Tuesday, June 02, 2009
12:28 AM

Sawadee Siam!

Thailand.
26 to 30 May.

Thirty. Bangkok. I finally reached Bangkok for my first time, though most of my peers have been there several times! We stayed at Khao San, where everything was happening, as we witnessed at 5am when we first arrived!

The first thing I had to do in the morning was to get to the Myanmar Embassy and have my visa done within 2 days! The story goes that I checked Singapore's Myanmar Embassy website and it said nothing about the new year celebrations in which it would be closed for 10 days. So off I headed to the embassy early in the morning only to find that it's closed! So I tried again a few days later and made a call to ensure that it was open. The queue was horribly long and I waited for almost an hour before I was being attended to, only to realise from a rude staff that I could not have my visa done within 2 days, in time for my flight. Luckily this Swiss lady told me I could have express visa done in Bangkok. In fact, I could've had it in Singapore if I "paid a little more". However, being a Singaporean, this idea didn't cross my mind.

Anyhow there I was trying to get express visa from the tour agencies only to realise that the embassy no longer allows that, which meant I had to make my way to the embassy in Bangkok and get the visa directly from them. All these hassle was merely a prelude to the kind of life I would expect in Myanmar, and how the government would make your life so difficult you have no choice but to pay more. Fortunately the embassy staff at Bangkok was much friendlier and nicer than that in Singapore, despite the "friendly ties" between our countries, and much Thai-Burmese warfare.

The sleep-inducing yet interesting Khlong taxi ride and walk along the streets gave me a feel of Bangkok. It felt a little KL-ish, but special because of the wide Mekong river that cradled Bangkok life, portraits of the King everywhere and chedis within sight all over the city.

On the Khlong taxi.

Our first lunch was to be Sizzler buffet, with free flow drinks and at less than half the price than in Singapore! I also finally got my dose of Watsons, finally, where I could all the brands I needed, which I doubt would be available in Myanmar anyway.

I was told MBK is a must-go, so I did and caught Angels & Demons which was pretty good! Though I read the book, I couldn't really remember the exact plot, so the movie did me good. Finally, the night was crazy drinking at Khao San such that my stomach was threatening to burst!

Horrible Bangkok traffic.

Local beers.

Thirty-one. Damnoen Saduak, Nakhon Pathom & Kanchanaburi. First thing in the morning was Damnoen Saduak Floating Market to avoid the tourist crowd. Being the first customers also give us more bargaining power. Check out our covered and bigger boat at lower/same price as other tourists! With our empty stomachs, we were really seeking breakfast and totally not interested in the souvenirs for sale...

They sell everything from food to souvenirs to clothes on the floating market.

First time eating soup noodles on a moving boat!

Siamese pancakes (like Apam Balik)

Mango with sticky rice was so yummy!

We even met friendly uncles at the songthaew station!

Next station was Nakhon Pathom, which claims to be the oldest city in Thailand. It houses the tallest Buddhist monument in the world, at 127m high. It was indeed very grand, despite being under maintenance, but what interested me more was how the locals did their prayers. We followed suit as the devotees hit the gongs one by one.

Phra Pathom Chedi

Finally we headed to Kanchanaburi to check out the Death Railway. The museum visit helped us understand the construction of the Death Railway by the POW. It was built for strategic reasons - to nip the support from the Allied to the Chinese troops in the bud. A very unfortunate turnout was that European and US victims were named, but Asian victims had to die anonymous deaths, as if they were all born to live and die as slaves...

At Kanchanaburi, I had my first ever Thai massage, half the price offered in Bangkok, and boy, the masseuse pressed all the right muscles and nerves and it was good! In fact it was the best massage I had in the whole trip. I still rank Balinese massage as no. 1, but Thai massage is a close second. It seems Khmer massage attempts to copy Thai massage, but fails in terms of skills.

Our nice floating guesthouse.

With great view.

The thing about travel books is that they rarely recommend good local food. Usually they recommend touristy places. Anyhow, Rough Guide miraculously introduced a night gluttons market in which we checked out the cheap local food. I bet we were the only tourists in the market that night!

Fried oysters with eggs

Rice balls and beancurd in ginger soup were heavenly!

Gross bugs!

Thirty-two. Death Railway. The museum was definitely more meaningful than the train ride along the Death Railway. Besides the train was awfully long from Kanchanaburi-Nam Tok-Kanchanaburi-Thonburi but at least we got to enjoy the beautiful River Kwai and understand impenetrability of the terrain that made the work so difficult, almost impossible. It was meant to be a little eerie/haunted, but it was in broad daylight with plenty of photo-snapping tourists.

The famous bridge on River Kwai.

Tourist train!

The highlight for the day was nice people at Thonburi that offered us a ride to the Khlong Taxi jetty! The boy who pillioned the 2 of us was simply amazing!

Thirty-three. Bangkok. At the Royal Palace, we were told there's only audio guide and no free tours available despite what's written on Lonely Planet. We decided to give unguided tour a try, but found out there's actually free tours in the palace! The best part was that this guide not only told us the background and history of the palace, he could even crack jokes, act like a monkey and sing Thai poetries! I recall him telling us the importance of the epic story of Ramayana in Thai culture where demons took the princess. War happened between the humans' magical monkeys and the demons.

Beautiful wall paintings.

6 sets of such demons by the gate.

I had to wear the sarong to uphold modesty.

Wat Phra Kaew, also known as the Pantheon that housed the Emerald Buddha

This huge golden stupa was originally all gold but unfortunately destroyed. It's amazing how the Thais could lament how it's merely decked out in golden mosaics and no longer golden slabs anymore.

The difference between the monkeys and demons? Monkeys open their mouths and have no shoes "as they have no money" (ad verbatim from the guide).

Some palace buildings had European influence as King Rama V was impressed by western architecture, but later added Thai roofs to appease objections from family members. But to me, the Thai palace is much grander than any European palaces as they are always so elaborately embellished on the outside with such intricate carvings and details. European designs, on the other hand, emphasise simplicity on the exterior and elaboration on the interior.

Basil leaf rice was good!

The Wimanmek Teak Mansion was impressive with 72 simple, yet lavish rooms, definitely grander than any palaces we visited in Vietnam. The most interesting part had to be a separate section featuring traditional Thai houses to host the King's commoner friends.

Wimanmek Teak Mansion.

Dinner was curry crab at Chinatown, which was Timo's first ever crab. I've had so many different kinds of crab, but curry crab really? It's not the curry ayam kind of curry, but sort of like chilli oil with egg, which sounds disgusting, but tastes awesome!

My first blood bird's nest! Thor told us horror stories about how the bird had to cough out blood to build the nest when it had run out of saliva. Myth! The colour is really from the minerals consumed by the birds. The grades are also not because of the content from the spit, but that later nests are used to raise the young, thus contaminated. I also found out that swallows' nests are made solely from their saliva, no twigs, no leaves. Swallows are such amazing animals!

Thirty-four. Bangkok. We should have a Jatujak market in Singapore, which sells everything that you need at one place and cheap prices!

Thai milk tea looks orange, but tastes really good!

It's so great we finally got to meet up with Kam! It's great to see her after a long time, and having a local bring us around to get the best food and best deal! Though we have bubble tea in Singapore, and that Thailand isn't exactly known for its bubble tea, the milk tea was indeed awesome. And what made it so special was not just the taste of the milk tea, but that the pearls were the softest and most Q I ever had, and the beancurd pudding in it! Even the Portuguese egg tarts were worthy for a fight with Macau's!

Very unique bubble milk tea with pearls and beancurd pudding.

Yummy Portuguese egg tarts!

Thanks to Kam, we had an awesome and authentic Thai dinner, featuring fried prawns, tom saep, morning glory and tom yam kung fried rice!