October 31, 2006 Siem Reap Day 3. Happy Halloween to every one back home!
(No pictures today because I didn't take a single one today)
I didn't see a single costume today! Obviously Halloween isn't celebrated here.
Lisa and I woke up around 10am today. Today was a rest and relaxation day. Our plan? To just lounge around the boutique hotel and make use of it's facilities. We went downstairs to have breakfast. Everyone here gets up really early! A lot earlier than us, because when we went downstairs for breakfast, the only other people there were Terry, Tammy, Jimmy T, and Christina! We had the whole place to ourselves. I drank some fresh coffee, fresh watermelon juice, and freshly squeezed orange juice. I had some yellow papaya, watermelon and pineapples as an appetizer. The main for breakfast was a flat noodle/kung pao dish which was quite good.
After breakfast, I went to the gym to workout for about an hour. The gym is the only thing that is keeping me somewhat skinny. In fact, I weighed myself at the gym, and I'm still 170 lbs. Thank goodness, still the same weight! Phew!
After the gym, I headed back to the room, and I blogged. Man, this blogging is taking soooo much time. It's so time consuming. Unbelievable. The brightside is that I do it when I'm just doing nothing, so I guess all in all, it's not that bad, but it definitely weighs on the mind when we're too busy and we don't have anytime to update it.
Lisa went downstairs to the lounge with Christina, Jimmy T, Becky, and Darren. They sat, drank, and ate some food from the cafe. I later came down to meet up with them, and I got a tuna melt from the cafe. After our petite lunch, we went back upstairs to Jimmy T's room to hang out. We basically spent all evening in there till dinner time. They played Big 2, while I surfed the internet, read, and blogged some more. Anthony went to the gas station next door to pick up chips, drinks, french fries, and chicken nuggets. We ate some more! We also watched the movie Freak Friday which was on the movie channel. Before we knew it, it was 9PM, so we headed out for dinner. We went to a restaurant called Cambodia Kitchen. We ate local cambodian food... dinner for 9 with 2 pitchers of beer, 6-8 cokes, 9 bowls of rice, ample dishes came to a paltry $55 US dollars. Man, I'm so glad food is cheap here, because it really allows us to stay within or even below our daily budget that we have set for ourselves. Man, when I get back to Vancouver, I'm going to be reluctant to spend any dollars on outside dining!
Anyhow, I just showered and I'm back in the room blogging again. It's 11:30PM... going to call it a nite now. See you tomorrow!
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
October 30, 2006 Angkor Wat … Day 2 in Siem Reap
Wes writing now:
Today was a history lesson of sorts. We hired a tour guide for our trek through the ample temples. His name was Kaem, and his English was very good, except we could barely understand him through his thick accent. It definitely took a lot of concentration listening to him. After a while though, you get kind of used to it and start to understand him through his thick local accent. This can’t be said for everyone though, because Terry, Tammy, Jimmy T, Christina, and Lisa didn’t really pay too much attention to him because his accent was so difficult to decipher. Anyhow, they were able to make good use of their time taking photos, etc. Becky, Darren, Anth, and I did listen to Kaem however. Cambodia sure has been through a lot of hardship in its history. In fact, as recently as 1975-1979, historians estimate that 2 million people were killed by the Khmer Rouge… it’s very tragic and sad. With all that said, despite Cambodia struggling through centuries of war, civil war, and selfish and destructive rulers; the local people are very happy and content people. It really is a testament to the people here. After all they’ve been through, they are still able to keep their chins up and be happy. A lot of it has to be contributed to their Buddhist religion, with an emphasis on peace, divinity, spiritual cultivation, and ultimately nirvana/enlightenment. I admire the country, and the people here. Their attitudes are very different compared to that of other countries that have been through centuries of war, starvation, political strife, and conflict. With that said, though I admire the locals, I am disheartened by the existing government and regime. There are ample politicians that pilfer and embezzle monies from the government coffers, instead of filtering that money to the local people. I realize that this is an ongoing occurrence in governments all over Asia, and other parts of the world, but it doesn’t lessen the significance of this problem. It really makes me appreciate life in Canada, feel grateful for our political systems (though not near perfect in any way), be glad about our peaceful way of life, and value everything about Canada which makes it the best place to live in the world.
Today has brought me back down to earth in terms of leveling myself… it really takes real life experiences to realize what I have and how lucky I am to have it. Life is good, no it’s great.
Angkor Wat
Now, to the temples... They really are quite amazing. You really do see it from a different perspective by actually seeing it in person. Pictures don’t do it justice. These temples were built about a thousand years ago in the 12th century. They were built for King Suryavarman II to house his state and to represent his capital city. There was a significant Hindu and Buddhist inspiration and influence when the temples were constructed. There are Buddhist and Hindu stone carvings scattered throughout the temples. How they built these amazing structures centuries and centuries ago with pure man power alone is astonishing to me. It’s simply magnificent.
Bayon
Angkor Thom houses Bayon temple. Bayon’s most distinctive feature is the multitude of smiling faces on the towers which rise up to its central peak. Here are some photos of Bayon:
We woke up at 7am today and headed to breakfast at the hotel restaurant. The restaurant is quite cool. They have these hanging beds in the courtyard as tables, and we snagged a couple of them. They are more cool than functional. I don’t think a lot of us liked the swinging while eating our breakfast.
Wes writing now:
Today was a history lesson of sorts. We hired a tour guide for our trek through the ample temples. His name was Kaem, and his English was very good, except we could barely understand him through his thick accent. It definitely took a lot of concentration listening to him. After a while though, you get kind of used to it and start to understand him through his thick local accent. This can’t be said for everyone though, because Terry, Tammy, Jimmy T, Christina, and Lisa didn’t really pay too much attention to him because his accent was so difficult to decipher. Anyhow, they were able to make good use of their time taking photos, etc. Becky, Darren, Anth, and I did listen to Kaem however. Cambodia sure has been through a lot of hardship in its history. In fact, as recently as 1975-1979, historians estimate that 2 million people were killed by the Khmer Rouge… it’s very tragic and sad. With all that said, despite Cambodia struggling through centuries of war, civil war, and selfish and destructive rulers; the local people are very happy and content people. It really is a testament to the people here. After all they’ve been through, they are still able to keep their chins up and be happy. A lot of it has to be contributed to their Buddhist religion, with an emphasis on peace, divinity, spiritual cultivation, and ultimately nirvana/enlightenment. I admire the country, and the people here. Their attitudes are very different compared to that of other countries that have been through centuries of war, starvation, political strife, and conflict. With that said, though I admire the locals, I am disheartened by the existing government and regime. There are ample politicians that pilfer and embezzle monies from the government coffers, instead of filtering that money to the local people. I realize that this is an ongoing occurrence in governments all over Asia, and other parts of the world, but it doesn’t lessen the significance of this problem. It really makes me appreciate life in Canada, feel grateful for our political systems (though not near perfect in any way), be glad about our peaceful way of life, and value everything about Canada which makes it the best place to live in the world.
Today has brought me back down to earth in terms of leveling myself… it really takes real life experiences to realize what I have and how lucky I am to have it. Life is good, no it’s great.
Angkor Wat
Now, to the temples... They really are quite amazing. You really do see it from a different perspective by actually seeing it in person. Pictures don’t do it justice. These temples were built about a thousand years ago in the 12th century. They were built for King Suryavarman II to house his state and to represent his capital city. There was a significant Hindu and Buddhist inspiration and influence when the temples were constructed. There are Buddhist and Hindu stone carvings scattered throughout the temples. How they built these amazing structures centuries and centuries ago with pure man power alone is astonishing to me. It’s simply magnificent.
This is Jimmy T and I on the stairs heading up to the top of Angkor Wat (steep!):
Here's Anth navigating his way down the stairs... he looks scared!!! (you can blow up the photo by clicking on it)
Here's and idea of how steep it was:
Christina and James halfway up the temple:
Us waiting for Tammy and Terry, hehe:
Darren and Becky outside Angkor Wat:
We went to multiple temples, but the largest was Angkor Wat. In fact, according to Guinness World Records, it is the largest religious structure in the world. Angkor Wat is located 5.5 KM north of Siem Reap (where we’re staying). Unfortunately, construction of the Angkor Wat temple stopped after King Suryavarman II’s death in 1150. Here is a description of Angkor Wat (source: wikipedia)
One of the first Western visitors to the temple was Antonio da Magdalena, a Portuguese monk who visited in 1586 and said that it "is of such extraordinary construction that it is not possible to describe it with a pen, particularly since it is like no other building in the world. It has towers and decoration and all the refinements which the human genius can conceive of".[4]
However, the temple was popularised in the West only in the mid-19th century on the publication of Henri Mouhot's travel notes. The French explorer wrote of it:
One of these temples—a rival to that of Solomon, and erected by some ancient Michelangelo—might take an honourable place beside our most beautiful buildings. It is grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome, and presents a sad contrast to the state of barbarism in which the nation is now plunged.[5]
Here is the sunsetting at Angkor Wat:
And in 1177, Angkor was sacked by the Chams, the traditional enemies of the Khmer people (Cambodian people). The Chams ruled for 4 years before the Khmer people lead by by a new king, King Jayavarman VII, restored the empire. He also established a new capital and state temple (Angkor Thom and the Bayon respectively) which lie a few kilometres to the north.
Angkor Thom
Angkor Thom (Great City) was established as the capital of Jayavarman VII's empire, and was the centre of his massive building program.
Excerpt from Wikipedia: The faces on the 23 m towers at the city gates (which are later additions to the main structure) take after those of the Bayon, and pose the same problems of interpretation. They may represent the king himself, the
bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, guardians of the empire's cardinal points, or some combination of these.Here’s a photo:
A causeway spans the moat in front of each tower: these have a row of devas on the left and asuras on the right, each row holding a naga in the attitude of a tug-of-war. This appears to be a reference to the myth, popular in Angkor, of the Churning of the Sea of Milk. Here's a photo of the statues Churning the Seas of Milk:
Bayon
Angkor Thom houses Bayon temple. Bayon’s most distinctive feature is the multitude of smiling faces on the towers which rise up to its central peak. Here are some photos of Bayon:
Here is a photo of the carvings found in Bayon. This a photo depciting Chinese soldiers (The Chinese were peddlers who sold goods to the local people) who were actually allies (because they did business together) with the Khmer people and helped them fight against the Cham people. You can tell these are carvings depicting the Chinese because of the smaller eyes on these soldiers and different uniforms.
King Jayavarman VII was a believer in both Hinduism and Buddhism. He was the first King to introduce Buddhism to the Khmer people. Largely a Hindu country at the time, King Jayavarman VII got his people to carve and create many Buddhist influenced pieces of art, (Buddha’s for example) and installed them all over the temple. Unfortunately at the end of his reign, the ensuing King, King Jayavarman VIII, who was a non-believer in Buddhism, destroyed all Buddhist artifacts, relics, sculptures and pieces of art. In fact, he went so far as to get his people to be-head all Buddha sculptures in the temple. Hence, scattered around the entire temple are beheaded Buddha’s and malformed Buddha’s.
Here is a photo of one Buddha carving that survived! This survived because it was originally covered by stone, and the people never discoverd it:
Anyhow, that’s your history lesson for the day. I presume you’re bored as heck now!
Here are some more photos that I took:
That was our day at Angkor Thom and Angkor Wat. It really was a great experience. Tiring indeed, but well worth it. With that said, I'm kind of 'templed' out. Tomorrow, Anth, Dar, and Becky are going to be heading back to the temple that Tomb Raider was filmed at. It's the temple that is dedicated to King Jayavarman VII's Mother when she passed away. (Basically a place for worship in honour of the King's mother)
We headed back to the hotel after an exhausting, hot day of tourist activity. Lisa and I took another bath in the tub. We were all lathargic and tired, so we just went downstairs to the lounge for a drink. We were going to eat at the restaurant at the hotel, but it was a little pricey. They had an enticing 7 course meal with 3 glasses of wine for $45 US. The problem with that? We fed all 9 of us at lunch today for $45 US. Sooooo, I walked to the cafe just beyond the lounge. And low and behold they had excellent food! Club sandwiches, pomello salad, potato salad, egg plant salad, fish burger, ham & cheddar baguette with pineapple, comte cheese sandwich, ham and cheese croissant, tom yumm soup, and a croque monsieur sandwich. Everything was 50% off too, because they had to clear out the rest of their food. Our dinner came to less than $5 US. It was great. Here are some pics:
After dinner we went back upstairs to Christina and Jimmy T's room and chilled there. They played cards, I read the Cambodia Lonely Planet, and we called it a night at about 1am. I'm sleeping in tonight!
Nite nite
Monday, October 30, 2006
October 29, 2006 Hello Siem Reap, Cambodia!
So our flight was delayed an hour, but it was nice and short. It was only about a 45 min flight, and Bangkok Air didn't disappoint by still serving us a meal on such a short leg! It wasn't a hot meal this time, only a boxed lunch with a bun and cold cuts, but it still hit the spot.
The airport in Siem Reap is very small. There are no terminals really and our plane was the only one in sight. Despite being small, the airport is quite new. I was expecting something old, and run down but I was pleasantly surprised.
When we arrived, you have to line up with your passports to get your visa. Kind of a joke, because it's just a money grab. After passing through immigration and grabbing our luggage, we walked to the exit and Darren quickly warned us to put on our deet (mosquito repellant) before leaving the door. OMG! The mosquitos!!!! You can see a million of them flying around the light bulbs. Very scary!!
So we’ve heard bad stories about transportation in Cambodia so it’s a good thing that Dar was able to get hold of a driver for us. He (his name is Marom – nice guy!) was waiting for us with a van when we came out.
Finally after a 15 min drive, we got to our beautiful boutique hotel! It’s called Hotel de la Paix and it’s only been opened for about a year. Walking through the doors, it feels like you are walking into an art gallery instead of a hotel. They walked us to the lounge and served us a cold pineapple ginger drink while they took care of our check in. The lounge is very cool and trendy. Here's some pictures of the lounge:
So our flight was delayed an hour, but it was nice and short. It was only about a 45 min flight, and Bangkok Air didn't disappoint by still serving us a meal on such a short leg! It wasn't a hot meal this time, only a boxed lunch with a bun and cold cuts, but it still hit the spot.
The airport in Siem Reap is very small. There are no terminals really and our plane was the only one in sight. Despite being small, the airport is quite new. I was expecting something old, and run down but I was pleasantly surprised.
When we arrived, you have to line up with your passports to get your visa. Kind of a joke, because it's just a money grab. After passing through immigration and grabbing our luggage, we walked to the exit and Darren quickly warned us to put on our deet (mosquito repellant) before leaving the door. OMG! The mosquitos!!!! You can see a million of them flying around the light bulbs. Very scary!!
So we’ve heard bad stories about transportation in Cambodia so it’s a good thing that Dar was able to get hold of a driver for us. He (his name is Marom – nice guy!) was waiting for us with a van when we came out.
Finally after a 15 min drive, we got to our beautiful boutique hotel! It’s called Hotel de la Paix and it’s only been opened for about a year. Walking through the doors, it feels like you are walking into an art gallery instead of a hotel. They walked us to the lounge and served us a cold pineapple ginger drink while they took care of our check in. The lounge is very cool and trendy. Here's some pictures of the lounge:
We also took a quick tour of the pool and the spa. This is definitely the most beautiful and artsy hotel we’ve stayed in so far. Here’s some pics of the rest of the hotel
After getting settled in our rooms, we met up with our group downstairs to head out to dinner. Marom (our driver) took us to a place called Arun. The restaurant was pretty empty when we got there and it kind of looked ‘bunk’ (as Wes would say). We sat outside with all our new friends (insects)! Yuck! They kept flying into our food and getting mixed in with the curry and swimming around in our drinks. Ew! I guess we’ll be having a lot of protein during this leg of our trip. Cambodian food is kind of like Thai food, but not spicy. They have the same stuff like curries, pomelo and papaya salad. Oh and everything is in USD, couple of dollars here and there for each dish. (Everything here is in USD oddly enough) But I think everyone lost their appetites because of all the bugs. =( The meal itself was actually quite good, and of course it was relatively inexpensive. Dinner came to 50 US dollars for the 9 of us.
After dinner, we went back to our hotel to rest for our big day tomorrow. Wes and I decided to enjoy the tub in our room. We took a bath while watching Grey’s Anatomy on Wes’ laptop. The tub is so cool because there is no faucet. The water runs down the wall of the tub like a waterfall. Very cool. Ahhh, so relaxing!! But one thing I don’t like about this place is that water is yellow! YUCK! You have to ignore it though.
Here's a picture of our room with the sliding door that opens to the tub.
The bath made me nice and sleepy so I was bed time for me at around 12:30! Night! Angkor Wat tomorrow! Yay!
October 29, 2006 Bye Bye Bangkok...Day 4
We went down for breakfast at around 9:45 today but the buffet restaurant was packed! The restaurant was packed, and there was a huge line-up. So, Wes and I just ended up going to the club lounge because they also offered breakfast there. Breakfast was pretty good. You order from a menu instead of buffet, which was kinda nice because you got served – and service is excellent here.
Terry hung around the hotel to go swimming. Anth and Darren went to a high-end mall called Paragon. Tammy, Chris, Bex, James, Wes and I went to back to MBK again for some cheap, last minute shopping. The benefit of shopping in Asia this past month has now paid off, because everyone now knows how to bargain and what they should be paying for items.
However, we have limited funds though... cause we budgeted 50 dollars a day per destination, and we are kind of running out of Thai Baht. We've been conserving our money... but, because this was the last day in Thailand, and last day of really shopping (for we won't be shopping at Siem Reap and Singapore), we ended up borrowing 50 dollars from James so we could buy more =p. Here's MBK:
When we went to check-in for our flight, the woman said we could go to the Bangkok Air lounge! Sweet! But then we asked around to see where it was and they said we didn’t have enough time to go because the lounge was too far. =(( BOO!!!!!
We were all starving too and there was no food for us to buy after we got through the security check, and to top it all off, our flight was delayed! Bah!
I have to say that Bangkok really impressed me. I was expecting something somewhat similar to Manila but it’s not like that at all. The city is quite developed and not that busy. The streets are clean (at least where we were), and there weren't any squatter areas all over the city like we saw in Manila (again maybe we were only isolated to the nice parts of town). The buildings don’t seem that run down, traffic isn’t as chaotic, and the streets are not littered with people just sitting around. Overall, I had left Bangkok with a good impression. And Sofitel Silom hotel has been awesome – best hotel of the trip so far - loved it!
Sa-wat dee Thailand! Khawp khun kha! (Bye Thailand! Thank you!)
We went down for breakfast at around 9:45 today but the buffet restaurant was packed! The restaurant was packed, and there was a huge line-up. So, Wes and I just ended up going to the club lounge because they also offered breakfast there. Breakfast was pretty good. You order from a menu instead of buffet, which was kinda nice because you got served – and service is excellent here.
Terry hung around the hotel to go swimming. Anth and Darren went to a high-end mall called Paragon. Tammy, Chris, Bex, James, Wes and I went to back to MBK again for some cheap, last minute shopping. The benefit of shopping in Asia this past month has now paid off, because everyone now knows how to bargain and what they should be paying for items.
However, we have limited funds though... cause we budgeted 50 dollars a day per destination, and we are kind of running out of Thai Baht. We've been conserving our money... but, because this was the last day in Thailand, and last day of really shopping (for we won't be shopping at Siem Reap and Singapore), we ended up borrowing 50 dollars from James so we could buy more =p. Here's MBK:
When we went to check-in for our flight, the woman said we could go to the Bangkok Air lounge! Sweet! But then we asked around to see where it was and they said we didn’t have enough time to go because the lounge was too far. =(( BOO!!!!!
We were all starving too and there was no food for us to buy after we got through the security check, and to top it all off, our flight was delayed! Bah!
I have to say that Bangkok really impressed me. I was expecting something somewhat similar to Manila but it’s not like that at all. The city is quite developed and not that busy. The streets are clean (at least where we were), and there weren't any squatter areas all over the city like we saw in Manila (again maybe we were only isolated to the nice parts of town). The buildings don’t seem that run down, traffic isn’t as chaotic, and the streets are not littered with people just sitting around. Overall, I had left Bangkok with a good impression. And Sofitel Silom hotel has been awesome – best hotel of the trip so far - loved it!
Sa-wat dee Thailand! Khawp khun kha! (Bye Thailand! Thank you!)
Saturday, October 28, 2006
October 28, 2006 Bangkok Day 3
Terry called me at 9am this morning to let me know that the Canucks game was on (using our sling box streaming it over the internet). So I got out of bed to watch my first complete hockey game of the season. At the end of the 1st period, we went downstairs for our daily buffet breakfast and I quickly ate. I just had a bowl of cereal and fruits... nice and healthy. I immediately headed back upstairs to watch the game. 2-2 at the end of the 2nd. I went downstairs to the lounge for the 3rd period and watched the game with Anth, Terry, Yuri, and Anne. We were hollering and hooting during the game which was okay, because the lounge was fairly empty. The Nucks ended up winning 3-2 in a shootout. I've been trying to read what I can over the Internet about the Nucks, but news is so sparse out here in regards to hockey. It definitely sucks! I'm not really too home sick... but things that I really really miss are watching the nucks, playing ice hockey, and playing volleyball. I'm itching to play again, yet it's a catch 22, because I don't want this vacation to end. Anyhow, there's only 1 week left... which really sucks! I've had so much fun here.
Bangkok has been very nice so far. It's not really what I expected... I was expecting it to be more like Manila (dirty, populated, busy, etc). It's actually very clean here, it's not busy, and the roads and drivers are very civilized. It also helps that our hotel is fabulous, and the staff here has been top notch.
After the game, we met downstairs and headed to the weekend market (Chatuchak) in Northern Bangkok. Chatuchak Weekend Market is the king of markets. The scale of it is pretty unbelievable - it covers an area of 35 acres, contains more than 15 000 shops and stalls, has over 200 000 visitors each day, and they spend an estimated total of 30 million baht (approx US$750 000). The range of products on sale is extensive, and includes household accessories, handicrafts, religious artifacts, art, antiques, live animals (which unfortunately are frequently caged in cruel conditions), books, music, clothes, food, plants and flowers etc...
One word to describe it: NUTS!
It's busy, hot, crowded... just nuts. Things were relatively cheap. I bought about 6 collared shirts for about 30 bucks CDN. Shirts that would typically cost me $40 bucks cdn each. So all in all, I left a happy camper. Lisa bought a bathing suit for 300 baht (9 bucks) and we bought some silk pillow covers (4 for 6 bucks). The household accessories are really nice here... Lisa and I keep wishing we had more room in our suitcases so we could bring some more stuff home... but all in all, I guess it's a good thing, it prevents us from spending more money.
We got back to the hotel at about 5:30PM, showered and headed down to the lounge. Happy hour commenced once again. We sat and drank till about 8PM.
Herny, Terry, Tammy, Anthony, Yuri and Anne went for a buffet dinner at the Sheraton, while Christina and Jimmy T went for dinner with Jimmy T's friends from Boston. Lisa, Becky, Darren and myself went out for dinner at a seafood restaurant called Bann something or other.. hehe We had soft shell crab, morning glory, prawns. Dinner was excellent. Here are some photos to prove it!
After dinner, we pretty much called it a night. Lisa crashed, and I went downstairs to hang out in Henry and Anth's room. We were watching this beauty pageant with all these hot girls. When I walked into the room, Darren and Anthony kept egging me on whether I liked this girl, or that girl... and of course I answered 'yes' cause they were pretty hot. Then Miss USA came out, and she was nasty! And then Miss Malaysia.. nasty again!!! I'm talking NASTY! Anyhow, I started thinking to myself that these people looked a lot like men. And then I respond "hey, these ARE men!" and Darren, Anth, and Becky are just cracking up and rolling around howling. hahahaha, it was pretty funny. I still think Miss Philippines and Miss Thailand are hot! hahahahha... Anyhow, Jimmy T followed into the room later, and we were doing the same thing to him, except it took him forever to figure it out! 15 minutes at least! hahahaha... too funny
Anyhow, time to call it a night. See you tomorrow!
Terry called me at 9am this morning to let me know that the Canucks game was on (using our sling box streaming it over the internet). So I got out of bed to watch my first complete hockey game of the season. At the end of the 1st period, we went downstairs for our daily buffet breakfast and I quickly ate. I just had a bowl of cereal and fruits... nice and healthy. I immediately headed back upstairs to watch the game. 2-2 at the end of the 2nd. I went downstairs to the lounge for the 3rd period and watched the game with Anth, Terry, Yuri, and Anne. We were hollering and hooting during the game which was okay, because the lounge was fairly empty. The Nucks ended up winning 3-2 in a shootout. I've been trying to read what I can over the Internet about the Nucks, but news is so sparse out here in regards to hockey. It definitely sucks! I'm not really too home sick... but things that I really really miss are watching the nucks, playing ice hockey, and playing volleyball. I'm itching to play again, yet it's a catch 22, because I don't want this vacation to end. Anyhow, there's only 1 week left... which really sucks! I've had so much fun here.
Bangkok has been very nice so far. It's not really what I expected... I was expecting it to be more like Manila (dirty, populated, busy, etc). It's actually very clean here, it's not busy, and the roads and drivers are very civilized. It also helps that our hotel is fabulous, and the staff here has been top notch.
After the game, we met downstairs and headed to the weekend market (Chatuchak) in Northern Bangkok. Chatuchak Weekend Market is the king of markets. The scale of it is pretty unbelievable - it covers an area of 35 acres, contains more than 15 000 shops and stalls, has over 200 000 visitors each day, and they spend an estimated total of 30 million baht (approx US$750 000). The range of products on sale is extensive, and includes household accessories, handicrafts, religious artifacts, art, antiques, live animals (which unfortunately are frequently caged in cruel conditions), books, music, clothes, food, plants and flowers etc...
One word to describe it: NUTS!
It's busy, hot, crowded... just nuts. Things were relatively cheap. I bought about 6 collared shirts for about 30 bucks CDN. Shirts that would typically cost me $40 bucks cdn each. So all in all, I left a happy camper. Lisa bought a bathing suit for 300 baht (9 bucks) and we bought some silk pillow covers (4 for 6 bucks). The household accessories are really nice here... Lisa and I keep wishing we had more room in our suitcases so we could bring some more stuff home... but all in all, I guess it's a good thing, it prevents us from spending more money.
We got back to the hotel at about 5:30PM, showered and headed down to the lounge. Happy hour commenced once again. We sat and drank till about 8PM.
Herny, Terry, Tammy, Anthony, Yuri and Anne went for a buffet dinner at the Sheraton, while Christina and Jimmy T went for dinner with Jimmy T's friends from Boston. Lisa, Becky, Darren and myself went out for dinner at a seafood restaurant called Bann something or other.. hehe We had soft shell crab, morning glory, prawns. Dinner was excellent. Here are some photos to prove it!
After dinner, we pretty much called it a night. Lisa crashed, and I went downstairs to hang out in Henry and Anth's room. We were watching this beauty pageant with all these hot girls. When I walked into the room, Darren and Anthony kept egging me on whether I liked this girl, or that girl... and of course I answered 'yes' cause they were pretty hot. Then Miss USA came out, and she was nasty! And then Miss Malaysia.. nasty again!!! I'm talking NASTY! Anyhow, I started thinking to myself that these people looked a lot like men. And then I respond "hey, these ARE men!" and Darren, Anth, and Becky are just cracking up and rolling around howling. hahahaha, it was pretty funny. I still think Miss Philippines and Miss Thailand are hot! hahahahha... Anyhow, Jimmy T followed into the room later, and we were doing the same thing to him, except it took him forever to figure it out! 15 minutes at least! hahahaha... too funny
Anyhow, time to call it a night. See you tomorrow!
Friday, October 27, 2006
October 27, 2006 Bangkok Day 3...
I didn't get up for breakfast today. Wes woke me up 10 min before breakfast was over (10am), so I just stayed in bed, but he got up to go to breakfast. He also went to to the gym after eating, and I just stayed in the room. At about 12:30. we met up with the other guys and went to a mall called MBK. It's a bazaar/flea market type mall about 10 min from our hotel. Ok first of all, I think the worst thing about Bangkok are the cab drivers. Instead of running on meter, a lot of them try to gouge you and charge you a flat fee which is 200-300% more!! It sucks that you have to negotiate with cabs!! Anyway, most of us got to MBK ok, except Tammy, Terry, Yuri and Anne who ended up somewhere else. I don't know how they got to MBK, but I didn't even see them there so I don't know if they actually got there.
MBK kind of reminds me of Green Hills in Manila. It's full of fake merchandise, but more expensive!! I was really surprised that you couldn't bargain with them that much! (Either that or I just really suck!) We didn't really buy much. Wes, Anth, and James ended up negotating for a bluetooth headset together which was the best deal of the day I thought. I think they got it for about $30 cdn each. The mall itself is pretty neat. Each floor sells a different type of merchandise. The first floor for example was food, and clothes. Second floor was more clothes, third floor was fake clothes, fourth floor was cell phones and electronics, fifth floor was more food and furniture, sixth floor was souvenirs and accessories. All in all, a pretty neat concept.
We left at about 5:30ish and rushed back to the hotel in time for happy hour. Everyone was there, except for Tams, Ter, Yuri and Anne. We had a few drinks and headed off to the restaurant at about 8:15. The restaurant was called Sarah Jane. (Again, we had a hard time finding a cab who go on meter!) The food was pretty good! Again, can't complain about the food even though we were the only ones there! Labour in Thailand is obviously cheap, because there had to have been 20 employees (waiters, waitresses) at this restaurant, and we were the only customers (14 of us). So service was obviously very good, however... it's kind of weird eating dinner, and having a bunch of people just standing there watching you eat, and to top that off, speaking a language you don't understand... so for all we know, they could have been mumbling crap about us. (spoiled tourists!)
We walked back to our hotel, and just chilled in the lobby for a bit.
James, Chris, Bex, Dar, Tania, and Anth went off after dinner to watch some 'shows' at Patpong. The rest of us went back and just chilled at the hotel with some beers. Apprently, they didn't really get to watch a 'show' tonight, and Anth ended up joining us at Tams' room for some card games. Cards and beers, what can be better!
Terry winning as the dealer:
I didn't get up for breakfast today. Wes woke me up 10 min before breakfast was over (10am), so I just stayed in bed, but he got up to go to breakfast. He also went to to the gym after eating, and I just stayed in the room. At about 12:30. we met up with the other guys and went to a mall called MBK. It's a bazaar/flea market type mall about 10 min from our hotel. Ok first of all, I think the worst thing about Bangkok are the cab drivers. Instead of running on meter, a lot of them try to gouge you and charge you a flat fee which is 200-300% more!! It sucks that you have to negotiate with cabs!! Anyway, most of us got to MBK ok, except Tammy, Terry, Yuri and Anne who ended up somewhere else. I don't know how they got to MBK, but I didn't even see them there so I don't know if they actually got there.
MBK kind of reminds me of Green Hills in Manila. It's full of fake merchandise, but more expensive!! I was really surprised that you couldn't bargain with them that much! (Either that or I just really suck!) We didn't really buy much. Wes, Anth, and James ended up negotating for a bluetooth headset together which was the best deal of the day I thought. I think they got it for about $30 cdn each. The mall itself is pretty neat. Each floor sells a different type of merchandise. The first floor for example was food, and clothes. Second floor was more clothes, third floor was fake clothes, fourth floor was cell phones and electronics, fifth floor was more food and furniture, sixth floor was souvenirs and accessories. All in all, a pretty neat concept.
We left at about 5:30ish and rushed back to the hotel in time for happy hour. Everyone was there, except for Tams, Ter, Yuri and Anne. We had a few drinks and headed off to the restaurant at about 8:15. The restaurant was called Sarah Jane. (Again, we had a hard time finding a cab who go on meter!) The food was pretty good! Again, can't complain about the food even though we were the only ones there! Labour in Thailand is obviously cheap, because there had to have been 20 employees (waiters, waitresses) at this restaurant, and we were the only customers (14 of us). So service was obviously very good, however... it's kind of weird eating dinner, and having a bunch of people just standing there watching you eat, and to top that off, speaking a language you don't understand... so for all we know, they could have been mumbling crap about us. (spoiled tourists!)
We walked back to our hotel, and just chilled in the lobby for a bit.
James, Chris, Bex, Dar, Tania, and Anth went off after dinner to watch some 'shows' at Patpong. The rest of us went back and just chilled at the hotel with some beers. Apprently, they didn't really get to watch a 'show' tonight, and Anth ended up joining us at Tams' room for some card games. Cards and beers, what can be better!
Terry winning as the dealer:
Victory!
Here's Yuri winning:
Here's Tammy thinking she won:
Here's us finding out that Tammy cheated:
Here's Herny's face after Tammy's lipstick art:
Nite nite!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)