Bangkok: 04 - 06 Sep ~ Departure

10 Sep 2012 (Mon):

Right after our driver dropped us off at the Airport Link Station, we paid 90baht per person & was issued 4 tokens. The train attendent told us the train will leave in 3 mins. We dashed into the lifts & aross the platform. If we missed this train, the next available one will be at 6pm.

I do not even have time to take a photo of the outside. In one of the photo below, you can see the kids sitting down comfortably. We were on a non stop route, directly to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport. Hey! The whole trip only took 15 mins & we arrived at 545pm.

Check in counter for Scoot was at counter G & it was already opened for check in. We had dinner at one of the eateries & bought local products. Gate G4 was at the very end & near to the gate, an airport staff ran towards us & asked if we were on flight TZ301, hurried us as the gates were closing... huh... but its only 715pm.

Its no wonder I did not see anyone inside the boarding room. Everyone was already onboard the flight. But another couple was also late & was behind us after we sat down. The flight was ahead of scheduled & we arrived back into Singapore safe & sound.

I like the way the cabin crew made the announcement after we land, something about thanking us for choosing Scoot & hope to see us again... and LETS GET OUTTA HERE.. haha!

Bangkok: 04 - 06 Sep ~ MaeKlong Railway Market & Floating Market

10 Sep 2012 (Mon):

The highlights of the trip for today was the Damneon Saduak Floating Market, enroute MaeKlong Railway Market, Crocodile Farm, Elephant Show & Rose Garden.

We were supposed to meet our driver at 730am but we waited for an hour & saw no one. The conceirge asked if we needed assistance & we told him we had booked a tour with the travel agent but no one came. Just then, another driver who is also from the same agent came, listened to our story & called the boss. We were told that the driver who were supposed to meet us has gone to the airport. What crap! How can he leave us, hanging around waiting!!!

Another driver was dispatched & he apologised for the delay, informing us of an accident the other driver met???? Anyhow, our trip has been delayed for more than an hour & we would defintely have missed the 830am train arrival into MaeKlong Station. We had some discussions along the way & the driver said we would go into the station first & asked about the next train arrival. We went told 2.15pm.

So we decided to make a trip to the floating market first. The driver bought us to a mini pier where we paid 1500baht for a ride on the long tail speed boat which would take us along the canals & a stop-by at their coconut farm. Cheap scam!!!

I enquired about the creditability of these floating markets & was told this was the original Damneon Saduak Floating Market but from what i remembered, the market was packed with sampan boats, selling all sorts of local produces/products. But from this boat ride along the canals, it was totally different. It was not jammed pack with tourists & along the way, only 2 or 3 sampans were seen rowing along the canals.

Daddy was slighly furious about the whole event & i was utterly disappointed with the way we were brushed off about our queries. The driver either turned a deaf ear to our questions or chose not to answer.

I had half a mind not to continue with the trip but i was adamant about seeing the railway market after seeing & hearing so much credits on it. Daddy suggested lunch first & our driver also suggested watching some monkey show nearby. But he did mentioned that we would missed the 230pm Cultural show at the Rose Garden if we were to catch the 215pm train. Fed up, i told Daddy to gave up the whole idea to Rose Garden & to forget about going to some stupid crocodile farm.

After lunch, we proceeded back to MaeKlong Railway Market where we walked around & waited for the 215pm train's arrival. I forgot to mention. It has been raining non stop for the whole morning right up till this point at 2pm, it was still drizzling. Needless to say, my mood was somewhat affected. Haiz!

We waited & we waited ..... still no sight of the train. We walked up & down, sat & stood around. The locals went about doing their business & were most amused, watching us & some other tourists waiting around stupidly. Our driver was not with us.

In the end, we walked out of the narrow market area, towards the station where we sat down for a drink & Daddy bought some snacks. We were told that the train would arrive at 320pm instead!!!! We felt like clowns, waiting for the past 1 hour.

Finally, the train attendent blew his whistle & the market sellers begin pushing in their stalls & lifting up the awnings. I saw my train at last.

Finally after the train arrived at MaeKlong Station, we made for our vehicle & proceeded back to Bangkok. On the way, Daddy asked if the driver would send us to the airport. We would pay him another 300baht. But he told us he has another tour for the evening & suggested us taking the airport link.

If it wasnt for the time constraint, we would have made our way back to the travel agent & demanded compensation.

Bangkok: 04 - 06 Sep ~ Dream World

10 Sep 2012 (Mon):

Dream World

This was another attraction which we spent a full day in it. We booked the package from a travel agent located next to our hotel lobby.

Our driver asked if we liked to travel by the highway & pay toll or to travel by the normal way which was jammed. Of cos we chose to travel by the highway & reached Dream World in about 45 mins.

He gave us his mobile number & told us to give him a tinker once we were finished. Daddy bought a pre paid sim card upon arrival at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport for 199baht. For local calls, its 2baht per min & for international calls, its 3baht per min.

At the entrance of the theme park.

Mini wonders of the world. We have a few here like the Statue of Liberty, Taj Mahal. Eiffel Tower, Stonehenge, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Angkor Wat, The Pyramid, The Colossuem, etc...

The Giant House. All the furniture was huge but we manage to climb up onto some of them for a photo taking.

This is the Snow Town. Look at the temperature inside: minus 5 degrees celsius. We were only given a jacket & boots to wear. Its cold.... brrrrr... Daddy & the kids couldnt stay for more than 5 mins & we were out soon, though I would love to stay longer.

There were many interesting things to see & do inside Dream World. There were the animal show, 4D Adventure, Hollywood Action, Colours of the World Parade, Sky Coaster, Super Splash, Grand Canyon, Hurricane to name a few. But as we were there on a weekday, we did not manage to see all. The parade was only shown on weekends & we missed the Hollywood Action which was seen only on 1 time slot during the weekdays.


A little video session on the kids' activities. Oh ya! Daddy played some games at the game stalls & won 3 stuff toys. The largest being a dog which i will show you in another post.

We love to get wet while going on the Super Splash. There was this bridge which was the way to exit after the ride & alot of people like to hang around the bridge. Reason: as the ride came splashing down, a huge wave was created & sent water splashing right over the bridge. On a hot day here in Bangkok, the waves was a welcoming sight. Even the school students ( oh boy, huge number of them everywhere) loved getting wet even if it meant no change of clothes for them as most of them were in their school uniforms.

And yes, Daddy, myself & the kids were dripping wet. Haha... the sun soon dry our clothes though.

And needless to say, when you have a Naraya outlet inside the theme park, what would most tourists do? Buy, buy buy!  I bought two designs @ 470baht/310baht costing 780baht in total = SGD$31. I would have bought more if the boss hadnt pressurized his customers to finish up shopping & settle payment at the cashier as the stall was closing in 5 mins time. Such an idiotic fellow. Doesnt he wish to earn more, looking at the crowd inside his shop?

Another theme park to visit would be the Safari Park & Marine World. And a recommended tourist attraction would be the 1 day tour to Bridge over River Kwai + Tiger Temple.

Instead, Daddy preferred visiting the floating market & since i read over the internet, the MaeKlong Railway Market could be included since its enroute to the floating market, we booked a full day tour for that for the next day, together with a visit to the Rose Garden, Crocodile Farm & Elephant Show. But in a twist of events, our tour only materalized halfway. If it wasn't for the fact that we need to rush to the airport, we would have returned to the travel agent & asked for at least half the refund.

Bangkok: 04 - 06 Sep ~ Siam Niramit Show

10 Sep 2012 (Mon):

Siam Niramit Show. The show is at 8pm daily. We booked our tickets online & paid 7400baht = SGD$297. It includes dinner & show. But remember what i said about the dinner in my previous post? Just book for the show will do.

We proceed to the attraction on our own. After arriving at Thailand Cultural Centre Station, we followed the direction for Thailand Cultural Centre & came up on another busy roadside.

We were stuck; not knowing where to go. I asked the security guard & he told us to stay put to wait for the shuttle bus. Hoping i got it correct, we waited quite some time. Finally it came. You wont miss the van cos it has the wordings " SIAM NIRAMIT " written on it.

Upon arriving, I went to the ticketing counter with my email print out to exchange for the tickets. There were some pre show events going on but what fascinated the kids were defintely the elephants. They requested to ride on the elephant at 100baht each. Daddy heard wrongly & thought the ride cost 1000baht instead.

The elephant mahout carried the 2 kids onto the elephant & invited me to sit in between them. Huh? I did not purchased any tickets but it was okay, the mahout told the staff. We went around the grounds & the mahout stopped to take photos for us here & there. In my mind, i cant help but wonder what if the elephant goes crazy since the mahour was not on the elephant itself but walking some distance away, calling out to the elephant to follow.

We went for dinner & therefter for the show. Again, no cameras were allowed & they have a deposit counter for you to deposit your cameras & collect them after the show. I did not want to deposit my camera & hide them in one corner of my bag. Boy! The staff did a tough search on everyone & I prayed my camera will not be found. Haha! My camera stays warm in my bag.

But though the camera is in my bag, it stayed in there thruout the show. I did not take it out at all.

Bangkok: 04 - 06 Sep ~ Siam Ocean World

10 Sep 2012 (Mon):

Just one attraction & I've got so many photos to share. We bought the kids to Siam Ocean World, located at Siam Paragon. It was a 15 mins walk from our hotel.

The park itself has many different admisssion packages to choose from. But their pricing's a great difference as compared to their website.

At the place itself:

900baht/adult & 700baht/child for a normal admission.

1100baht/adult & 900baht/child for a super package which includes the 5D theatre, glass bottom boat, happy fish happy feet, back of house tour, pepsi & popcorn.

3500baht for a family package of 2 adults & 2 children which includes all of the above mentioned.

Website:

1360baht/adult & 1040baht/child for a silver package which includes admission to Siam Ocean World & Madame Tussauds. 

810baht/adult & 630baht/child for a normal admission.

3150baht for the family package.

630baht/adult & 490baht/child for a Happy Tuesday Promotion.

We were there on a Tuesday but no such package available. And the family package pricing was also different by 350baht. Nonetheless, we bought the Family Package @ 3500baht = SGD$140.

There were many different areas to explore. In our opinion, its even bigger than the Underwater World @ Ocean Park in HongKong.  At Bangkok here, they even have Back of the House Tour, Glass Bottom Boat Ride & Happy Fish Happy Feet ( fish spa).

The kids were on a shark encounter mission; the Glass Bottom Boat Ride. Surrounding us below the waters are all sharks. Daddy bought a bowl of shrimps @ 100baht for the kids to feed those to the sharks.

We went onto a " Back of the House Tour " where we saw how they do water filtration, how the sick marine creatures were cared for, the food preparation corner, the preparation for the birth of the baby sharks, etc. No photo taking allowed. :(

Touch Pool for the kids to feel the different creatures. This one staff stationed at the touch pool went around telling everyone to be gentle. " ... soft, soft ".... till at one point, i told him " .... ya ya soft soft, very soft soft already... " Haha... i know he's doing his job; who would handle the fragile creatures roughly, we wouldnt for sure. But i cant say the same for the local kids there.

** There were many students all over the park; some field trip they were having; damn noisy & loud & rowdy.

Happy Fish Happy Feet. We were doing fish spa. It lasted only 10mins but it was good while it lasted.

At the exit of the park, we got some close encounter with the mascots.

Bangkok: 04 - 06 Sep ~ Food

09 Sep 2012 (Sun):

This is a post on food. Nope, not a chef recommending the most delightful meals available but what we had on our trip.

Our 1st lunch @ Siam Paragon. Pictures were always so deceiving & yet, I can never take my eyes off them. Cripsy shrimp omelette rice, how does this name sounds? Normal? Mouth watering? Okay, so i thought its does sound nice. I got a shock when my order came. A few pieces of tiny shrimp cut into bits; note: not even a whole prawn or two. And the mentioned crispyness? Boo hoo hoo, its actually fried eggs. You know, the kind you get inside some fish soup. And yes, i paid 55baht for that. Well, what the heck? Its only SGD$2.20....

Daddy & the kids ate pineapple fried rice instead & it cost 60baht per order. I tried one mouth & I almost puked. Horrible! The rice were soaked in pineapple juice & it was sooooooooooo.... SOUR!!!!

We booked our show with dinner via the internet. Okay, so there were many reviews on the food. Yes, negative ones. But, I thought i should ignore those reviews & hopefully, the food gets a 2nd chance. Nay, who am i kidding? Congrats to all those who wrote the negative reviews on the forums & websites. I am defintely on your side.

This was the seafood dinner we had on the 2nd evening. We ordered Coconut Cream Paste Seafood Soup, Asparagus with Mushroom, Grilled Tiger Prawns & Sweet & Sour Fish. All for.... ready... 3378baht ~ SGD$135. Gulp!

Okay la, to give some credits, the ambience was great & the service provided was good .

Lunch on our last day was at ( opps, I've forgotten to jot down the name of the restaurant). However, the place was great & the scenary was so blissful. Food was not too bad either. And, i apologise, i cant remember the price at all..

And this was our dinner at the airport prior to our departure back to Singapore. See the words on the collage? Yup, you get it. There were defintely other restaurants, cafes, diners to settle your dinner. Forget about this one. 635baht for some roasted pork & veggie dinner? That's SGD25, my friend!

Bangkok: 04 - 06 Sep ~ Transportation

09 Sep 2012 (Sun):

Bangkok has many different forms of transportation to get you to different areas. public buses, BTS, MRT, railway, river cruises, tuks tuks, taxis, etc..

With a map in our hands, we tried the BTS from Siam Station to Asok Station, and from there, we interchange from the BTS to their MRT, heading towards Bang Sue Station. Where were we going? We were heading towards Thailand Cultural Centre where we would be watching the Siam Niramit Show.

From Siam Station, the fare is 25baht per person to Asok Station. We alighted & went down on their escalator. Following the directions to Sukhumvit, we bought ticktets for Thailand Cultural Centre @ 20baht per adut & 10baht per child. You have to buy the ticket for the child at the Passenger Service Counter. The ticket machine do not dispense child tickets.

Tuks tuks are a common sight in Bangkok but you have to bargain ( agreed) on a price before boarding. They do not run on meter, unlike the taxis. We took a tuk tuk from Platinum Shopping Mall to Somboondee Seafood Market on the 2nd night. As it was drizzling & the mall was closing, Daddy decided to have seafood dinner. Just so happened, a tuk tuk driver approached us & asked where we liked to go. We hopped onto his vehicle & paid 30baht for the trip. Cheap? We realised this fellow may have earned commission from the seafood restaurant as no tuk tuk or taxi would take us back to Pratunam for the same price we paid. Since it was starting to rain heavily again, we had no choice but to take a taxi back @ 100baht. ( the driver refused to switch on his meter)

Other mode of transportation we tried was their Airport Link. But that is for another post.

Bangkok: 04 - 06 Sep 2012 ~ Hotel

09 Sep 2012 (Sun):

Unlike all my previous post, I will blog about our trip part by part instead of the usual day by day. This 1st part will be about our hotel.

We stayed at Grand Diamond Plaza Suites Hotel. Address:  888 Petchburi Road, Rajthevi, Pratunam, Bangkok, Thailand.

We had a room on the 20th story, overlooking the city. All rooms in the hotel comes with mini kitchenette, living area & bedroom

The kids were excited to see such a big bed & they immediately jumped onto it with glee. Even the bathroom were huge with a standing shower & a bathtub on either sides. We wasted no time in exploring the city after checking in. But we made a stop at a travel agency located right next to the lobby on the tours available.

Sunway Lagoon

03 Jun 2012 (Sun):

We ventured out into Sunway Lagoon the next morning after breakfast.

This was taken the night before at Sunway Pyramid. It was a short walk from our hotel.

 Hey, Sunway Pyramid has an ice skating ring. We were here once more than a decade ago... dun remember seeing one then.. 

Outside of the resort, we couldnt find our way into the theme park... LOST!

Nope.... we found our way & were soon enjoying ourselves, splashing & sliding.

Admission Fees: ALL 5 parks - water park, amusement park, wildlife park, extreme park & scream park: RM100/adt & RM80/chd ( 3 - 11 yrs)

For only 3 parks - water park, amusement park & wildlife park: RM80/adt & RM65/chd (3 - 11 yrs).

There's even a RM10 deposit fee per person for the wristwatch which u got to put on whilst at the park & it is refundable upon exit or u may choose to exchange for a gift. 

Splish splashing..... the kids & adts alike played this slide for upteem times...

Photos at random..

 

Wildlife park. We saw many animals; there was even an animal interactive corner where you can pet small animals like the rabbits ( dozens of them around), hamsters, guinea pigs, etc..

 

This butterfly landed on Rachel's hand & she was not afraid at all. In fact, she was so happy & requested me to take a photo of it.

 

Amuesement park... not many photos taken... I was very tired... We stayed till closing time, had dinner & was on our way home at 7.30pm. Suprisingly, we reached home at 12.30am. Actually we reached JB customs at 11.30pm  ( 4 hrs from Sunway to JB) & as usual, we met up major jam.

Beggar's Chicken @ Banting, Selangor.

02 Jun 2012 (Sat):

We made a reservation for 3pm @ Beggar's Chicken, Banting, Selangor. Since its 30mins drive away from KLIA, Nilai, we concluded we should reach there in less than 4 hours (remembering our trip up to KLIA in 2009). So i thought if we drove off at 9am, the timing would be just right. But hubby was thinking otherwise. Let's see who won.

We went up with friends & as we were nearing the location, we lost our way. Luckily, i have the contact number in my mobile & i gave the restaurant a call. Turned out, we were only round a bend away. 丐帮名菜叫化鸡. Time: 3.15pm

We left at 9am.... but got caught in a major traffic jam at both side of the customs... delaying our ride for over an hour..

This was the oven area where they baked all orders, such as the chicken & duck, though i'm not sure if the Beggar's Pig Trotters was baked here too..

Cough cough.... all the sand & dust flew everywhere when the lady starts shoving the coal & ashes.

A recommended place to eat by Malaysia's Variety Show: 阿贤人情味. Not to mention, various blogs & reviews were written on this place too.

Bukit Jugra (Permatang Pasir), 42700 Banting, Selangor.

雪兰莪万津朱格拉山路（俗称蛤山路）天宝宫（拿督公庙）对面

The surroundings, as it is, after we finished our meals & went out to have a look around.

We ordered: Beggar's Chicken @ RM 48.00, Beggar's Duck @ 48.00...

Traditional Rice @ RM38.00, seasonal veggies @ RM8.00, Beggar's Pig Trotters @ RM51.00, steamed fish @ RM45.00... plus soft drinks & chinese tea... our total amount: RM282.00 for 4 adts & 5 children.

We made our way to our hotel which is located at Bandar Sunway. Our friend took us for a drive thru small roads aka short cuts. Hey, the moment we turned out onto the highway again, Sunway is right before our eyes.

To be continued the next post...

Bali Day 4 - 29 Jan 2012

29 Jan 2012 (Sun):

Our last day here in Bali. We woke up 730am,or rather Lionel woke up that early & went out onto the balcony. He was looking around for animals across from us but did not find any. I told him the animals were still sleeping. I fell asleep.

Much later, i was awoken by Daddy who said we wld be late for our breakfast if we do not hurry. I looked out of the balcony & saw rhinos, deers & zebras. Both the kids were excited & tried to feed them the carrots that were provided in our room. But the animals were too far; none of them were right before our eyes.

Made picked us up at 9.20am. As usual, we were late again. We went towards Tanjong Benoa Beach - there were many water sports activities; para-sailing, banana boat, flying fish, jet ski, etc... we played none of those. Instead, we took a speed boat & went to the nearby Turtle Island. We paid 125,000IDR ~ SGD$17 or USD$14.

On the way, the boatman stopped the boat & gave the kids slices of bread to feed the hungry fishes below.


The bottom left pic u see of a turtle is 68 years old - the oldest at Turtle Island.


Other animals we saw on the island - eagles, bats, snakes. This bat was shy & kept on hiding behind its wings until i poked it gently. It spread it wings wide open & stared at me. Haha...


Daddy being playful here..

Daddy asked Made if he knows where to buy dried sea products such as shrimps, ikan bilis, salted fish, etc... We went to a local dish market. The fisherman were just pulling in & they unloaded crates after crates of fishes, prawns, octupus, mussels, etc...


The market even sold fruits, vegetables, eggs & sundries.

Our lunch at Malioboro's , Tuban. This is far more delicious than our lunch on the 1st day. After lunch, we made our way to the airport. And becos Made (our guide) was so good & he provided excellent service, we gave him a little more than the agreed on rates.

We load our luggage onto the trolley & went into the departure hall, bidding farewell to Made. We got his namecard & Made told us if we decide to come back to Bali again or if we got friends coming to Bali, let him know & he'll be all ready. Definite, Made. We will recommend you.

This concludes our 4 days holiday in Bali. Till then...