my first trip abroad...

Repost from my Tumblr account:

It was around this time last year when we came back from our trip from Bangkok, Thailand. It was a really short one so we only went to just a few of the many tourist spots the the country was full of.

So allow me to be sentimental and let the photos tell you our story.

About 3AM Bangkok time, we landed safely in their huge and beautiful airport. Thank you CebuPac for that scary, bumpy 4-hour flight (there was a lot of turbulence!).

We stayed in this amazing 5-star hotel named Chatrium Suites. A 2-bedroom suite with a view to match! It was a gorgeous suite! I wanted to live there, like for good!

The view from our room the night we arrived.

And the view at morning. It was a short sleep since we had to take advantage of our limited time in Bangkok. That’s Chao Phraya River by the way, the largest watershed in the country.

Their buffet was TO DIE FOR. We ate 80% of our meals here during our stay. They served the best international buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner!!! YUMMY!

Dimsum, anyone?

Fresh seafood for barbeque-ing, right in front of you while you wait. 

Mommy and I. 

Sashimi, oysters, tempura.. Living the life!

Sadly I don’t have pictures of my Uncle eating his favorite fruit, Mangosteen. He ate like dozenssssssss of them. HAHAHA.

Here we ate our dinner at the topmost floor of the hotel. It was exclusive for some of the guests in the hotel so we had the privilege to enjoy this bonus. We had the chance to see the sunset all the way from the top. It was beautiful and dramatic, the sunset by the river. Chos.

Their infinity pool, one of their many pools.

Mandatory touristy picture taking.

So now, let’s get lost in the city. Literally. We got lost a lot, ate up most of our time. Maybe that’s what happens when you don’t hire a tourist guide since we wanted to explore the city like true back-packers minus the backpacks. 

My Uncle Roy, My Auntie Joyce and my Mom.

Here we are at the Temple of Emerald Buddha, Wat Prayoon, Wat Pho, Wat Traimit and Wat Mahathat. Pictures are jumbled below. Teehee.

Thailand really amazed me with their culture. They maintained everything for hundreds of years. The architecture, the food, their style, they all left me in awe. What amazed me the most was that Thailand was the only Asian country that wasn’t colonized by the Western influence. Everything they had here was done from their own making. How cool is that?

One cannot leave the country without trying their own delicacy. Thailand is famous for their really SPICY food (strong emphasis there). Don’t get me wrong, I love spicy food but theirs was too much. I couldn’t finish my plate, it was painful to the tongue. The Thai people finished their plates effortlessly. I couldn’t even……..

Too bad I missed out on the scorpions and fried cockroaches. But I did have a taste of these babies. I don’t know their names, the cooking lady only showed me her paper bills indicating how much they cost. Still, they served it with really SPICY sauces but I was able to tolerate it well. Bravo me!

So here we tried to be like some Discovery Channel hosts with a map on hand and dragging our feet from one place to another. FAIL. We got lost. Poor map-reading skills I guess. Ate up most of our day but it was fun. We got the chance to ride their Tuk-Tuk which made my Uncle sick since he was allergic to the pollution and all.

This picture is not intended for picture purposes, seriously. I was really trying to find our way out from their streets since we were already walking for hours.

Now that we got a reliable travel guide/tourist package, out from the streets of Bangkok and with a 2-hour ride we went to some of Thailand’s famous destinations. First up, the Floating Market.

Lots of movies were shot here. So imagine me imagining myself as a Hollywood actress taking a ride on their boat floating to the Floating Market (okay, that sounded annoying….moving on….)

FOOD! Mostly, they sold food. It was quite expensive really since the place was packed with tourists from all over the globe. 

Then we went to the dancing snakes and all (too bad we didn’t have pictures from there). All I have is a picture of me and my Mom outside a temple. HAHAHA. 

Artsy hand-carved wood. They were really, really pricey but they were fantastic! Their displays were mostly about elephants, since the country’s really known for it too.

As far as I can remember, this chair costs about $10,000. Yup, that price for a chair.

Hello fat me!

Going back home now. That’s their airport. Cool huh?

There’s a huge statue by the check-in area. That’s about 20 feet high. 

And a mini garden of course. My Mom’s fond of plants so yes she was ecstatic when she found this in the middle of their huuuuuuuuuuuge airport.

That’s all for now. I wish we could have gone to more of their tourist destinations but we had such limited time. I loved Thailand. Hope to be back next time, this time to explore more temples and shows. I never even had the chance to shop there. I did enjoy my stay since it gave us a chance to indulge with their culture since it’s what Thailand is famous for.

Hope to conquer more and feed my thirsty wanderlust soul. While writing this post, I suddenly miss my camera. I wish I could have it back but sadly no, it’s too wrecked now. Okay, enough with the dramatics.