I seldom get the chance to talk to my friends and keep them up-to-date with what's going on with my life...
well, this is it. My online journal. Yah, another personal blog,just exactly what the world needs now. Let's be realistic, it's cheaper than overseas calls. Less tiring than novel-like emails.
About Me
Name: celgee Home: Philippines About Me: just read through my entries and you'll get to know me :) See my complete profile
The Samphran Elephant Ground & Zoo has the elephant theme show which includes elephants at work, dancing, playing football and scenes of ancient elephant-back battle. The show was nice, but my favorite was getting the chance to feed the elephants and meet them up-close. :)
We went to one of the well-known floating markets in Bangkok, the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. The markets are already buzzing with life, but you will still be able to navigate canals and channels in your own time (you can hire a boat with friends or join an organised trip) and marvel at the abundance of fruit, vegetables and other foodstuffs and goods on offer. The Floating Market is crowded with hundreds of tourists, vendors and local purchasers floating in their small rowing boats selling and buying various products and local food. We tried one.. it has some coconut in it and cream, I can't recall what it is called.
That's what I thought when I was younger. Like other people, I thought that elephants feared mice from cartoons like "Dumbo."
But why would a big animal fear such a small one? Might seem logical for some of us or at least plausible because if you think about it, as adults we are afraid of mice (Yas), cockroaches (Manny), spiders (Jp) and worms (me).
This was one of the topics we talked about on our way to the Elephant village. Is it really just a myth that elephants are afraid of mice? But what if it's true? what would happen, and what if we were on top of the elephant and a mouse ran in front of it?
Until we ended up teasing yas.. Yas is afraid of mice, Elephants are afraid of mice, therefore Yas is a ... (just kidding Yas, love you! =))
Yas and Al had a dinner date in the hotel so Giff and I decided to go out as well. We tried looking a nice nearby restaurant, but did not find any. We eventually decided to go to the Baiyoke Sky Hotel and check their buffet restaurant. The Baiyoke Sky Hotel is the tallest hotel in Bangkok. We then inquired in the lobby/reception area which was in the 17th floor. The Crystall Grill buffet costs 590 Baht, and it was all worth it. The Crystal Grill is in the 82nd Floor, and we had a nice view of Bangkok.
Still day 2 of the BKK adventures – we went to the Grand Palace. They said a Bangkok trip will not be complete if you do not visit the palace. The Grand Palace complex which was established in 1782 houses not only the royal residence and throne halls, but also a number of gov’t offices and the temple of the emerald Buddha. We walked inside the 4 walls of the palace compound (the palace covers an area of 218,000 sq meters). Scattered around the upper terrace are statues of elephants and mythical beings. They said the elephant statues are a record of the famous white elephants acquired during the reigns of the Thailand kings. We also saw the Royal Monastery of the emerald Buddha. We were all asked to remove our shoes before entering the monastery. This is one of the adored sites in Thailand where people convene to pay respect to the Buddha. The Emerald Buddha is enshrined on a golden thai-style throne. The Buddha was carved from a block of green jade – they said that before everyone thought that is was just an ordinary Buddha carving, not until the plaster on it’s nose flaked off in the 1400’s that people discovered the green stone underneath (and they initially thought it was emerald, which started the legend of the emerald Buddha). One other thing I have learned was that their sacred image has 3 costumes. The costumes are changed 3 times a year in a ceremony presided by the King, each symbolizing the start of a change in season (Summer, Rainy Season and Winter). More pictures?...
**It wasn’t a coincidence that all 4 of us were wearing collared shirts. Visitors are required to wear appropriate attire in the palace - collared shirts, pants and closed shoes.
Our tour guide arrived around 12:45pm. Upon riding the van, we found out that there will only be 5 people in the tour - Yas, Al, Giff, me and another tourist from Brisbane, Australia. (So it's like a semi-private tour :-D)
After 30 minutes in the van, we reached the Tha Tien Pier. We crossed the Chao Phraya River to reach Wat Arun, also known as the "Temple of the Dawn". According to our tour guide, this temple was restored during the brief Thonburi period to be the Royal Chapel of King Taksin. The 79 meter-high pagoda or "Phra Phang" is decorated with ceramic tiles and fragments of multicoloured porcelain. :) Very nice...
I woke up a couple of times today.. not because I wasn’t comfortable in bed, nor am I getting homesick, it's just that Giff's cellphone alarm kept on ringing – and I had to wake up Giff to have it stopped.
Around 8am, I finally got out bed, looked out our window. And what can I see from our window? We then headed for breakfast. Scambled eggs, bacon, fried egg, rice, ham and sausage – yummy. Those were just some of food offered for breakfast.. I couldn’t eat more that what I have placed in my plate. Maybe I’ll try the rest in the next days.
After having breakfast, we went to lobby to inquire about the tour that we will be having today at 12:30pm. While waiting for Yas and Al, Giff and I were outside the hotel, taking pictures (as usual). Since it was only 10:30am, we decided to window shop in the Baiyoke Shopping center, which later turned out to be another shopping spree. :)
Upon getting out of the airport, I felt like I was still in Manila. It was still hot... 34 degrees celsius. The next thing I noticed were the colorful taxis - pink, violet, orange, green and yellow, mostly Toyotas (Corolla and Altis). Not once did I find an old, wrecked taxi. We took a taxi from the airport to the Indra Regent Hotel. How much? 400 Baht. (1 baht = 1.50 Pesos). After checking-in to our room, we stayed a while and had a few minutes to relax. We then headed to the MBK Mall...(need I explain more?) So, what was the 1st thing I bought? Spicy tamarind balls... a special request from my mom and my teammates. After 4 hours in the mall, we headed back to the hotel via a tuktuk. (A tuktuk is like a tricycle... their low-cost taxi.) It was quite an experience. Imagine, passing thru an express way riding a tuktuk. It was the first time we took the tuktuk. It was also our last tuktuk ride. Hahaha...
**Al arrived around 12 midnight. I was half-awake when Yas introduced me to Al. I think I just said "hi" and went back to sleep again. :) Too sleepy to remember.... Al met Giffy the following day :)
Our flight is at 10:30am, and in anticipation of the traffic plus the 3-hr lead time needed to check in our things and not get stuck in the long lines, we left early. Yas picked me up at 6:00am, and at around 7am we were already in the airport. We were all perky that morning.. maybe because of the excitement. The usual perkiness.. teasing each other, and Yas constantly reminding us to tone down the criticisms.. (what? Me & Giff? Hahahaha...)By 8:30am, we already had our bags checked in. We were just there in the benches..waiting, taking pictures and watching the people passing by. We were on the look out for celebrities and look-alikes. Too bad I only saw Ricky Lo and a Tina Turner look-a-like. :) We arrived in Bangkok at 12:30pm (the flight took 3hrs, but there’s a -1hr difference). Their airport is nice, and really big compared to NAIA. :)
