My May 08 Trip, Bangkok (3rd day)

1. Grand Palace & Wat Phra Keow


Accomplished to wake up fresh at 7AM, I guess it's becoz yesterday we didn't force our self to get tired, took a shower and everything finished at 7.30 went straight down to the coffee shop for the so..so.. standard 80's hotel breakfast. Afterwards we ran to the BTS station from the mezanin level (the hotel is connected to the BTS station directly) bought the tourist ticket for THB 100 which could be used all day anywhere as long as using the BTS. Got down at Saphan Thaksin station then walked a bit to central pier, it's really easy to go to the pier as there are direction signs everywhere at the BTS station in sanskrit and english.

the Orange boat

We took the Orange boat, as the colour of the boat indicates the route, it cost THB 15 paid it at the boat, got down at Chang Pier for getting to Grand Palace (GP) and Wat Phra Kaeo (WPK).
When we got down at Chang Pier we were lost, not knowing where to go, as we were directly greeted by traditional food market when we got out from the pier. Thankfully we saw a couple who were tourist too, but they looked really confident as if knowing where to go, so me and Srie we followed them, and it was true we finally got out from the market and saw the big white wall that surrounds the palace across the street from the market.



As we get inside the wall (outside paying area), and after taking some pictures, we were quite lucky to see the procession of changing palace guards.


Turns out GP and WPK are in the same area (inside the white wall), so the ticket for tourists that costs THB 250 are for these two places, we chose to geti into WPK first. Passing the ticket checking point for WPK we were greeted by this beautiful colorful temple in front of us with a statue to be prayed to and 2 giant mystical statues behind us guarding the entrance gate, at our left and right are colorful wall painting of stories surrounding the WPK complex. One thing about WPK & GP though... it's really reallly hotttttt.... I know it makes a perfect day of no rain and makes great pictures with our cam but at that time I really really regretted for changing my mind of using a a short sleeve shirt instead of a long sleeve and forgetting to use sunblock for my arms and hands, only applying it on my face and neck.

At a part in WPK near the elephant statues a very nice little breeze blew, it just felt like an oasis especially at the colorful ceiling they installed lots of small bells, so they chinks as the slight breeze blew it just added the perfect experience.

Satisfied getting around WPK and taking loads of pics, we started getting around the GP complex, we started at looking the king's throne, too bad it's forbidden to take pictures inside the room ,so we only take pictures inside. What's interesting about it is that inside the throne room there are statues and room dividers from China (I guess it's between country gifts from a long time ago... showing long term and quite close relation between these two countries)


Getting out from the king's throne we were automatically brought to the grand garden inside the palace, it's very clean and tidy but crazily hot coz there were no big trees for us to hide below it. So after taking pics again around the garden we went inside the artillery museum, it's located on the lower ground of the main building of the palace, divided in two, one is for the guns and the other is for sharp weapons. I'm more of a gun girl, I can't stand around sharp weapons it really made my stomach curls imagining how they uses the trident, large daggers, spears.... on a person of your enemy, with all the guts coming out euuuggghhhh.... yuckkyyyy..... :P (I know... my imagination just ran wild seeing those things) :P
Decided that we have seen enough of the Grand Palace and it's time to move to our next destination, we went back to Chang Pier and had our lunch at the food court there, too bad the food there is not that good.

2. Wat Pho & Wat Arun

Finished with our lunch, we went to Chang Pier which is just 5 meters away from the food court to use the same orange boat to Tien Pier (it's just 1 pier away) for Wat Pho, truthfully it's said that Wat Pho is only +/- 900 meters from GP and in the same side of the river, but with the crazy sunny day and heat it's just a no no to walk, we chose to do the practical way of using the boat, besides it cheap and won't tire us :D

Once we arrived at Tien Pier we saw another pier beside it for another type of boat to cross the river to the other side to go to Wat Arun, wow... turns out it's really easy to go to Wat Arun, when I was reading at the internet it looked like it would take quite an effort to go there, and becoz of this in the itinerary plan that I've made for our trip I didn't put it there.
The same situation as in Chang Pier, right after getting put from the pier area we are greeted with market, but this time is not a food market but a traditional market, they sell salted fish and the famous Thai durian, and again ... due to the crazy heat and smell of uncooked salty fish I just lost all my appetite for eating durian.



Inside Wat Pho, it's not as nice and grand as the grand palace, even could be considered a little bit messy and not under taken good care, but at least there were lots of trees, so it's much more cooler and comfortable there. Truly, the most interesting about Wat Pho is its "reclining Budha" which is so huge it's so hard to get a good angle to take a picture of the Budha, besides that Wat Pho is also known for it's teaching for the traditional Thai massage (also for the common people can learn or have a Thai massage there). even the wall paintings in that temple are pictures of human body plus points to do the massage (these wall paintings are not in the same temple as the "reclining Budha" but still in the area of Wat Pho).



In the temple of the "reclining Budha", at the side going to the exit door, there is a ray of clay pots which is used to be filled with THB 50 cents coins. For the coins, we donate THB 20 and we get a half full bowl of uncounted THB 50 cents coins, so every bowl has different amount, then we fill in those clay pots, it is said that if you filled all the clay pots with all the coins till the end, you will come back to Thailand. Luckily I got to fill all the clay pots with my coins, but Srie didn't get it to the last clay pot.


Satisfied with Wat Pho, we went straight away back to the small pier next to Tien Pier and cross the river. As I've mentioned before, this boat is different that the orange boat we used earlier, it's a smaller boat but because of it's design, an old lady with his son selling vegetables with their cart (looking for their cart they have finished selling as it is already empty) are crossing to the other side too are able to cross with their cart on the boat.


There are not much to see at Wat Arun, as I have read in the net that there is nothing really special from Wat Arun when you see it from near, the temple itself is covered with ceramics, sometimes it even looks as if they put plate of china and glued it on the wall of the temple :D


Not knowing what else to do, finally I decided to walk up the ladders to the top, it's a long trip to Wat Arun from south of Jakarta ;) so it would be a waste if I don't do what I can do there while I'm there...... STUPID stupid decision :D after finishing the 1st part of the stairs, which is quite high already... the second part is much worse, it's way more steeper and the steps are smaller, it's just about a span. To go up I have to hold both the railing left and right to make me more stable, at the top when Srie took my picture from below (smart girl, she doesn't want to go up :P ) I looked down (to face the camera of course), immediately regret came in to my mind and I was in frantic not knowing how to get down as it looked way steeper from up there then below, and getting down must be harder then going up.

Finally after being dizzy looking down, I walked around the top of Wat Arun to calm myself too, the view is really great, you can see the Chao Phraya river, it's a pity I left my camera with Srie, so I can't show the view here, and the soft breeze is just great though the sun is still striking it's force. Ok... time to go down. With lips unstoppingly hushing prayers, I tried to go down holding both of the railing on my left and right facing down, besides being steep and only having small steps, the height for each steps is very high, when I stood up on one step I could feel the next upper step is on my behind.
Finally when I reached at the bottom all I could say was "Thank you Lord, I arrived safely" while trying to catch my breaths back and tried to stand straight again with those wiggly feet. Seriously... that incident made me traumatized with stairs for around 2 weeks.

3. Shoppping @ MBK


IT's already in the afternoon when we went back from Wat Arun, took the boat again to cross the river to Tien Pier and exchange boat to Central Pier to go to the BTS again, coz we want to complete our journey of the day with shopping at Ma Boong Krong (MBK) for local gifts from Thailand for family & friends.


Turns our what I read and heard about MBK was true, there were lots of local gifts there especially at the 6th floor, you just have to bargain for stuffs there, though it's quite hard. After getting around there I just realized that I'm not feeling well at all, I had sunburn (my first sunburn in my life), dizzy and nauseous. I've had it, I'll never forget to use sunblock again.
We had dinner at MBK too, and went back to the hotel around 9 PM, packing our luggage and went straight to bed, coz tomorrow we have to start early in the morning as our flight to Singpore is at 7.05 AM.

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My May 08 Trip, KL - Bangkok (2nd day)

Hoooaahhmm..... I'm still sleepy but got to wake up a bit early, coz our flight to Bangkok is at 10.40 AM.

1. Transport to Airport
Our plan is to take taxi from Anjung KL to KL Sentral (estimation RM 15) and take KLIA Express to KLIA (RM 35) and take the shuttle bus from KLIA to LCCT (RM 1.5). But when we got a taxi (although in the morning we only waited for about 3 minutes to get a cab) he offered us RM 70 to get to LCCT, and after counting that it would be a bit cheaper and less hassle we took his offer.
Oh yeah... taxi in KL is just crazy... NEVER charged us by the meter, you have to bargain first for the rate ( so you have to know the market price), this happened every time we used taxi when we were there, except when we used the taxi ticket at KL Sentral.


2. LCCT Airport
After done with check in, baggage and asking a zipped plastic bag for liquid in my hand carry baggage, we still have time for breakfast. After looking around at "Asian Kitchen" we chose (coin flipped) McD.



Knowing that the flight would be longer than KL-Jakarta flight, I pulled out my book, wallet (to buy in flight drink), camera & mint candy from my bag. Me & Srie felt that the flight to Bangkok uses a bigger airplane, this flight is also on time, we arrived at around 11.45 Bangkok time.
After landing I have to put back all my stuff into my bag, which takes some time and we became the last 3 people on board, I tried to take Srie's picture and the stewardess clapped her hand and said "come...come.. come... No.. No.. No... you can't do this miss, you could be considered as a hijacker"
Me & Srie looked at each other constantly & laughed.... "hahaha.... us??? highjacker??? gosh...."

"Highjacker pic"

Well... we guess it's better than one of our friend who was twice thought as TKW (women who worked abroad as domestic help), when she arrived at Jakarta airport & she was already dragged to the way to the special TKW airport (at least we were said as we COULD BE considered but not ALREADY considered as our friend were, pls keep in mind that it's NOT about comparing highjacker to domestic help but about could and already) ;D

3. Suvarnabhumi airport


Suvarnabhumi airport is big and very modern style, when we land and look from the airplane window it looks like rows of snail shells. Arrival hall is at the 2nd floor, bought local mobile card at the same floor too, it costs THB 199 for THB 100 credit. Then we went downstairs to go to the airport shuttle bus stand (near entrance 8) which passes Asia Hotel (route AE4), we already bought the ticket at the airplane for THB 150.





Though the girl at the bus stand told us that restaurants are at 3rd floor, when we saw a food court near the bus stand (Magic Food Court)we got in, looks like most of the airport employee are eating at this food court, which is a good sign for me coz it means it's not touristy. And it really was a good choice, very cheap and very very delicious food (the best tasting food we had in Bangkok), I had pork leg stew with rice and deep fried papaya salad plus mineral water only cost me THB 80 (around USD 3), this food court used the coupon system just like the most food court system in
Bangkok.

4. Transport from airport

We told the bus driver assistant our destination is Asia hotel, so they would tell us when to get down. The bus itself is quite ok, as they provide a special space for luggage, AC is working and it's almost empty so very convenient.
But when we got down from the bus, we got the shock of our live, as we just come to know that the hotel is at the opposite side of the road where we get down from the bus, and when we ask a guy on how to go to Asia Hotel he showed us to go up the stairs to the BTS Station, which is quite something (Pls keep in mind that we are carrying a 15kg luggage and backpack each!!!!) - ohhh... and he showed us the stairs with a grinning face... I just want to give him a knock on his head for the mocking grin. Thankfully I saw somebody crossed the road about 50 meters back at the cross road, so we cross there and walked to the hotel.

our room at Asia Hotel

5. Walking around Bangkok
The plan for today was walk to Pratunam market, look around Siam square and watch the Calypso Cabaret at our hotel. But we can't do all that coz it's vesak day so they are not performing for today and tomorrow, plus it's raining after we checked in, so we just took our time to be lazy in the room and chose to just walked around Central World Plaza (this has a connecting door to the Chitlom BTS station) which used to be the World Trade Center, a very impressive high end mall, made it a bit hard for us to find a food court or restaurant which fits for a budget traveler like us :P
I have heard about "The Loft" but after seeing it, it's just too touristy for us, so we looked around and found a place to eat (but too bad the food is not that good, the food is just too hot). We did a little shopping at Boots pharmacy, and I'm just in love with Boots product of Vanilla Cocoa (the body lotion just made my body smell like chocolate cookies)

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My May 08 Trip, Jakarta - KL (1st day)

Waaaa... I still can't believe it, after 5 months of planning THE DAY is here in front of my eyes, I'm finally having my vacation :D

Our plane schedule is 08:10 AM, so I have to leave from home at about 04:45 with lots yawning but unable to sleep along the road to airport. Although using AirAsia but we are still using the 2nd terminal 'coz it's an international flight.

After meeting my friend, Srie, we went inside to check in and taking care of the fiscal tax. Something new we learned from this trip is we can pay the 1 mill tax not only by cash but also by credit card :), make sure you prepare complete info for the fiscal tax voucher so it can be accounted as part of your income tax. After this is done we went out again to spend time with my parents and BF and off course taking some pictures for docs of our trip.



Everything went well including the schedule, there were no delay at all even the plane landed at LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal) KL, earlier 20 minutes before schedule. Immigration and custom officer in KL didn't give us any trouble at all, although giving the no smile face all the time. I'm still wondering why all the immigration officer are like that, is that a standard procedure to never let a smile escapes your face when they are on duty???

1. Transport from airport



After passing custom, we get to the tourist information booth and on the right to it are buses ticket booth to get to the city. We chose Skybus (from the same company as AirAsia) which costs RM 9 to KL Sentral (central station for city trains), it took us around 1 hour to KL Sentral, bought a local SIM Card at the 2nd level there, the lowest cost RM 8.5 for a RM 5 credit (DiGi).

And then we went to the taxi counter ticket, nearby where the bus dropped us off (walk around 10 meter to the right from the Skybus drop off) it cost RM 12 (RM 2 is for 2 luggage) to go to Anjung KL 2 at Tengkat Tongsin, at Bukit Bintang area. Probably the taxi driver was not happy that we used the taxi ticket and not straight to him (where he could fix his own price), so he dropped us off not in front of the hostel (we have to walk with our luggage around 30 meters) so that he doesn't have to make a turn again (and made sure that we felt his non caring about this). Butttt.... it all changes after I gave him a RM 6 tip, a smile rose from his face, put on a caring face and asking if we would be ok to be left there. (huh... money talks dear, blah... :P)

2. Hostel



From internet reservation, they said that the only available room left is the triple room (so we have to accept it), but

thank God, when we arrived they said the double room is available (off course we chose the double as it is RM 25 cheaper).
The room itself is really small (around 2.5x2.5 m) but quite clean, but just being cautious I'll use my bali sarong on top of the bed sheets.

3. Lunch



Afterwards, we look for lunch at jalan Alor from a blog I read talking about the Chicken Wine Noodle by Sisters Drunken Chicken Mee at Resoran One to One and stated that it was good. So when we were passing the front of the shop we decided to give it a try.
The noodle tasted really good at first especially we were really really hungry, but after a while the rice wine over powered the overall taste to be a bit more bitter.
The chicken wine noodle cost RM 9 and drinking water RM 1.5

4. Looking around
Our plan for today at first was walking around Bukit Bintang area and if we have time at night we would go to KLCC to take pictures of Petronas Tower at night.
But because that day was really hot and the sun felt way too much, we decided that going directly to KLCC would be a better choice. So we walked from Bukit Bintang to monorail station at Imbi (behind Bukit Bintang) to go back to KL Sentral and use the Putra Line to go straight to KLCC (it was just too hot, we lost our mood to walk around, and looked for transportation that doesn't require too much walking).
Turns our the monorail station at KL Sentral still requires a little bit of walking coz it's not inside the KL Sentral but in front of it.

5. KLCC - Petronas


After walking around KLCC we found a chestnut seller in front of the Isetan supermarket, being a fan for chestnut I bought it immediately (I think it's a little bit too dry then the ones I usually ate at S'pore). Then we found the food court and bought ourselves drinks (I chose coca cola vanilla, Srie took the black currant) and popia (I wanted to know how the Malayasia's popia tasted like, it turned out ok).



After settling down, resting our feet and enjoying the afternoon snack, being seated at the window table we tried to look around esp. looking for the Petronas Tower, our conversation was :

me : "Srie, where is the Petronas Tower ya? I can't see it from the window" (while I'm holding KL map)
Srie : "Yes... I can't see it too"
me : "Probably it's on the other side of the road, so we can't see it from here"
silence....
and then I laughed to myself and gave Srie the map in my hand
me :"you know why we can't see the Petronas Tower? It's on top of us!!! hahaha...

Finished with our afternoon snack we walked around KLCC Suria again (we are waiting to take pictures of Petronas with it's lights) this time we were looking around shoes area at Isetan, and when I found some interesting shoes, I hold it to see it better. But after sometime of doing this, while I was holding a shoe an Indian shop girl rushed running to me and said something so fast that I could not understood her. After asking her to repeat again, this was the conversation :

shopgirl : "The shoes is made from pig skin lining!!!!"
me : "So, why????" (I was really really confused, I thought I was not supposed to touch the shoe if I'm not buying, hey.. probably they have this weird custom that I don't know of, it's a different country right?)
shopgirl : (again repeating) "The shoes is made from pig skin lining!!!!"
me : "So??? Why???? I have no problem with that... I'm a Christian" (after remembering the connection of moslems are not allowed to eat pork)
shopgirl : "Oohhh....sorry.. but you look like a Malay, and it's mandatory for us to inform the Malay customer if a product is made from pig"
me : "Ooo... ic.... it's ok"

I was aware that they put signs at some shoes telling that the shoes lining was made from pig skin, so I never thought that the this is what the shopgirls is trying to inform me :)

Another new thing for me to learn, is that moslems are not allowed to use product from pig, I only thought that they are just not allowed to eat it. About a year ago I too just learned that the Malay people has to be moslem, that made my regional boss from Malaysia a bit surprised to know that I am a Christian.

Finally finished looking around, we have our dinner of the delicious BBQ Chicken Rice, it's really really good. Then after dinner we went out to take the pictures until almost 10 o'clock and went back with Putra Line but from KL Sentral we went by taxi to our hostel coz Srie had a bad stomach ache.

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Planning my Vacation as a Budget Traveler..

I've been tempted to go to Thailand for a vacation since I opened Bayu Buana's web page in November '07 and they offered a tour to Bangkok, Phuket & Pattaya starting from USD 582. I was chatting with my friend, Srie, and told her about the tour. But not to my luck the offer is only valid from June-Aug '07 and they still have no new offer yet.


On December Airasia sent me an e-mail for their newest offering : IDR 16.000 (around USD 1.75) to KL one way (after tax would be IDR 246.000 or USD 25), I immediately open their site and found very very good prices and called my friend about the offer and we planned for a trip on May '08, our route is : KL - Bangkok - Phuket - KL, for all the route it cost me IDR 1.550.242 (around USD 170). My intention to stop by KL is to visit my BF's sister & her baby daughter which I haven't seen yet since she was born.

I tried to gather round information about hotels, interesting places to visit, good places to eat, maps, transportation in Bangkok, Phuket & KL from the net, it really was an interesting experience trying to schedule a trip for a week in 3 different places. My favorite site to check for travel info are from virtualtourist.com and blogs either from other traveler or locals. But in the last week before going I got really fed up with the plan, 'coz it really made me felt like I'm there already for so many times by planning it only (hehehe.... 5 months of planning :P)

In the end for some reasons we changed our vacation route to be :

KL (18-19 May) - Bangkok (19-21 May) - Singapore (21-23 May) - KL (23-25 May).
This adds the ticket cost for around IDR 1,4 mill (USD 150), for Bangkok - S'pore using Air Asia and S'pore - KL using Tiger Air.
Before deciding to use airplane from S'pore to KL I have thought of the opt of using bus, but after knowing the cost of the business class bus (SGD 63) being the same as using airplane (SGD 65), the long hour ride (around 5 hours) and the hassle at immigration JB (Johor Baru) of having to get down from the bus and bringing all our luggage along and having the risk of being left by our bus there and having to take the next bus coming (from the same company) plus hearing about the high criminal rate at JB, it's just not worth it.

Our plan was using public transportation such as MRT, bus and taxi except if in Phuket we would rent a car along with its driver, as this would be much cheaper and convenient than to use taxi (around THB 1500 per day - info from virtualtourist).

For our first night in KL we would sleep at a hostel called Anjung KL 2 in Bukit Bintang area this is by recommendation of Dina, my friend from kindergarten, this costs RM 70 per night (for a double room, including breakfast) being near to the famous jalan Alor for it's hawker food and near to monorail station, in Bangkok we would sleep at Hotel Asia as this hotel is really close to the BTS (Bangkok Sky Train - local MRT) and has it's own bridge connecting to the Ratchatewi station this costs USD 72 per night including breakfast (I bought it from a travel agent), in Singapore we would sleep at Lucky Plaza apartment which costs us SGD 70 per night for a double room (2 years ago I slept at the same type of room it cost me SGD 50) I chose this as it's strategic location being in the famous Orchard Road area and close by the Orchard MRT station. And for our last visit to KL we would be sleeping at my BF's sister place.
If we were to go to Phuket I would've chosen to sleep at Club Andaman, as for May they give a very good offer than the usual price (low season)
For hotel rates by travel agent, they would be available around 3 months before visit, prior to that they would say that they don't have the newest price yet and even on our last days they still say that the price is subject to change??? (very strange to me, esp if the hotel voucher is in my hands already).

For food I budgeted in KL would be RM 25 per meal, for Bangkok THB 300 and as for Singapore SGD 15. This amount would be sufficient if you are OK to eat at food courts or local hawker center, which I always think as the best way to eat becoz there would be lots of locals eating there.

For places to visit I have planned to just using our own knowledge or local tourist guide except if we had gone through our first plan in Phuket we would use a tour from the net for going to PhiPhi and other islands plus snorkeling & lunch it would cost THB 3100.

All in all, the ticket costs : IDR 2.940.058 (including the unused Bangkok-Phuket & Phuket-KL ticket), hotel/hostel costs : IDR 1.348.400 (KL 1 night, Bkk 2 nights, S'pore 1 night) per person (for 2 people) = IDR 4.288.458

Oh and 1 more tip : don't forget to call your CreditCard company and info them 1-2 days prior your departure about your trip schedule, be as detail as possible and tell them the possibility of you using the cards in those country, so it would be easier to use it (sometimes they would reject abroad transaction without this prior notice).

Preparation to be done before leaving : do a little check up with your doctor and ask for meds if you've got some problems and make sure ask for prescription as some countries could have a problem with the meds you're bringing. Bring your vitamins as this is a great help to take care of your health condition while traveling.
Be honest with your traveling partner about the sickness that you have, as they would be the first one to help you, and tell them about your abnormality such as sleepwalking, snoring, drooling (hihihi...) so they won't be shocked :D

After all of this... just enjoy your holiday and have lots and lots of great FUN!!!!

P.S : after planning this trip, it made me think of opening a travel agent hehehe... anybody interested?

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