Bangkok is a culture rich country. :) I know I'm stating the obvious here.. but knowing it and experiencing it is different la. Haha... Together Joshua and I have discovered small facts and has been discussing throughout our trip there!
(1) When we were there, although we were all the time cautious of our belongings especially in crowded BTS train, we know it is 100 times safer than in Malaysia.
(Pardon my ugly face here.. this is the only picture Joshua took in BTS.. no idea why he didn't take more, most probably because it's reallllllyyyyy cramp.)
Anyway Joshua's friend Samuel who has worked there as an expat for 2 years said, the Thai people will not steal. They have very good teachings, mostly from buddhism, every male in the country was encouraged to take 3 months to 3 years off to be a monk. The ones who steal in Thailand are foreigners. Well, I still count it a blessing that we were brought up in a "dangerous" country like Malaysia. It has made us so conscious and cautious at all times.. I get suspicious when someone just accidentally rub my bag from behind! I guess it's better to be extremely careful than the other way round? Hahaha...
(2) Bangkok is a metropolis. Well Joshua taught me the word Metropolis, he said when a city reaches a certain amount of population, it is to be called a metropolis and there're not many metropolis in the world. KL is not a metropolis. Ok, if everyone drives a car like the situation in KL.. imagine the traffic jam in Bangkok? Tourists will be caught in jam? The tut tut won't be able to "tut tut tut tut tut".... However, traffic seems better than KL!! We both agreed that they have VERY GOOD train system! :) So most people doesn't drive, they take train and walk a lot. Train comes quite frequent, clean train station and train... considerate and polite passengers.
(1) When we were there, although we were all the time cautious of our belongings especially in crowded BTS train, we know it is 100 times safer than in Malaysia.
(Pardon my ugly face here.. this is the only picture Joshua took in BTS.. no idea why he didn't take more, most probably because it's reallllllyyyyy cramp.)
Anyway Joshua's friend Samuel who has worked there as an expat for 2 years said, the Thai people will not steal. They have very good teachings, mostly from buddhism, every male in the country was encouraged to take 3 months to 3 years off to be a monk. The ones who steal in Thailand are foreigners. Well, I still count it a blessing that we were brought up in a "dangerous" country like Malaysia. It has made us so conscious and cautious at all times.. I get suspicious when someone just accidentally rub my bag from behind! I guess it's better to be extremely careful than the other way round? Hahaha...
(2) Bangkok is a metropolis. Well Joshua taught me the word Metropolis, he said when a city reaches a certain amount of population, it is to be called a metropolis and there're not many metropolis in the world. KL is not a metropolis. Ok, if everyone drives a car like the situation in KL.. imagine the traffic jam in Bangkok? Tourists will be caught in jam? The tut tut won't be able to "tut tut tut tut tut".... However, traffic seems better than KL!! We both agreed that they have VERY GOOD train system! :) So most people doesn't drive, they take train and walk a lot. Train comes quite frequent, clean train station and train... considerate and polite passengers.
We have not seen people squeezing each other just to enter a train like what Malaysians do when entering the LRT! They even have small TV in the train that plays advertisements all the time and worry not if you're too caught up with the advertisements, because they show the station they're approaching right below the screen, so thoughtful! :)
(3) People in Bangkok can really walk a lot and not sit.. -_- When we were in Chatuchak, it's so stuffy, humid and hot... I was having my 1st day period, we walked for around 12.30pm until 5pm? We were exhausted... we almost couldn't feel our legs! Ahhh! Frustrating part is there are NO PLACE for us to sit and rest! We had to order a fruit juice so we have the excuse to sit....
Even at the BTS train station, when we were waiting for Joshua's friend at the station, we could not find any bench around.. and we were too tired from the Chatuchak walk, so we just sit on the floor like beggar.. haha..
but it is really fine because the floor is dry and clean. ;)
Even at Platinum Mall, yes there're resting benches next to the escalators, but that's it. @.@ Not every shoe shop has stools for you to sit on to put on your shoes! In this I prefer Malaysia, we have plenty of "sitting facilities"... hahahaha lazy Malaysians... :P
(4) Strong buddhism in the city, idols almost everywhere.
We see idols in the open, big statutes. We even notice people selling joss sticks and flowers to worship the idol... including ang mohs. Some of them even put their palms together and bow to the idol as they walk pass. At our massage parlour, RM15 for 1 hour foot massage is great price, and the massage was not too bad, BUT they kept on playing buddhist chanting song non-stop!!!!!! Joshua was not very much affected because he didn't know it was a buddhist song, but I was exposed to it before I accepted Christ. These songs were played in my house for 49 days after my dad passed away..... :( Anyway God was good, I have peace in my heart and even until now I'm fine. :) The one in me is indeed greater than the one outside of me!
Back to the massage, on our first visit, the masseuse and masseur did such a good job. They just quietly massage.. and was polite to us.... I felt so shy to let someone clean my dirty feet after a long day outside, and having to massage through and through... and only get paid RM15... I was praying for them when I close my eyes to relax... Later I found out Joshua did the same too! Hahaha.
These are very nice people.. they earn money the right way, they don't cheat or steal, they are willing to serve people to earn a decent living. They have good values, they're just blinded by the buddhism influence in the country...
(5) People in Bangkok are responsible. Why? They clean up the trash they created. Haha.. you must be thinking how we concluded this. :) We stayed in Hi-Sukhumvit in Sukhumvit 38, recommended by friend. At night, the street will be filled with food stalls and Samuel said they open until 2am! :)
One morning we were walking out, towards the BTS station... Joshua was suddenly amazed at how clean the whole street was! Just the night before until 2am this is a street full of people cooking and eating.. tissues, trash, unfinished food, ditry dishes everywhere. But the street is VERY CLEAN. Not even one used tissue were seen on the road!
(6) Shopping in Bangkok, in my opinion, is OVERRATED. Sorry, to me, it is overrated la. Maybe Ringgit is not that strong? I buy in 1 piece usually, plus I am not good at bargaining or at times forgot to bargain, so most things I buy I feel is not cheaper than what I can get in Malaysia or over Ebay. :P I took the quality into consideration as well of course. ;) Another thing I dislike about shopping in Bangkok, other than the need to bargain, in Platinum they never allow us to try on the clothes. :( "Wholesale, no try. Wholesale, no try" is all I hear when I asked whether I could just try it on. I bought 2 without trying and regret! 1 was too big and longer than what I imagine (RM25), another one was just much much flattering when it's on the hanger (RM40). :( In Chatuchak they allow me to try on top of my existing outfit, which helped a lot. I end up not buying any dresses because they all don't fit me. Haha. Well... we still managed to spend RM892 on shopping la.. :P I really don't like calling myself a shopaholic, but do you think I am??? I hope notttt.
These are mine. ;) I hope you don't tell me I paid too much for these.... :(
From left to right.
Grey dress RM35 (help Julia to buy), Black skinnies RM55, White butterfly dress RM40, 8 Panties RM20, Navy blue floral dress RM25, Brown bag RM40, Orange dress RM18, Green zara cardigan RM25, 4 Bras RM242, White hat RM16, Stripe dresses RM18 each.
Only white hat and the green cardigan are purchased in Chatuchak market.
Panties are bought from road side stall near Sky Tower Hotel. The rest are from Platinum.
My favourite purchases are the white hat and striped dresses! A white hat like this is selling for RM69 in Subang Parade. The striped dresses... they fit me so well and are soooo comfortable and easy to wear. :) The orange dress and the striped dresses were purchased in a simple road side stall just opposite where we stay!
I saw it on the 1st night, went back on 2nd night to buy because I couldn't forget the dress.. haha.. and it fitted me so well I went back on 3rd night to buy an exact same one but with different stripes plus the orange one. :P I was a little crazy I know but they're all now my favourite weekend dresses. Hehe.
These are Joshua's. ;)
We took this picture on our final night there, but 2 hours before we go to airport, we rushed to Platinum to buy another 3 shirts for RM105! Haha... I suddenly reminded him how expensive male clothings are in Malaysia. :P
Anyway...From left to right.
Red t-shirt RM18, Black shoes RM30, Grey t-shirt RM18, Black shorts RM40, Blue t-shirt RM15, Grey plain t-shirt RM10, Green t-shirt RM13, Grey formal shirt RM30, 2 Underwear RM10, Black skinnies RM55, Brown shoes RM30.
From Chatuchak - 3 t-shirts and brown shoes. The rest are from Platinum.
(7) Last but not least !
I tried to record every expenses we incurred throughout the trip. ;) So in total we have spent RM2500 for this trip.
Air tickets RM613, Hostel stay RM278, Airport to and fro LCCT RM126, BTS train RM120, Water RM5, Food RM170, Shopping RM892, Taxi RM4, Massages RM59, Floating Market RM199, Tut tut RM20 and Joshua's taxi bike tour for video footage RM5.
By the way, Samuel and Charis told us everyone in Thailand drinks bottled drinking water. Their tap water is too contaminated to be boiled for drinking.
We could've spent RM100 lesser. We got cheated to rent a whole boat to ourselves at floating market for RM150! The last time Joshua went to floating market with a boat full of tourists he only paid RM30. There goes our RM90. The journey to the river was 2 hours so we had no choice but to take the RM150 boat. :( Also we were advised to purchase daily BTS passes by Stef, our friend.... she said BTS is really expensive, every station you take is RM2, RM2, RM2. Daily pass is RM12. She's been there few times so I took her words LITERALLY. Only on our last day I saw the price...7 stations away to Siam is RM3, and to Phaya Thai is RM3.50....... @.@ I calculated, on our 2nd and 3rd day where we went to Platinum and Floating Market, we could've paid RM10 lesser by paying for the train ticket per trip!! Ahhhh!!! So angry at myself!! When we were buying ticket to airport by the Express Train, it's RM9 per way... as Joshua pay the RM18 I saw "RM15 round trip"!! The round trip ticket ony expires after 2 weeks, if we've bought that when we took the Express Train out of the airport, we could save RM6.. Lastly, we took the tut tut from Platinum to Siam BTS station on our last day, to rush back to hostel to check out, the tut tut guy agreed to 80baht but when we arrive at the station, Joshua paid 100baht and he claimed that he has no change, we were in a hurry so we had no choiceee but I was VERY angry with that tut tut guy.. he cheated us RM2. So in total, if we were more careful we would be RM108 richer today. If you're going to Bangkok, remember to take note ok! :D
That's all ! :D
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