Bangkok Pilgrimage

Bangkok may be a shopping haven to most of the tourists visiting the country. Little do a few know that this country is a home as well for pilgrimage. Predominantly Buddhist, Bangkok has more than 30,000+ temples, seen and distributed throughout the city.

Our second day itinerary was dedicated in frequenting the best, not to mention the most visited temples and religious sites not only for tourists but for locals as well. It was a must to engage ourselves in this cultural immersion. We had to partake and involve ourselves in experiencing this one of a kind trip, this adventure.



So in preparation for this so-called pilgrimage, we had to stuff a lot of carbs so we could walk, trek, run, climb or do whatever physical activity needed to keep up with our itinerary.

The first thing in my mind was stuffing up. In a more formal term - gluttony. Please do not be mistaken, the food on my plate was just a primer on what they offered. I went for breakfast themes. This my friends was what American breakfast was all about. I did a couple of trips back to the buffet table to try some other food offerings there. My photo was just the first of my 3 rounds, hihi.

Breakfast was just plain yummy. A lot of choices from breads to cereals to porridges to rice to main courses. You name it. They got it. They had a lot to choose from, except for ice cream. Who would want ice cream in the morning? Who in the world would ask for an ice cream early in the morning? Even children know better. Chris and Chars, can you even imagine? Haha.

After the sumptuous meal and four bulging stomachs, we still managed to have a good photo taken. The oh-so-good-food needs a perfect complement - a photo for keepsake. So after eating, we could not resist the Bangkok charm. There was nothing better than the Bangkok breeze touching your face after a sinful breakfast. Pure Bangkok air from a 43rd floor balcony of what once considered the tallest building in Thailand - Baiyoke Suites. It was almost orgasmic. But then again, I can only imagine.

After a few snapshots and a heavy breakfast, we started our trip for the day. The trip to the Chao Phraya River. The river that keeps Thailand on the map for trade. Our Tour Guide - Mr. Bank was saying that the river was very clean though the water was murky. The reason behind it was that water comes straight from the mountains down to Thailand. So there was no time for the water to clear.

We had the chance to get in a boat and journey the long stretch of the river. We had seen variety of temples on our way to Wat Arun - Temple of Dawn. The temples were really lavish structures. Very well built and the details were just unbelievable. Bangkok is indeed one darn place to visit. Those temple structures I only saw in books were in front of me. Real ones. My eyes were feasting and twinkling. I was just gazing at them, in plain awe.



The trip was reinforced with so much eureka moments when we got to Temple of Dawn - Wat Arun. This is a photo of me doing the traditional Thai pose. Can you see the designs of the temple? I did mimic the pose. And boy I was so awkward. But who cares. I still look fierce. Period. No objections.


After each of our solo photos taken, we of course would not dare to leave the place without our group photo. Sharing this experience with friends just doubled the "unforgetfulness" of this experience. It maybe hot climbing the stairs and moving around the premises. But no matter how scorching hot the sun was, for some reason, it became tolerable. Getting a tan from going around Wat Arun was something anybody could NOT do everyday, except if you were working there.




After the sunbathing at the temple task at Wat Arun, we needed to stuff ourselves again. We took our lunch at a local restaurant and ate our stomachs out. We still had to go to the famous "Four-Face Buddha" destination to conclude our Bangkok Pilgrimage. We heard from our Tour Guide that it was the place to go for well-wishers and people who needed some divine help from Buddha.

We all offered flowers and incenses to the Four Face Buddha. We all had our open mind to try and respect their faith. We all did what we were instructed to do. We did what we were told. We followed the instructions in praying and asking for our wishes to be granted.

It was a solemn experience. It gave me the added kick I needed to assure myself and prove to myself that I needed it. It gave me that other aura for respect for other religion and the knack in blending with others without prejudice.

After visiting the place, we all felt revitalized. We left the place with so much respect and tranquility.



Bangkok is just simply amazing.

Bangkok Fever

My Bangkok Madness started when I arrived on a Sunday - 21 September 2008, together with my 2 closest friends. After reuniting with Chris in Bangkok, we headed our way in exploring of what Bangkok had to offer us. We couldn't wait to set our sail on this foreign land and feel the Amazing Thailand experience.

Our first stop, Chatuchak Market - the famous week-end market that practically has the best finds you could possibly think of. And I was challenged. So was my ability to bargain.

It was known to be a tourist destination. So haggling was just a norm everyone just needed to follow. There were stalls where my charms worked magic to getting a few baht savings, to reserve for more beautiful items to purchase in the future. But majority of them, I was rather inefficient. I could not work wonders and haggle anymore as the stall owners said those were already discounted and fixed prices. Thanks to my impulsive friends, I could not work a way to lower down the prices a bit. The excitement showed obviously on their faces, the I-will-buy-even-without-the-discount-face.

There were items that I could not resist to buy myself. So instead of putting up false pretenses, I ended up as a hungry wolf. No discounts, no qualms. Just the power of buying. For some so-so ones, no discount, no buy for me. I got a few good stuff for myself. And OH YEAH, I was so proud!



And if you thought we forgot to snap a photo at Chatuchak Market, guess again. We are photo addicts. We don't forget. We just snap, snap and pose, just like professional models. Yep, models. At most times, good ole runway and print ad models. But in trashy days, more like jail prisoners at some isolated country for mug shots. But this one, we look so happy. But not glammed up. Nevertheless, can't complain. Bangkok, baby!



We never got to finish loitering around that big market. I think we were not even close to covering the quarter of the place's land area. My friends were starving and scared to eat street food. Three against one is really against democracy and clearly, the odds were against me. So we went to our next destination - SIAM PARAGON - BANGKOK!

Siam Paragon is the large version of Singapore's own Paragon Mall. It is super world class that even movie houses have VIP screenings that can charge as high as 700 Baht per movie. And that's less than SGD30. FOR a movie. And it did not come with a DVD version after watching it. Besides, they don't serve buffet inside. So it was not worth it.



We decided to dine and eat our heart out after walking the long stretched of stalls at Chatuchak Market. Binge eating was a must as we had more places to go that day. So we did. We ate traditional Thai food at a mall. (Talk traditional alright, haha.) It was the safest and the most logical option for my friends. So I went with them. It was a hearty meal for both my stomach and my eyes. Bangkok was a place for tourists. I mean, you look to your right, you see a tourist. You look to your left, you see the same. It's practically a tourist invasion. It was neat. I was already recharged and ready to go for war exploration. But before that, who wants coffee? :)
Starbucks has become a lifestyle in all parts of the world. Revving up the day with a dose of caffeine has gotten more and more popular. And Bangkok was no stranger to this. And so were we. We idled around at Starbucks, in Bangkok to rest for a bit and enjoy Bangkok air. After dosing up, we went and looked for Siam Ocean World.



After a few inquiries, we were able to pinpoint the place. It was marketed as the biggest ocean world, I was just not sure if it was in Asia or the world. I have had my hopes up. I expected a better Ocean World than the one I saw in Hong Kong and Sentosa, Singapore.

Well, let's just say it was not the best I had seen so far. In all justice to the place, there were some WOW moments and there were also BOO-HOO moments. But it was quite an experience with friends though. All we did was to enjoy and savour the moment spent together and appreciate the things to see. So it called for a lot of picture! picture! Picture, picture, picture meant fun, fun, fun!






Ocean world offered a lot of interesting things to do. And as tourists, we did everything. From viewing the aquariums to riding on a galssboat to watching their very own 4D animation. You name it, we captured and got everything under our sleeves. There was not a single thing we missed in Siam Ocean world. Not one. For that 1000 Baht we paid for, it was all worth the trip.We went around Siam Paragon after that Siam Ocean world experience for ocular satisfaction. We walked around a lot and jumped from one mall to the other. We even managed to watch a movie in between. I didn't know if it was coincidence or not but we chanced upon Nicholas Cage's movie - Bangkok Dangerous. From then on I knew that we were up for more eureka moments in Thailand - both in Bangkok and Pattaya.

The tuk-tuk ride was the highlight of the night. We could not get a cab to bring us back to the hotel and this guy could not help but overhear our bargaining to cab drivers. The drivers wanted to rip and charge us for 100 to 150 baht. And this counter offered for 80 baht. We decided to say yes and experience the adrenaline rush for this ride. All for experience guys! :)

And do you remember the ad of Pierce Brosnan for Visa that was shot in Thailand? Yes, it was that fast and furious. No street rules, no speed limits. Just the tuk tuk driver in his own bubble and us at the back holding on to our dear lives.
We arrived at the hotel in one piece but at the end of it all, we needed to have a photo taken, of us of course. Thanks to the driver's shaky hands, our photo looked like a poster of a Thai horror movie.

Thailand Interlude

I have been planning to write about the Thailand Trip I had together with my closest friends and it has been delayed and delayed as I had to update the photos we had taken, upload and share the files to all four for us. Writing captions to each one was a tedious but rewarding task. But did I say energy sucking task as well? Hehe.

And for the love of God, I had to update my friendster account, too. Updating it is as important as updating my multiply account. Facebook just comes as second priority. That explains the less pictures and less activity to my account. I wonder what happened to my virtual pet -Snowball. Does she still know me? Or has she found another master?

Anyways, I will be writing about my Thailand trip really soon. As I write from experience, I hope to justify Thailand as amazing as it did to us. I hope to satisfy myself above all else. It helps me stroke and build my ego more.

I am still a guy. I need my ego stroked every once in a while. Pathetic. Haha.

Here is a photo that proves how much I love myself. This is just me at the beach. Nothing fancy. But I like it, I look so fierce and effortless. Ahem!

Amazing Thailand!

Despite of friends telling us NOT to go to Bangkok, Thailand due to some political feud and riot, we (we to include Marky, Chris, Charo and Me) still decided to stick to our plan and push through it.

Yes, my three friends and I considered postponing our trip. But as days passed by, the bad publicity just stuck its highest down to its rock bottom. We heard news from left to right saying that everyone was frantic and rallies just happen here and there. There were also news a couple of days after that showing that the political situation had stabilized. That was our go signal. We could not postpone it.

There were cautionary warnings from various embassies of different countries, but nothing grave to be worried about for us. We would not go there to make a stand for our political beliefs, we would go there to shop and see the country. In other words, we were tourists, not protesters.

After all, we paid for it. And we could not refund the money back. The best we could do was pray hard and hope for the best. And oh yes, get travel insurance, too in case something unexpected happens. In case you're wondering, we really did get travel insurance. Better be safe than sorry. Let's just say we had our reservations. But we still pushed thru.

So we did. Going to Thailand has been the best decision I have made so far in my life! Had I decided to postpone the trip, I would have missed the once in a lifetime experience in immersing myself to Thailand's culture. I would wave regretted feeling the Thais' warm welcome, the Sa-wat-dee greetings, the genuine smiles, the adventure and the heart felt experience as a whole.

This whole trip became an eye-opener for me. The trip has made me realize that I can do lots of things with faith, friends and believe in myself.

I so disagree that Bangkok is a dangerous place to go. It's not even close to that word. Shoppers consider this place as paradise. Some as a pilgrimage for faith-driven people. But above all else, Thailand, not only Bangkok, is a place of fun and a country of the free.

Thailand after all means "freedom land". No limits, no boundaries. Just imagination.

Just amazingly Thailand!