post bangkok syndrome
in chronological order.
3rd august, a friday night spelt mahjong at chew's place with james and andre, a night before we flew off to bangkok. considering the fact we played one round and i was the overall winner, i was a pretty happy man. haha.
woke up early on the morning of the fourth and chew's mum drove us to the airport. and before we knew it, we were airborne headed towards the land of a thousand trannies. haha. touched down and had a bit of a problem with the hotel we were supposed to be staying in. turned out that we were placed on a waiting list, so we were moved to its sister hotel, baiyoke boutique. as the fantabulous name might suggest, its layout was simple, minimalistic. almost classy and glitzy. then it was a lil shopping around the hotel and then it was dinner with chew's dad's thai business partner, uncle anawat. so dinner was at a seafood restaurant and the food was totally mindblowing. the prawns were so fresh and the crabs were so damn good and the oysters were like the size of my fist. best thing was, the bill was picked up by anawat as a welcome treat. haha
boarding passes cleared.
tired legs even before shopping starts. they're andre's and chew's by the way. thing was too ticklish for me to handle. haha
all on board!
the thai-airport-which-name-is-too-long-and-cannot-be-pronounced.
acting like fools in the hotel that never materialised.
the final resting place.
getting all dressed up.
the amazing oysters.
following dinner, our hedonistic adventures continued and we headed to a bar/club called holloywood arena, under the guidance of anawat. music was ok and there was a live show. do not mistake this for a tiger show coz it wasn't one. a reputable and clean club it was, and the only sleaze that can be attributed to it were the female singers who chose to appear on stage in siren red g-strings and wore nothing else but glittery golden nipple stickers. yet, the amazing thing was their boobs were so firm they didn't seem to jump about despite all the crazy frolicking about the stage. haha. boobs of steel i tell you. even better, anawat opened two bottles of black label for the four of us and we were just drinking and drinking and drinking. so everyone was pretty much tipsy by the time we left at god-knows-when, coz i was pretty much inebriated myself i lost track of time. haha. now, with all of us so pissed drunk, and anawat too, how were we to go back to the hotel? quite simply done. anawat drove us back in all his drunken stupor. haha. andre had his hand on the handbrake the whole ride back, while james kept on puking out of the window, ONTO the car door. imagine the mess and the embarrassment! haha. and according to chew, i was spouting a hell lot of nonsense out of the window, shouting at passersby and even a policeman. haha. but i assure you i was pretty much sober by the time i reached the hotel coz i rmb helping james back up to the room. tried to douse him with water, and ended up walking about the hotel corridor in my underwear coz i didn't wanna get my jeans wet. haha. oh my god. utterly retarded fools. haha.
the hollywood strip, if you like it.
inside hollywood arena.
toilet humour
the man himself - anawat. and james, innocent and blameless victim of johnnie walker.
the next morning, ALL of us woke up with a goddamn terrible throbbing headache. but for the sake of the endless shopping that awaited us, we persisted and we headed down to chatuchak market after breakfast. james was feeling rotten and pukish the whole trip that every stop we made, he found himself a lil corner to tuck himself away into. so that's where we began our shopping spree and the wonders of bargaining can never be explained. haha. haggling over prices seemed almost daunting at the beginning but bit by bit, you get the hang of it. how to reduce it then slowly increase the price till you're comfortable with parting your money. haha. headed back to the hotel n rested a bit, before heading to shop along the streets of pratunam. massage at pratunam centre was splendid, my bones cracked like it never cracked before, and muscles i never knew existed were stretched. haha. had dinner at a restaurant in centralworld. yes, call us spoilt but we chose to fine dine in a restaurant instead of venturing into the streets and roadside food. following dinner, we headed down to patpong. now don't get the wrong idea coz all we did at patpong was shop and look around. no amount of persuasion by the 'pimps' and 'touts' could entice us into any of the bars to watch the go-go shows. haha. stuck to our firm beliefs and morals if you want. haha.
the labyrinth that is chatuchak.
chatuchak's point of referrence for all lost shoppers
the gang
of crazy drivers and polluted skies - the draw of the streets of bangkok.
boys who don't grow up.
the third day in bangkok was dedicated to the shopping paradise of platinum shopping mall and the all famous mah boon krong. shopping was drop dead fun and our legs were aching by the time we were done. had our very authentic thai lunch/snack at a place called yum saap and the tom yum soup was seriously tears inducing. of course, who could leave out pad thai? haha.
sexiness on wheels.
what you no longer get in singapore.
acting cool.
acting cute.
our daily routine.
most of times, that's how we look after the shopkeepers quote us their initial price. it's usually halved by us, either that or we walk away. haha
mbk centre. orchard road all in one building.
so after all the crazy shopping, we dumped all our goods back at the hotel before heading to khao san. now, this is one place i really liked in the whole trip, a pity that we spent only a night there. the whole street reminded me alot of holland village, and it was so clean and laidback and almost bohemian. the countless tourists residing in the area and the robustness of the atmosphere made walking along its streets so relaxing and memorable. we had dinner in one of the restaurants that had that rustic and expat feel, overcrowded with globetrotters from all over the world. a reminder of the diversity of nations and culture that has sought respite in this little corner of khao san.
khao san
one half of the gang
the other half.
beer made to look good.
headed to bangkok bar for drinks after dinner, heeding the recommendations of our hotel receptionist. music was good but the crowd wasn't the dance-y kind. haha. opened a bottle of jim beam and andre was so sleepy he fell asleep in the bar. we left for lava club on the other side of khao san which was equally crazy. chew insisted on samboca and that got him pissed drunk. so yes, yet another victim of bangkok's night life. now, as we all know, when chew gets dead drunk, nothing can move him. so the only mode of transport from the club to the main road was MY BACK. mind you, i was already very tipsy and groggy from puking and all the alcohol, and that i was dancing with some girl whom they all claim was fat but i'm pretty sure they were all living in denial before i was pulled away to save chew. so we were all making a scene on the streets of khao san and pretty much amusing all the bystanders who laughed and offered us various remedies, including a pill to help chew feel better. haha. so we have one sod (chew) sitting on the ground vomitting blood and pressing his face down hard on the ground, and another maniac high on alcohol dancing on the streets taking photos with random ppl, like the balloon man. haha. no wonder no taxi would take us and we had to resort to riding on a tuk tuk back to the hotel. haha
crazy party animals
the root of all evil, and chew's misery, and our headaches.
vainpots.
that's why it's called lava club
best shot of the night.
do not ask me what i was doing. and for your info, that's popcorn. haha
where's the balloon man?
the next day, we all woke up with the same terrible headache. had to retell chew stories of his drunken antics and he just nodded on in disbelief. i know that feeling dude. haha. last minute shopping with andre and james while chew fell back into bed after breakfast. came back and checked out, headed to the airport and we were back in singapore by 8 that night.
goodbye baiyoke
goodbye thailand. the air asia one. not sq.
all packed up
so thailand was a good reprieve and escape. came back with quite a fair bit of stuff for myself and everyone else. take away the pollution and reckless driving and the money-hungry shopkeepers, bangkok's actually not all that bad. so to chew andre and james, thanks for the memories! another trip? haha. come to europe this december and we'll tour it together! haha. takers?
3rd august, a friday night spelt mahjong at chew's place with james and andre, a night before we flew off to bangkok. considering the fact we played one round and i was the overall winner, i was a pretty happy man. haha.
woke up early on the morning of the fourth and chew's mum drove us to the airport. and before we knew it, we were airborne headed towards the land of a thousand trannies. haha. touched down and had a bit of a problem with the hotel we were supposed to be staying in. turned out that we were placed on a waiting list, so we were moved to its sister hotel, baiyoke boutique. as the fantabulous name might suggest, its layout was simple, minimalistic. almost classy and glitzy. then it was a lil shopping around the hotel and then it was dinner with chew's dad's thai business partner, uncle anawat. so dinner was at a seafood restaurant and the food was totally mindblowing. the prawns were so fresh and the crabs were so damn good and the oysters were like the size of my fist. best thing was, the bill was picked up by anawat as a welcome treat. haha
boarding passes cleared.
tired legs even before shopping starts. they're andre's and chew's by the way. thing was too ticklish for me to handle. haha
all on board!
the thai-airport-which-name-is-too-long-and-cannot-be-pronounced.
acting like fools in the hotel that never materialised.
the final resting place.
getting all dressed up.
the amazing oysters.
following dinner, our hedonistic adventures continued and we headed to a bar/club called holloywood arena, under the guidance of anawat. music was ok and there was a live show. do not mistake this for a tiger show coz it wasn't one. a reputable and clean club it was, and the only sleaze that can be attributed to it were the female singers who chose to appear on stage in siren red g-strings and wore nothing else but glittery golden nipple stickers. yet, the amazing thing was their boobs were so firm they didn't seem to jump about despite all the crazy frolicking about the stage. haha. boobs of steel i tell you. even better, anawat opened two bottles of black label for the four of us and we were just drinking and drinking and drinking. so everyone was pretty much tipsy by the time we left at god-knows-when, coz i was pretty much inebriated myself i lost track of time. haha. now, with all of us so pissed drunk, and anawat too, how were we to go back to the hotel? quite simply done. anawat drove us back in all his drunken stupor. haha. andre had his hand on the handbrake the whole ride back, while james kept on puking out of the window, ONTO the car door. imagine the mess and the embarrassment! haha. and according to chew, i was spouting a hell lot of nonsense out of the window, shouting at passersby and even a policeman. haha. but i assure you i was pretty much sober by the time i reached the hotel coz i rmb helping james back up to the room. tried to douse him with water, and ended up walking about the hotel corridor in my underwear coz i didn't wanna get my jeans wet. haha. oh my god. utterly retarded fools. haha.
the hollywood strip, if you like it.
inside hollywood arena.
toilet humour
the man himself - anawat. and james, innocent and blameless victim of johnnie walker.
the next morning, ALL of us woke up with a goddamn terrible throbbing headache. but for the sake of the endless shopping that awaited us, we persisted and we headed down to chatuchak market after breakfast. james was feeling rotten and pukish the whole trip that every stop we made, he found himself a lil corner to tuck himself away into. so that's where we began our shopping spree and the wonders of bargaining can never be explained. haha. haggling over prices seemed almost daunting at the beginning but bit by bit, you get the hang of it. how to reduce it then slowly increase the price till you're comfortable with parting your money. haha. headed back to the hotel n rested a bit, before heading to shop along the streets of pratunam. massage at pratunam centre was splendid, my bones cracked like it never cracked before, and muscles i never knew existed were stretched. haha. had dinner at a restaurant in centralworld. yes, call us spoilt but we chose to fine dine in a restaurant instead of venturing into the streets and roadside food. following dinner, we headed down to patpong. now don't get the wrong idea coz all we did at patpong was shop and look around. no amount of persuasion by the 'pimps' and 'touts' could entice us into any of the bars to watch the go-go shows. haha. stuck to our firm beliefs and morals if you want. haha.
the labyrinth that is chatuchak.
chatuchak's point of referrence for all lost shoppers
the gang
of crazy drivers and polluted skies - the draw of the streets of bangkok.
boys who don't grow up.
the third day in bangkok was dedicated to the shopping paradise of platinum shopping mall and the all famous mah boon krong. shopping was drop dead fun and our legs were aching by the time we were done. had our very authentic thai lunch/snack at a place called yum saap and the tom yum soup was seriously tears inducing. of course, who could leave out pad thai? haha.
sexiness on wheels.
what you no longer get in singapore.
acting cool.
acting cute.
our daily routine.
most of times, that's how we look after the shopkeepers quote us their initial price. it's usually halved by us, either that or we walk away. haha
mbk centre. orchard road all in one building.
so after all the crazy shopping, we dumped all our goods back at the hotel before heading to khao san. now, this is one place i really liked in the whole trip, a pity that we spent only a night there. the whole street reminded me alot of holland village, and it was so clean and laidback and almost bohemian. the countless tourists residing in the area and the robustness of the atmosphere made walking along its streets so relaxing and memorable. we had dinner in one of the restaurants that had that rustic and expat feel, overcrowded with globetrotters from all over the world. a reminder of the diversity of nations and culture that has sought respite in this little corner of khao san.
khao san
one half of the gang
the other half.
beer made to look good.
headed to bangkok bar for drinks after dinner, heeding the recommendations of our hotel receptionist. music was good but the crowd wasn't the dance-y kind. haha. opened a bottle of jim beam and andre was so sleepy he fell asleep in the bar. we left for lava club on the other side of khao san which was equally crazy. chew insisted on samboca and that got him pissed drunk. so yes, yet another victim of bangkok's night life. now, as we all know, when chew gets dead drunk, nothing can move him. so the only mode of transport from the club to the main road was MY BACK. mind you, i was already very tipsy and groggy from puking and all the alcohol, and that i was dancing with some girl whom they all claim was fat but i'm pretty sure they were all living in denial before i was pulled away to save chew. so we were all making a scene on the streets of khao san and pretty much amusing all the bystanders who laughed and offered us various remedies, including a pill to help chew feel better. haha. so we have one sod (chew) sitting on the ground vomitting blood and pressing his face down hard on the ground, and another maniac high on alcohol dancing on the streets taking photos with random ppl, like the balloon man. haha. no wonder no taxi would take us and we had to resort to riding on a tuk tuk back to the hotel. haha
crazy party animals
the root of all evil, and chew's misery, and our headaches.
vainpots.
that's why it's called lava club
best shot of the night.
do not ask me what i was doing. and for your info, that's popcorn. haha
where's the balloon man?
the next day, we all woke up with the same terrible headache. had to retell chew stories of his drunken antics and he just nodded on in disbelief. i know that feeling dude. haha. last minute shopping with andre and james while chew fell back into bed after breakfast. came back and checked out, headed to the airport and we were back in singapore by 8 that night.
goodbye baiyoke
goodbye thailand. the air asia one. not sq.
all packed up
so thailand was a good reprieve and escape. came back with quite a fair bit of stuff for myself and everyone else. take away the pollution and reckless driving and the money-hungry shopkeepers, bangkok's actually not all that bad. so to chew andre and james, thanks for the memories! another trip? haha. come to europe this december and we'll tour it together! haha. takers?