Deborah's Pilgrimage on Earth - Journeying Heavenward

Seven days in Bangkok is more than enough to roam the city. The sounds of traffic, roaring of buses and taxis, tuk tuk’s weaving in and out, people, people and more people everywhere and not mention the inability to scout out flat grounds since 360 degrees are sky scrapers! I’m almost relieved to be back to suburbia lifestyle.

Day One:
Up early before dawn, a private van came to pick the Chan Clan up. Swinging our lightly packed backpacks (except for dad – he seemed to have brought his entire camera equipment), the journey to the airport was one of excitement and quiet anticipation.
I was expecting the flight to be delayed but to my surprise it was on the dot (Air Asia proved me wrong this time, I hope they’d apply the same timeliness for their domestic flights).

Camera’s started clicking away. Within a couple of hours we were in Bangkok. The airport was nice, new and sleek. My eyes were darting around for brochures, maps, guides etc. To my disappointment, Bangkok’s airport had not stocked up on important information like that.

Our first encounter with bargaining on prices started as we hunted for a taxi to the hotel. Locals tried to wince their way about with cut throat prices but we stood our ground and insisted on a lower price. Frankly I had no clue if it was expensive, affordable or cheap. But after a few encounters, I got used to it and the locals had to agree (since I didn’t budge).

The hotel was a disappointment, smacked right in the middle of Bangkok’s Chinatown, bright red neon lights everywhere, chaos of Chinese people buying and selling – thankfully our room was on the 10^th floor! Despite the displeasure, no time was to be wasted. We changed into comfy clothes and headed to Chatuchak (CTC) Weekend Market. (I’ve heard so much about it and I couldn’t wait to lay eyes on it – since I love love love bargains!)

There were stalls everywhere, back to back, side to side, left, right, center! Literally eveyrthing under the sun could be found there (not to mention fried grubs, crickets and cicadas too!) It was like a fun fair but without the ferris wheel and cotton candy. Everyone had a bag or two, foreigners and locals trod market. We had no clue where to begin! Soon enough we agreed on a time and place to meet back, the girls and the guys. Interesting but not surprising, that after the 2 hours, the guys (dad and bro) came back only with food stuff and TONS of pictures, whilst the girls had bags of clothes, slippers, accessories etc. We left the market to avoid the crowd when it closes.

Headed to Silom for a night exploration of that part of the city. There were a few night markets but figured we had enough shopping for a day. So we took it easy strolling down the streets watching that part of the city come alive with side stalls being set up, hawkers preparing bowls of steaming hot soup noodles, cars crawling with busy traffic. Finally we sat down for an authentic roadside Thai dinner – beef noodles! After that, Ray insisted on having a go at Bangkok Starbucks, so we retreated to the café’s comfy sofas while sipping on hot coffee and giving our tired feet much needed rest.

Day Two:

Morning mission to CTC again to finish scouting the entire market square (believe you me, I didn’t believe it when Lee Yen told me she couldn’t cover the whole market even in a day). It’s true, especially since everything was worth looking at even if not buying. They had everything under the sun from lingerie to pottery. And I just realized that I can’t shop at departmental shops anymore having gotten the prices I bargained for at the market.

We left slightly after lunch for Jim Thompson House and Museum on the west of the city. A recommendation by Mui Yoon, we found it a beautiful place to take pictures with perfectly manicured gardens and vast open spaces. Learned about the history of the building and how much Mr. Thompson has influenced the silk industry in South East Asia.

After the ‘nightmarish’ experience at our Chinatown hotel, we decided to scout around for a new place. I can’t imagine going back to Chinatown area for 5 days, just not my perception of a holiday. We combed Sukhumvit area (my recommendation) for possible accommodation. Traveling by foot to four hotels was no joke, at the end of our search we finally decided on Grand President just 2 mins from a BTS station.

Happy and contented that the next day we’d be bunking into a nicer place, we went looking for a dinner place for out New Year’s Eve dinner. Stumbling upon a German restaurant with a huge suckling pig being roasted in a huge oven at the corner of its entrance (what a welcome!) we agreed try it out. Though we didn’t have the suckling pig, the dishes were very scrumptious, a different flare to our usual western meals. Enjoying the meal and fellowship suddenly we heard a bomb blast which shook the floor. Startled but not anxious, I was actually waiting for people to run down the streets shrieking but a few seconds passed and nothing was heard. We continued with our meal (faster now) and left the restaurant. Only finding out later that there had been 7 bomb blast across Bangkok and New Year’s celebration was called off in the city. Thankfully we didn’t head to city center that night, but went back to the hotel to spend time with the Lord instead.