Day 1

I woke up at 4:30am to shower and pack my toiletries. I was 30 minutes early as scheduled and I could have gone back to bed but I was worried I might oversleep and not be able to meet Elaine at our meeting point. Because I was early, I decided to just hang out first at our meeting point (Starbucks) so that the driver can go back home and bring my brothers to school. Unfortunately, Starbucks was closed. By 615am, we were on the road to Cris's house where her driver will bring us to the airport. Jin decided on the last minute to meet us at the airport because her boyfriend offered to bring her. She ended up being late because she slept at 4am reading Breaking Dawn. =P We got to check in at 9am which gave us enough time to have breakfast, do a quick bathroom/ yosi break before departure.

We arrived in Bangkok and after going through immigration and baggage claim, we bought Thai mobile network sim cards and we got stopped by a friendly airport staff who directed us to information... which was a good thing because not only did they tell us which cab to take, write our hotel address in Thai but they also offered us a free tour just for the 4 of us in our own airconditioned van simply because it was a holiday the next day (we eventually found out it was the airport's anniversary). We had 3 tours to chose from: The river canal tour at 730am, The Temples Tour at 9am or The Grand Palace. It was a good thing I stumbled upon information on the Grand Palace while researching on dress codes in Thailand because it said that guests should be covered from head to toe when visiting the Grand Palace and if you're not dressed, you'll have to rent clothes! Eewww! Obviously, my friends and I brought our shortest shorts since it was hot in Bangkok so The Grand Palace was not an option. The Temples tour was fully booked so it was just the river tour for us. All we had to do is pay tax of 125Bt (P171.25).

We then exited the airport to find girls screaming in excitement across the road. I thought they were happy to see us only to find out that a Korean movie star was coming out of the airport right behind us. After a 40 minute drive, we arrived at our hotel or rather serviced apartment. We were surprised that for a really nice two bedroom apartment with living room and kitchenette, our accommodations were really cheap(P3700 per person for 3 nights)! After drawing lots to find out who would be roommates, settling in, resting, making inquiries and reservations at the dinner cruise, we decided to have our first shopping adventure at 4am.

Jin suggested we go to Platinum Mall since a friend suggested it at the last minute and it wasn't in our itinerary. We walked to the mall and gave ourselves a 2 hour time limit. We all went separate ways. At 6:20pm, Jin, Cris and I met at the entrance. Elaine didn't feel well and decided to go back to the hotel earlier. After passing by a 7-11 to get prepaid credits, we took our first Tuktuk ride to the hotel, bought a bottle of Vodka and Strawberry soda at the convenience store in front of our hotel and decided on room service. We decided to stay in as well because we just had a pretty long day. One that started at 4am and we just didn't feel like going out anymore. Since we had to get up at 6am the next day for our 7:30am tour, I was in bed by 10:30pm.


Day 2

The day started really funny. Jin, my roommate, nudged me awake and told me it was 7am. I heard the shower ongoing in Cris' and Elaine's room and I thought, Wow! Our tour guide is arriving at 7:30am and no one seems to be panicking considering that Jin and I haven't showered yet and we haven't had breakfast yet. That's when it hit me. I turned to Jin and said, "Jin, it's only 6am." Jin burst out laughing and went next door to tell Elaine that she was up too early. None of them adjusted their watches to Bangkok time. At least now, we're not scrambling to hurry and we managed to call room service for 3 orders of rice and an omelette. We brought breakfast with us to make expenses cheaper.

At 7:30am, the tour guide arrives and takes us to the river canal where we saw different temples and structures, that captured the history and culture of Thailand, along the river banks. Amazingly enough, the river didn't smell and had less garbage than our very famous Pasig river. In fact, Thailand looks just like Manila except with cleaner streets and disciplined drivers. In the middle of the river canal tour, we were dropped off at the snake farm where there was a zoo and a snake show (man vs cobra or rattlesnake). After which, we rode the boat again and finished the river tour. Our tour guide, Kob, then told us that the reason our tour was free was because our tour is sponsored by 2 jewelry shops and 1 Thai silk shop which meant that after the tour, in all our sweaty, river stench glory, we had to go to these posh places. We weren't obliged to buy and Kob told us never to feel pressured to buy though admittedly, I was pissed off at the old Indian lady at the Thai silk store who kept pressuring me to buy by lowering her prices even when I kept dropping hints that I'm not interested. Why would I buy a tailor made silk pants and skirt at 1500 baht when I can buy at least 5 dresses for that amount? She even grabbed my arm when I started walking away! In the end, she asked, "So you're not interested??? Because I have other customers to attend to!" Wow, talk about someone working on commission. Not only did she harrass me despite showing that I'm not interested but she made it seem that I wasted her time!

After the tour, Kob dropped us off at MBK where we had our most expensive meal for the entire trip at their food court. We were THAT famished! After our meal, we decided to burn calories by shopping at the department store, particularly at Wacoal because Wacoal undergarments are waaaay cheap in Bangkok. After our purchases, Cris and I found out that there was a VAT refund for purchases totalling to at least 5000Bt though we have to spend at least 2000Bt per store. We went to the VAT refund application center to fill up forms where the nice lady was very helpful. She asked us how long have we been in Bangkok and for a moment, Cris and I blanked out and looked at each other for the date and we realized, "Oh! We just arrived yesterday!" It was such a long day that we felt we did a lot already. After filling up the form, we found Elaine and Jin purchasing underwear too so we had to wait for them since their purchases had to be included in the VAT refund form. After that, we decided to part ways again and shop on our own. We set a 2 hour deadline again. As the time crept to our meeting time, I ran out of cash and wanted badly to go back to the hotel to get more because the plan was after MBK, we would head to another mall. Thankfully, Cris was in dire need for a restroom and we all decide to just head back to the hotel.

After the day's trip, we decided to forego the river cruise since we already had been to the river and the river cruise was expensive at 2000 Bt. The shopaholics in us agreed that 2000Bt would go a long way in shopping. Furthermore, we decided that we preferred going to tiangge like malls than malls with branded names since we were after value for money. The cheaper the clothes, the better. And therefore, we struck out all the big malls with brand stores from our itinerary.

We decided to check out Pratunam Mall but was disappointed with the selection that we decided to hit Platinum Mall again and go for the third and fourth floor this time until they closed. When we all met up again to decide what to have dinner, I realized that since we were no longer going to any department stores, we have to consume the rest of the balance we needed to refund the tax. We decided then to go back to MBK, look for something to buy then have dinner. Undergarments were on sale so we decided to go through other brands as well and for the fun of it, we bought matching underwear! It was hilarious going through the piles of underwear looking for matching panties! Cris and I bought bras to match the frilly boy shorts. After filling up the VAT refund form, we had dinner at a Japanese restaurant since everybody was in the mood for Japanese. After dinner, we decided to go back to the hotel to drop off our purchases, freshen up and just get a foot and back massage at the massage place near our hotel. We could have gotten a full body massage but we were in a thrifty mood and we figured we could always come back for a full massage. After the relaxing massage, we all went back to the hotel to hangout, watch some tv before turning in. We decided we would sleep in the next day since we had Chatuchak on our itinerary and the market opened at noon.

Day 3
We left the hotel at around 1230pm after having brunch. Decked in our most comfortable outfits, slathered in sunblock, hair tied up high, money safely tucked in our pockets (or slim belt bag that fit under my top), sunglasses on top of our noses, and huge empty bags slung on our shoulders, we were ready to brave the heat and adventure that Chatuchak will bring us.

The shopping we did was unbelievable. I brought with me an empty sack bag that were about 2ft high, 2ft wide and 6 inches thick and was able to fill it up! If my arms didn't hurt from carrying all the stuff, I would still have stayed and done some damage to my pocket. Cris and I managed to find shirts that could serve us Christmas gifts to our office staff at P57 only! Mind you, they were good quality. I would wear them myself if it came in my size. I was able to buy my mom a dress worth P137 only. I also bought earrings worth P13.70 each. I love wholesale! We left at around 4pm and trekked back to the BTS station (their version of our MRT). Upon reaching the station, we couldn't care less what other people thought cuz we were so tired! Poise or no poise, we sat on the floor and treated ourselves to mint chocolate ice cream. It was sooooo good because the mint flavor really refreshed us. Buying mint chocolate ice cream after shopping on a hot afternoon is a really good idea. Soon after, we headed back to the hotel.

Upon arriving to the hotel, we all retreated to the bathrooms/ living rooms to relax. Elaine and I tried one of the street foods which was green mangoes and chili, which we thought was bagoong! What a mistake! Despite wiping the green mangoes on tissue paper to remove the chili, the delicacy was still too spicy for me. After resting for a few minutes, Jin decides to have more of her money changed while I decided to go back to MBK to buy some of their delicacies as pasalubong. After handing our money to Jin so she can have them exchanged, Elaine and I headed to MBK where, after getting our purchases, we went around in circles because we got lost. Cris decided to stay in the hotel and sleep. She sure loves her sleep.

When we got back to the hotel, we waited for Jin, who not only had our money but our KFC dinner as well, in the lobby, hoping she didn't get wet in the sudden downpour. After dinner, we rested a little and took our time getting dressed for another cultural activity~ a night at their red light district: Patpong!

People often say that you've never really gone to Bangkok unless you've visited the freak shows at Patpong. Elaine and I call them "talent shows." It was definitely a new experience for us entering a girly bar, being taken care of by the mamasan and getting milked for it at the process. After 2 hours at the bar and seeing enough talents, we decided to go. Only then after leaving did we realize that we snuck out of the bar without a goodbye or thank you to the mamasan but at least we left with a few bucks saved up since the mamasan wanted us to tip her (HEY! we already paid for her shot of the tequila!)

We walked a little and found a side street night market packing up. Jin found a watch that a friend of hers asked her to buy. Elaine managed to bargain with the seller from 2500 baht to 500 baht! That was the biggest bargain ever made in the entire trip.

It was too late to get a full body massage like we originally planned since we arrived at the hotel at 1am and the spa place closes at 1am. Instead, we opted to start packing our bags instead. Elaine and I dragged our luggages to the living room and unwrapped all our purchases and started rolling clothes then packing them. We finished at 3am.

Day 4

Being the last day of our trip, I got up early because I wanted to go back to MBK to buy more dresses. Jin and Elaine weren't feeling well which explained why they were up already. I enjoyed the sunday morning by trekking to MBK by myself only to find out that they opened at 10am, instead of 9am like Jin informed me. It was only 9:20pm so I decided to hang out, like the other people waiting for the mall to open and just pray the rosary since I couldn't go to Church that day.

After buying the dresses, I went back to the hotel where we're about to have brunch again. While everyone showered and dressed up, I washed the dishes and finished packing up. We checked out of the hotel at 1pm but asked if we could leave our bags with them since our flight was still at 11pm. Since van like cabs were very rare in Bangkok, we decided to just rent a van that could fit the 4 of us and our luggages.

We then headed to Platinum to do some last minute shopping. Jin and I planned to head to Pratunam after to buy belly rings for her friend since the cheapest ones I found were there. After Pratunam, we planned on going to Pantip Mall, also known as their gadgets mall. Gadgets there were said to be very very cheap. Almost half the price. Unfortunately for us, it started to rain real hard, just when we were about to meet, that the streets flooded almost immediately. We couldn't wait for the rain to stop so we just decided to go back to the hotel, squeeze our last minute purchases into our luggages, get one last foot massage before having dinner.

Our van came in time and after bidding goodbye to the wonderful staff of our hotel, on a rainy Sunday night, we drove away from Bangkok- from its clean streets, friendly people, disciplined drivers and most importantly, bargain shopping centers.

Of course, our adventures didn't end there. There was that moment where we kinda panicked because the padlock on Cris's luggage jammed and wouldn't open. Short of having the padlock cut, I decided to give it a try and on my second attempt, it opened. The trick was putting in the key half way. Then there was the time that we had to scrape all our loose change so that Jin could buy delicacies for her mom. We also attempted to add more photos to our measly collection of photos of the trip by taking pictures of ourselves. We were so serious with our shopping that we hardly took pictures and most of the pictures we had were sceneries.

Finally, we boarded the plane at around quarter to 11 where we all fell soundly asleep. Upon landing, Jin and I headed to a small duty free store and bought a bag of chocolates as pasalubong to our families. We rode Cris's car and dropped of Jin then proceeded to her place to pick up Elaine's car. Elaine and I decided to have breakfast at Mcdonald's. You could always count on Elaine to eat with you. Shortly after 530am, we headed home where I had to lug my humongous luggage up 4 flights of stairs! Trust me, it took a lot of effort.

In conclusion, the trip was money worth spent. I was with girlfriends who I enjoyed being with, the trip was well organized, we maximized our time but most importantly, I may be poorer but I'm happy.

Labels: Bangkok