Last day in Bangkok

Woke up pretty fresh, we went to Chatuchak market, mainly for me and my shopping pleasure.
Many shops were closed but I managed to buy what I like under S$50. It's truely 'chiip chiippe'.
We had some time until Lunch time so we decided to take advantage of the chiiip chiip massage place for a whole body oil massage. And I mean the healthy kind. Or so I thought...
For lunch, we met up with Sylvie and Marc to a Moet free flow, all you can eat seafood lunch at Intercontinental Hotel.
From oysters, salmon sashimi to foie gras, we had a satisfying catching up lunch for only 1500Bhat each.
It was a nice weekend getaway, not in Singapore nor to Jakarta as usual.
This time we only scratched the surface, but we will definitely go back for more soon!

Wet in Bangkok

Woke up with a slight hangover, we headed out to a sunny day on the river.
Took the canal boat exclusive to ourselves (show off), we went a detour to the back canal, between houses of the local people, then back into the main river to the Grand Palace. Matt said it's a bit like Venice.

We then got off and saw the big chilled out Buddah and some temples.

The most obvious celebration of Songkran is the throwing of water.
People roam the streets with buckets of water or water guns, even a garden hose and drench each other and helpless tourists, like us.
Originated by pouring water gently over Buddah statues symbolizing good luck to the New years, and also to celebrate the harvest which was brought by water, it's just seems like a good excuse to play with water.
We had been warned but was attacked, by what we thought were innocent playful kids on the streets, while riding on Tuk-Tuk on the way to lunch. We were drenched to our under pants with one good splash!
Saturday night, we went to FACE bar, and ate at Lan Na Thai.
Only after being recommended by Sylvia I realized that I do have to go there!
Lan Nah Thai and Hazara in Jakarta was once my playground, where Emi perfected her hosting skills 15 years ago!
And thanks to that, I met Steve who is now the Manager in Bangkok.
Matt and I got pretty drunk by the cocktails and the 2 complimentary Mojito from Steve, we went back to the hotel and had an early night.

Two Nights in Bangkok

This Bangkok trip was a X'mas gift from last year from Matt, and the date was randomly selected.
Little that we know, it was a New Years Eve in Thailand - Songkarn - which is celebrated every year on 13 April to 15 April.
The traditional things to do on Songkarn for the Thai people is to visit Wat (temples) and visit relatives, just like our New Year.
So the streets were quiet and we managed to avoid the infamous traffic!
We stayed at LUXX hotel, a stylish gayish hotel in the city (which was Matt's choice...). There are only 13 rooms and so the service was very personal. There was a wooden bath tab, DVD and iPod player in a room that has a living area, tiny kitchen (won't use it anyway) and a huge comfortable bed. I so support these boutique hotels!

Met Sylvia and Marc who just moved to Bangkok in January at 'Spring & Summer', a very posh Italian restaurant bar in a 2 story glass villa.
Oversized white and black bean bags were placed in a big garden, it's like having a chill out party at some billionaire's house.
After that Matt and I ventured into Patpong, just to experience what Bangkok's night is famous for. We went into King's Corner which I later discovered, has the largest collection of post-operative transsexuals in Bangkok.
But maybe because of the New Years and all, the whole atmosphere felt softened and tamed.
Here's Matt going for the favorite snacks of the Thai people - crickets, grass hoppers and bugs. Deep fried and seasoned heavily with salt and sauce, Matt said it's just like pork scrachings. We offered them to the girls and soon found ourselves popular among the hungry girls.