day 1 in the land of smiles

i thought it's best to keep an everyday record of my holiday in thailand as each day promises jammed activities. i don't wanna leave out anything i've done around the area unrecorded.i don't quite trust my memory to keep every detail of this cool trip.

we ( yes, i thought i was gonna take this trip alone. jeff who said he was just gonna see me to the airport actually was joining me.surprise,surprise! his arm must've really hurt from my beating.)we left manila at around 11 pm. on top, manila is dazzling with lights from red,orange, yellow and bits of white color. the complex geometric lines created by the lights along the highways and every street are stunning. As the aircraft went higher and farther the territory, manila looked like a blurry golden city.  some 3 hours after i could see bangkok from the top. it wasn't at par with the manila lights and in my opinion it is because of the white lights that dominated the place.

the suvarnabhumi airport wowed me. it's huge and very thai with the gigantic colorful thai monument that resemble the figures in most of the thai temples. after cueing ( a helluva line ) at the immigration booth, we found ourselves looking at the banner that read " welcome ruth and jeffrey!!! missionaries of the holy order of phoenix". i thought chu was kidding when he said he'd make a welcome banner. the freak actually did and was holding it up in the airport. we were laughing to death.

i had my first meal at the airport. i liked it.it's a rice soup with prawns, wansoy, lemon grass and a bit of chilis that gave the entire thing a bit of a kick. i can't remember what it's called but it was light and refreshing.just the right food to take after a flight.

the ride home was smooth. the highways are wide. the cab drivers are honest. finally we got to chu's neat apartment. it's like being housed in a hotel.  we slepped for a little more than three hours and off to the first mall we went. it's called The Emporium. it gives that power plant feel. stuff are expensive given that stores are mostly designer boutiques i normally see only in greenbelt.  it's pretty quiet there as there are not too many people, mostly are caucasians. we headed up to the floor with restaurant rows. it's like our foodcourt only the place was posh. it's got this nice view of a well maintained park and most of the sukhumvit area. my second meal was sumptuous. i couldn't get enough of the soft fillet of fish in my spicy soup.

from the Emporium we took the train to another mall called the Paragon. It's a huge mall and also very posh.kids are all over the place because the underground level is the ocean park. we made a good round of the mall before we headed up to our first real tour, the bangkok temples. we took a ferry in the chao prya river to get to port 8, then another ferry to get across. alas our first temple called wat arun or the temple of dawn. it was magnificent. this collosal, colorful temple embellished with some sort of tiles, gold glass that shines when the sun hits it and statues from ground up is surrounded by beautiful thai palace-looking structures in white walls and gold roofs. the main temple allows for climbers to reach the second to the topmost tier. the stairs are very steep but one has got to get to the top because the view of the chao praya river is priceless.

to get to our next temple known as wat po, the temple of the reclining buddha, we had to take another ferry to cross the river. when we got to wat po, the entrance booth was already closed. we were allowed in nonetheless. the temple guard ( well sort of ) said we were lucky because we got to get in for free. more than that, we were lucky to see the splendid bronze buddha of an exeptionally huge size. from head to toe, the buddha covered the entire length and width of the temple. we took pictures near the chest area of the buddha and we looked like ants beside it. we were supposed to go the yet another temple but we had a dinner reservation at one of the floating restaurants. we didn't wanna miss the boat that would ferry us to the bigger boat that was to be our dinner place. we had a feast of both the food and the view. cruising the river while having dinner's just the most romantic thing. i recommend couples to do it.it's amazing. there were those moments during the cruise i'd just go silent and absorb the moment. the lights from the refulgent buildings and other boats, the nice breeze, it's terrifically soothing.

the view, the food, the laughters, the entire experience exceeded expectation.

Comments

[Russelle]

i never regretted defending your travel to mamang!

i'm so happy for you!