BKK Day 1: You no speak Thai?

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Swiped from williamnyk.

Alright people, here's the lo-down of my FAMILY trip to Bangkok. So no need to ask me about Sala Daeng and Patpong. :P. Anyway, I took Air Asia. The return flight ticket was about $350. It was my first time flying from LCCT (insufficient signage!) and I must say, the place is quite impressive. They were not joking about the low cost bit. Heh. The design is all quite flat. Quite shallow. The check-in counters are kind of smushed with the immigration part and let's not get started with the boarding gates. Every "gate" opens to the tarmac. It doesn't really matter which "gate". One has to walk up and down the stairs, from the fore or aft of the plane. Walking down is quite cool, reminds me of United States Presidents landing at military base somewhere in the mid-west. You pause, then wave your hand. Haha. Anyway, the flight was quite ok. Nice seats. But as usual, nothing's free on Air Asia, except the seating. Was late to take off, 6th in line!

Landing at the new Suvarnabhumi Airport, I can't help but marvel at the giant difference between it and the run-down Don Muang. Everything's in steel, glass and unfinished concrete. Very gray. Very moody. Air-conditioning and ventilation vents are everywhere, popping out of the ground like mushrooms, but it's still stuffy, unlike KLIA's perpetual ice-box conditions. After a long walk, we arrived at the immigration counters. It was SLOW. Don't know what the hold up was, but I was happy to bump into the weird guy I saw at LCCT-- he had a Power Puff Girls knapsack that was emblazoned with the words Village Idiot. Need I say more? Anyway, a farang in his fifties in the line parallel to mine was busy humping his partner's ass. Insert Ewwwww here -> (_________).

After clearing immigration and having collected our luggage, I was really shocked when I walked out to the arrival hall. It was like a circus. The amount of people packing around the barriers was amazing. Puts the scene at Soekarno-Hatta to shame. Anyway, we got a van to ferry us to our respective hotels, after much haggling and mai dai's-- my sis and bro-in-law at Baiyoke Sky, whereas your's truly was at Eastin Bangkok. Just a 7 minute walk away. Our cab driver, San Mao spoke little English. Reached the hotel in just under 40 minutes even with the rush hour and all. It's so much closer to the city than KLIA. Running on the meter, one can actually make it there in about THB200. Upon entering the city, was greeted by a very provcative Maximus Roma ad for EDT/Cologne. It runs on TV too... must see. Hehe.

Eastin Bangkok is quite an old hotel in the Pratunam area. Just outside, plenty of food and massage parlours. Everything is very woody, with lots of wood panelling, wood sculptures and gold paint. After unpacking and freshening up, we met up and went for dinner at Siam Paragon. The Foodhall Gallery came highly recommended by The Searcher. And I wasn't disappointed. Though more expensive, the food was great. We had fried snake head fish, mango and sticky rice, chicken and seafood noodle wrap, rice noodles and gravy, noodles in spicy soup and steamed seafood puree. Heavenly. We walked around a bit. Most of the shops were closed-- haute couture and famous jewellers. Good God. The department store wasn't any better too. Branded. Branded. Branded. Oh well. All very posh. Water landscaping indoors and very posh restaurants with unique themes. KL has nothing like this. Decadence. The survival of the shops there boggles the mind.

On the way back, we walked around a bit at the Pratunam Night Market. Very pasar malam. Plenty of cheap clothes. But the quality also cheap la. Haha. Stuffy place. I bought a 6 litre bottle of water at a 7-11 near Baiyoke Sky, and upon reaching Eastin Bangkok after the 7-minute walk/lug, I saw another 7-ll right at the corner of Eastin Bangkok! Fuck! My poor legs were already taxed by then, went to sleep immediately after my shower....zzzzz

...... to be continued ......