Saturday, February 23, 2008

Trip to Thailand Part 1

This is my first trip that I have since I came back to Malaysia. It is a family trip, so nothing naughty happened ...although the trip is a bit disappointing, but at the end of the trip, I was happy that we are able to go there. Mind you, that this is my first trip to Thailand, so everything seemed interesting to me.


We have planned for the trip about a year ago, because I do need some 'boosting' on my life...

I am splitting the blog into few parts because it will be long and boring if I put it in just one long article...Hell No!

Night One- ZZZ..ZZZ...ZZZ

We followed the tour bus, yes it has been a while that I took a bus, but it is a long trip... so we did nothing except sleeping in the bus.

Day 1- Hadyai

It was 6 in the morning, we were at the Bukit Kayu Hitam's border. And guess what, when we were at the Custom Check Area, something 'MALAYSIA BOLEH' happened. This was where the power went out, and there was no electric generator kicked in to supply power to the custom building. How embrassing? Very...Malaysia Boleh! FYI, if I am a terrorist, this is the best time to come in to Malaysia.

After getting my passport stamped by Malaysia and Thailand authorities, we started to mobilize again. Along the road, you can see many pickup trucks around the area i.e. Hadyai's rural area. I believe it is the occupations' need, because along the road you can see many rubber plantations and also latex factories around that area.

Then, we stop at a one street town's restaurant where we should be having our breakfast. The infamous chicken rice.... however it did not pretty appetizing to me because the chicken contains alot of dark meats i.e. Mom, the chicken is 1/2 black and 1/2 white (Black/White by Michael Jackson). About an hour later, we reach Hadyai city.

In Hadyai, there are many delicacies such as bird nest and sharkfins...So, our tour guide took us to a shop where they served shark fin soup and bird nest soup... And, they were literally cheap... 700 baht for two bowls of bird nest soups and one bowl of sharkfin soup... but the taste was not that good.

We were then on the move again, to a temple...



The tour guide took us to a temple, where he said we shall pray more so that God will protect us and blah blah blah. The photo above is the infamous Thai's Monk King and the photo below is Prince Na Ze. We stayed there for thirty minutes and some of the people release some birds to show kindness.




Later, we reached the airport at 1pm. We were told by our tour guide, due to some 'technical problem', some of the people will need to stay back and take the next plane... This is where the chaos happened, we were angry because it is bad to split up with family... and my father was one of the 'unlucky' people who needed to take the next plane... However, it was the so called 'forced' situation, there is no choice. We departed from the Hadyai Airport at 2:15pm.

The plane touch down at Bangkok domestic airport around 4pm. We were welcomed by our Tour Guide, the Handsome 'Don'. He apologized for all the problems and promised us to keep us update regarding our family.

The bus took us to the main city by their highway, where Don tell us a bit about the city's lifestyles and also histories. He also told us that we will be visiting the famous Erawan Shrine. If you don't know what's that, this is the brief history of Erawan Shrine taken from Wikipedia:

"The Erawan Shrine (Thai: ศาลพระพรหม, San Phra Phrom) is a Hindu shrine in Bangkok, Thailand that houses a statue of Phra Phrom, the Thai representation of the Hindu creation god Brahma. A popular tourist attraction, it often features performances by resident Thai dance troupes, who are hired by worshippers in return for seeing their prayers at the shrine answered. On March 21, 2006, a man vandalised the shrine and was subsequently killed by bystanders." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erawan_Shrine)

I took some photos of that area... it is a beautiful shrine. That area also have many shopping centers, so it is shopping time. We stayed there for an hour.

Later, we left the place and we have dinner at a big restaurant. However, dinner ain't that great.

On the way back to our hotel, the Wild Orchid Hotel in Bangkok's China Town, the tour guide told us something regarding Thai People's economy and also buying power. Which is interesting enough...For example,thanks to Malaysia's tax, we are buying an imported car for the price of two cars in Thailand. Malaysia Boleh!

At 8pm, we reached the hotel and I was staying in the hotel to wait for my father. They reached the hotel about 3 hours later...And we have a late supper with my dad in Chinatown... their Tom Yam Soup was good and the oyster omelette was so good... and I also bought some gifts for my mom.

That is basically a night in Thailand... and I will continue in the next blog.





Tuesday, February 19, 2008

The loss of smile

I just found out that I have not smile for a week or so...it is a terrible thought because how many of us can live without smiling? I should not be one of them... but I did not smile for a while... what is bothering me? It is you? Who?