slosh down the pepper!

Bangkok "rendezVous" DAY FOUR

DAY FOUR / 30th April 2006, Sunday

1. This was the most tired day amongst all others. The accumulation of 4 to 5 hours of sleep for 3 consecutive nights came burning down on us. Energy-sapped, we dragged ourselves to the reception counter and asked directions to Safari World, the local's most celebrated open zoo & animal leisure park. Realizing that we had to do a bus-transfer made us opt for the hassle-free cabs, despite it costing close to 400bht. The cab driver was rather insistent that we visit the "sampan" (aka 'Floating Market') & the 'Rose Garden'. ".. sampan..good! Rose garden.. very nice! Safari world.. no good" All the crap; perhaps he earns commission to bring us to those made-for-tourists zones.

2. On hindsight, I wondered if our determination to set out on our planned destination was admirable. The entrance fee alone to the Safari World (inclusive of both Safari Park + Marine Park) set us back by 780bht each! Being a docent at the SG Zoo, I ought to be more excitable to visit similar establishments elsewhere. But what ensued didn't increase my enthusiasm. The open safari appeared to be more like a huge ugly deserted land with limited varieties of animals parked at each section of the 'safari'. I was really expecting wild roaming animals with tall lalangs everywhere!

Nothing very special of note, except some funny moments where a male black & white deer was desparately trying to hinge himself onto the back of another brown bambi-like female deer. Except the giraffes who cared to walk close to the coaches, the rest of the animals, including those of the so-called highly dangerous lions & tigers, merely lie in their dens asleep, with hilarous positions albeit.

The whole tour was conducted in an aircon coach; took a total of 45 minutes max of which 15 minutes are spent ploughing through the traffic created by loads of coaches packed with tourists - mainly indians, koreans & a few Thais.

The Marine Park was considerably more entertaining with some of its shows vaguely associated with marine animals. Slap-stick humour antics like "Spy Wars" & "Cowboy Stunts" shows were relying on explosions & water splashing to capture audience's attention. The entire day was spent rushing from show to show which lasted from 20 - 30 minutes each.

I think we had abit more fun playing with hats in its souvenier shops.


Don't mess with Constable Ah Fu, or he'll send his hat flying down your throat!

3. The taxi ride from Safari World to Silom was the worst. The driver was totally non-conversant in english! Perhaps we were at fault too, for trying to change our instructions 10 minutes into the trip. That poor man probably thought we wanted to go via Chatuchak instead of dropping us at Chatuchak skytrain station (Mo Chit) which could potentially save us a few hundred baht since it costs only 30bht each to reach Silom via BTS. He kept moving his two hands as if to indicate to us that it's closed. How could the BTS be closed at 5pm?! He definitely didn't get us & probably thought we wanted to go to Chatuchak Weekend Market. He probably couldn't even think straight, if it were closed in the first place, why bother to send us there?! In the end, the trip took us through 3 toll gates (instead of the usual 2) and cost us nearly 500bht! So shitty.

4. Our moods were slightly lifted when we saw Shabushi buffet at 199baht! It was a japanese seafood steamboat buffet made conveyor belt style. Plates of raw food ranging from sukiyaki beef to sotong 'travelled'. In total, I had almost 10 plates of 3 cockles each! The fried saba was so-so, though the fried battered shishamo was quite nice, despite it being terribly oily. To think WR had 5 - 10 of them! OMG. First time I had Thai iced tea, non-milk. It adopted the color of "coke", pretty dark.

Stare at the 17% service & VAT (value-added tax)! Piangz. And we are still complaining about our 5% GST.
Oh, and there was a time limit too. From 18:37 to 19:47.

6. After a more than full meal, we moved off rampantly to find a hi-class toilet in some international hotel, aka Pan Pacific. Horrible creatures. They built the toilets nowhere near the lobby! And we gotta settle for those dirty ones in Robinsons. It was rather early at 7plus pm. I refused to return to Happy House and sleep the night away. I dragged along the tired guy beside me to plough through the streets of Patpong. Action wor! So many lounges showcasing the infamous "Thai girl" show. Each lounge had a few men standing outside with a menu and poking into every man who walked past: "Thai girl show?". Apparently WR got the 'brunt' of it all (i only got 1 invitation ); his politeness in rejecting each and every offer actually depressed my excitement in viewing one of those notorious stunts. Haha, perhaps my presence had inhibited his desire to run into the bars. All we got was a glimpse of girls pole dancing on the bar-top. It was very obvious that those shows were targetted at the Japanese with numerous of their signboards sprouting Jap characters.

7. Hai. So we continue to walk towards Lumphini Park where another government project was stituated: Suan Lum Night Bazaar. The usual handicrafts, lamps, t-shirts and some medical stores could be found in the rather big arcade. It gave the impression of a self-sufficient town which had been divided into 3 sections: restaurants/pubs, shops & streetside stalls (something like Glutton's Square with an addition of a performing stage). Lumphini Boxing Stadium was also there, but it appeared dilapidated. It was one attraction that I had in mind and yet didn't manage to see. Again.

Total Expenditure:
- Mango breakfast = 10bht
- Safari World = 780bht
- Lunch of Thai- styled sausages + bacon rolls with hotdogs = 60BHT
- Shabushi dinner = 466bht
- Cab fares = 400 + 500 + 80 bht
- Other misc = 200bht

Per pax = 1248bht (SGD$53.50)

-----------------------------------------------------

Movie for the day: Armageddon ;p

Labels: bangkok, travel

posted by slingwoof @ 5/05/2006 03:41:00 AM