Day 2: River Cruise + Exploring BKK City...

Woke up veri early & our hotel serve pretty gd variety of american breakfast, some jap food & siew mai/bun. After a good breakfast, we went to the lobby to wait for our tour leader at 8am (BKK time is 1 hr behind Sg). As there's nothing much to do while waiting, I tested my photography skill at this lotus flower at the lobby...haha!

Finally, Patoon arrived at 8.30am to pick us up and our day tour comprised of visitors from Sg, India, Philippines... We reached the Central Pier to board the River Express Boat. As a picture speaks a thousand word, follow me thru the cruise by viewing the album below!



Gotta share wif u my nasty experience...who says Thailand is the Land of Smiles? Our guide allocated half hr for us at Wat Arun. As mom wasn't really keen to to climb the temple's steep stairs, we strolled around the temple's exterior to snap pics. Came to this cardboard standee where u can pop ur face in to snap pic... took a pic here for mom & myself. Shortly, 2 young jap gals requested me to help them take photo & i happily obliged. But who knows, suddenly 2 fierce Thai women stopped us & demanded each of us pay them 40 THB! I was horrendously shocked! Then i realized on the foot of the standee inscripted the pricing (who wld hv notice that?) Thou the amt is small, i was unwilling to give them for their 'extorting' attitude! I felt if this svc is chargeable, they shld had inf us 1st. The Thai woman demanded if i dun pay up, have to delete the photo in front of her... i showed her mine & del, but din press rite button & she tot i deliberate din wan del it... so, i deleted it 2nd time. She continued dun let me off, saying there's another pic inside... but i quickly walked off & saved my mom's pic. Despite all my travels, I found this was an unforgettable bad experience, esp i felt that temple grounds shld be sacred ... not operate biz in such manner!

After we finished touring Wat Arun, we were whisked to one of their largest Jewellery & Gem outlet... upon stepping in, free soft drink r served & we viewed a short video on how precious stones r extracted & refined. Followed on, two sales-ladies followed us thru'out the place hoping we would make some purchase. At the end of this half day tour, we opted to visit the famous Erawan Shrine (四面佛) located in the city centre. However, due to traffic jam & the long travelling journey... it took us almost 2hrs to reach!

Had a brief view of Erawan Shrine & it's crowded wif devotees. Upon stepping out, we were stopped by a black guy. He appeared friendly & spoke gd english...claiming he's a doctor working at the hospital nearby. He chatted wif me & adviced me to shop at Siam instead of this area. Well, we wonder if there's really such nice ppl or do they have some hidden agenda? We headed to CentralWorld and found a cheap & nice Jap resturant ~ Fuji Jap Restaurant (Level 6). Mom & I were famished... i had a Beef Steak set & chose a Salmon Terriyaki Set for mom. The servings were huge & delicious! At the end of the meal, there's even free coffee/tea/ice lemon tea served! For the 2 set meals, I only paid SGD 17! Good food certaintly made my mood better (^0^)

Beef Steak Set available only during lunch hours... generous serving of salad too!

Salmon Terriyaki Set
Took me awhile to find out how to walk down to Platinum Mall... Wow! As today was Sat, the mall was flooded wif both tourists & locals. There's 6 levels of shopping here & it's mainly a wholesale ctr... u will only get gd discount for bulk purchase. The quality of clothes r pretty much like our Bugis Village or This Fashion. Decided to racee first & to return again on Monday! It's another huge mall & would take hours to finish... est ard 50 - 100 tiny shops on each level!

After walking Platinum Mall, we went further down to Pantip Plaza... the IT Mall, it's like Sim Lim Sq but more messy & unable to find a gd webcam there. Haiz! Then, we crossed the dangerous junction to Pratunam Complex but there's nothing much. Decided to head down to Siam Center for dinner. By then was 8pm & its food court did not have as much variety as MBK. Slightly more costly & this meal was the worst thru'out our trip... had Fried Longevity Noodles wif Pork. Came to Siam Ctr as i wanted to chk out its Converse Shop, saw a design i fancy but the colour left was not nice... Geez!

I do enjoy the stepped path outside Siam Discovery! Both sides r framed wif tall palm trees and lighted fire touch at the foot of each tree. It's veri breezy sitting here wo... nice ambience! Called it end of today as we were dead-beat! I starting to have back-ache liao...