Sawasdee Ka... (Part 1)

meaning: Greetings... in Thai

Day 1 (Sun 10 Dec 06)
We (my parents and I) arrived in Suvarnabhumi - Bangkok new airport at 4pm... it was good to see my lil sis again... similar to Jakarta, traffic congestion means everything takes longer than you have predicted... although it was a sunday... it was interesting to see that in many ways Thailand is similar to Indonesia... same climate... same time zone... similar culture... but yet so different... different food... different people... I might be biased because I am on holiday, but they seem friendlier than Indonesian hahaha...

Nothing much we can do in the evening, we managed to get good dinner before we went back to my sis' apartment... we went to this Sonboon restaurant having some delicious Thai food...

clockwise from left: tom yum koong, bitter melon leaves with garlic, pork spare ribs, crab meat with curry powder, pork and prawn balls, and hot and sour fish

Day 2 (Mon 11 Dec 06)
It's public holiday in Thailand so my sis can keep us company... we took a cab from my sis apartment to Mo Chit BTS Skytrain Station... got on the BTS Skytrain, changed at Siam Station, and got off at Saphan Taksin Station... from there, we took a boat along Chao Praya River to the Grand Palace...


As soon as we got off the boat, there is some traditional market selling local food so we had lunch there... I managed to try this interesting grilled bananas on skewer, covered with some syrup... I quite like it...


By then, the weather was really really hot and humid... walking about 50 metres to the Grand Palace feel like ages... once we got there, we just took photos hahaha... like other tourists... and that's it... I can't take the heat anymore...


So we decided to go to the closest shopping mall with air-condition... so off we went to MBK... I don't know if I can find a parallel for this in Australia... but in Jakarta, this is like 'Pasar Baru'... you can bargain, and it was fun!! I converted A$100 to Baht 2,576... after shopping the whole afternoon, buying some tops and some summer dresses I am still left with almost Baht 1,000!! Which means I only spent less than A$70!!

By sunset, my feet cannot take it anymore, they are killing me!!! So we went home...

Today, we saw so many people wearing yellow t-shirt on the street... apparently it is a symbol to respect their king... His Majesty King Bhumibol was born on a monday... and in Thailand the colour for monday is yellow... so for the whole year, to celebrate the King's 60th Anniversary of Accession to the Throne and the King's 80th Birthday, everyone will be wearing yellow t-shirt every monday... (but you will see later that because the people loves their King so much, they'll be wearing the yellow t-shirt any day!! not just on monday)

Day 3 (Tue 12 Dec 06)
It's my sis birthday today... this is the whole reason my dad insisted we have to arrive in Bangkok either Sunday or Monday... because we want to be here to celebrate together!!

Don't want to repeat yesterday experience, we tried to be less ambitious with our holiday schedule... so the day started later... we left home around 10ish and walked to the nearest shopping mall... the walking isn't too far but with the humid weather I guess we all get tired easily and walking in the heat seems like a torture hahaha...

I was a little disappointed because this shopping mall is just like other shopping mall in Melbourne or Jakarta where all items are expensive... I mean, making sense because they are selling imported goods... but I want local stuff, so I can buy more!!!

But the food isn't too bad... just outside the building they have a long line with food stall... lots of interesting food... I tried meat balls noodle soup... at a glance it looks like 'mie bakso', the one I used to have in Jakarta by the road side... but the taste is quite different... it has more Thai taste... a bit sour from the lime juice I think... later found out from my sis that it was Tom Yum Noodle Soup...


Unlucky in retail therapy today, we came home early and stayed cool with the air condition... and when my sis came home we went to have a simple dinner nearby... some steamboat (or some people know it as hot pot)...

Check out more photos here...