Filipino Tourists in Bangkok....

after a short picture-taking session at the balcony of our room and a breakfast room service of pancakes (for me) and american breakfast (for jon), we were off early thursday (mar 20) morning in our rented van to experience the sights and sounds of bangkok.

our first stop was Bangkok's ornately decorated Royal Palace (also known as the Grand Palace). our tour of the place was made more interesting and educational by our lovely tour guide, Ms. Cindy.

the palace sits on about 60 acres of land and holds the bulk of Thailand’s greatest treasures, including the Emerald Buddha in Thailand’s most scared temple, Wat Phra Kaew.

bangkok's weather, especially at this time of the year, is very much the same as in manila. after all that walking in the hot unforgiving sun, all of us were glad to be back inside our air-conditioned van which took us to the Siam Paragon Shopping Center where we had lunch at Fuji Japanese Restaurant. needless to say, the food was fantastic; however, cameras were not allowed inside the resto, hence we were not able to take pics of the food!!!

after lunch, we toured the Siam Ocean World Bangkok which is conveniently located at the basement of the shopping center!

the day wouldn't be complete without shopping.... and so, we went back to the Paragon's Food Hall and supermarket and did our "food" shopping.

dinner was room service at bob's apartment at the mansion.

orchid garden restaurant

our first thai meal was indeed at bob's apartment! and we loved every morsel of it! and it is absolutely convenient because all we had to do was call and they brought the food up! so let's see... from the top.. fried chicken wings, morning glory with crispy pork(my absolute favorite!), prawns with garlic, hmm.. i don't remeber this one.., fried rice with crabmeat. awwww... i miss this..

First Night in Bangkok.....

finally, after weeks of anxious waiting and wondering whether we'd be able to make it or not, jon and i flew to bangkok on the night of march 19, 2008 for a well-deserved, albeit short vacation. actually, nini, rob, and miguel also flew to bangkok that night but they took the philippines airlines flight while jon and i took the thai international airways flight, which left the old manila international airport an hour ahead.

after a 2-hour and 50-minute flight, we arrived at the suvarnasbhumi airport in bangkok safe and sound. after barely an hour of waiting at the arrival terminal, we hooked up with the rest of the gang.... and from the airport we took a cab to rachaprarop tower mansion, our home base while in bangkok.

upon arrival at rachaprarop, the first order of business was dinner.... which we had in-house at bob's cozy apartment unit. incidentally, this was also our (jon and me) first taste of authentic thai cuisine.... and it was fantastic!!! what we had that night were basically the same food we ordered over and over again whenever we ate "in-house"!!! hehehehehe

perhaps, jon will feature them in his next entry.....

Jon's Bday Surprise.....

last march 18, 2008 (a day before our departure for bangkok), we had a surprise 33rd birthday party for jon at roberta's house. jon didn't have any idea and he was really taken by surprise.

earlier that day, nini texted us both to ask us to drop by boot's house to get some things that she (nini) wanted us to bring to bangkok for bob (nini's hubby). she said that they already exceeded the baggage allowance and since jon and i were not bringing a lot of things, she wanted us to bring some of the things for her. little did jon know nini and i talked about it the day before and that most of our friends were already there.

when he entered the house, he was greeted by all.... and here are the pics for that memorable day.....