Bangkok Holiday 2006 (II)....曼 谷 之 旅 2006年 .....バンコク トリップ2006..

Thai Parliament
Grand Palace
Grand Palace
City Centre
Gaysorn in Bangkok City Area
The 'Yellow Shirt' Phenomena
Canal in Bangkok
Chinatown broth

Independence Monument

Day 3 (24th July): Morning dropped off at Hotel Armada in the city by driver....booked city tour of grand palace...walked around city area of Bkk and had lunch at one of the nice restaurants in one of the malls...went to join the Grand Palace Tour at noon....nice place...really grand with fusion of Chinese, Thai, Indian and European influence and architecture as i find most palaces in Thailand to be....also toured Emerald Buddha Temple....in the bus, passed many places including the present Royal Residence and government ministries....Got bck to hotel...went to Sumkhumvit Road....nice place with quite a number of foreigners and there is this alley with alot of Japanese restaurants and a supermarket...reminded me of Tokyo.....had a walk of Emporium.....toured the alleys where u can find many nice restaurants...took taxi to MM's workplace and then went to Suan Lum Night Bazaar...bought a nice Chinese style top.....really nice place, highly recommended for the food and atmosphere....there is a huge ferris wheel there and amusement park as well as a stage where singers belt out songs whilst u eat...i ate the thai-style chicken rice there....came bck...chatted with MM's brother (who is reputedly a womaniser...well, he is indeed very handsome....though personality wise prob not a good husband or bf...or mayb he will tame down later when he gets older....) and MM's sister....watched more cool Thai MTV and slept...

Day 4( 25th July): Woke up really early and went to Hotel Armada Watergate again for the tour to Ayutthaya. Took a coach there which takes roughly 1.5 hrs from Bangkok...went to the Bang Pa In Palace which is absolutely beautiful...toured a few more places in Ayutthaya, the ancient capital of Thailand and then took a cruise on the Chao Phraya River back to Bangkok which took around 3 hrs. The river cruise was fantastic!! It was actually my first time on a river cruise in a looong time and there was two decks to view the passing scenery....there was countless bungalows and replenished temples along the entire route which made me wonder where does the Thai government get the finances to maintain these temples?? I mean most of the temples were very well maintained... met a bunch of malaysians from KL on the trip and we chatted alot about how bad Malaysia's tourism industry is,etc,etc....got to know the tour guide and he is a friendly guy who is taking Chinese lessons now so he was telling me about how some words are similar b/w Thai and Chinese...we went to Chinatown and did some shopping then left to have dinner with MM at All Seasons Place....nice Thai cuisine....went bck home,watched the cute Toon V6 on Academy Fantasia...but he is abit boyish in character...not my type, i like someone more mature...but still super cute nevertheless..haha...

Day 5 (26th July): Went to Patpong area and had a look...alot of Japanese clubs and hostess clubs (which means sex entertainment venues) as well as visited Soi 4....some interesting stuff happened...Went to Bangkok City Centre again and shopped at Siam Paragon. Bought some thai movie dvds there. The cinema at the top level of Siam Paragon was really nice....had dinner with MM at Siam Central i think and the waiter was kinda cute...MM says i am being too obvious...gosh can i help it? I just find Thai guys so cute...i even find MM's houseboy (he is in his mid-20s think) quite cute...gosh...had an early night...so tired...

27th July, flew back to Penang on AirAsia, thank god no delay this time!! I gave MM's driver a angpao (Chinese Red Packet) which i had bought in Yaowarat, Chinatown....i thought it was appropriate given that he had taken me around the days that i was in Bkk and somemore waited for me and MM whilst we were shopping and eating at downtown Siam area for as much as 4 hrs...apparently this is very common for him to wait for up to 2 or 3 hrs...but it feels good to have a driver... i could tell ppl were looking at us like we were some rich ppl whenever we came out of the mall and the car was there waiting for us..(well MM IS rich, i am not) ....

A few thoughts, i noticed alot and i mean ALOT of tongzhi men in Bangkok, either that OR they are unusually metrosexual and touchy feely...like there were these highschool boys and one boy lay his head on another guy's shoulder in public....another two walking arm in arm shopping which ONLY women do...and then there are also SO MANY and i mean SO MANY transsexuals...i have never seen so many in my entire life!! I mean they are literally everywhere.....i saw at least one working at siam paragon and another at a cafe and so many ladyboys (still physically male or in the process of transition) everywhere and at chatuchak market as well....and they looked kinda pretty...it was the first time i could understand why some men would like these kind of effeminate looking boys cos they indeed had an indescribable feminine aura around them...thailand is quite liberal in terms of these people still being hired to places as high class as Siam Paragon, i mean in many other places in the world, even if there are no legal discriminations, social discrimination still exists and i am sure transsexuals would not be hired which is really sad...just an interesting observation i made...

So tired when i got bck to Penang....didn't sleep enough for the past few days cos everyday had to wake up early and toured Bangkok till night time...but i super enjoyed it and can't wait to go again:)