Sin City By The Sea And THE LADY

Day 4 (2 February 2010), Chinese Rock !?!?!

Seriously, I don’t think I will ever like Pattaya and being there recently proves it. Maybe because I’m a female kot!??! Hahhahaha….. Sure punya lar kan.

Ah well! After much thinking of the 2 hours journey away from my darling collection… NO wild horses can drag me away! Decided, we took the BTS to Ekkamai and hop on the immediate bus to Pattaya which cost 113baht, and go go go…

Our aim, once reaches there, look for Hard Rock Hotel Pattaya and buy the shirt, pin, shot glass and then cabuuuut. The bus journey was boring and as usual I couldn’t sleep lar, so decided to watch CSI on my PSP (lucky thing I bought this toy!) and sis with her iPod.

2 hours later and at the bus terminal, we queued up to buy the return tix (kiasu) but soon learnt that this was not allowed, you are only allowed to purchase tix 1 hour before departure…hemmm.. Interesting - no booking!

Oh! The good thing about the bus terminal is that they have mobile tourist personnel to assist tourist - kid you not, BETUUUUL! He approaches us and asks where and what we plan to do, after learning that we wanted t go to HRC, he said perhaps we should go next door (like really really next door) to find out more of what activities we can do while in Pattaya. OK lor…. We figured since it’s free advice mah… the lady was very polite and helpful giving us maps and “up selling” the cabaret show, water activities and other stuff. We straight away tell her ONLY HRC, she said why (!?!??!?). Well…. I can’t possibly say I just wanna buy this 3 items and balik to Bangkok right, I mean…. I will look silly doing it!!! So, I smartly said “Wanna eat lunch there” (It’s not even halal, sigh… the crap things I tend to say), of which after saying it, I KINDDDDAAAA look silly!!!! Took a 2 hours bus journey just to have lunch in HRC!.. I buat muka slumberland and said I like HRC food and thanked her. Hehhehheee….

Tuk tuk cost 40baht for us both to reach HRC (coming back was 150baht… strange!). We more or less spend half an hour there and decided to walk to the nearest mall and take some beaches pictures as well.

OK! This is MY opinion on Pattaya; it’s really not THAT great…. In fact I think Kuta was much better. Maybe I was at the wrong happening beach - MAYBE. But I was kinda disappointed lar… I know their nightlife is DARN happening wannnn….. But not my cup of tea pulak. The beach front was short for one, the stretch/length was so-so, I think the whole population is right there on the beach as I felt it’s a liiiiitle big congested. And a lot of not-so-young-nor-good-looking-folks there…. Hemm…. Ladies, forget about man-hunt here yah! On scale 1-10, I’ll give it a 3. SORRY!

We went inside the mall of which we thought so-so as well… (MAN! So hard to please me today!)…We had our lunch - bread! (AGAIN!) And calling it a day for Pattaya. Hahhaha…. So not eventful like the rest of my other days…. I personally disappoint myself. HAHAHHHAHAHAAA….

We did the reverse route and went shopping in Bangkok…. HAPPIER.

Not so fast! Belum habis yet. Something weird… strange… scaring… spooky happened to us in Bangkok that night. You see…. We went shopping at Platinum Mall after the Pattaya trip and have dinner in Centralworld Mall (Yeah! Got halal stall there. YEAY!), on the way back which was only around 8ish, we walked back to our tiny-cute-alcheapo-hotel, BUT on the way back, my sis was stopped by a local lady (decent dressing), and start talking to her in Thai, she said “no! no! Speak English” but the lady stopped her again and continue speaking in Thai (I was few steps in front of her and didn’t realise this ofcos), she called my name out loud, and I turned and ran to her, stopped the lady and said “NO! NO!” sternly and ask my sis to march on and cabut lar…. We walked like a maniac and realized she walked as fast behind us (few steps behind us). We got panic lar kan… I told my sis to go into this bigger hotel (Indra Regent) and obviously I doubt she will follow us there, we then wait awhile before walking back to our hotel which is 7 mins away. Good plan right….? (I wouldn’t want that lady to know where we stayed).

Guess what!!??!?!??! I told my sis to “let’s hide in the washroom” and we blur-ly walked towards the gents instead (hehehee… that’s how scared we are), as we turn around to look for the ladies washroom after realizing the boo-boo, we saw her walking into the hotel from a distance. SHIT! HOW!!!!! We ran behind the pillar and waited anxiously, not sure of what to do, to tell the guard (they wouldn’t understand more over we are not even a hotel guest! OPS!) Or run out… think hard! Then we caught a glimpse of her standing at the lift…. Wah… we were thinking, is she going up to hunt for us? Lagi lar panic. Sis said we should walk out (follow the crowd) and ran back to our hotel. Well… let’s go for it…. RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kept looking back we did, “NO” she wasn’t behind us…. But we still wanna be safe. Finally reached our hotel, we thought we walked forever (felt like the longest walk). We double locked our room and push our suitcase behind the door. I think we might have over doing it BUT then again…. What are the chances of a local staying in the same hotel that you trying to hide in right…? I couldn’t sleep well that night! Prayed like crazy. Sms-ed Andrea and my bro, they calmed me down ofcos (Thank you guys! MUACKS!).

Finally we got our drama to end the what we thought gonna be a boring day.

Hyperlink credits : Wikipedia, HRC, Centralworld, Sony, Apple, BTS

Specially dedicated to Raymond

Day3 (1st February 2010). Heehehhe…. Out of spike.



Yup! You heard me awight! Despite his age (of which I believe to be close to half a century :P), he is a crazy-cool-fun guy as well as a helpful colleague, and I believe a dotting father and loving husband too for sure (family pic everywhere on his desk). Just before our company year end closure (yeah! We had a mandatory leave for 2 weeks, all taken from our annual leaves!?!?!), a bunch of us gang (LH, JC, RL, FT etc) went to catch AVATAR in 3D on the first showing day! Meaning we kinda go during our working ours, heeheheee…. Nothing to do already mah… all system shut down, no emails, no follow up, regional & worldwide office on silent mode. Apa lagi, kucing tak ada, tikus menari lar… yeay yeay yeay!!!

Off we go to Cineleaisure at The eCurve (apparently they've changed the name huh! With the “e“, whatever…), if I remembered it correctly we catch the 3pm show or was it 2pm… it’s a 2 hours and 50 minutes show of which am sure most of you would have know (and for those that haven’t watch, GO!!!!!!)

Ofcos, we all LOOOOOOVE the 3D effects lar, the story line was kinda normal but Pandora was AMAZING, to me - it’s like earth and sea combined… DEFINITELY fell in love with the jungle or coral jungle?!?! Hemmm… then there’s the animal, the flying “bird” or “dinosaur” look like - a cross between a snake (especially the skin) with a dinosaur. Let’s not forget the rhino cum hammer head fish with bird feathers…. That’s like combining land + sea + sky=SUPER COOL! This movie makes me kinda wanna take diving, hehehehee…..(am terrified of open water by the way, but now….hemmm… perhaps give it a try?!?)

The Hallelujah Hanging Mountain! It should definitely be classified as UNESCO site, I will go hunt it down!

All these were thought thru… I can’t say enough.

Ok! Back to our Mr. Raymond, him being a "techie guys" was thrilled with the movie and effects and everything lar… the thing is…jeng jeng jeng…. Apparently our another colleague KT watched AVATAR in Bangkok and it was IMAX 3D… meaning even COOLER & REAL"ER"- it’s like the ULTIMATE version (we were GREEN with ENVY)! Ofcos, Raymond was curious lar, and coincidentally, he have a training in Singapore of which there too have a AVATAR screening on IMAX 3D. UNFORTUNATELY.... he got to know the show time toooo late and his flight has been booked….heehheheh (evil laugh)!

You know where am heading right….?! Since I will be in Bangkok, I told him that I will DEFINITELY go catch it on IMAX (out of spike lar ofcos….MUAHAHHAHHAHA) and YES I did! Upset he was when he got to know…. (evil grin).

The feel is more terror the merror as what Malaysian would say or in English superb / fantastic. But the thing is, not the movie that impresses me most, it was Bangkok’s Cineplex.

GOODNESS GRACIOUS! It looked MUCH better then those in MALAYSIA! Am soooo embarrass, basically quote what my sis said “macam hotel” (look like hotel). From the counter, to the service, to the lounge, to the lobby / foyer, to the restaurant EVEN the popcorn box was NICER. Sigh…. Put us to shame man! MALUUUUU!!!!

I can’t help but took dozens of pics and help to “promote” the Cineplex to my colleagues. NO! They are not giving me commission for this kind act!

As we surveyed the Cineplex area, we came to an area where they held mini concert / showcase and guess what?!?!? My sis favourite Korean band (2PM) was there few hours earlier….. Upset max! Tak pa, we take the pics ok! And then we show off to all her friends.

I did a silly thing lar ofcos (this is what happen when you wanna spike someone and have “ill” thoughts”, god will punish you lor), we smartly choosen the 8.50pm show FORGETTING that the movie ends at close to MIDNIGHT. OH NO!!!! Walking back to hotel at midnight in Bangkok - SCARED! SCARED!… we “braved” ourselves and “walked” (ran) back to hotel… guess what? It’s safe lar…. In fact, safer then KL. 2nd time MALU BESAR!

I have to say, every time I bumped into Raymond or otherwise this week, he will shake his head with “despair” (pretend only lar) and I would laugh and say “WHAT!!!!”, followed with a giggle.

Naughty! Naughty! I even tag him to AVATAR pics on my FB. (I've watched it 3 times!)

Raymond, do go to Singapore to catch AVATAR in IMAX 3D! TWO THUMBS UP!

Dawn of Happiness

Day2 (31 January 2010). Sukhothai Historical Park - UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site.

After an exhilarating day of Microlight (still high over the excitement), we manage to keep our insanity intact and purchased the bus tix to Sukhothai for the next day. Yeah! It’s a crazy worldwind adventure as mentioned in my Facebook - 1-day-1 city Siam. How it works (more like how I “smartly” planned this tiresome trip in the maximus-kiasuism way) is…. Jeng jeng jeng…

1st Day - Chiang Mai
2nd Day - Sukhothai
3rd Day - Avatar (even though it's not a city NOR a country but in my own little world; it's A whole new continent that I wish to visit! ahhahahah)
4th Day - Pattaya
5th Day - Bangkok

The major new site will be Sukhothai ofcos since I’ve never been there before, I mean... I've even been to "Avatar" 3 times (2x 3D and 1x IMAX 3D in Bangkok, it does count right!?!?!).

It’s a 5hours journey which departs at 7am, meaning… MEANING I have to wake up at 5AM and shower, and get ready and pack and call for a cab…it’s about 10mins trip from hotel to Arcade Bus Station. *Oh! I blogged on Day1 till 2am in the morning… thus sleep was much deprived of*.

Nothing great of the journey, slept half the way; nothing great about Sukhothai Bus Station either - almost deserted. Apparently it’s more laid back then Ayutthaya…. Wow! (you can check out my entry on Ayutthaya and the sunflower trip here).

Upon arrival, we enquire on how to go about in Sukhothai as we planed to cabut to Bangkok (or should I say Avatar IMAX 3D the next day). The lady at Lotus Village was very helpful and she even manage by sheer of luck) got us the best tuk tuk driver to take us around (he can’t speak a word of English BUT was very accommodative - SWEETNESS).

Oh yah! A little bit about this place that am staying in, it kinda reminds me of Baan Lotus in Ayutthaya but slightly more expensive… Lotus Village is owned by a French guys, friendly and nice obviously. It’s a walking distance to the night market and you’ll get tuk tuk or song thaw waiting for customers outside the gate. I believe it takes about 5-10mins walk to the main roadside if you want to catch the bigger government bus; but I suggest the tuk tuk will do. We took a fan-room (basically non-aircon lar since we figured that northern Thai will still have the cool weather this early part of the year thus we shall NOT waste money :p ), with this “judgement” call I official declare myself as “smart” hahahahha…..

Why Sukhothai right? OK, a little fact….

Sukhothai meaning the Dawn of Happiness was a town founded in the 13th century on the fringe of the Khmer empire. With an area of 6,596 square kilometres, is about 427 kilometres north of Bangkok, and was founded in 1238. Sukhothai was the capital of Thailand for approximately 120 years. Sukhothai province is most famous for its historical city of Sukhothai, the first capital of Siam founded by King Ramkhamhaeng. The province’s temples and monuments have been restored well and Sukhothai Historical Park – a place with numerous sites of historical interest has been made into a UNESCO World Heritage Site. During its golden age, Sukhothai was the centre for administration, religion, and economy. The original city was surrounded by walls with 4 city gates.

And you know lar, anything that spells UNESCO, I will go (gee! It rhymes). The kind tuk tuk driver took us to 1st “wat” (temple/chedi) - Wat Si Chum. The pavilion and denoting a small square temple building used to house minor images or religious texts. is 32 metres square and 15 metres high, and the walls are 3 metres thick. And here is where we met the German uncle… will share more.

Next - Wat Phra Phai Luang; the largest temple outside the city walls, and is second only to Wat Mahathat in size. In fact, the temple is older than the city, and was most likely built late in the 12th century during the reign of the great Khmer king, Jayavarman VII (the king who had Angkor Thom built). The German uncle is doing world travel via land and still short of Indo-China countries. Been traveling in this Merc for the last 20 years in seems.

Wat Saphan Hini is situated on a hill 200 meters high. A pathway of slate slabs leads to the sanctuary yard. Sis dare not climb that high and eventually the sumimasens overtook her… hehehheee….

Wat Chesiphon - A pavillion enshrines four Buddha images in different postures: sitting, standing, walking, and reclining. The outer walls of the still retains a section in the form of a slate pillar-balustraded window. Strangely I was more fascinated with the whole compound… reminded me of the Forum in Rome. Weird huh!

The one that I have been wanting to visit in Ayuthayya but ran out of time. Wat Mahathat is Sukhothai's largest temple with a customary main Chedi in lotus-bud shape and a ruined Wihan. Its main Buddha image (8 metres high) was installed inside a separate building.

This is one of my favourite shots - Wat Si Sawai. Three prangs (pagodas) are surrounded by a laterite wall. Inside the wall, the viharn in the west, built of laterite, is separated from the main prang which was constructed in the Lop Buri or Hindu-style, but the other also constructed beside the prangs are Buddhist viharns.

This is the part where my sis and I got a liiiiiittle bit overdose with all the “wat”s. Wat Traphang-Ngoen with its square pedestal, main sanctuary, and stucco standing Buddha image in four niches. There is a viharn in front, and in the east of the pond, there is an island with an ubosot.

We were kinda relieve when we found out this is the last “wat” of the day… phew… Wat Chang Lom located to the north of with a bell-shaped chedi of Ceylonese influence standing as the centre. The chedi is situated on a 3-tiered square base with a platform decorated with a row of elephants seen by their front halves supporting the round chedi. A huge bell-shaped Chedi supported by 39 elephants, with 4 of them at 4 cardinal points elaborately decorated, marks the centre of the temple.

We're still wondering “wat” were we doing…. Such an overdosed... nevertheless; enjoyed the pics taking time!!!

“Wat”ever it is, its a totally cool UNESCO site… you need to visit it yourself to understand the MAMMONTH SIZE of this site. It was the right choice hiring the tuk tuk, via bike coverage would probably take 2-3 days.

Hyperlink credits : Wikipedia, UNESCO