Le hubby had to go to Bangkok for business for a few days so I tagged along! Heh heh! I love tagging along on his business trips. ^_^
Four Square check-in upon arrival in Bangkok!
The last time I came to Bangkok was with Le hubby last year January 2012. That was our first overseas trip together and where he asked me to be his girlfriend. :) Read about it here.
I love the multi coloured taxis in Bangkok, especially the pink ones!
We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Bangkok Siam.
Complimentary coffee, tea & 2 bottled of waters per day.
There's no bathtub but the bathroom was big and very clean.
A lot of people go to Thailand for shopping.. but I prefer shopping in angmoh countries like Australia & USA, UK because they have my size. In Bangkok it's mostly small sizes or 'free' sizes so I am not really interested in going shopping. Instead of shopping, we went eating!
Local food FTW!
Fried noodles, duck noodle soup, pork belly rice and strangely.. takoyaki!
Supper in our room! :)
I love thai chendol! Yummy!
Mad love the Mango Sticky Rice! So different from Singapore's version.
It was so nice I tabao more from the hawker on the street!
Actually I can't eat mango cos I was having a really terrible cough. We flew to Bangkok just 1 day after returning from Hong Kong, and I fell sick the night before we flew back.. the cold and cough I had that (might be the cold weather, but Wany said I ate too many mango desserts there..) mutated into something worse while I was in Bangkok. The copious amount of Mango Sticky rice I ate made my condition worse... but somehow miraculously I recovered on the last day before I flew back to Singapore! LOL! Fight poison with poison!
To prove my point.. EAT FRENCH FRIES!
Huge Mcdonald's french fries!
SOOO BIGGGG!
I didn't know how big the fries were.. the countergirl asked if I wanna "Upsize" and I said "Ok". Little did I know that it's soooo big! LOL!
Le hubby is a Mcdonald's fanboy. He must eat it once whenever we visit another country. Must must must. Even in Japan where there's so much yummy food to choose from, my hubby insist in having Mcdonald's for dinner. -_- He said it's his dream to try all the Mcdonald's in the whole world. Hahahahhahaa...
A visit to Bangkok is never complete without having a meal at one of my favourite steamboat restaurants!
The roast duck is so damn good. Omg. So good.
Le hubby with the mushroom plate!
Same one we had last year! Heehee!
The Christmas decorations are up in all the shopping mall!
On a more serious note.. the demonstrations in Bangkok are heating up.. One day when Le hubby had to go to the factory to view some machines, I decided to take a cab to Central World shopping mall for lunch. The bellhop told me that it will be faster to walk as "the roads are closed". He did not tell me there was a protest going on.
So I walked from our hotel to Central World.. which was around 15mins away by foot. I wanted to take a cab cos I am a lazy pig. It was so warm! Especially when I just came back from Hong Kong where the weather was so cooling!
Since I seldom go to Bangkok, I don't really know the place well so instead of using the skybridge, I walked along the main road. While walking, I saw a crowd upfront where the roads were closed.
I thought it was some daytime pasar malam where there's food stalls and also stalls selling Thailand flags for souveniers. Obviously I am someone who do not read the news because at the moment in time I had no idea there was a political unrest in Bangkok.
The food trucks were handing out food for free because there's no money involved and I see people queuing up and taking bowls of food and just walking away without handing over any coupons or money.
I realized it was no ordinary event when I saw someone giving a speech on top of a lorry, and when the crowd responded very enthusiastically whenever he said something that seems very forceful. Like "Blah blah blah blah.. BLAH BLAH BLAHHHHHHHH!!" and the crowd will cheer, blow their whistles and wave the Thai flag.
Video #1
Video #2
After seeing someone attempting to cut off the power lines that belonged to the Thai Royal Police Headquarters did it finally dawned upon me that I am in the middle of a demonstration and things could get ugly and I might die or something in the worst case scenario if I get caught between crossfire. No one can save me because the local people are storming the police headquarters! If the policemen are being attacked, who's gonna protect the tourist who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time?
I know the Thai people has a reputation of being kind, warm & gentle.. but you have not stood in the middle of a protest where the feelings of resentment is so strong that even I, a foreigner who doesn't know the language or shit about what's going on can feel it...
Have you ever heard of "Herd Behaviour"? Read more about it on Wikipedia here. Things can turn violent with a simple spark.. and there's really nowhere to run.
While taking the video above, someone came over to me and started yelling at me in Thai. He's super fierce and super aggressive. Then another person handed me a flag and yelled "GO THAILAND!" in my face and I just waved the flag and walked quickly towards the shopping mall so I can be safe from the protest, waving it frantically everytime the speaker yell something loudly in Thai and the crowd cheer.
Fucking scary shit.
Le hubby wanted to meet me at the shopping mall cos I was so traumatized, but since all the roads were closed I decided to tabao food and walk back to the hotel. On the way back I made sure to sure the sky bridge so I can avoid the crowds below. In case of stampede, at least I am safe from any cross fire and I can run away quickly in the opposite direction.
Below are some pictures I took from the skybridge.
I went to read on the reasons behind the demonstrations and realized it's not as simple as it seems.. a lot of other government buildings are also being surrounded by the protesters who are trying to force the Prime Minister out of office. I believe the protest will continue on until early next year, so I think now is not the best time to visit Bangkok. In fact, our Singapore government has issued a statement urging Singaporeans to avoid travelling to Thailand unless necessary.
About me not reading the news.. I don't like to read news because it's full of negativity. Disasters, murders, rapists, economic downturns, fare hikes, yadah yadah yadah. All sad shit.. or just a load of propaganda nonsense. I'm not really one of those people who has to be "in the know" with the happenings of the world.. I only read the news when I absolutely have to or when I am extremely bored and there's nothing else to read.
Anyways, other than the scary protest that I stumbled into accidentally, the trip went well without any hiccups. The only thing I hate about Bangkok is the taxi drivers.. scumbags who overcharge a few times the normal fare! Isn't there any regulatory system in Bangkok to enforce the rule that all taxi drivers MUST use the meter to charge the fare? Compulsory metered taxis are one of the reasons why I love living in Singapore. I hate haggling with scumbag taxi drivers who tell you "Same same" when they want to charge you THB200 for a THB60 ride. Seriously!?!?! Go to hell lah.. You wanna overcharge tourists just to make a living.. fine. But don't overcharge so much! It's daylight robbery!
I think the best solution is to stay in a good location where you can either take the train or walk to the shopping malls.. do not rely on Tut tut and taxis!
