thailand trip part 1

alright alright. i know it's high time i should update. so here i go. there were plenty of things here. so this is going to be a loooong entry.

5th dec
away to bangkok, thailand! daddy and mommy bought me my own bottle of expensive perfume at the duty-free shops in changi airport. mind you, it is expensive. well, expensive for a jobless school girl like me that is. it is the latest product of hypnose and i think it cost $87. oh yeah. we bought $50 worth of chocolates there too. :D yum.

arrived at bangkok around midday. had a little trouble at the new airport. we can't find our tour group! so after searching aimlessly for like half an hour, mom saw a group of tourists huddled together and ta-daa! there they were.

hotel was twin towers. it was a great hotel. just that the location was a little out. if not it will be a 4.5 stars hotel i think. currently it's 3.5 stars, if i'm not wrong.

free and easy. went to the world trade center, now central world, for dinner. settled at Black Canyon. the other places were packed! it's the king's birthday that day. and almost EVERY thai wore yellow. and later, i came to know that every monday onwards till june the next year, the thais would wear yellow. this is because the king was born on a monday. cool eh?


6th dec
woke up early in the morn and had a wonderful delicious breakfast. then bummed around the lobby waiting for the tour group to arrive. we're going to pattaya! they arrived a little past 8am, and whizz we go!

we went to the Chao Phraya River. we sat this boat and went for a tour. the once floating market was like, gone. i dunno. didn't see many boat-shops.

then,we went to this tiger zoo. and trust me, you won't believe this. it is actually possible for TIGERS AND PIGS AND DOGS, guess what, LIVE TOGETHER! uh-huh. the first enclosure we saw was where there's this ENORMOUS pig, and a small tiger cub was lying next to it, feeding on its milk. do they call that cub a 'tiglet'? :P then we saw a grown, adult tiger, staying in a confined and small area with, guess again, PIGLETS. and the piglets were wearing tiger-pattern skins. and trust me, there were absolutely no conflict! amazing huh? then we saw tigers and more tigers and then we passed an enclosure where tigers, pigs and dogs were living together. my oh my.

pig and piglets and tiger cubs!

okayy. the quality isn't that good. but you can clearly make out the pig and the dog and the tiger

there's a tiger show next. the show was okayy. i did not find it utterly amazing. i just felt a little sad for the tigers. they were not born to do humans' biddings. and there they were, obeying their human masters as if they were, i dunno, dogs? not that dogs were slaves or anything, but it's so not the nature of tigers. then there's this crocs show too which i don't find it exciting at all. humans sticking their head into the crocs' mouth.

went on to a honey factory, and then a jewllery factory. nothing much. and finally dinner. we made friends with a family who has two boys, twelve and seven. boring for me i guess. nobody around my age. if there was (i think there was. 2 girls i think), they were not really friendly i think.

after dinner we checked into our hotel. hotel beverly plaza they call it. and no offence, but it was the WORST ever kind of hotel i stayed in. and it was rated 3 stars? we booked two rooms. the air-con was not working in one room. and well, the rooms were kind of dirty. can't change rooms. hotel was full. went out to see the nightlife. brothels, prostitutes (male and female. yes, male. trust me. you don't want to see male ones) and any other sex-related stuff you can imagine. erugh!

7th dec
probably the most fun i had in this trip. we went to south pattaya beach in the morning, had a speed boat which brought us to this wharf in the middle of the sea. as i was getting onto the speed boat, my slippers got washed away! LOL. luckily i was able to retrive them. and i was the first one up to the boat. so i became the 'role model' for everyone else.

yes, the wharf in the middle of the sea. and it's not stationary.

activity held: parasailing!
price: 350 baht per person per round. 700 baht per person two rounds + a dip in the water.

dunno what i'm talking about? well, we were tied to a parachute and a speed boat was used to launch us into the air. and it's one person per parachute. so you can say that you were completely alone in the open air! it was difintely the experience of the lifetime. and i got an extra round, for the price of one round. lol. i'm not going to pretend, but at the end of my first round and i was preparing to land, my parachute just passed the landing point and i went for another round. i was freaked out! i was thinking, "where the hell were they taking me?" i thought they were going to let me dip my legs in the water. and i was totally not prepared! but no dip. and i was safely back after the second round. i returned to witness the awe in my brothers' eyes. lol. my youngest bro did not try. no guts. haha.

coming down. weets!

by the way, this was also open to small kids. and this small kids had pretty the same experience as adults. except that they had a instructor with them. and the instructor had no cords or whatever safety precautions. they just jumped on to the ropes tying the kid to the parachute and off they go!

after this, we went to coral island, via the speed boat. there we had the opportunity to jet-ski.

activity: jet-ski
price: 800 baht for two persons. 500 baht for one.
in addition: someone experienced.

my bro and i went to try. and it was fun! the guy (the experienced one) drove us to the middle of the sea and then we had the opportunity to operate the vehicle ourselves. we took turns of course. and then we went back to the island and that guy went so fast, without brakes, and water was splashed on us! well, mostly on my bro cos he was sitting in front. :P
then another water activity for us.

my bro and i.

coming back.

activity: banana boat. (actually it was this inflated piece of plastic that looks like a banana, hooked to a small boat)
price: 250 baht per person. 5 max.

and after much persuasion, my little bro joined us! together with the two boys from the other family, my other bro and moi! we went up this slippery thing of the devil and i was like constantly reminding my little bro, "hold tight. hold tight. don't let go, k?" because one fall, the others fall. so the boat went off, at high speed mind you. and i nearly fell off! when we reached a turning point at the far end of the beach, the boat turned and all 5 of us fell into the salty water!! and i wasn't wearing any swim suit! then the guy waited for us to climb back. and i had a hard time persuding my little bro to climb back up. he was like, "i wanna go on land! i wanna go on land!" i had to persuade him that land was far away and there was no way he can return unless he got on. so with the help of the others, i heaved, yes heaved, my little bro up and then away we go again. i think the guy was mad at us. we took an awfully long time!

just as we reached our starting point, the boat turned again and all of us were thrown overboard. goodness! this time we had to wade back to shore. and i was wet, head to toe. but it was fun, nonetheless. :)

5 of us :)

coming back. lol.

later. just before we went back via the speed boat to mainland pattaya, we went to see corals in this cool boat. there's this glass panel, covered by wooden planks, and once we removed the planks, we can see the underwater world. but no corals were to be seen. :( from there, we went up the speedboat and away we go.

this whole thing reminded me of riau though. haha.

went back to the hotel for lunch and changed. then we were off to this cultural village. i forgot the name. heh. we saw this cultural show, and at the finale, elephants came in. among this elephants were 3 baby ones. and they danced! yeps, danced! well, technically they were shaking their bodies. but it was so, so adorable!

after the show, we went to watch an elephant show. and the elephants were awfully cute! there's segments where the elephants did some painting, played basketball (one of them did a slam down. lol), played football (penalty shootout), darts and dance! and they could do poses and all sorts. it was darn cute! didn't take any photos. camera's battery was flat. what luck. but we left with memories of a lifetime. :)

dinner and then shopping at mike's shopping mall. bedtime. we did not change room in the end. the new rooms were at the first level, and they had a creepy feeling. so we sticked to the old rooms.

8th dec
left pattaya. and went to some dried products factory. left and we went to dream world. it's this amusement park in the outskirts of bangkok. the last time i went there was 8 years ago. so we went in, had our lunch and the fun begin. we went to ride go-karts. i only had one round. my brother went for 3. it was 100 baht per person per round. we had to pay for some rides. the others were already paid for in the tour package.

after the go-karts, i went with aunty molly (the family we made friends with) and her two sons to the hanging coaster. it looked scary, but it was a disappointment. then tried the vikings. you know, the boat-swing ride where you were swung here and there? i dunno how to describe it but it was scary. it felt as if we were tilted 90 degrees and wow. i can't describe it.

we then went to gianthouse and took loads of photos. anyway, teh last part of our trip was mostly phototaking. we then went shopping for awhie and i got an adidas hat. :)

us in the giant's boots.

the giant's kitchen utensils.

now, does that remind you of jack and the beanstalk?

shh.. the giant's asleep.

after dreamworld, we went back to bangkok city and stopped over at the four-faced buddha. then we went to twin towers hotel for dinner. it was a porridge buffet. lucky us. that's our hotel. so we would be checking in earlier than the other families. after that we said our goodbyes and went upstairs to our room. whew. were we tired.

[edit] other days laterrr. this is already a loooooong entry. [/edit]