in january, aku telah berpergian to Bangkok, mengekori my colleague and her mother. ahaha. aku pedulik hape. i want the experience, so i just hop on. lagipon, she used to stay in bangkok for quite some time, jadiknye, she’ll be able to give me insights of bangkok from her own experience, and not off the shelves (from readings of course!
). bagos jugak ler.. xde ler kitorg ternganga je bile sampai sane. dgn aku yg sememangnye la xde initiative nak belajar bahse thai
. i tend to be forgetful, so wat’s the use. tips nye adelah, pegi je lah kat tmpt yg byk tourist hehe. walaupon the english xdelah sgt bagos, at least ko paham la jugak bijik butir nye idok gitu…
it’s been almost 5 months since the trip, baru aku gatal nak write down, so ingatan aku maybe not that sharp, dan cara bercerite mungkin tidak se-enthusiastic. but bear with it je lah. sebolehnye, i’d like to present my experience for others as a guide.
first day sampai kat airport diorg (yg susah aku nak ingat 1st time - it’s suvarnabhumi airport), kami (especially me!) adelah sgt lapar sbb dah tghari, dan airasia x kasik mknan free so aku xnak bazirkan duit shopping spree aku utk mkn atas kapalterbang merah itu.

i bought biscuits, so kunyah tu je la dlu mase sampai. lepas dgn berjayenye kuar dr airport itu, aku sgtlah teruja melihat teksi2 pelbagai kaler menunggu mangse2nye. sbb teruja itulah aku x sempat amek gambar teksi2 tu. sedar2, member aku dh panggil one cab, and guess what – the color is PINK!
ngeeee… oh, and tajok teksi di sini adelah vios lama version tidak luxury langsong. heheh.
memandangkan our trip adelah bertemakan shopping sampai mati, my fren suggested we stay in a hostel instead since buang mase saje nak ddk kat pricey places, memandangkan duit tersebut boleh disalurkan ke shopping2 kompleks yg ade. good thinking, huh? so she booked a hi-hostel in sukhumvit road. we stayed there 4 days, 3 night, and we only pay rm88 per person. best ke tak?
. tapi, it’s a 8-person room la. we dont mind since we travel in daylight, dan balek nak dkt mlm setelah kaki rase nak patah.
member aku itu dan maknye sunggoh lah sudah plan nak mkn kat tmpt mcm2, so i just told them, this time around, i’ll be following them, walaupon ke tempat non-halal sbb x berani nk pegi mencarik tmpt halal suke2. and i did. setelah mengemas bagasi2, we went out for lunch dkt a place aku x ingat bcos i was damn thirsty and hungry. it’s a small restaurant, di mane member aku kate ade nasik goreng udang yg sgt best. they were trying to persuade me to take the fried rice la since diorg ckp cume seafood, xde daging. hehe. tabley… tabley.. so i end up drinking coke saje, dan mkn jagung strips yg member aku beli. tgh diorg mkn dgn bestnye, i saw this one guy kat ujung sane memakan some sort of noodles in soup, pastu tgh best mencedok something yg nampak crispy dan best di dalam balang. i asked my fren, and she just say “nothing that you can eat”. kikiki. crispy pork skin maybe eh lisa? xkanlah belalang goreng kot xD.
soon after, kitorg pegi at this one famous bag shop. lisa has started showing kegilaannye. she’s a chronic shopaholic about to be unleashed. hehehe. yg amat aku kagumi is, eventhough this naraya stuff adelah famous, tp the price adelah sgt tidak mahal. imagine a coin purse, branded, batik-style. imagine having this coin purse with brands; satu oleh butik terkenal di mesia, dan satu di butik terkenal di bangkok. yg manekah anda rasekan paling mahal? i would expect the mesian one wud be priced around 10++ maybe? tp this naraya punye is 40 baht – which is 4 hengget! heheh. checkout their website: http://naraya.com.
satu tmpt shpg yg best utk dipergikan adelah siam paragon. i specifically gone bonkers when i reached this place. mase masok, kene lalu tmpt scan mcm kat airport. isy. is it a norm for people to bring bombs to public places ke? anyway, the supermarket here in siam paragon is superb. sgt besar dan kalerful penoh dgn barang2. at this point of time, aku mmg imagine if only aku ni the daughter of those rich arabians ataupon sultan brunei ke, i would shop only there for my groceries. bleh?

rows and rows of products, from local made to imported, sume ade. all sorts of varieties dan aku adelah sgt gile dan x reti gile nak explain cemane. i bought one selipar jepon, which costs 10 hengget, and wonder why it is priced 100 baht. agak pricey utk selipar jepon. tp ia adelah the best selipar jepon i found, lembut dan best, dan amazingly aku x tergelincir di pasar lagi bile memakainye – which my auntie feared of. tiap kali aku balek kedah, mesti makmbone bising kalo time ujan aku pakai selipar tu. i’m thinking of coming again to buy 5 pasang lagi
. oh. the name is Puppa.
semase di mesia (ewah), in preparation to go bangkok, aku telah menggeledah serata internet, searching for halal places in bangkok. check out this website: http://www.zabihah.com . sangat bagos ini source. but remember to search for the address instead of buta2 salin/print the address of the food place, or else you’ll end up like me – baek punya amek alamat, blakang, bila aku kasik address to kat org taxi, sorg pon tak paham, bley? we (me and my new japan fren) wanted to search for mak yah restaurant. famous halal place, tp malangnye x jumpe. so we end up mkn dlm Zen dkt Central World. middle-east style..
bangkok arranges their lrt/mrt lanes strategically. aku rase sume tmpt tumpuan pelancong sekat dgn rail. you can hop off this station, pegi shopping, then hop on the next train to go shopping/visit some other places. the famous temples like wat phra keao lah, wat pho lah, pelbagai wat lah yg ade – all accessible via trains. just interchange some, naek bot along the chao phraya river, and voila.. you’re there
.
weekends are best spent in the chatuchak market/weekend market. so guys, if you want to plan for bangkok, better pegi with the weekends in between, because one day will never be enuff utk that market! best of all, try google around for chatuchak market maps. it’ll at least give you a rough idea dekat area mane nak dituju. the market is divided by sections. ade section jual bunge2an la, baju2an, barang2an hiasan rumah, even the exotic stuff. walaupon begitu, some dont adhere to the rules dan main belasah je meniaga.
for those who travel with frens, adelah bagos kirenye kalo korg berjanji utk berjumpe di sesuatu tmpt, before even entering the market. sbb kalo once lost, aku rase baek korg balek gi jumpe kat hotel je in the end. one common place to meet up is the clock tower. it’s in the center of the market dan ade tmpt2 ddk byk kat situ, yg penuh dgn pengunjung2 yg hilang companion mereke, kikiki. oh, there’s one small halal stall kat tepi clock tower tu, yg akan selalu penoh. jadiknye, pepandai la berebut2. courtesy will never work here okay?
ahaa… once kalo dah jumpe brg yg berkenan di hati utk dibeli di market ini, baek beli je. this is totally a reminder to myself next time. kalo lah tetibe ko terpikir yg mungkin ade lg chantek dan murah di tmpt lain, i wud say, think again. if you leave that shop dan carik lain, chances are, you cannot remember kat mane that shop is, ataupon harge die dah naek balek, dan ko kene berbuih mulut nego balek, bcos the shopkeeper simply cannot remember that you just came by tadi. hah! oh. dan utk mereke yg nak crk sutera thai nak buat baju, ade byk version of this sutera – you have hands – go feel the fabric. jgn percaye makcik2 kedai tu yg kate kain tu jenis sutera thai yg baru. waaa…..
here are among the pictures taken with my non-professional camera, yg ade tarikh plak tu. haiyye! malu! - need to buy one – yes i will…
