it was culture-rich, skin-burning, tummy-filling GOOD

i was not that excited for the thai trip considering that i was already out of work, no savings. and on the week before the trip my body was being uncooperative specifically my food passage area[throat pains/tonsilitis/cough/burnt tongue]. haaha whattya know. my budget was too tight so i was not excited about the tours most especially the shopping. i still have to consider my daily food spending.baahahaa. anyway, thanks to my meds and prayers[thanks ma], my body was ready to go. left on the 14th for manila in the morning, then our thai flight on the evening..talking about lack of sleep. three hours later...hello thailand. 

when we arrived it was still the 15th, so we still get to have a little bit of songkran, thailand's new year celebration. no wonder there was one taxi, when we arrived in bangkok, whose passengers were teenagers who were soaking wet. songkran is all about getting from wikipedia: The throwing of water originated as a way to pay respect to people, by capturing the water after it had been poured over the Buddhas for cleansing and then using this "blessed" water to give good fortune to elders and family by gently pouring it on the shoulder. Among young people the holiday evolved to include dousing strangers with water to relieve the heat, since April is the hottest month in Thailand (temperatures can rise to over 100°F or 40°C on some days). This has further evolved into water fights and splashing water over people riding in vehicles.. haahaa  even on our last days in thailand, there are still cars/vehicles covered with what appears to be chalk/flour from the songkran celebration.

our 1st day train ride to siam area. on my head: "i still need to buy film"

the first day was mostly research day, visiting shops, mall-hopping around the city. i really do enjoy, even though i'm no longer part of the team how we get to see ideas around places then incorporate it in our industry. 

our first Thai meal was in one of the malls we visited, i think it was in siam center. it was sooo thai that when i ordered spicy prawns, thinking it would be filipino spicy and not "hot", i was soooo wrong. it was crazily hot that i have to get food from meee colleagues so i can finish my rice.haaha well, we were still able to eat all the prawns despite the painful feeling on our tongues. haahaa ;esson learned: do not be too adventurous dear.

somewhere between siam paragon and siam center...two malls just across each other.

dinnertime on our first day was at some place at siam square. boss's treat, boss's order. catfish salad, pad thai, shrimp and chicken tomyum, what else? ummmm i dunno my tummy consumed them all.haahaa

the next day was scheduled for our trip to chatujak. the most popular shopping destination in thailand during the weekends. and yes i was not able to budget my money properly...and even failed to buy something for mamsi and papsi. boo for me.

2nd day: weekend means chatujak! somewhere in sukhumvit, i dunno what i was even doing here when we were supposed to be walking on our way to the station for a train ride to mo chit station

after chatujak, we were going to meet up with ate tin's friend joey. he was going to bring us to kaosan, it's a night market, but also a place where almost all the foreigners head to when they visited thailand. and yep, all the guests who are there are foreigners. it was where we had our little night out for some drinks [thanks to Chang beer], some shisha and had that very good tomyum c/o joey.

welcome to kaosan: got to purchase 110 baht films yayyy

shisha-good: harmless

thanks chang: what happens in kaosan, stays in kaosan.haahaa

the next day was scheduled for tour day 1: touring to cltural sites in thailand. that would have to include the grand palace, floating market, the elephant ride, and the reclining buddha. the trip to iforgotthenameoftheplace was soooo long and we ended up at a pier for the boat ride to the floating market which costs !@@%@%#!!!! nevermind the price.. haha leigh im sure you know how much. my heart aches everytime i think about it. even though i was not really the one who paid for it, chrissy could have spend on other stuff with that money..anyhooo.. we didn't really regret taking the ride coz it was pretty neat witnessing the place, but our pockets were just..umm never mind.haahahaha

day 3 is floating market/grand palace day [tsk we lost all our money for the boat ride...blahblahblah..hahaha]

bang! traffica na! weee. despite the bump-cars mode of the boats, everybody was calm.haahaa

an 8 tribe something[ i'm sorry i totally forgot the term] dance we passed by during the floating trip

say goodbye to our bangka driver

and now we are in the grand palace grounds. even before we got into the gates, one can already see the glistening of the grand palace. definitely the most WOW architecture i have ever witnessed.

the gold in grand palace hahaa

the heat was almost unbearable but the place is too majestic to miss

after the grand palace i was excited to go back to the hotel and change clothes. it was 39degrees in thailand! ohmaaaay! such heat would have been great if i was at the beach. but our boss texted us to meet up at a mall in siam. hahaaha chrissy and i ended up eating in mcdo..ummm no rice.

again we met up with joey who would be bringing us to a pad thai place. yummeyyy! i believe it was the most popular pad thai place in thailand.

the one that i was looking forward were the ruins in ayuthaya. yep and it didn't disappoint me. the only thing bothering us all was the heat! we had to skip other sites of ruins of the old city but i think we have seen just enough. it was all beauty.:) and yes! i was able to see ELEPHANTS! yayyy! aaahk!those baby elephants are too cute! this time, i was all smiles after touching an elephant and after having a photo with it.heehe

day 4: ayuthaya day and chicken rice dinner day
this was at our first stop..we got to enter the area without having to pay the 20baht they were charging..heehehe

the reason why i came to thailand! alas! it was fulfilled.. i was too bummed with the expense of the boat ride the day before that we decided to head to grand palace right after the boat ride, leaving the elephants out of thought. good thing there were also elephants in ayuthaya! 

then we went back straight to bangkok all of us wanting to go back to the hotel for a quick change, and quick rest, then again our boss called us to meet up again at the mall coz we still need to go to the art museum. too bad it was closed at that time coz it was a holiday..still songkran. we were sked to visit the next day. :) for dinner ate tin's friend brought us to a place popular for it's chicken rice. it was all good. rice steamed with chicken oil, steamed chicken, plain chicken soup that was not so plain :), and ice cold pepsi. aaaah. what a perfect way to end the most exhausting day.hahaa

an installation outside bangkok's art museum. visited it on the 5th day. our present condition during this time: exhausted and sticky.haha

on our 5th day, our last day in the city, we visited the museum. on our way to the mueum it was raining which was totally opposite from the scorching heat we got on the previous days. but it didn't really last that long, coz when we were finished with the musuem it was sunny again. then we head back quick to the hotel considering our flight's going to be in 3hours.haaha


and now i still have a good hangover from the trip. it's definitely one place i would love to go back to and see more of it. then i hope next time i'd be sorta prepared, specifically my pocket.haaha