Bangkok 28 April - 3 May 09

I finally made my maiden trip to Bangkok the Land of Smiles. Well I was there once during army days for training but that dont count!

Overall a nice experience. I have been to KL, Jakarta and now Bangkok and I would say that Bangkok is the most exciting out of these 3 developing countries within South East Asia. (or should it more politically correct to say ''almost'' developed countries:))

Some highlights and downlights:

1) When it comes to cheap clothes and T shirts, you can find them in Platinum shopping centre and Pratunum street market. I can dare say for sure that you will never finish this in 1 day if you want to go shop by shop!

2) If you are looking for a good night market with good food, Suan Lum night market is it. Prices are not fantastic as compared to Chachuchat, but there is a outdoor food enclave behind that is charming for people watching and serves great food!

3) Chachuchak weekend market has to be the mother of all markets. Six thousand over stalls. I think I only finished half of it in 1 day!

4) Shopping: There are about 6 major shopping centres that will take you at least half a day to finish each of them. We enjoyed MBK for the most for its cheap stuff. The prices of stuff at Siam Paragon, Siam Center and Zen Central were about the same as Singapore, which was obviously not why we were in Bangkok for. In addition to the name Land of Smiles, I would also call Bangkok the City of Giant Shopping Centres!

5) Food: Prices of restaurants in shopping centres were about the same as Singapore, not as cheap as I expected. Street food and hawker stalls were cheap of course, but their hygenie standards are questionable. I heard Japanese food was good and cheap in Bangkok due to a large number of Japanese there, but the ones we tried werent good and cheap. People also tell me to go to Chinatown for cheap sharks fin and bird's nest, so we did make a trip there and were dissapointed some what. Although the bird's nest is cheap by Singapore standards, the quality of the birds nest was bad and cooked badly. The sharksfin came in a claypot but there wasnt much fin....Anyway I am not a fan of both dishes to start with, so I feel its not worth the while to eat at Chinatown. The chinese food wasnt to my taste. We ordered simple dishes such as roast meats and stir fried kailan with salted fish. Somehow I felt that chinese food in Hongkong and Singapore taste so much better and refined.

6) The sky train and MRT takes you to almost every part of the city. It is higher than our Singapore MRT, so it really feels like a 'sky'train, and in my opinion diffentiates BK from other cities. It gives BK its distinct metropolistic character. Some of the station platforms are so big and long that you can connect from shoping centre to shopping centre without getting to street level! Almost like another world. Not very elderly friendly but.

Thai people are generally very friendly to tourists. Both the men and women have this very gentle disposition that is non agrressive and makes them seem very sincere when talking to you. I love the Thai greeting Sawadeekap. The symblic action of the clasped hands and slowed bowed heads feels so warm and genuine, and hygiene free too!

My best buy of the trip? An Obama T shirt, cotton bathrobe (23 Sin dollars) and a designer do it yourself lamp (13 Sin dollars)!

Should have bought: handmade soaps