Bangkok revisited

We visited Bangkok some 23 years ago, and then again made a short trip in 2004.

This 5 day trip last week saw Bangkok changed quite a bit. The sky train and metro has made travellers more convenient in today's Thai capitol. Despite all these, traffic on the road is still bad. We were on our own and selectively visited interesting sites of our choice.

This sky train station photo was taken from our room in the evening. The sky train is approaching from the far left. For 2 days, we made good use of the sky train.

Hotel is comparatively expensive, while public transport is cheap. Imported branded goods are higher priced compare to Singapore or HK. However, made in Thailand products offer good value for money. Food is reasonably priced.

An interesting 'Sunday market' which offers bargain hunting is 'Chatuchat market'.

It is so big that a map is available for tourists, lest you get lost inside.

Apparently 200,000 visitors patronise this market on Sunday.

You can practically buy anything you want there. Shoes, dresses, flowers, antiques, food, etc.

You name it, they have it.

We were pleasantly surprised to see kittens and puppies in some stalls. This one looks like young Marley :)

Any visit to Thailand cannot run away from temples( Wat).

We visited so many that I lost count of them.

In the Erawan ( 4-faced Buddha ) temple, near to where we stayed, there are some Thai dancers performing almost every day.

The visit to the old capitol, Ayuthaya, took about 1.5 hour each way, but it is worth the trouble. It's like the Angkor Wat of Cambodia.

One of the many beautiful sceneries in Ayuthaya.

An open air sleeping Buddha under repair.

more ruins..............
This buddha is very high up on a pagoda.

An earth quake rocked and ruin this old city,and many Buddhas were left headless???

One of the the Buddha's head has been embedded among the roots, over time.

From here, let's go somewhere different, the famous 'floating market' Damnoen Saduak.

There is another small scale floating market around Bangkok meant for tourists only.

This 'genuine' one is in the far South(?) and it took us almost 2 hours by van.

We have to leave at 7:00am to beat the Bangkok traffic jam, and be there by 9:00am.

By 11am, boats may be difficult to get, and some traders are packing to leave.

We paid 900 Baht (~30US$) for 6 persons on a bigger boat.

Favourite goods are fruits, handy crafts, local produce, hats, food etc.

More fruits.......

Panda Express?

We bought 3 pomelos for 100Baht, or a mere US$3. Taste great!

Mummy and auntie Suan See bought some freshly made coconut sugar.

Looking at mummy's smile, you know it must be a good buy:)

OK, time to sign off. Going for a little bite now.

Will write more later.

Cheers............