Bangkok 9 - 14 July 2009

Hotel: Bangkok City Inn

The hotel we stayed in is conveniently located within walking distance to Erawan Temple, World Trade Centre and train station.  There's even a cheap massage place within 2 mins walk from the hotel.  We paid only S$45 per room per night.  Breakfast is normal and filling but hey, for that price...you can't ask for too much.  I thought that it is a very good bargain!  Arrival at the airport was easy though I must say the immigration queue was long.  For the moment, I thought the whole world has arrived in Bangkok!

Our first stop was the Safari World. I don't normally take pictures of the toilet...ok, sometimes I do if the toilet looks out of the ordinary.  The theme looks really "nature".

When you visit any zoos, shows are a must.  The seals are so cute...I felt like I want to bring one home.  The dances were hilarious!  They actually dance with human!

We spent a LONG time in the bird feeding area.  With food in your hand, the birds will come to you automatically.  They are a really hungry lot...and super cute too!  Best of all, they are so focused on the food, fear of human became their last priority.

The next show we went to was the Beluga whale performance.  The whales are big but their actions are nimble.  I love how they allow the trainers to stroke their heads just like how a puppy dog would.  We were very entertained by their performance on the whole. 

Being a zoo, there are also other animals roaming around.  The baby elephants were seen roaming around with their handlers for pictures to be taken.  All photos can be purchased at the souvenir shop near the entrance.  There is a section of the safari that teaches you about ostrich.  No real adult ostrich in there except for hibernating eggs and hatching baby ostriches.

Another highlight of the safari is feeding the giraffes.  This is where you can come up close and personal to the long necked friends.  They don't bite, they are only interested in the leaves you are holding in your hands!

To enter the open zoo, we boarded a bus.  This is basically to prevent us from being seen as food to the animals roaming in there.  Animals were moving around in herds of their own kinds.  The park was quite big and the buses was moving at snail's speed so you have the time to take pictures.

For dinner, I brought my friends to Cabbages & Condoms Restaurant. They serve authentic Thai cuisine at reasonable price.  Chef recommendation will be the roast chicken.  It is yummy but because I am a big fan of Tom Yam Soup, we had to order that...and oh, my favorite kang kong too!

This restaurant was started by The Population and Community Development Assosiation [PDA]of Thailand.  It is a non-governmental organisation existed to created AIDS awareness while promoting family planning.  Condoms were available readily around the restaurant.  Even pretty flowers were made of condoms!

On our trip to the Grand Palace, we decided to take their public transport instead.  We queued like every one else at the bus stop.  It takes us only B14 for the 30 mins journey.  Very worth it. Upon reaching, we realised that the Grand Palace was closed in the morning for some Buddhist function and will only be opened from 12pm onwards.  A kind soul who looked like a tourguide approached us and explained that we can actually hop onto a Tuk Tuk and wander around the area (there are quite a number of temples we can visit).  He hailed a tuk tuk for us and got us a good deal of B40 for a 2 hour ride around.  The tuk tuk driver even stayed with us while we walked around the various temples.

We were told that the Jade Buddha is a must go.  They actually change attire for the Buddha in accordance to the seasons.  After the 2 hours tour of temples and jewel showroom, we headed back to Grand Palace and caught sight of some re-touching work.  Looks like a tough job re-touching the paintings on the wall.  I wouldn't be able to do it.

Bangkok has always been a country I love visiting so stay tune for more BKK trips...there will be more to come :)


More photos available here

Safari World: 99 Panyaintra Road, Samwatawantok, Klongsamwa, Bangkok , 10510
THAILAND.  Tel : ( 662 ) 9144100-19, 5181000-19 Fax : ( 662 ) 5181022, 5181033, 9142959. E-mail : info@safariworld.com

Cabbages & Condoms Restaurant: 6 Sukhumvit 12, Klongtoey, Bangkok 10110. Tel: 66 2229 4611 ext. 266 (Thai), 331 (Eng). Fax: 66 2229 4632. Email: pda@pda.or.th