Bangkok

Hearing: Agnes - Release Me


Chaktuchak Weekend Markets
These markets are massive and are only open on the weekend. They sell almost everything you can think of, furniture, clothes, household goods, jewelery, pets, ornamentals and much more! You can spend hours just wandering around looking and things - and you can quite easily get lost too. One way to get to the markets is to walk through a park near the train station. Some school kids were doing an assignment and a boy approached me with a survey about Thai food all in English to practice. They were really sweet and as i love Thai food i was more than happy to answer their questions. I even got a photo taken with them but i cant seem to find it.

Anyway getting back on track. The photos below are from the markets and some of the funky stuff on sale. One photo is of the infamous Bangkok traffic - see the blue taxi...and the clothes photo - no its not for dolls, its dog clothes, there were a bunch of shops specialising in all sorts of dog outfits!

The last photo is Tom Yum Soup. It is devine! Usually made with prawns or seafood this is such an addictive dish. There is a small restaurant near Pantip Plaza (a technology mall) which sells this soup for 35-40 bhat (about one dollar) and its one of the best ive had. Even the dish they serve it in is cool. By the way, since coming back to Sydney, ive tried a Tom Yum here (13 dollars) and they had noodles in it!! So very wrong...lol!









Wat Arun - The Temple of Dawn

Wat Arun is a beautiful temple. The best time to go is either at dawn as the name suggests or dusk. Of course you can go during the day when you can walk around inside but going at night is something a little different and you get the place to yourself. To get there, try taking the local water taxis, one guy tried to charge 400-600bhat for a private trip there and back but with the local ferry/taxi its 3bhat (or was it 6bhat?) per sector. Now thats a big difference! So be adventurous and try them, you get a cool ride on the river with the rest of the locals on a traditional motorised long boat and a view of the temple from a very different angle.



Cabbages and Condoms Restaurant

Its not as sleazy as it sounds!! I tried to find a link to the restaurant in Bangkok but google advised that its an unsafe site so your just going to have to trust me on this (you can find its sister restaurant site in the Birds and Bees Resort, Pattaya here).

Initially my flatmate mentioned it to me (when we were both FA's) so i had to go check it out for myself.











Street food for dinner





Next stop - Ayutthaya

VP

Thailand trip updates

Hearing: I gotta feeling - Black Eyed Peas

Its high time i posted about my trip to Thailand dont you think?

I think i'll break my posts up according to the main places i visited though otherwise it will be a marathon post! Be warned, they will be photo intense!! So starting with Bangkok - Ayutthaya - Chiang Mai - Doi Inthanon - Phuket - Phang Nanga Bay. Hmm and i think i'll make a seperate post about the local carriers too. I think our carriers in Australia can learn a thing or two.

Overall it was a brilliant trip. The moment i set foot in Bangkok i felt like id arrived home...Hmmm i'm sure ive said that somewhere before and im sorry if im repeating myself. Can i just say Thai Airways are just lovely to fly with! I have this habit now of always watching what the flight attendants do in regards to safety demos and service and comparing with my old airline or other airlines ive flown with. Needless to say that from a service point of view they were very sweet and wonderful.

Hmm looks like this post is already turning into a post about carriers...well why not? I flew with Thai Airways from Sydney to Bangkok return. Learn to love online check in people!! I picked myself a window seat before leaving home, and skipped the long que when i arrived at the airport, the look on peoples faces...they must have thought i was que-jumping! Anyway i digress...From Bangkok to Chiang Mai i flew Air Asia. Chiang Mai to Phuket was the "we fly smiles" Nok Air and Phuket to Bangkok was One-Two-Go (operated by Orient Thai). All were wonderful as low cost carriers go. And beleive it or not, you dont have to pay for everything, they offered free drinks (non-alcholoic of course) and peanuts/savoury snacks. Well done i say! It just that little bit extra that is really appreciated. You wont get that on Virgin Blue or Jetstar here! And they were so, so cheap!

Being an ex-flight attendant im also in the habit of reading the safety card each time i get on a new aircraft. I came across one on Nok Air that was really brilliant and different. They used cartoon anime to illustrate the safety card. It really got my attention and gave me a laugh too - the drawings were too cute! See for yourself!

A handy thing to know about these carriers if you are going to use them are the airports they fly in/out of. Air Asia operates to Bangkoks Suvarnabhumi Airport but Nok Air and One-Two-Go operate out of Bangkoks Don Muang Airport. I think Don Muang is a bit closer to the city than Suvarnabhumi and it was the main airport for all international and local carriers till Suvarnabhumi was finished. Im not sure but i beleive it was a military airport before its commercial use and now most of it has closed down now save for those two low cost carriers operating out of it.

On to uniforms!

Nok Air - Canary Yellow! But somehow i like it. Googling "Nok Air Uniforms" i found a cool blog all about flight attendants that i'll be adding to my links. Click here for the post with a photo of Nok Air flight attendants in their uniform. I also found this photo which just looks fantastic.

Air Asia - Red with a white shirt, very attention getting and it looks great. You can see it on the splash page of the airlines website.

One-Two-Go - Navy suit and white shirt with coloured stripes around the neck, pics here and here.

I have to say (if you havent figured it out already) im partal to Nok Air. Its a refreshing fun airline, the colors are bright, the staff friendly, service good, cheap fares, even the planes they fly are colourfully painted with the nose painted with a beak to make it look like a bird! Look at this one.

Ok so on to the next posts. I'll try and make a post a week at the least so stay tuned!

VP

Hello from Kata Beach, Phuket

Hearing: Waves crashing on the beach

Yours truely is currently walking along the beach and splasing around in the shallow waters. Ive been taking some photos and just generally enjoying the view, sun, sand and the sound of the waves.

Its monsoon season and red flags are dotted right along the beach which means strong undercurrents and no swimming allowed. But everyone is ignoring that and taking a dip anyway. I actually find that a bit worring because if something should happen there are only a couple of life guards around and they are mainly towards one end of the beach.

Anyway, im not a strong swimmer so i´ll be sticking to tanning, taking photos, people watching and playing in the shallow waters to cool off. I feel very lucky because im sure it must be freezing back home and here i am on a beautiful beach with a cloudless sky and perfect water...

VP

Chang Mai, Thailand

Hearing: Thai tv series, hum of crickets, fan whirring

Im in Chang Mai, at a lovely little boutique hotel. Its brand new and has only been operating a year. At the moment im using their free internet in the lobby to download some of the photos from my camera on to a usb drive and hopefully to upload some into this post. But im getting a wee bit sleepy as it is 1am back home so i'll see how it goes.

My trip so far has been brilliant. Me and T - who is an old flying friend of mine decided to do a trip to Bangkok almost 3 years ago. This is that plan, chopped, changed, haphazardly thrown together and finally in motion. First stop was Bangkok, now Chang Mai, and next Phuket. Penang was supposed to be after that but it was axed on account of dreading the thought of having to pack up and fly another time to what essentially will just be another beach location.

So i'll be here for a couple more days and then on to sun, sand and lots of doing nothing... heehee :)

Anyway, today T and i took a walk for what was supposed to be a food run and turned into us walking to the Chang Mai Night Bazzar. Nothing out of the usual tourist market found in Bangkok, but we bought a few things and then looked for a place to have dinner. Only it was seriously disappointing to find that most places were very tourist oriented. 2 Starbucks within a block of each other, a Pizza Hut, McDonalds, Burger King and Subway...i mean i can understand it in Bangkok but not Chang Mai...and also lots of "foreign restaurants" like German beer houses...we ended up going back to a local place we saw as we were walking and had the most divine Tom Yum Soup which had pieces of crab, whole prawns, fish and mussels in it and we also had Salt and Pepper Squid. And it cost less than 300baht (approx 12 Australian dollars)...

I know ive been saying this endlessly the past couple of posts but i will get to updating about the Bangkok part of my trip. There is just so much that i want to do it justice and have the photos ready to ease the blocks of writing. And also i didnt really have much time in Bangkok to do anything aas i was constantly on the go.


Well it looks like ive run out of steam...till next time, g'night!

VP

On the way to the airport

OMG! I just drove past my old crew hotel! My gosh it feels weird. Im in a taxi on my way to Suvarnabhumi Airport. Chiang Mai is next on the itinerary and i´ll be there for a few days before heading to Phuket. Yes ladies and gentleman i am being a thorough tourist and going to arguably the most touristy beach in Thailand but how can i not?

Anyway i know i havent posted up what i have been up to in Bangkok or any photos but ive been flat out and lacking time to sit at an internet cafe so please bear with me, they will be posted soon.

VP

15Baht in Thailand

What does 15 Baht get you in Thailand? How does a 2hr trip to Ayutthaya by train sound? Unbeleivable? Well beleive it. Yeah its not a fancy air conditioned train but who cares? In fact i specifically chose to sit in a carriage that has wooden floors and seat benches cuz its just something you dont get everyday. And i love it :D

I´ll be taking photos as i go along and post them up when i get the chance. Ayutthaya here i come!

VP

Lunch at Cabbages and Condoms

Hearing: light rain, people chatting, soft clink of cutlery n piano music.

Welcome to day two of my 2 weeks leave. At the moment im in a restaurant called Cabbages and Condoms having lunch and no im not joking. They have free Wi-Fi here so im typing this up on my mobile in between mouthfuls of delicious Thai food. I'll post again soon with what i've been up to so far and include some photos.

From a defrosted VP.