DESTINATION: Bangkok, Thailand and nearby towns
Travel Dates: September 5-8, 2010
The first idea was to have sibling-bonding moments in Boracay, Cebu, and Bohol for 5 days. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, that plan had been scraped off to my dismay. Now only have I realized that when a narrow window closes, wide doors open... Thus, my Visayan tour had been replaced with an out-of-country adventure!
As the dates draw near, threats about not pushing through with it had presented themselves. But, alas! My mom's prayers had been heard. She was actually more excited about the trip than I was. She'd call from the US from time to time to make sure that I had prepared my stuff for the said trip.
I had to miss a fun climb in Mt. Romelo for this trip. But it was all too worth it. ;)
My sis arrived from LA at 6:00am of September 5th, Sunday. We fetched her from the airport and brought her to our new residence for her to leave her luggage. Then, after a few minutes and a bio break, the two of us had to leave for our Bangkok Trip which was scheduled at 12:15pm.
We arrived at Bangkok around 4:00pm. Once at the hotel, we immediately left and looked for a church so that we could attend a mass. We did. Unfortunately, we didn't understand the sermon for it was spoken in Sanskrit (Old Siamese language). We had no choice but to listen and guess which part of mass are we in and answer in the language we know best--ahem, English. ^_^
Later that night, we went around the street market and some decent stuff to buy for Ate Leda's business. Then, we had all-u-can-eat seafood grill dinner at the rooftop of Baiyoke Hotel. I guess we had too many food and have had too many choices for shopping that we got so exhausted. Or was it jetlag?
We started our second day in Bangkok a little too early: 4:00am because we knew that it would take us long to shower and get our hair done. Call time for the city tour was at 7:00am. We were ready after 20 mins of buffet breakfast. Too many choices, and we could have as much as we could, but we had to hurry down. :'(
We were supposed to go to many places in Bangkok but some of the attendees weren't able to make it and we waited for too long, we had to cut the tour short and visited temples, instead. I knew I wasn't dressed for temple tour, so I had to wear my sister's jacket in some occasions.
The tour was fun. Got to see lots of golden Buddhas. I learned that there were too many versions of them. It was like being in another dimension. I was there but I don't seem to be. It was like a dream. My most favorite part of the tour was having to ring too many bells. Each bell promises a wish bound to become a reality. I wished for too many things but the bells seemed more, I had to repeat some of my wishes. ;)
Another exciting part was touching the belly of the fortune Buddha with our wallets. The ritual promises not running out of money.
The most interesting part of the temple tour was being mistaken for a Siamese Actress. I seem to have lots of doppelganger nowadays. Ha! Ha!
Our tour ended just before lunch so we had our tour bus bring us to the Paragon Mall, a Greenbelt-type mall in Bangkok. After having Thai lunch, we toured the city by foot. We passed by MBK, Isetan, and many other malls. We stopped at Isetan, where an altar of the four-faced Buddha stands. It is believed that the said Buddha would grant his devotees success, fortune, health, and happiness. My sister paid respect.
Right after, we decided to go back to the hotel to freshen up. Then off we go to the street market again. Before calling it a night, we had soup at a Thai Eatery.
The following morning had to be started as early. It's the Elephant Tour Day! We didn't know that the Elephant Village was very far from Bangkok. It took us around 2 1/2 hours to get there. The travel was worth it. We first went to a sugar factory to learn the process of making Thai sugar made from palm fruit. Then, ooff we went to the Elephant Village where we saw many houses built for the elephants. We rode the elephant for 600 Baht per pax. The next stop was the floating market. Being aboard a motorboat was fun. The last time I had a similar experience (without the life vest) was when I was in high school. I enjoyed shopping for hats!
We had a few more kilometers to travel before we reached the Elephant and Crocodile Farm. We watched an Elephant Show there are the sumptuous buffet lunch. Then, there was this Crocodile Show which was as entertaining. Afterwards, we visited some jewelry factories and leather stores before going back to Bangkok. I was so glad to be back in Bangkok as it was going to be my last evening there.
A few more shopping and after taking a shower, off I went to the airport which was a railway ride away. It was raining hard but the railway system made it easy for us to get to the airport without having to ride a cab. I was aboard PAL flight bangkok to Manila at 11:00pm of September 7th. At 4:00am of the following morning, I was already back at the Centennial Airport...
