bangkok

Streets of Bangkok

(Aiya! I forgot to photoshop them to make them clearer & stuff

Oh well, too lazy to edit them now! Haha)

Views from the Day Tour van

The "Tuk-Tuk" is one form of transportation (more a tourist thing I imagine) since they have many colourful meter-controlled taxis around that would travel faster (they drive madly). Unfortunately I missed the chance of taking far more colourful photos of the life and people.

Lady haggling us during our boat ride...they come right up to you and throw their wares into your boat and shove sourvenirs in your face. The Floating Market barely exists as a way of life now in Bangkok but you can still catch a glipse of it in the early mornings. It's more a form of trade for the rural (river-surrounded) areas of Thailand.

Short trip with family proved most fun! Not enough shopping though! I should have been more decisive and just bought more shoes and that bag I saw for they cost either $9 or about $14! Silly me! Nevertheless, I am back with four pairs and a handful of tops and a skirt. BIG GRIN...makes me sound so materialistic...bad bad...food was good and thankfully we did not suffer from food poisoning although there was the occasional stomachache and visits to the loo from the oil and chilli.

Stayed only in that central area... Novotel really isn't that bad - it's clean and all the staff were really warm and helpful, attending to all our needs. However, if you ask for a triple-sharing room, there's actually no such thing! My parents and I were given a room with two queen-sized beds and were told a single bed was to be added but there was no room in the room to fit it so we told them not to worry and ended up shoving both beds together to make a huge one for the three of us to sleep comfortably. Apart from the orchestra my parents (more so my lovely mum) performed, I rested pretty reasonably under the soft doona. The shower gel, shampoo, conditioner and body lotion are peppermint scented which was rather refreshing and not overpowering.

For shopping, go to MBK and the Night Bazaar at Suan Lam (or something that sounds like that) as the other one was so sleazy, lined with bars of skimpily dressed women that had the most crude names (the bars that is, I never stopped to ask the women their names...in fact not all of them were women)...the men and women on the road sides shove menus in your faces and try to convince you to watch their 'live shows' so my sister, brother in law and I made a quick exit soon after. Besides, the shopping was not at all impressive.