24th day... short trip in Bangkok

Happy Birthday to Belinda Lee
Tuesday, 8th July

Ironic isn't it, that while Pa nd myself did most of the shopping at the supermarkets in Chonburi for the past 3 weeks, we didn't really buy anything in Bangkok, the busiest province of Thailand. Blame it on the horrible traffic, the increasing prices and the current political unrest towards Thaksin's power; all this kinda killed half our enthusiasm during our rather brief time in the capital of Thailand. Still I have to admit that it was quite a worthwhile trip.

This was how the day went:

Firstly we drove to the bus station located in the midst of Chonburi, near the rundown Phoenix Forum complex. Thank God we were able to find a space, and even better, we managed to get access into the bus that was just about to set off to Bangkok. At the nick of time. Indeed miracles do happen in unseen ways :-)


After dropping off from the bus, Pa went to the American Embassy, where Dad had to inquire about his passport that had taken soooo long to be returned; this took only 10 minutes!! And I had just finished eating a bag of potato chips I'd bought from 7-Eleven! Turns out that the passport is being kept in a post office at Chonburi. Still, I have to admit that this was indeed a blessing in disguise (Pa thought so too), otherwise I wouldn't be able to spend quality time with Pa, and I would most probably be lost in the midst of USA. More details on that later.


Signboards to other embassies within Bangkok.


Don't you think this name on this umbrella at a roadside food stall looks very familiar? It's the real name of the Marvel hero known as The Thing!! :-D


Then we took a BTS train to Siam region... the shopping complexes there were quite similar to the ones at Orchard Road... most particularly the huge shopping complex known as Siam Paragon.



Siam Paragon was quite similar to the paragon at Orchard Road, as in it has many clothes shops and game stores (abt 80% comes from Singapore's Paragon, much to my surprise); the only difference is that it has a huge cineplex at the top level, and a Shark World theme park at the basement (quite similar to Sentosa's Underwater World).



Ermm... no thanks, I'd rather dive with the fishes in Sentosa.

And these pics of the Mos Burger outlet located at the basement level of Siam Paragon will put many people to shame... the outlet is MUCH BIGGER than most of Singapore's outlets, the kitchen is much bigger, the crew uniforms are much cleaner, and the napkins are much bigger!! We had brunch at Mos Burger, bought 2 sandwiches from Subway to reserve for dinner, then walked around 4 levels of Siam Paragon...



After that, we headed to Siam Center and Siam Discovery, loitering around aimlessly. Most of the time I was winking at the pretty babes there, esp the ones in the train.


Then we took a long bus journey back to Chonburi, and Dad went to get back his passport from the jabronis who got the address totally mixed up. After I kissed Pa's passport with affection (yeah I know I can be quite crazy), we drove to Big C... for second round of lunch and more shopping!!


Then we went to visit Ah Noik, and it was there that I took memento pic with Ah Noik and Peenut. No pic with Ah Boon, for he was busy watching the anti-Thaksin situation on the news alongside Pa.


With Pa, Uncle and Auntie watching TV, I followed Cousin Peenut for a walk in the stadium, where we chatted randomly. Then after Peenut drove me back, Pa and I went back home to eat Subway sandwiches for dinner :-)

Tomorrow I have to shift all my stuff to Pa's room... there will be 2 more guests coming over to stay with us on Thursday. And come this Saturday, it's Hasta La Vista to the Land of Siam, as I make my way back to Singapore.