So I heard there's a cock fight...(Day 4)

DAY 4 - 2ND FEBRUARY 2013

Gemma, myself, JC

I was told if I want to get around the Chatuchak/Jatujak Weekend Market without having to give someone a bloody nose or a black eye, I would have to go really early in the morning. And so I woke up pretty damn early for someone who's been out pretty late the night before, got ready and saw myself out the door by 9:30am to meet up with Gemma at Silom.

Gemma brought a new friend, JC, from the hostel to follow us to Jatujak. I brought with me 1000B and little did I realize it wasn't nearly enough.

Jatujak Weekend Market

We took the MRT to Kamphaeng Phet where it stops directly at the weekend market. Walked around for a bit to get the feel of the place before going in to do some shopping. After picking up stuff friends had ordered and given me money for, I realized I only had enough for a pair of sandals (which Gemma and I got for half the price), food and transportation back.

Jatujak was great though. It was so big, you need a freaking map. For a market. A MAP. And on the map I actually saw the words "Cock Fight". Of course, we didn't catch one. But. Damn.

There were ATMs there, but not only I activated the card to withdraw from CIMB only, there was NO CIMB ATM at Jatujak. There were Siam Bank, Kasikorn but not one CIMB. So I had to cut the trip to Jatujak short.

Mine and Gemma's purchases.
No points for guessing whose
feet is whose :p

The three of us headed to MBK to find a charger for Gemma's camera because she left hers back home, and JC wanted to find some clippers.

To be honest, aside from Jatujak, Day 4 was a pretty slow day. The fatigue was beginning to set in probably. I returned to home base.

I texted Vina, asking her what she was up to and if she was up to hang out. She was having dinner with her boyfriend's family and invited me to come by and join them.

Watching the Thai family dynamics is different from the Malay family dynamics but at the same time, it felt really familiar. But James' family was very welcoming, so it was a real nice experience on this trip.

After dinner, Vina, James and I just chilled out, joked around and had good conversations until I had to catch the train back to Sala Daeng to head back to home base.

It was my last night at Jeff's place.

Skybars are freakishly expensive (Day 3)

Monks in Silom

DAY 3 - 1ST FEBRUARY 2013
In Kuala Lumpur, it's a public holiday. In Bangkok, it's payday. And it's Friday and the Thais will definitely be out and about at some point. I woke up pretty early for someone on vacation. I texted Gemma to plan our day ahead. We agreed that we would head up to Chinatown to check it out.

If you've been to a lot of Chinatowns across the globe, this one would probably not interest you that much. But Petaling Street being the ONLY Chinatown I've ever seen, I was looking forward to spending a few hours in Chinatown. Also, I would have to brace myself for the sea of people I'm about to endure.

A little bit of Tandemic in BKK.

We met up at Silom and made our way to Hua Lamphong. We walked for 15 minutes before we were in the middle of Chinatown. Or rather Yaowarat. We went food hunting because I was getting hungry as fuck - which is not really a new thing, I'm always hungry - so we settled on some noodles in a restaurant because apparently, Chinatown comes to life in the afternoon. Trip Advisor said so. The place is sprawling to say the least. It was really a huge maze of a market and Gemma was pretty excited to see little escalators in individual shops in the alleys.

Chinatown market

We walked around the alleys simply because it became impossible just to backtrack or find our way around. We didn't actually buy anything - I was on a budget and Gemma was on a 4-month SEA tour so she didn't wanna have to haul shit around - so we walked around for a couple of hours more until I got hungry.

Again.

And I wanted to hunt for dim sum.

Which didn't happen because Gemma's sandals snapped. So we backtracked to the market and pretty much snagged the first pair of flip flops we saw. I decided to forego the dim sum hunt and text Nadine to ask her where she was.

MBK crossway

We made our way to MBK, a mall next to the National Stadium. Nadine was looking for a dress to wear to a wedding. But I was hungry -- I didn't get my dim sum, also known as not having lunch. MBK had fast food joints and I didn't really feel like hitting a maccas. So we went out and walked around for some street food. But the weather was crazy hot (yeah, weird for a girl who grew up in the same climate to complain of the heat -- YOU NEVER GET USED TO IT) so we decided it was spoiled travellers' day and retreated into an air conditioned cafe.

Food was good though, even if it was on a slightly pricey side.

I was developing quite a headache so I decided to retreat back to home base. Went home, popped a Panadol, showered and just rested.

That is, of course, until Jeff called and asked "hey you ready to go out?"

I checked myself. Dress - check. Headache - gone. Sprayed on some perfume and I was ready for the (yet another) night out. We headed to Lebua State Tower to meet up his friends at the skybar on the 64th floor. My irrational fear of heights began to kick in but I kept it contained. I looked at the menu and almost felt like base jumping off the top of the tower.

There was no way I was gonna spend 195B on a bottle of water. And that was the cheapest drink among the 300B beers and 500B cocktails. So I just decided to soak in the view. It was pretty though.

After the bar, we walked down the street, supposedly heading to another bar but at some point changed our minds and parted ways with Jeff's friends who wanted to head to Khao San. Not keen to make that trip, Jeff and I hunt for some food. He took me to a nice small restaurant, before heading to Ratchathewi to meet up with his friends.

What went on after that was just hours of fun and really awesome conversation. It was a good first Friday night out of town.

That day I almost got scammed for the first time as a tourist (Day 2)

DAY TWO - 31st January 2013

Sala Daeng BTS

I can't remember exactly what time I rolled out of bed -- or rather, the mattress on Jeff's floor -- but it was pretty early. I was supposed to send a couple of documents Kris -- we became friends when he was in KL and he asked if he could send a replacement debit card to me since I'm the one with the permanent address -- at Khao San Road. I figured it would be wise to drop that off first and get it out of the way.

The most interesting thing about this whole journey is not once I picked up a tourist map. I just kinda winged it with the Lonely Planet guidebook I borrowed from Jeff, Google Maps and good ol' Uncle Google himself.

I wasn't too confident on taking the motorcycle taxi all on my own so I played it safe and took a cab. It was pretty cheap anyway -- compared to Kuala Lumpur of course, where the taxi drivers not only try to scam tourists, they are dumb enough to do it to a local -- and took it to Sala Daeng BTS.

On the boat

Bangkok was foreign, but oddly enough kind of familiar. I think it's just the fact that I am a Southeast Asian myself, I'm just trading one SEA city for another for a while.

Clutching onto my Lonely Planet guide, for some reason wanting to be identified as a tourist (because they tried speaking to me in Thai, you see), I made my way to Saphan Taksin where I'm supposed to take the boat if I want to get myself to Khao San. I saw a girl alone at the train station with a map and looking pretty lost herself so I went up to her, still clutching my book like a complete jackass, and asked if she was going to the pier. She said yes, and introduced herself as Gemma from Holland.

And that, my friends, was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

We walked up to the pier and for some reason, Jeff's advice slipped out of my head and we ended up taking the tourist long boat that would set us back a couple of hundred bahts if headed straight for Khao San. Another guy was heading to Wat Pho and the Grand Palace and it was slightly cheaper, so Gemma and I figured we'll just take that and sightsee with this guy Sam from NYC, who happened to not be having the luckiest of days.

On top of losing his pretty damn expensive sunglasses to the murky Bangkok river, he got splashed with said murky water pretty bad.


Truth to be told, I was never really a temple visiting sort of person. I admit Wat Pho was pretty wicked (and big) but once you've seen one, you pretty much seen it all. But you know if you're into temples then it's a different story. We saw the big reclining Buddha just chilling while pasty white foreigners red roasted in the sun and the Southeast Asian takes pictures of him and was out there in a matter of minutes.

Well, after pretty much elbowing through other pasty white foreigners of course.

I took shade under the makeshift roofed area that is the smoking section, where I agreed to meet up CSers Nadine and Pavel after much difficulty in syncing our schedules together. We walked around Wat Pho for about another hour before we figured we've had our fill of temple for the day. We went out and made our merry way to the Grand Palace down the road.


I've heard stories about scammers saying shit like the tourist attraction is closed and some poor old sod falling for it and got taken for a ride. With that in mind, someone actually did try to scam us, although it wasn't even a good attempt. My grandmother can probably do better. We walked into the compound. And of course, much like the temples, the palace required strict clothing regulation. Fortunately for me, I went out wearing rolled up jeans and a loose Uniqlo top which was perfectly temple-and-palace-friendly. Gemma, Nadine and Pavel however, had to cover up.

Pavel and Nadine covered up

After around 20 minutes of battling with the dress code, we made our way to the ticket booth. Only to find out the ticket to see the King's crib was 500B. Which is more than I would be willing to pay for to see someone's house. I think I could go through life without seeing the Grand Palace. I don't think I'll lose my first born. So we decided to walk through the large park and headed to Khao San.

I refuse to sound even a LITTLE bit racist but goddamn I have never seen so many white people in one area in Southeast Asia in my 26 years of living. Khao San reminded me a lot of Petaling Street, which I don't particularly fancy. I mean, I would go there from time to time but no way am I staying there even for a couple of days. Which I'm glad I didn't book a hostel there because to actually get to fucking Khao San took forever.

Le awesome foot massage

We met up with Kris while having lunch. We chatted for a little bit before we parted ways. The girls and I then decided to relax and get ourselves massages. They got Thai massages, I got a foot massage because Thai massages are way too extreme for me and I cannot have anyone touch my back. The hour long foot massage was just what I need after walking around so much.

Nadine didn't want to be taken
a photo of :p

Being the little fatty that I am, we got something to eat before heading back to our home bases. The girls and I thought of sharing a cab to get to Hua Lamphong. But I realized walking out with two girls from Khao San really means taxi drivers would actually try to cheat you into a high fare and refuse to turn on the meter. Nadine then had the idea of taking a ride on a tuk tuk to the station. Gemma and I figured why not, we haven't taken a ride on a tuk tuk.

Tuk tuk driver wanted 200B. We were like, are you fucking crazy? We started telling him 100B. He then demanded for 150B. I raised my voice and insisted on 100B. Even had a stare-down with the guy until he sighed heavily and said okay. Of course, the ride wasn't the smoothest of rides. Hell, it made the motorbike taxis seem like fucking limousines.

Tuk tuk adventure!

We parted with Nadine at Hua Lamphong MRT and headed back to Silom. Gemma and I parted ways there.

When I got back to Jeff's, he was going out for dinner with a friend. I stayed in and read a little. At first I was supposed to meet up with Jeff for drinks with his friends. The plan didn't really happen so we ended up just chilling on his rooftop and talked. I almost forgot how good it is to sit down and have a conversation with Jeff. Stories were exchanged until we got tired and decided to call it a night.

You know that week where I disappeared to Bangkok...(Day 1)

A 36L and a cheap backpack -
my crap of the week

DAY 1 - 30th January 2013
So when I got that ticket to Bangkok I wasn't really thinking all that straight. Yeah, RM280+ for a return ticket why the fuck not right? But what I didn't think about was the money I was gonna spend there - what with the new job and a prorated paycheck.

But whatever. I'll figure it out. So I packed my bags and with the charity from family, I set off for the unfamiliar.

I gotta admit though - the excitement as the days drew closer killed me. My flight was at 1PM but I grabbed the 9AM bus to LCCT. Which was actually a good plan considering how late the bus arrived at the stop.

You have no idea how retarded
I looked smiling when I crossed
this sign.

Being a first time Air Asia flyer (and a first time flyer in 10 years), I don't quite remember the whole checking in procedure that I actually texted around and asked. Yes. I did that. So hah. I mosey on in to the departure hall and waited to board my plane pretty goddamn early. And true to the Air Asia reputation, the plane was about 40 minutes late to begin boarding. At this point I was nervous as hell.

But two hours and a cramped, bumpy plane right later, I was in the land of smiles and traded in my city for a foreign one for a week.

The papaya salad from hell and some
delicious roadside padthai.

Getting connected to Jeff was easy. Got myself a sim and immediately contacted him to figure out how to get to his place. My sister warned me that taxi drivers in Thailand don't exactly read much romanized letters, so I was beginning to feel a little nervous. But the airport had a service where they write down the name of the address you need to go in Thai and passes it to the taxi driver. Not too long, I was making my way into Sathon.

Vina and I!

First thing's first of course, was food. I was starving since the only thing I had to eat that day was Tasnim's pasta. Jeff brought me out to the street vendors near his apartment and got me some papaya salad and padthai. Needless to say, I'm not use to the Thai brand of spicy. I wasn't sure if it was the heat or that papaya salad actually did pack a mean punch.

Tribal Tattoos  Exhibition

Jeff had already planned something for the night - a gallery closing party. I freshened up and put on one of the two dresses I brought with me on the trip, thinking it might come in handy - which it did. We got into a cab and headed for the train station to meet up with his friends before heading to a bar.

Catherine, Jeff and Vina

This was the first time I went on a motorcycle taxi and I swear to god it scared the bejeezus out of me. Especially when you have absolutely no idea where you're going.

Late night munchies

A couple of drinks to start the night off, I met Vina, who happens to be one of Angelo's good friends when they were in China. Talk about small world, it was crazy. The rest of the night consisted of heading to the rooftop gallery for the closing ceremony of a photography exhibition on tribal tattoos and a late night meal of spicy and sweet. After a pretty long day, I crawled under the covers and past out for the night.

Back from Bangkok, snitches.

HI YU GAIZ!

It's 3:15AM. I just finished unpacking and chucking my laundry into the wash.

A long post on my Bangkok trip coming soon. Video too.

But for now I am fucking knackered. I just want to past out for 24 hours but I have work tomorrow.

KTHXBAI.

/dies