Sawatdeeka: A trip to Thailand

Do what makes you happy, really. I feel like writing a blog than dealing with my thesis today so ta-da. Back on january 10 to January 14, I had a very pleasant trip to Bangkok and Pattaya. The whole big family was going. I was with my mom, cousins, grandma, brother, sister, aunt, it's asian thing. We travel in a big group. Anyways... So here are my Thailand Highlights.  

I am not the kind of person who gets to travel a lot every year because I am so out of dime, but so far. Bangkok has been the most tourist-friendly city I've ever been. It's different than tourist destination cities in Indonesia, like Jogjakarta, and Jakarta. They're too conservative like they stare at you if you wear shorts, or when your cleavage is all over the place. Still, my favorite tourist destination would be Gili Trawangan, it's so organic, and so tourist-friendly. 

But Bangkok is different. There are many options for the tourists, you can go to family-friendly places, hipster places, or promiscuous prostitution places, you choose. 

Beautiful Statue at the Sanctuary of Truth

In Bangkok, however, you combine all of this family togetherness, religious destination, shop-till-you-drop paradigm and even hipster lifestyle in one city. The food they have here can adjust Indonesians' taste. They taste pretty much similar to our food so my family could relate really well. Indonesians have this strong urge to eat flavorful food, so the food isn't just about  salt or pepper, the food gotta have so much seasonings in it. And so do Thai foods. 

THE LANGUAGE
And oh, I even learned Thai language before coming here. I tend to get jealous when my friends had the chance to go to countries which languages I learned, and all they did was copying from google translates to make a good caption (when they couldn't even pronounce the phrase). Plus I had this obnoxious passport drama before coming to this country. So I had to make sure I got this, and I had to make sure to have a great time here, no fucking language barrier.

I also wanted to be more polite to the locals because I wanted them to you know, see that I am respecting their language and culture. So I did some research about Thai basic conversation, and I even watched videos about it, I even memorized numbers in Thai, and I would be happy if people greet me in Thai. And just for information, women can use "Ka", in the end of every sentence to be more polite, and men can use "Krap" (it pronounces like Kap /Cup) to be more polite. So even if you don't know how to say it in Thai, you can just add that.. conjugation based on your gender. So it's like, when you go to Chatucak market, and you want to bargain, you can just be like "Cheaper ka?" or "Discount ka?". It's pretty easy, really.


ITINERARY

I divided this trip in four different schedule types. In one day, I'd go to the temples, and the next day I'd go shop in different places, and the next day I'd go to Pattaya for another temple visits. So here's basically my Bangkok Trip itinerary that you can use. 

Day 1

07.05  take off to bangkok

10.45  arrive in Bangkok

10.45-11.30  get the luggage

11.30- 12.30  On our way to MBK Mall for Lunch 

14.00 - 15.00 On our way to  Jim thomson museum (it's pricey, I don't recommend it)

15.00 check in to the hotel

17.00-19.00  go to platinum fashion mall 

19.30- 21.30 watch nanta cooking show at RCA 

(It's a korean cooking show mixed up musical and dancing, it's more like a cabaret than a cooking show. They basically dance while chopping cabbages and carrots. Just google it, I find it inexplicable)

My cousin and I at the 
Nong Noch Tropical Garden

Day 2

8.00 head to pattaya, 

10.00-13.00 Go nong nooch tropical garden (They have elephant show here, very amusing)

13.00-14.00 Head to Silver lake and Laser Buddha (Laser Buddha is free-admission)

14.00-15.00 pattaya floating market  --> I didn't go there because we didn't want to shop that much

15.00-16.30  sanctuary of truth (THIS IS MY FAVORITE OMG)

16.30   check in to the  hotel

18.00-19.00 Visit Teddy  bear museum

Day 3

8.00-10.00 Head to Bangkok again... 

10.00-13.30 Go chaopraya river, Grand palace, Wat Pho, Wat Arun (Though we didn't visit Wat Arun because the kids seemed to be less interested, the Grand Palace is my favorite too!)

13.30 dried food market china town 

15.00 siam paragon mall

18.00  then asiatique for dinner (we had to bail on this one because the kids and I wanted to go to Siam Square instead)

Day 4

10.00 check out, Visit Chatucak Market, head to the airport.

Me at the Grand Palace

The Grand Palace 

THIS GOT ME CHILLS

Well, I hope my itinerary would help if you're planning to visit Bangkok. Anyways, I really don't mind studying Buddha here, to be truthful, something happened to me when I was at the Grand Palace. That day, I couldn't stop thinking about this person: How I wanted to be with them right at the moment. At the grand palace, they had these temples, and there is this one temple which is used for praying for buddhists. When i got there, I was reading about the historial background of that place, and I kind of glanced at someone whom I thought was the person I was thinking about. I wanted to call out their name, but I wasn't so sure. They looked so similar. Like I felt they were the same person. I thought I was delusional but I saw them with their friend, so I knew it was real. I felt really close to the person, yet it wasn't them. I had to look 7 times to make sure that that's not the same person I thought about.

 So I looked at the paintings on the walls, the petroglyphs. I started to think how thousands of interpretation might misinterpreted, and how we couldn't comprehend the meaning about it. It's always been a hypothesis. Just like the way how people's minds work. I can not comprehend, nor even read anyone's mind. All we do is guess. And it's  so hard to even find out that someone is longing to be with you at the moment. 

The Sanctuary of Truth from outside

I also admired the sanctuary of truth. I loved to see how human's belief can be so so so beautiful. Our love for God, entity that we can not explain, but there are people who believe so much, it's so beautiful. The temple is made of wood, and it's crafted by human's own hands. It's just soo mesmerising.

The Sanctuary of Truth is located in Pattaya. A temple by the beach. It's so beautiful, so calm, so full of peace. When I got there, they're still renovating the place so we had to wear safety helmets inside. I have no picture of the ceilings, but the ceilings were garnished with beautiful mozaic art. 

Statues at the top of The Sanctuary of Truth

A temple by the beach, it's like a lighthouse, shaped in a form of temple.

What I love about Thailand is that they have colorful temples, polite language structures and well-maintaned tourist destination. They are working so hard to keep it clean, to keep it attractive. Other things than temples, you can also experience tasty Bangkok Street Food along with their delicious ice cream. I like how they sell a lot of sea food, it's perfect for pescatarian. 

I am so glad I came to this city. I even planned on visiting this city again, when I have more time and money of course. I've also posted photos of the food and the stuff they sell on my Instagram, so you can check them out if you want:)

cheers