Warning: This is a super long post! With many pictures and text
This year is a year of holiday for me :")
I went to Thailand with my whole family for 5 days (6-10 August) and then to Taiwan later for 23 days...
So I boarded the first flight to Bangkok, which was around 7.05 AM. And the photo on the right is.... on the day of the flight, at around 6 AM.
My family booked five tickets of Tiger Airways-- the partner airline of Mandala Airlines. Mami said Tiger bought Mandala when it got bankrupt. And they only gave two check-in counters for all destinations... SMART.
Ok I know it needs money but.... you're going to make us miss our flights! It's not even moving... I don't know what is going on there at the check in counters. It's one hour to our flight and when my mom asked the check in counter man/woman he/she told us kindly to wait first. WAIT? LOOK AT THIS SUPER LONG QUEUE, KIND SIR. Are we going to board the flight on time? I'm guessing non-first-flight passengers are now queuing as well....
Thank you very much for the kind words, Tiger Airways. In the end, we had to be helped by domestic check in counters because of the python-snake-long queue, thank you very much.
Queuing again for baggage check before boarding the flight. Great, just great. That day's morning was full of queuing. Got in the plane at 7.30, and I forgot if we were the last ones to arrive or not-- with that kind of queue, you're not going to get into the plane on time.
We had to buy in-flight food, and this was my choice. I'll score bad/disappointing for food services; I mean, if you have very limited stock of food then don't restrict us to buying your in-flight food -___- us sitting at the middle get the last of the last stock of food, and often times they don't have anything left except for one kind of food out of FIVE. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. First, the queuing, now the food. I'd rather have something in stock rather than waiting so long just to get the very last food and getting the fewest possible choice. (-___-)""
We arrived at around lunchtime, so we asked our rented car driver to take us to a restaurant. He wasn't the best at English, and my brother even used Google Translate to help us communicate LOL
He took us to an expensive restaurant, in which me, my bro and my mom ate the above appetizer. The food was good, but unfortunately not especially good. Mom says, usually tourists get fooled at their first day abroad, and we kind of did get fooled. Maybe the driver saw us staying at a good hotel so he took us to a good restaurant. My brother asked if the resto was expensive or not, courtesy of Google Translate, but the driver did not give a definite or clear answer.
After the food, we went straight to the hotel. Sadly, the room was not yet ready for us to go into, and we waited for some 1-2 hours if I remember correctly. The hotel people even offered us drinks and remembered that we were the ones waiting for our room :") it's kind of that long. While waiting, I was looking for ways to get free stickers in Thailand. iOS has always been harder to 'play around' with than Android, so all I managed was use Facebook login and not register my phone number. That still didn't let me get away with free stickers from other Asian regions -___-
I need to get help from someone who knows how to create VPN and let me download or purchase stickers in certain Asian regions... I hate this regional-exclusive stuff... urgh.
After some long waiting, we finally managed to see our room. Only one was ready, but that's okay. We intended to go somewhere for some shopping but in the end, we were photographing the insides of the hotel room because it was so pretty.
This year is a year of holiday for me :")
I went to Thailand with my whole family for 5 days (6-10 August) and then to Taiwan later for 23 days...
My family booked five tickets of Tiger Airways-- the partner airline of Mandala Airlines. Mami said Tiger bought Mandala when it got bankrupt. And they only gave two check-in counters for all destinations... SMART.
Ok I know it needs money but.... you're going to make us miss our flights! It's not even moving... I don't know what is going on there at the check in counters. It's one hour to our flight and when my mom asked the check in counter man/woman he/she told us kindly to wait first. WAIT? LOOK AT THIS SUPER LONG QUEUE, KIND SIR. Are we going to board the flight on time? I'm guessing non-first-flight passengers are now queuing as well....
Thank you very much for the kind words, Tiger Airways. In the end, we had to be helped by domestic check in counters because of the python-snake-long queue, thank you very much.
Queuing again for baggage check before boarding the flight. Great, just great. That day's morning was full of queuing. Got in the plane at 7.30, and I forgot if we were the last ones to arrive or not-- with that kind of queue, you're not going to get into the plane on time.
We had to buy in-flight food, and this was my choice. I'll score bad/disappointing for food services; I mean, if you have very limited stock of food then don't restrict us to buying your in-flight food -___- us sitting at the middle get the last of the last stock of food, and often times they don't have anything left except for one kind of food out of FIVE. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. First, the queuing, now the food. I'd rather have something in stock rather than waiting so long just to get the very last food and getting the fewest possible choice. (-___-)""
Touchdown Bangkok with my mom and little bro!
Dad and my older sister is coming later at night.
Upon arriving, we knew we had to have some sort of way to communicate, and dtac offered the best offer for us and other short-term tourists! I did not take a picture of the promo but it offered 7-day unlimited internet for both 3G and Wi-Fi and 100 Thai baht worth of phone credit, all for 299 Thai baht.
Mom, me and my brother each bought a number. This way, we can stay connected and also with friends back in Indo!
A very nice appetizer!
He took us to an expensive restaurant, in which me, my bro and my mom ate the above appetizer. The food was good, but unfortunately not especially good. Mom says, usually tourists get fooled at their first day abroad, and we kind of did get fooled. Maybe the driver saw us staying at a good hotel so he took us to a good restaurant. My brother asked if the resto was expensive or not, courtesy of Google Translate, but the driver did not give a definite or clear answer.
After the food, we went straight to the hotel. Sadly, the room was not yet ready for us to go into, and we waited for some 1-2 hours if I remember correctly. The hotel people even offered us drinks and remembered that we were the ones waiting for our room :") it's kind of that long. While waiting, I was looking for ways to get free stickers in Thailand. iOS has always been harder to 'play around' with than Android, so all I managed was use Facebook login and not register my phone number. That still didn't let me get away with free stickers from other Asian regions -___-
I need to get help from someone who knows how to create VPN and let me download or purchase stickers in certain Asian regions... I hate this regional-exclusive stuff... urgh.
After some long waiting, we finally managed to see our room. Only one was ready, but that's okay. We intended to go somewhere for some shopping but in the end, we were photographing the insides of the hotel room because it was so pretty.
The hotel blanket with its hotel logo. Pretty!
Nice packaging! *.*
The sink.
A mirror above the place where you place your luggage.
Me sitting at the edge of the bathtub!
I'd love to have a bathtub like this! Omfg pretty
The inside of the sink. I love the ornamental look.
After taking pictures of the hotel room stuff, we went to Siam Paragon mall. There's this Leonardo DiCaprio wax statue and I just wanted to take a picture for some sort of keepsake.
Above picture was my dinner. NOT TASTY. Too much soy sauce, and the broth was too thick. I should have chosen another meal!
My hotel sign at night!
And the snacks I purchased while I was here! It looked pretty unique... Cheetos with the taste of green chili + cheese mixture and pizza flavored seaweed. Thailand is the home of Tao Kae Noi, so no wonder there are more flavors that are not exported XD
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SECOND DAY
I photographed the view from my hotel room. Right across us was CIMB Thai and another hotel. I was waiting for my sister to finish taking a bath + doing her make up so I took pictures of the view from the hotel.. and myself :P
I was done with my makeup and was waiting for my sister to go together to the hotel restaurant to have breakfast. I did a normal makeup - foundation, concealer, eyebrow, eyeliner, lip balm and then cheek tint. :D
Breakfast was magnificent. I was so sad I did not take a picture.. the first day of breakfast (the second day in Thailand) was the most delicious of all breakfast I had eaten during my stay in Hotel Muse.
This was an example of what we ate for breakfast at Hotel Muse. However, this was on the second day of breakfast (third day). The uber delicious breakfast we had on the first day was fried rice with egg (like pictured above), grilled/fried potato (like above), chicken teriyaki, and chicken sausage. What makes the breakfast so special?
The godly...
Thai Fish Sauce!
(Picture from www.spicesofindia.co.uk)
Picture from: www.thaifoodtonight.com
The restaurant added diced chili peppers, both green and red like the picture above. SUPER.. DUPER.. DELICIOUS. It was heavenly. Bland flavored fried rice will taste nice with this, as long as you don't add too much (will be too salty!)
Today's plan is to go to Ayutthaya. It was around 1.5 or 2 hour drive from the city using freeway.
The hotel's tuk-tuk! It can take you to the nearby skytrain station.
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Today's plan is to go to Ayutthaya. It was around 1.5 or 2 hour drive from the city using freeway.
We were going to visit this temple! Inside there's the biggest bronze Buddha statue in Thailand.
The Queen of Thailand. Actually you can find her photos almost anywhere-- turns out during my stay in Thailand, (6-10 August) the Queen was having her birthday next Monday (12th August) so that's why her picture is everywhere :D it's to celebrate!
Who doesn't like pretty flowers?
Anyways, once I was inside, the big bronze Buddha statue is right in front!
The statue is so big, for us to take pictures from below, we couldn't get a really good view of how large it is, unless we take the picture from far away--which is not very possible since the temple is not that wide/large.
Proof of it being the biggest bronze Buddha statue!
Some other photos I snapped while still inside.
School kids in Thailand! The hair regulation is definitely not as strict as it was before, but some of the kids still sport the traditional "pudding" hair! Ah, school days. It's been two years since high school, and these kids are still far from high school. Time does fly!
Next, we visited the three shrines which was just nearby. I bought an ice cream!
The seller speaks Chinese! Ok not very important but I found it amazing-- I said I wanted strawberry flavor and he understood! Yay. It was a block rectangle-shaped ice cream and he added this small cup so that the ice cream doesn't melt to my hands.
This was said to be the remnants of an old kingdom. It's kind of sad but also amazing to think that the ruins I am currently in used to be a castle many, many years ago.
If I remember correctly, this was one of the king's names-- when Ayutthaya was still a kingdom.
Above picture is me myself, and below picture is me with my younger brother. Yes, he's very tall.
We traveled to the back of the shrine, where my dad goes to pay respects. He prays in each of the three temples, while we wait downstairs XD
After praying at the shrine, we went back to Bangkok to eat something. Daddy recommended Greyhound Cafe-- it was in Emporium Mall in Bangkok.
Daddy的推薦! Salmon with some sort of spicy sauce-- forgot the name. I wrote it down in Burpple though XD The main dish I ordered in the end was pork chop with SUPER SOUR sauce. I cannot stand the sourness-- it's just not my kind of sour. Eventually my brother finished off my meal and I added a dessert since eating another big meal would be too much :P
Daddy ordered this smoothie and gave it to me to neutralize the pork chop sourness :") fruity sourness is one of my kind of sour! :D
The dessert I ordered. It was a sorbet with fruit and nuts, plus cream below.
Mommy ordered a drink that matches her dress XD
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Mommy researched a lot before we went to Bangkok, and there's this one place she'd like to go. That place is Sirocco Rooftop Bar. It's a very pretty place, but it's full of cigarette smoke (it's a bar...), and it's so high. My brother is usually the one who's afraid of heights, but now it's my turn.
I wore stilettos I bought from New Look, and it turned to be a bit unsteady for me. At the lobby I actually fell to my knees-- I kept my face calm and everything, but actually inside I was embarrassed. My sister helped me up T_T
Phone casing blocks flash! This was at Sirocco Rooftop Bar.
The view from the Rooftop Bar. Inside that huge gazebo is Mezzaluna restaurant, but I forgot if they are the upstairs resto only or also the downstairs resto.
They don't let you take pictures at the stairs. I don't know why, but they only let you take pictures at the Rooftop Bar. I think they don't even let you take photographs near the tables and chairs of the restaurants if it's somewhere near the staircase. Mom stole a picture near the fountain before we got reprimanded :P
Mom said she saw in TripAdvisor, that Sirocco (it's also a restaurant) doesn't let you use Birkenstock, flip flops etc etc too casual-looking. It's an expensive place, so that's fine, but the thing is, they kind of cheat you. They'll say it's fully booked, and then when you go to the rooftop bar you see so many empty tables and they don't even have the RESERVED sign on them. When you call them and they say it's fully booked, they'll tell you to book at Mezzaluna instead-- it's far more expensive and you can only order sets of courses. Knowing this beforehand, Mom knew our destination is definitely the bar instead of the restaurant.
Mommy was pissed, but I honestly don't care (although that is arrogant of them in a way) because I don't really give a damn about this place.... be it the Hangover shooting place, fine dining, expensive and nice-looking place--- I'm the kind of person who doesn't give a sh*t about these stuff.
It's full though! Really full. And they do crowd control. It's on the 66th floor or something (forgot; it's 60ish) so we had to take the elevator for sure. When me and my family went upstairs, there weren't too many people. When we got down, there's a "snakelike queue" waiting to board the elevator.
After the Sirocco Rooftop Bar, it's time for dinner! We were headed to Paragon food court as daddy said they have delicious food. AND DADDY'S DAMN RIGHT!
I ordered this curry chicken rice. It was from a stand named Yusuf something-- THE CURRY WAS VERY NICE. It's quite spicy, and a little sweet. And it's big for 80 Thai Baht! Hell, there's nothing like this for the same price in Jakarta!
THE UBER DELICIOUS PAD THAI.
Thailand is a haven for cheap and tasty food. Period.
Afterwards, my sister and my brother went to see my sister's friends who were also in Bangkok. I was tired and I'm afraid I won't have much to talk about, so I went with Papi and Mami instead. I wanted to see the supermarket-- it was near closing time but oh well :P Daddy pays :3
I bought a white peach. COST DAMN EXPENSIVE... 550 THB.
Do not buy this if you think the expensive price is worth the taste. I still like the normal small peach better...
I also bought a mangosteen body scrub and some stuff for my host family in Taiwan. After the supermarket shopping, me and my parents went back to the hotel. I was so tired, I immediately fell asleep once I got on the bed (unusual). That's all for day two! Part 2 coming up.
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