A mis-adventure leading to a temple trail

Day 2 (Mon, 20 Dec 2010)

It started out innocently enough. We had breakfast and prepared to go to Rose Garden, a cultural centre which showcases Thai traditions and arts and crafts. The driver was supposed to pick us up at 9am. After several calls by Lilian to the agency, the driver finally pulled in at 9.30am. We were a little anxious since the hands-on activities at Rose Garden only took place between 10am-12noon.

But we were on our way! Or so we thought. The driver assured us that the journey to Rose Garden would take about 40mins so it seemed we were still in good time. However, for the next half hour or so, we inched forward in Bangkok traffic, including possibly 15mins at just one traffic light. Then, to our horror, we saw that we were heading back in the direction we started from! When quizzed, the driver replied, "oh, now I think maybe taking the highway is better." Don't ask me why the thought didn't occur to her right from the start. When asked what time she thought we would get to the Rose Garden, she started looking worried and said, "uhh... maybe 11am?"

By then, we were pretty frustrated but the final straw came when she said, "I need to stop to go to the toilet." Gaahhhhhhhh. Kenneth threw a fit right there and noticed that we were driving by Platinum, the shopping mall that we'd planned to visit that afternoon, and insisted she dropped us there. Needless to say, she didn't get paid.

The lesson is: give yourself a buffer and go with reputable transport companies! You pay more but at least you lower the risk of spoiling your holiday. The Thais are very gentle and friendly people but reliability is not their strong suit. Thank goodness with us, it happened for Rose Garden which was not one of our main attractions in Bangkok. Live and learn.

Well, no point crying over spilt milk (gosh, see how many cliches I've used already!) so we decided to do early shopping at Platinum instead.

Platinum is a mall which sells mostly clothes but also trinkets and accessories, all at wholesale prices. Lilian tells me there are ladies who can shop all day at Platinum and I can see why! There's something attractive in every corner and each floor is brimming with bargains.




Lilian and her kids met us at Platinum, then we shopped some more before heading out to lunch.

Lunch was at a Chinese restaurant at a fancier mall (can't remember the name). One thing I noticed about the malls in Bangkok is that they are all elaborately dressed up for Christmas, even more so than in Singapore.










The highlight of this restaurant was the Peking duck. Thin and crisp, wrapped in pancake - it was absolutely yummy! The best part? The price - only THB 600 (about S$26). How do you beat that?

With full tummies, we deliberated on what to do next. Since we'd missed out on our cultural experience this morning, we thought it would be a good idea to substitute it with another, instead of doing more shopping (which was starting to bore Andre to death).

So on the spur of the moment, we decided to head out to Wat Pho. Wat Pho is Bangkok's most famous Buddhist temple and is home to the world's largest reclining Buddha.

The Buddha is 46m long and covered in gold leaf. The feet themselves are 3m long. Here you can see the head and the feet.

The temple grounds are very picturesque, with lots of ornate architecture. Interestingly, the Grand Palace is just across from Wat Po and from the exterior, the two looked the same! They both have the distinct Thai, temple-inspired look.


































After the visit, we returned to Lilian's place for guess what... a badminton game! Andre was so envious that she has a badminton court right at her disposal. Of course he brought all his gear! Lilian invited her friend with her two sons to join in the game.

Incidentally, in case you haven't guessed, Lilian's place was Andre's FAVOURITE destination in Bangkok. There were two main reasons for this: Xbox and Nerf. We have neither of these at home, Xbox being too addictive and Nerf because I don't allow any sort of toy weapons in my home.

So Andre had a field day, playing to his heart's content. Here he is, shooting at imaginary enemies.










And to top it off, the kids insisted they were too tired to go out for dinner so Lilian ordered McDonald's for everyone. Auntie Lilian, you are the best!

Shopping and eating in the Land of Smiles

Day 1 (Sun, 19 Dec 2010)

Since our first day in Bangkok was a Sunday, we decided to spend it on a favourite Singaporean pasttime - shopping!

So early in the morning, we trooped off to Chatuchak. For the uninitiated, Chatuchak is a weekend market popular among tourists for its ginormous range of goods. Bargains beckon at every corner in this 35-acre shopping monstrosity. Go in the morning before it gets hot. It wasn't so bad for us since Bangkok weather is kinder in December but I can imagine how sweltering it can get when the temperature soars from April-July.

There was so much for sale it's hard to know where to look! You can find practically anything from textiles to crockery...










Toys to cooked food - even eggs from the back of a truck!










A piece of advice given to me by a friend was to just buy what we fancy when we see it cos we might not see it again. Turned out to be good advice. Most things were awfully cheap by Singapore standards though we found to our surprise that there was little leeway for bargaining. Prices named by most shopkeepers were low to start with and often, they weren't keen to haggle, allowing us to walk away when we countered with even a slightly lower offer.

At about noon, lugging several bags of purchases, we took a short cab ride to Chinatown for lunch. Our lunch destination was a friend's recommendation - Nam Sing, a Chinese restaurant specialising in shark's fin and bird's nest.

We ordered fried rice, stir-fried morning glory (kang kong), beef and a medium sized claypot of shark's fin in red soup.

The food was FANTASTIC. The beef was tender and succulent, and the morning glory very tasty. Side note: we ordered morning glory as our veg almost every time in Bangkok and it was always great. I don't know how the Thais cook it or what sauce they use but it's so much better than back in Singapore. The meal was perfectly accompanied by cups of hot, sweet chrysanthemum tea.

The shark's fin was so good each of us easily polished off two bowls. I know animal activists would baulk at this eating shark's fin but hey, we only eat this at special occasions now, maybe once a year and it's sooooo good.

You can watch them prepare the shark's fin at the counter.










Our lunch came up to about 1,400 TB or around S$60. Extremely good value.

After lunch, we crossed the road to Sampeng, another popular wholesale market. Just crossing that one major road was like an adventure in itself. Even though there was a zebra crossing, it seemed like the vehicles barely slowed down. We followed the locals who brazenly stepped onto the roads, forcing the cars to screech to a halt.

Chinatown is a vibrant, bustling place of sights and smells. Seafood by the roadside,

the tempting waft of roasting meat,

rows and rows of toys, hair accessories, stationery and trinkets.



















After a full day of shopping, we headed back to Lilian's place. That evening, Lilian and Eddie treated us to dinner at this modest Thai eatery called Lek Seafood (which she had previously blogged about here). The venue may be unassuming but by golly, the food was exceptional!

Lilian and Lesley-Anne shared a platter of fresh oysters.

Baked seabass.

Bbq river prawns - so yummy!

We ordered a lot more but I didn't take photos of everything. No photos of us enjoying our feast cos Lilian insisted that I was not allowed to take her picture. So camera shy, that woman.

A fabulous end to a fabulous day!

Which is the real Temple of Heaven?

Day 6 (Mon, 24 Nov 2008)

Today, we set out for Tiantan (Temple of Heaven) which is where the Emperor used to go to perform certain rituals, offer sacrifices and "communicate" with heaven.

On arrival, Lesley-Anne commented, "It looks exactly like the Forbidden City!" Well, I guess to Philistines like us, the architecture does look pretty similar.

But there are differences, even to the uninitiated. First, the Temple of Heaven has sprawling, expansive grounds - the garden is actually larger than the umm... built up area (I'm a city gal! I don't know what it's called!) You pay a fee to enter the grounds, then there is an additional fee to enter the temple areas. We didn't bother to explore the gardens but there were many people just strolling, it's very scenic even in winter.

We entered by the South gate and came to the Circular Mound. The walls and staircases surrounding and leading to the Circular Mound are all made of marble. The Circular Mound is paved with 9 concentric circles (symbolising the 9 heavens), and the main attraction is the middle Heavenly Centre stone where the Emperor would stand to talk to the heavens, as that's the most resonant spot.

Of course that was the spot for a photo op, all the tourists were clammering to stand there (everyone wants to be an Emperor even just for 5 seconds!) And of course we weren't any different - here's Emperor Andre, in royal yellow no less.

That's one of the main differences I found between the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven. Where the Forbidden City is all angles and squares, the Temple of Heaven is all about circles.

From there, we walked on to the Imperial Vault of Heaven (left pic) which housed the important relics for worship ceremonies. More interesting though was the surrounding grounds which had an Echo Wall (supposedly two people can talk at opposite ends of the wall and be able to hear each other) and strategically placed stones where you can hear an echo if you stand at those positions and clap. Lesley-Anne tried it (right pic below), it works! Something about the way the whole place was constructed in a circular manner. Don't ask me what Andre was doing in the picture below.



Then it's more walking past giant gates along a very long walkway to the Temple of Prayer for Good Harvests (the name is self-explanatory.) Again, everything was built in circles and in threes or nines, including the three-tiered roof.









Very ornate and pretty but you know, it starts to look the same after a while. We exited from the East gate and walked towards Hong Qiao Pearl Market, which is supposedly another cheap shopping mall similar to Silk Market. But the real gem was behind Hong Qiao Market - Toys City!! Wah - Andre was so excited, now THIS was the real Temple of Heaven for him! Four floors of every kind of toy imaginable, from action figures to soft toys to electronic cars. One floor sold entirely stationery. And every floor you ascended, the toys got bigger and bigger, until on the top floor, you have toys in gigantic boxes, including motorised cars and bikes.

Everything was dirt cheap - Andre got three action figures, including a large one which lights up and speaks when a button is pressed, for only RMB 40 (S$8.80). Lesley-Anne bought two ridiculously cute stuffed giraffes for RMB 30 (S$6.70). Of course you have to bargain lah!

We were having so much fun that by the time we decided to go for lunch, it was already 2.30pm. There was nothing much to eat in the vicinity so we took a cab back to Solana which was close by. We'd actually planned to try out one of the many restaurants along the food street but alamak, everything was closed! Here, the restaurants generally close at 2pm for lunch, which was rather frustrating.

So guess where we ended up? Back at the Japanese restaurant we went to yesterday! It was the only one opened. In fact, when the waitresses saw us, she had to turn on the lights, we were their only customers. Really, nobody eats at odd hours here??









But no matter, the food was still yummy. Above is a pic of a sushi roll with prawn tempura. Watch Andre dig in!

And then it's back to my cousin's place where the kids happily played with their new toys (and watched Kung Fu Panda again) for the rest of the day.