Day 1 – 03rd April 2005, Sunday
Brother sent me to the airport b4 he went off to meet his friend. Set off from home @ 2pm to the Airport T2 and ate @ Swensen with Mum, Sis and Dad before I went to meet up with
Qinghao (QH), Sunny (Sun), Samantha (Sam) and Cai Hong (CH) @ T1, Row 10. All families were there except for Sunny’s. Guess Sunny and his family had been overseas so many times, they trust tt Sunny can take good care of himself :p
@ about 4.30pm, we checked in and went into the custom, to Gate 15 for our plane,
TR116.
We took pix while waiting for boarding.
Tiger Airway’s policy: Children and elderly shall board the plane first as it is free seating. A great policy, isn’t it?
TR’s seats are 3-by-3 setting, so Sun and Sam sat together and the 3 of us sat behind them. The 3 of us were crapping behind, playing some dumb games and taking pix. The 2 in front were lovey dovey thru’ out the journey, keke…
When we were reaching
Bangkok, it was raining heavily and from the plane, we could see the lightning, which were quite scary
*Brgh* Luckily there was no rain when we alighted. And yes, we had arrived in Thailand!!! Aka “The Land of Smile”, a name given by QH. We hailed a
cab to
Liberty Garden Hotel outside the airport, coz it’s cheaper, wahaha!!!
The staff @ Liberty were all very nice ppl. Anyway, QH would do most of the talking as he was the only one amg us who could speak thai. Right after everyone had settled down, we got out and went to the
night market. There were a lot of Thai-girl shows but we didn’t go in. Didn’t get to buy anything except for a CD album, Hurt No More by Mario Winans. Wanna get an Usher CD, but it was sold out, the last piece was taken by the Ang Mo b4 me
*Hrmp*After the walk-about @ the night market, we went off to the
Taiwan Seafood Restaurant whereby QH’s “lover” and another one of his students were working there. I guess there was a communication breakdown and we ended up having 3 dishes of vege, 1 dish of fried rice and 1 dish of steamed crab. The crab was considered rather expensive, 600bahts! But it’s ok lah, anyway, our main motive there was to go and find QH’s students. The mosquitoes there were frightening! Esp. when the staff there was catching them. One of them used a container of water, placed it near the light bulb and the other person use the broom to brush the shelter. When he brushed the shelter, about 50-100 mosquitoes scrambled their ways, fluttering…
*goosebump*QH tok to his students till about 1-2am (Thailand time – slower than Singapore time by an hour) and the rest of us were watching an English show on the TV, a horror show. Can see tt QH was really emotional when he saw his students, his eyes were turning red. By the time we got back to Liberty, we were dead beat.
Sam, CH and I were really lazy to bath or do anything, we juz slept. So we come out with our group name, the 3 of us were the
“Lam Nua Jie3 Mei4 Hua1” (Lazy Sisters), wahaha!!!
Day 2 – 04th April 2005, MondayEarly morning the next day, we went to
Big C for breakfast. Intended to have breakfast with QH’s students who we met yesterday, but they didn’t turn out, as they were too tired. Played photo hunt with QH, a coin lasted us for about an hour!!! Their photo hunt was easy, and there were 7 chances that can be used.
We settled our breakfast in the food court. Coupons are to be purchased 1st and then used to buy the food, the excess coupons can be refunded. We didn’t know what to eat, so we juz ate @ the stall with English menu, wahaha!!! We ate western food except for QH. He ate his Pad-thai (Thai Fried Noodle). Then we bought “Cha-yen” (Milk Tea) for the very 1st time. It taste like bubble tea (Pearl Milk Tea flavour).
After that, we shopped in Big C for a few hours before we took a cab and moved on to another shopping center,
MBK (Mahboonkrong). We took our Neoprints there. Although their neoprints design was not fantastic, but it’s an eye-opener for us. All their equipment was compact, easy and fast. Their service was good, too. Cut piece by piece for u and seeing that we are 3 persons, she gave us 3 small plastic slots so tt each of us can keep our neoprints. Aren’t they thoughtful??? In Singapore, dun u ever ask the ppl working there to cut the thing for or provide u with plastic slots. They would properly stare @ u…
We shopped all day till around evening time before we moved on to take the
BTS (MRT) from
National Stadium to the river side for dinner @
Saphan Thaksin. Took a boat across the river and found that we went to the wrong side of the river, keke… there was nothing to eat there, and we took the boat back. The boat ride was very cheap, only 5bahts per person per trip. Really didn’t know where the riverside makan place was, so we went to Sathorn, visitor information counter and asked for direction. We ended up taking a boat to
Yok Yur for our dinner. Thai food is spicy, so I didn’t get to eat much. Anyway, I’m also preparing to eat less, didn’t really have the appetite. There were some performances on the stage while we were having our dinner and some Thai performers sang the English songs quite well (even thou’ the pronunciation was not tt gd). There was a customer having birthday celebration there, and most of the staff working there gathered around their table to sing birthday song. Thai birthday song sounds great!
We ordered Tom-Yam, Green Curry chicken, Sour Mango with chilli sauce, a dish of beef. Even thou’ the others could take spicy food, the Thai food was slightly too spicy that they couldn’t take it. So we ordered another 2 dishes, a steamed fish and “Zi3 bao1 ji1” (Chicken wrapped with banana leaf). Were feeling very full after the dinner *Burp*
We took the BTS to
Siam to look for
Hard Rock Café Bangkok. It is located at the end of the back alley
“Siam Soi 1”. We wanted to take a look inside, thinking that we could sit down and have a drink. When we stepped in… “where is the love…where is the love… where is the love…” Wooh, it is a clubbing place! QH couldn’t take it and we also dun quite think it’s a good place to chit chat, we got out. We strolled along the streets and shopped along the
“di4 tan1” (something like flea-market). It was already quite late by then, so we took a cab back to Liberty. Another tiring night but enjoyable day.
Day 3 – 05th April 2005, Tuesday
We woke up early next morning for breakfast nearby Liberty. Along the street, we bought small Rice dumpling with Banana/Yam fillings. It was yummy; I prefer the Yam-flavoured to the Banana-flavoured. Our 1st taste of “Kuay-tiao Gai” (Sliced Chicken Noodle) started from a foodstall along the street and we drank “Cha-yen” again, but this time I drank it without milk (like tea-O with ice). The soup of “Kuay-tiao Gai” was really salty and the “Cha-yen” was really sweet and tasted like the “Tang1 Yuan2” Soup. So to summarize, Thai food = extreme taste.
Super sweet, Super salty, Super spicy are the main conclusion of their food. But they were nice food still, I think. CH bought a poster of Wang Lee Hom, and she carried “him” with her everywhere we go, wahaha!!!
After the breakfast, we went back to the hotel to pack our things, ready for check out before 12nn. We were moving off to our next station: Chiang Mai (A really long journey). I accidentally stretched my stomach muscles I think and was in great pain juz b4 we got out of the hotel. It was as if someone was tying a dead knot with my intestines and pulling it… *Arggggghhh* What a timing. But the pain stopped juz as we got a cab, my half-sneeze saved me. I also dun understand why.
The cab dropped us @ the
Travel agency to leave our luggage with them so that we can shop 1st since it was still early. The bus we were taking would leave only in the evening at 6.30pm. Hopped onto a cab to the
Siam Centre, as we will be meeting our ex-TB026 classmate who came to Bangkok for studies, Orielle. We shopped @ Siam centre 1st and it was like shopping in Singapore, so dun expect anything cheap there ;p After a few hours of shopping, we moved on to the shopping centres next to Siam Centre to shop again but for a while only. Then we grabbed a bite @ the
McDonald’s. We bought the Pork Burgers, which u can’t find it in any McDonald’s outlets in Singapore (Of course! Singapore McDonald's are Halah fast food restaurant!) wahaha… we bought fries and drinks, too, of course. The lemon tea tasted weird, I think they added honey and ginger…
We’ve got nothing to do so we went to eat again @
Donkin’ Donuts. Ordered some drinks and donuts, juz to kill time there while waiting for
Orielle to come and meet us up. She had to travel 2 hours or so from her school to the place we were @. She brought her guy friend, a m’sian along with her. It was rather awkward, as we had not met her for a long time. We decided to have out lunch @
KFC. Over the KFC in Thailand,
fork and knife are to be used, but some of us still prefer
“finger licking good”, haha…
Soon, the time to part had come, we
bade goodbye to Orielle and friend, and took a cab back to the agency. We were caught in a jam while on the way there, but we make it on time before 6.30pm.
We sat there to slack for about ½ hr while waiting for the bus. Finally when the bus came, we carry our luggage down, ready to board the bus. While waiting to bought the bus, we saw something amusing… An
elephant on the street!!! The owner was riding it, it was really cute! Even thou’ there were a lot of elephants in Thailand, u wouldn’t get to see them walk on the street, and we actually got to see it!!
*feeling lucky* :)
It was free seating in the bus, and I sat with a young Thai boy. Sam sat beside a Thai guy of about our age who speaks English, Petz. So they chatted thru’ out the journey, guess Sam couldn’t get her rest, wahaha!!! We alighted at a terminal to change bus, but we had to wait for an hour. Petz joined us and chit chatted with us, however, he was boarding a diff bus from us, so we parted @ 8.30pm… wondering if Sun was jealous… wahaha!!! (dun be offended when u see this, sunny, it’s normal if u felt jealous, keke…)
I was supposed to sit with a Thai guy, who was a stranger and my seat was slightly further from my friends. Thanks Goodness, a kind-hearted uncle agreed to change place with me, so I got to sit together with my friend, QH. Felt bad to let CH sit alone, but luckily the lady beside her was a Chinese who lived in Chiang Mai, so she was still able to talk to that lady.
The bus ride was cheap, yet the service was great! A great deal, isn’t it? A box of snacks (Chicken drumstick, hotdog bun and coconut kuey) was given and drinks were also given @ intervals. QH were telling me his stories during the ride. A break was given @ around 10.30pm when I was juz about to fall asleep
*bleah* There was free porridge for us, but I ate the food in the snack box instead.
When it came to the middle of the night, I felt a
sudden surge of “awake-ness”, I couldn’t sleep. The air was cooling and the night was quiet. I looked out of the window and dazed… for about an hr or so. Then for the rest of the hours, I fell asleep, waking up for a few seconds every ½ hr…
Day 4 – 06th April 2005, Wednesday
Finally @ 4am, we reached
Chiang Mai. The air was very cold
*shivering*
We took a
“song-tiao” (like a pick-up) to the hotel. We wanted to stay in
Traveller Inn, but it was fully booked, so we moved on on the “song-tiao” to look for a place to stay which muz be within our budget. And we reached
Rux-Thai Guest House. We were all worn out and we fell asleep soon.
Next day, we woke up early and went for our breakfast. We couldn’t decide what to eat, so we kept on walking… we walked for more than half an hour, about 2km or more… we took some pix along the way. When we finally saw a sign “Italian Restaurant”, our
Mr. Spoilt Brat (SB), Sun, was nodding his head furiously when we suggested eating there. So we walked into the small alley but to find that the restaurant was not yet open for the day, wahaha!!! So we walked further down and found a nice place to sit in. We had our western food again and QH, as usual, ordered the Thai-food, “Pad-thai”.
After the breakfast, we walked out of the small alley, crossed the road and took a “song-tiao” back to the hotel… we wouldn’t wanna walk back, huh… keke… after resting for a while, we set off to
Doi Suthep on a “song-tiao”. The “song-tiao” uncle who drove us up the mountain was really friendly and kind, he took pix for us. QH took a pic with him, too.
He left us at the
Wat Phrathat (a temple) to take a look, and he would come and pick us up an hour or so later. We didn’t take the cable car up to the temple; we walked the other way up. We climbed the stairs… I felt like we were training @ shaolin temple, wahaha!!! Each of us paid about 20bahts to go in, coz we were foreigners there…
quite a bias rule. We juz took pix inside, didn’t pray or anything. The ppl there pray differently, they use a stalk of lotus bud instead of joss sticks.
While going down the long stairs, Sam gave money to some kids dressed in “Mongolian-style”, she could have actually took pix with them. But we wouldn’t want to catch too much attention, as some ppl told us that if u took pic with one of them, other kids would approach u. Taking pix with tourists was the only way they earned their living. After we were done, the uncle came to fetch us back to Rux-Thai.
Rested for while before we went to the
night market of Chiang Mai. The night market was not bad; we ate Rotee with Banana and Milo there, yum yum… and bought some souvenirs. After walking around for a few hours, we went to
Hard Rock Café Chiang Mai and sat there to slack. Sun, QH and I played pool over there, since it was free!!! I dun think I can find free pool in Singapore, huh.
Sun bought a stalk of rose for Sam *oh… so sweet*, haha…. And from then on, the rose travelled around Thailand with us, keke…
At about 12am, we went back to Rux-Thai, which was juz about 5min walking distance from Hard Rock Café. After considering the budget and all, we decided to change our plan and skipped
Doi Inthanon, one of the highest mountains there. Thou it’s a pity not to go, the weather in April was too warm, so perhaps we will go there during November if we had the chance to in future.
Day 5 – 07th April 2005, Thursday
Breakfast was settled at a stall right outside Rux-Thai. We ate “Kuay-tiao Gai” again with our “Cha-yen”. Fortunately, QH confirmed the uncle of the stall the bus terminal to go to Chiang Rai. We almost went to
Chang Phuak bus station (for travel to districts of Chiang Mai only, e.g. Fang) instead of the
Arcade Terminal. After the meal, we went off to Arcade Terminal and bought the bus tix. The 3 ½ hr to
Chiang Rai was rather slow as the bus was warm with no air-con (we are on budget ;p)
We walked for a while and decided to stay @
Lek House in Chiang Rai City. Saw a
"Tuk-Tuk" (Like a Trishaw but run by motor), so we juz took it since Lek House was quite near, and the uncle was willing to drive us there… the tuk-tuk was small, it was a miracle that the 5 of us actually can squeeze onto it. What’s more??? And with our 5 big luggage!!! I guess the whole tuk-tuk would flip if the uncle were to make a sharp turn, wahaha!!! The “tuk-tuk” uncle was very kind, he even offered us bananas when we reached the Guest House and was waiting for check-in. The weather was very very warm in Chiang Rai, and the uncle took the chance to wash his tuk-tuk, keke…
The Lek house seemed like the house I had stayed in New Zealand farm (the one that rusty water came out of the tap, rmbr???). It looked all right except that it gave the impression of being a mosquitoes-invaded area. Anyway, we were on budget, we juz need a place to sleep for tt few hours, so we took it.
We left our luggage there and went to look for car rental nearby. We walked about 20 minutes and found that we are back to Lek. Wahaha!!! We had actually made one big round without realizing it… We walked for about another ½ hr before we found the
car rental shop @ Wangcome.
Chiang Rai City is a maze…
We rented a pick-up, taking into consideration that QH’s students might join our outings during the stay. We went straight
Maechan to visit the
Grace Home where QH always did his voluntary work. There was a steep slope @ the entrance of the Home, QH tried driving up but failed and we had to reverse. Changed driver to Sunny, he made his way up, a dangerous one. The kids were standing @ the entrance and it would be hard for us to brake, as we were moving up the slope. We visited the students over there who were mostly Yunan-nese, they can speak Mandarin and Thai. We met Teacher Hu2 (Fox – a bad guy), Oops… had I ruined his reputation too publicly??? Nah, he deserved worst, I felt. “Xiao4 Mian4 Hu3” (Smiling tiger)… Hypocrite who seemed to be likable and friendly, but bite you behind ur back. Feel a chill in your spine??? Greeted Da4 Die1 who is the pioneer of the Grace Home. He is a very Chinese-looking guy with a smile on his face, deemed very fit @ the age of more than 70 years old. He’s a good guy. Another guy name something long2 (not something wrong hor…) was amiable, too. He tok to us and told us about the Home.
Sam was enjoying herself, chasing the kids around. We walked around and talked among ourselves, as we were really unfamiliar over there. After that we went to meet QH’s student, Qiao Ying. She went to
Maesai (Border of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand) with us. We were not looking @ the things as we had been to a few night mkts, so those things doesn’t appear to be new to us. We juz walked around for less than an hr and we went back. We sent Qiao Ying only to the entrance of the road into Grace Home as she claimed that she wanna go and meet her friends outside to go back home together. QH was unwilling and was quite worried @ 1st but bo bian, coz she insisted that she wanna alight.
We went to the
Big C of Chiang Rai, it was so much smaller as compared to the one in BKK.
While on the main road, Sun and Sam sat in the car, and the 3 of us sat at the open-air area on the pick-up and watch the stars and chit chatted. When we came back to Chiang Rai City, we switched driver to QH, the 3 of us were then inside the car and Sun and Sam went to sit behind @ the open-area of the pick-up. We lost our way within Chiang Rai City again… making rounds for a very long time time before we finally reached the
night market of Chiang Rai. We found the
Adidas Puma shop which sell the goods @ a cheaper px as compared to the other places in Bangkok. Their Adidas goods were selling @ about 30% lower!!! Sam and CH were so excited that the bag they wanna buy was there. It was only about S$15, while it was about S$20 @ BKK. I saw a really cool jacket, it was white with some black stripes selling @ only about S$45! I dun think it would be @ this cost in Singapore… but I had too many jackets, I restrained myself from buying tt… not long after that, we went back to Lek.
We came to a decision that we shall stay up thru’ the night and set off to Golden Triangle @
4.30am to catch the sunrise. Sam went to find Sun and QH after her bathe, left CH and I in the room. The water from the showerhead
smelt of rust *Yuckz* To avoid coming out of the bathe smelling rusty, I used the sprinkler to bath. Sprinkler had no heater, dah… the water was so cold that I jumped as I showered. While I was showering half way, I heard a sound so near as if it was juz outside the shower room,
“ak-oun… ak-oun…”. It went on for a few times b4 it stopped. I was so scared, I was bathing, I can’t run and CH was alone with me in the room! She heard it, too. Think she muz be frightened, too.
Once after my bathe, we ran out of the room together to look for the other 3 of them. We didn’t want to go back to our room. We brought along our bottles of water and tidbits to the pick-up and stay in there until QH came out from his bathe to find us. When we told Sam and Sun about the “ak-oun”, tt
Mr. Sado-masochist (SM) Sunny claimed that he saw the green tele-tubby juz now. Of course, he was kidding, but he said tt with a serious face, which kinda freaked me out. We came out of the vehicle and sat around the table outside Lek, except Sun who stayed in the car to catch a nap, as he would be driving us the next morning. Sam accompanied him. We chatted for a while and Sam came out of the car, saying that Sun aka
Mr. SBSM (Spoilt Brat cum Sado-masochist) couldn’t sleep and he didn’t wanna sleep in his room coz their bed was very smelly according to him. So ended up, Sam gotta coax him to sleep in our room, wahaha!!! Sam, xing1 ku3 ni3 le4, keke…
Later, I heard the “ak-oun” again, my hair stood. QH told me it was a sound of a bird like Toucan. Dunno it’s true or not… CH went back to our room to take a bathe; Sam and Sun were in the room with her. When QH and I were there toking, a stranger came and tok to us. He sounded weird, and claimed that he had worked in Taipei b4. He can speak slight Mandarin, but if he had really worked there for 2 years, I dun believe that his Mandarin was still so poor lor… he tried toking to us and wanted to bring the 2 of us out to disco. Crap. QH lied to him saying that we were tired and we wanna go back to our room liao. As we were packing our things (juz putting on an act, we were preparing to stay there till dawn), he walked away, across the road… So he wasn’t a guest @ the Guest House, he was juz someone from outside.
Phew, tt was close huh? After ½ hour or so, CH came out and we sat there to chat. @ the same time Lucy came back, she is a Christian who is working @ Lek House. She is a very amiable girl who is only 17 this year. She sat down to tok to QH. Her friend who came from the same tribe as her sat down and tok to me (Akar tribe – those wearing a lot of necklaces). He showed me some card tricks, he was fast, I couldn’t catch his movement. After a while I sat closer together with CH, QH and Lucy, as QH and Lucy were exchanging Christian Songs. The 2 of them took turns to play the guitar and sing Christian Songs. Lucy voice was good and her guitar skills were remarkable, too. QH was not bad, too, juz that he had not been playing for a long time, his skills were a bit rusty liao, wahaha!!!
Samantha joined us when we juz ended the singing session. We took some pix together and QH prayed for her, as he felt that Lek House was quite a “messy place” for a girl. She then brought us to a place near the roof top to look @ the moon. But we realized that there was no moon tt night only when we were up there. Haha!!! We chatted for a while over there and we went down. We asked Lucy to go to sleep as she would be working the next day, and we were not planning to sleep. @ 3am, QH and I drove to the
7-Eleven near by to buy drinks for them; it was near the
morning vegetable market.
Day 6 – 08th April 2005, FridayQH was ok with Lek House but the rest of us couldn’t stand Lek House anymore. You know, we are afterall the city kids,
all the spoilt-brats from Singapore. We packed our things and loaded our luggage onto the pick-up and set off. Sun drove us to
Northern Chiang Rai, Chiang Saen.
Chiang Saen
The route up there was a
fearful experience for us. The road was dark @ 4.30am… and it was like the meander. The curves were so sharp that we were as if on a
“Roller Coaster” ride! We were screaming… the worst part came when out of nowhere, a
mass of mist came from the side of the road and hinder our vision suddenly. And it happened only at that very part of the road, after that, it was ok.
*Brgh* We were scared out of our wits!!! We quickly moved on to the
Golden Triangle to catch the sunrise. The sun had not risen when we reached, it was really cold… we stayed there for a while more when the red fire ball finally popped up slowly from behind the mountains.
After that, we went off to find a petrol stn and a place to have our breakfast. I was so tired; my brain totally switched off. Even thou’ the road was so bumpy that CH knocked her head against the window of the car and they had went to pump oil, I noe nothing of that until they told me later when they woke me up for breakfast. The food was not hygiene, but we ate some to show some respect for them. The stall auntie was nice and even gave us some “baby coconuts” for free. It was not a fantastic gift but it’s the tot that counts.
After crossing the
Army Check point, we moved on uphill. Then came a part when QH and Sun went down the car to take pix. They realized that there was a row of Shan soldiers (Pan4 Jun1) carrying rifles staring @ us!!! QH hurried Sun into the car and quickly drove off. We almost wanna backed out from the route until we got to see the Thailand soldiers and asked them if it was safe for us to move uphill. We only moved on after the assurance. We moved on and stopped for a while @ the
Doi Tung aka “little Switzerland” to take some pix, and later, we stopped @ the
Mae Fah Luang Botanic Garden for a very short as there was nothing much for sight-seeing. A picture of the late Queen and flowers around the area. We were too tired to appreciate that.
We wanted to go to the zoo but we couldn’t find our way, so we went down the hill and back to Chiang Rai City to find a hotel since all of us were tired. We found a hotel along the road,
Phu Inn Hotel and booked in. Even thou’ the lady told us that a room cannot stay more than 2 ppl, she didn’t stop us when we went in together, obviously, 5 ppl checking in 2 rooms…
With less than an hour sleep, we set off again, bcoz’ we wanna fully utilized the rented pick-up. We brought our clothes to the laundry shop nearby, we had no more clothes and “undies” for change liao, wahaha!!!
We weren’t too sure of the road, and on our way to visit the Nam Tok, we made an illegal U-turn. A fast and sharp one. I screamed the hell out of me, one side of our vehicle was lifted up and the tyres let out a loud shriek. We were like
filming “Fast and Furious”! Exciting!!! We went to the waterfall but the wrong one, haha… we saw 2 road signs to the waterfalls.
Nam Tok Pu Kaeng (the largest and most beautiful waterfall) was the one we wanted to go but we ended up @ a very very small waterfall. We jumped around like monkeys across the river and taking pix. Sun and Sam bought the Fried Eggs. When we were moving off, I saw a large
brown water spider (almost the size of my palm!) on Sam’s leg!!! Sun quickly brushed it off Sam’s leg. I think Sam should be thankful that she didn’t see the spider… she won’t want to…
After that, we went to
Cabbage and Condoms along Thanalai Rd for lunch before we moved off to return the vehicle @ Wangcome. Chiang Rai City is really a messy place, we kept losing our way. Actually, Phu Inn was juz near by, but we were too tired being “tortured” under the harsh weather, messy road, lack of public transport, we hailed a tuk-tuk back to Phu Inn. We rested for a while and went out to the night market by foot. I think we were a bit crazy… it was definitely tiring. We walked pass the
King (Mengrai the Great) Monument Statue (an outstanding landmark which stood in the middle of Chiang Rai City and Northern Chiang Rai). We bought a Thai-food, which consist of rice and gravy (durian with coconut). It taste great, esp with the taste of the Durian *Slurp* We lost our way again, and we had to keep referring to the map to find the location of the night Bazaar. We walked almost an hour before we actually reached the night bazaar. The greatest difference was that this night bazaar was selling puppies!!! Cute Sze Tsu @ only about S$150!!!
We then went back to the Adidas Puma shop again to get the bags Sam and CH wanted. We went back to Phu Inn on a tuk-tuk again. This was the 1st time we took 2 tuk-tuks, usually we tried to keep to one as it was safer. But Sun said he had too much money to spend, so Sam and him took a tuk-tuk on their own. It was our last night @ Chiang Rai… and we finally had a good rest that night…
Day 7 – 09th April 2005, SaturdayNext morning, QH and I walked to the laundry shop to get back our clothes. Luckily it was quite near, less than 10 minutes walk from Phu Inn. I forgot if we had our breakfast that day or not… we checked out @ about 11.30am that day, coz we decided not to stay in Chiang Rai, it wasn’t a nice place to stay as it was juz too inaccessible. Without a vehicle, it had been really troublesome… And i will always rmbr the road name
"Sri Kerd" . We always lost our way once we are @ tt road, coz this road name cannot be found in the map that we had.
We went to the
Internet shop next Phu Inn 1st to check our results, as only Sun and Sam had registered for the SMS-results services. Guess I didn’t write my SIP report properly, I juz got a pass for SIP. Anyway, I put in effort liao, but my report was juz not to my LO’s taste. She wanted the report to be more personalized and mine was too technical. While my friend (Gladys) did badly coz her report was too personalized and her LO wanted it to be more technical. I think we are juz suay…
We went back to the eating-place near the
Bus Terminal to have our branch. We ate chicken rice, the only meal that I finished with clear plate left. We then went to the Bus Terminal to book tix for bus ride back to Chiang Mai and we waited for an hour b4 we get to board the bus. In the mean time, we bought Fried Eggs, Small Corns, Coconut drink to kill time, wahaha!!!
Before we boarded the bus, we bought the Fried Balls with Egg York for munching during the journey. QH went down to buy a Coconut Kuey, Sam and Sun went down to buy some food before the bus moved off. When the bus was juz about to start moving, they wanted to buy drinks from the lady outside the window. So Sam and Sun took the drinks from the lady, paid her money and tried to get back the change asap when the bus was driving off… CH, QH and I were like,
“Hurry, hurry, the bus is moving off, take a few more packets of drink from the auntie if she can’t give you the change in time!!!” We dun wanna be “lugi” either, keke…
It was tiring, the bus was really warm and it was moving @ a really slow speed. I didn’t get down during the break. Sam and Sun went down to get Ice-creams. During the breaktime, the bag of rubbish toppled and the drinks in the rubbish poured out onto Sam’s legs. By chance, the bus had not moved off, so Sam went down with Sun, and used the Mineral water we had to wash her legs.
It was so tiring, I fell asleep… and suddenly,
*splashed*… The splashing of water into my face awakened me. @ 1st I tot that the coconut drink that we hung @ the window hinge was hit by the tree branches and splashed into my face. But taking a closer look, my mind cleared. The villagers were celebrating
SongKran (Thailand Traditional New Year). We kena a few splashes of blessings before we finally arrived @ Chiang Mai Arcade Terminal.
We hailed a “song-tiao” to Rux-Thai, the Guest House we stayed @ previously when we were in Chiang Mai. Only that day, we realized that it was really an unlikable hotel. The heater there was great… but the previous time, we had to pay additional 100bahts for each additional person. No extra pillow, towel or blanket was given… And now they wanted to
charge us extra 200bahts for an additional person after we checked-in (@ 1st they didn’t charge anything extra, they did it most probably after they found out that QH was not a Thai)!!! QH argued furiously with the staff there, and the staff told him that we can move out if we wanted. QH then talked to their boss over the phone, demanding on how the policy of the price can change within 3 days without any notice. I think they juz wanna cheat our $$$.
Chiang Mai was CH and my favourite place in Thailand. It was not too developed, yet not too rural. We went to the night bazaar again to shop, since it was not our 1st time there, we didn’t really shop for a long time. We sat down @ a roadside stall for dinner. We (except QH, of course) ate Pad-Thai for the 1st time. It was delicious… but without the vege and bean sprouts would be even better, wahaha!!! We also ordered the Thai-style fried rice, it was salty but tasty. I bought some baked sweet potatoes, yummy yummy, I loved it! We loved the Rotee there, too. So Sam and Sun went all the way to the stall in front the Royal Princess Hotel and bought Rotee for us, one box with chocolate and banana, another was honey and butter, I think. Both flavours were great! I only ate a piece of the Murtabak, coz I didn’t like the “indian” smell…
We went to shop around, and CH finally bought the lamp she had wanted to buy since the 1st time she saw it in Thailand. Later, we settled down @ a large open-air eating-place. We had Tom Yam, Satays, fried chicken cutlets, Banana shake and Lime Drink over there. We watch the performance on the stage, there were some guitar-players singing solo and a dance group. The dance group consist of 5 girls, their 1st dance was Thai-dance and the next was Korean-dance.
On our to Hard Rock Café, CH got another lamp for Meili’s bday. We sat there for a while before Sun and I played pool. He seemed upset… Sam was quite worried. So when we got to sit down, QH brought CH and I went back to the night bazaar, as CH wanna buy the lamp for Xing Rong. @ the same time, let Sun and Sam have some private time together to tok. When we got back to Hard Rock Café, we finished our drinks and went back to the Rux-Thai. In the middle of the night @ 0000hours, the phone rang and Sam picked up the phone. A low and deep voice from the other side of the line say,
“you will die in 7 days…” This freaked Sam out. Trying to calm her down, I told her that it muz be a prank call, since anyone leaving in the Guest House could call our line. I went in to bath, and again I heard “ak-oun…” Argh… why does the stupid bird always had to call when I was bathing???!!! It made my hair stand. In addition, the stupid prank call was eerie, too.
Anyway, that call was made by Sun, he juz wanna scare Sam. Sam went over to their room and confronted him coz she was really mad @ Sun for the prank call. @ the same time,
she was so frightened that she cried… So Sun comforted her thru’out the night and QH came over to our room. He was waiting for Sam to come back our room so that he could go back his room. But he waited for so long that he fell asleep for a few minutes… he couldn’t tahan anymore, he went back to his room and found that Sam was already asleep. He didn’t want to wake her up, so he slept with Sun, haha…
Sam came back to our room @ about 2am, she said that she had waited for QH to go back to his room until she fell asleep there. Wahaha!!! Communication breakdown… Sam and QH were waiting for each other to return to their own room.
Day 8 – 10th April 2005, Sunday
Next morning, we wanted to eat @ the foodstall outside Rux-Thai again, but it was closed for the day. Therefore, we walked out to the main road and ate our breakfast @ a small eating-place. We had our “Cha-yen” and “Kuay-tiao Gai” for the last time in Thailand.
We went back to Rux-Thai and did our final pack-up. We checked out and coincidently hailed a “song-tiao” when we were walking out of the alley. The 4 of us boarded and we bade farewell to QH… all of us felt so sad to leave him… one point was that we had been depending on him thru’out the whole trip, he was like our baby-sitter… another point which was the most impt was tt he came here with us, but now we had to leave him behind in Thailand… QH went to Chiang Rai on his own back to Grace Home.
The 4 of us couldn’t speak Thai, and we encountered difficulties while depositing our luggage in the Chiang Mai International Airport. Fortunately, a lady from Singapore helped us to translate. She looks like a Thai, her husband is a Singapore, so I think she had married to a Singaporean guy. Finally our hands were free from our luggage, so we went on a tuk-tuk to the Airport Plaza. The shopping center was like Singapore’s shopping center. Sam and CH were busy shopping, trying to spend away all their Thai Bahts except the money for airport tax. Sun and I sat @ the Coffee World and drank coffee. Sun wanted to accompany Sam to shop, but Sam afraid that Sun would feel bored to shop with girls, so she wanted him to stay @ Coffee World. I didn’t feel like shopping, so I sat there too. I was doing most of the toking, as usual. Haha!!! Telling Sun about stories of my life. Is my life interesting??? Ok lah hor… colourful but not bumpy @ all, keke… yeah, everyone has his/her story, and everyone’s story is special :p
Played photo hunt with Sunny while CH and Sam went to the Supermarket. The photo hunt was rather easy; we played for a long time for each credit. And we were given 4 credits… again, where do u find that in Singapore??? After 2 credits, we left to find Sam and CH. Guess Sun was worried leaving Sam for such a long time, keke… CH and Sam had great deals, I think. They were so proud of their purchases, esp Sam ;p
We were going to be late, so we rushed out of the shopping center. My leg hit a low water hose main tap *Ouch*… it was so painful, I knelt down, I could feel a slight dent on my leg… Anyway, we really gotta go. I didn’t care and we crossed the road and hailed a “song-tiao” back to the Airport. The “song-tiao” started to move when Sam and CH had not boarded it yet. Sam was kan cheong and banged her head against the ceiling lamp in the “song-tiao” and CH was trying to jump onto the “song-tiao” as it was moving off… last day in Thailand, and 2 of us were injured :(
We got back our luggage and checked-in. We paid the airport tax and sat and waited in front of the gate for boarding. For that an hour or so, we crapped our way thru’ and Sam were showing the “trophies” from her shopping spree… the bubble gums, the “small bee” cakes, Maggie Mee etc… Finally, it’s time for us to board TR129 @ 6.25pm. There were not many ppl taking this flight, so we had all the time to choose the seats. During the journey, CH and I were taking pix and trying to think of all the old old songs. Sam joined us later with the songs.
2 ½ hours later, we landed back to our homeland, Singapore!!! We went to the Duty-free shop and got all we wanted. Sun, the only guy, shopped for the longest. We went to belt 17 to get our luggage 1st. We were the last few from our flight who came out, keke… CH saw her family, she was so anxious, she went off 1st. Sam and I stayed to wait for Sun… When Sun was approaching, Sam went out to meet her family and went off. I waited for Sunny to come out together since I was pushing his luggage. Sun’s dad came after we came out for a while. My family was really noisy, but tt’s my family. So if u are wondering why I can tok non-stop, I can tell u, “it’s in the genes”, wahaha!!! Our flight number came out on the Saturday 4D Starter price: 1129 (Terminal 1, flight number 129). My mum blamed me for not telling them earlier about the flight number *bleah*
My family went to the Indian Coffeeshop @ Ubi for tea before we went home. My brother told me the “ak-oun” was actually a sound let out by a kind of lizard, which is about 20cm to 30cm long. He said that he had seen that before when he was in Thailand. @ home, I spent a few hours unpacking my things… by the time I went to bed, it was 2am…
ROLL OF HONOUR
Accommodation
LIBERTY GARDEN HOTEL
215 Pradipat Road, Sapan Kwai
Bangkok 10400
Tel: 0-2618-6000-5 Fax: 0-2271-2148
Email: liberty_garden@hotmail.com
Comments: Consider moderate in price, friendly services and English-speaking receptionists. Only bad point was the small lift, which can contain 6 ppl @ the most, and with smell of the massage oil.
PHU INN HOTEL
111/36 Soi Santi A. Muang
Chiangrai 57000
Tel: (053) 717580-82 Fax: (ext) 101
Comments: Consider cheap, friendly services. One bad point, no lift.
Bargains
- Adidas Puma Shop @ Chiang Rai
Description: Exact position not known. Opposite 7-Eleven, near the night bazaar and a Post-Collection Stand.
Comments: Cheap Adidas goods, not for Puma’s. There’s a small seat for those who are there just to accompany their friends for shopping.
- Internet Game Shop
Description: Right outside Phu Inn Hotel.
Comments: Only at 15bahts per hour = S$0.60/hr. There’s toilet in the shop.
HALL OF SHAME
Accommodation
Chiang Rai
- Lek House (Guest House and Tour Centre): Simple reason - not clean.
Chiang Mai
- Rux-Thai Guest House: Poor services, anyhow charge people, and have to walk a small alley before u can see the road.
Makan Place
Chiang Rai
- Food Stall near Golden Triangle
Unhygiene food, but nice people.
Chinag Mai
- Stall selling Strawberries @ Doi Suthep @ the bottom of Wat Phrathat
Only few Strawberries on top are fresh, more than 1/2 of the packet of Strawberries are rotten ones, and have worms.
THANK YOU SESSION
Chiang Mai
- “Song-Tiao” Uncle who drove us up Doi Suthep and helped us take pictures
- Stall Uncle who told us to take the bus to Chiang Rai @ Arcade Terminal and not Chang Phuak Bus Station
- Kind-hearted uncle agreed to change place with me on the bus from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai
- Thai lady who helped us to translate @ Chiang Mai Airport
Chiang Rai
- “Tuk-Tuk” Uncle who drove us to Lek House and offered us bananas
- Lucy working at Lek house
- Stall Auntie who offered us “baby coconuts”
Lastly, special thanks to the 4 of you, Qing Hao, Cai Hong, Samantha and Sunny!!! You all have been great companions ;p
And to my Lam Nua Sisters, we are now back in Singapore, cannot be lazy bones anymore le wor… muz bath more, keke… Cai Hong, pls, no more screen saver mode, wahaha!!! All the best to the 4 of u, hope we will see one another again!
