapore. Took the mrt at Changi and when back straight to sleep coz tomorrow is a working day. Damn tired.
My tortoise is still in good condition. Peacefully sleeping and miss me as usual. :)
