One Night in Bangkok

     Cliche` as it may sound, but it is the best line that would describe my trip to Bangkok.

What would have been an entire 2-day adventure to Thailand turned 1 1/2 because of the terrible delay caused, but as I have said a million times before:

"No matter how bad the situation may look like, there's still one positive thing that will come out of it"

I found out that the best time to capture the transition between night and day onboard a plane, is between 5:00pm and 6:00pm.  The one I captured did not do any justice to what the naked eye can see and the majestic beauty the sky has to offer. It was indeed a blessing in disguise.

The original plan was to go straight to Pratunam after dropping off the baggages. There we would shop (because it is open 24/7) and have dinner, but because we landed in Bangkok 2 1/2 hours before midnight, hailed a taxi which set the price to the roof, arrived at the hotel only to find out that Agoda cancelled our booking without even informing us, we were already too tired that we chose a pricey hotel. It almost came to a point that we just wanted to lay our exhausted body and go to a slumber, but wouldn't that be gross? No worries for we still managed to visit the bathroom to refreshen ourselves before we succumbed to our comfortable beds.

The start of our adventure in Bangkok started at night, right after we finished visiting Pattaya. The same driver and van that took us to Pattaya dropped us off at the River City Scape near Sheratton Hotel at 7:00pm. Ladies covered in Thai dresses greeted people, who would then pin flowers and share a photo with you. Afterwards, we were asked to exit the building and wait for the cruise ship to arrive, which is located at the rear of the establishment. We shared the spot with a lot of other tourists who flew from different continents.

At 7:45pm, the Chao Phraya Cruise docked and took us in. The real adventure has commenced. We were offered a place near the window, which was very favourable to us, imagine the entire cityscape in full view with nothing to hinder the beautiful setting.

A petite Thai lady dressed in fishnet black, packaged with a deadly weapon right beneath her feet greeted us and entertained the lot for the duration of our cruise. Impressively, she could sing english, korean, chinese and japanese songs with a little bit of her mother tongue-accent manifesting once in a while.

Not long after the lady's greetings, we were  escorted to the buffet table that offers american, italian and thai cuisines, all with a twist of Thai cooking.

The trip does not only boast of sumptuous foods and mesmerising view of their skyscrapers, but what majority of the people were after is the stunning perspective of the Temple of Dawn--the holy grail of all the temples in Bangkok.

Our last day in Bangkok seemed like we were contestants in Amazing Race. Every thing that needs to be done and seen were squeezed in 6hours. The upside was, locations of the landmarks were near each other. Plus, the prices of commodities are very cheap. Imagine an 80THB shirt, considering that the quality is equivalent to those sold at the malls here in the Philippines. Downside? the time.

The Wat Pho (The Temple of the Reclining Buddha) and The Grand Palace are near each other.

We first visited the Buddha, and if I have to say it myself, I would prefer it to be called the Chillin' Buddha, because it looks so chill and relax--just like me.

As a little courtesy and respect, visitors are not allowed to enter the main temple where the Buddha is seated. Bags are offered at the entrance for free.

Upon entering, there's already the Buddha saying 'hi!'

Guests are also prohibited to touch her, but you can take photos as much as you want and you can handle. Here's the reason why:

Noteworthy are the details and designs encrypted basically on every party of the entire perimeter. From the statues, doorways, windows and sculptures.

And yes, taking photos is a serious business.

The discipline and cleanliness of Bangkok are highly commendable. Drivers are not in a hurry to die. They know when and how to give way to other motorists. They fall in line while waiting to be serviced. As much as possible, motorists would not even dare push their car horns unlike others who treat it as a musical instrument. Not only it's annoying, it's also adding up to the pile of noise pollution.

Now, if there’s a good, then definitely, there’s a bad. Linguistics. The case in point here, Thai people clearly does not have a good command of the English language. I’ve been to a lot of countries who consider the English language as a very foreign matter but they can still understand you and express themselves in a manner in which a tourist can understand. At one point, I told the taxi driver to drop us off Platinum Mall. Instead, he said Pratunam. Good thing, I had saved a transcript of the place translated in their mother tongue.

I propose you come to Thailand if you want to mix relaxation and shopping combined in a busy city.

So long, Bangkok. I promise to come back for more. It was a good experience, nonetheless, considering that we were there for not more than 48 hours.