Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Last Day in Bangkok....

jon and i woke up at 4:00 am on Easter Sunday and were on our way to the airport by 5:30 am for our 8:30 am flight back to manila. before leaving our home base while in bangkok, we realized we haven't taken any pic of the Rachaprarop Tower Mansion, hence, this pic:


while in line for check-in at the thai airways counter and later, while waiting for our plane to leave, we admired the beautiful new airport....



breakfast at the airport consisted of phad thai for both of us and iced coffee for me and regular coke for jon....




a little bit of shopping for thai chichirya followed at the duty-free shop....





then we went to our assigned gate of departure and waited for boarding announcement....



the flight was uneventful.....


we arrived at NAIA on time..... richard, bebeloi's driver, was waiting for us at the airport and promptly whisked us off to nini's place, where i left my car....

happiness was being at home, at last!!!

4th Day in Bangkok....











our third day in bangkok was mainly spent shopping at Chatuchak weekend market, followed by a night of thai culture at the cultural center at Namiit, and topped off by last minute shopping at the night market at Suan Lum Night Bazaar.

at Chatuchak, we were only able to take a few pics, mostly of street foods; while at Namiit cameras inside the theater were not allowed, hence, our few pics outside the hall.

Friday, April 4, 2008

Spring/Summer Restaurant














the food at spring/summer restaurant was scrumptious! it's traditional thai with a modern twist. we were supposed to have dessert afterwards, they have an outdoor thingy filled with bean bags to relax on but the place was just packed! the down side is the service was really awful! and of course, especially hard for us since they understand very little english. but the food is enough to make one want to go back...

Thursday, April 3, 2008

A Bit of the Old, A bit of the New.....

on the 3rd day of our stay in bangkok, we had to wake up very early because we took an out-of-the-city tour of the Bang Pa-In Royal Summer palace and the ancient capital of Ayutthaya, 60 kms and 76 kms north of bangkok, respectively.

from our base at Rachaprarop Tower Mansion, we took a cab for nearby Indra Hotel where a van picked us up to bring us to the site of Suan Lum Night Market, where the air-conditioned tourist bus was waiting.




after about an hour's trip on the bus, we reached the Bang Pa-In Royal Summer Palace. "The palace dates back to the 17th century, pre-dating the establishment of Bangkok as the capitol. All the buildings seen here date from its revival by King Mongkut (Rama IV) in the 19th century. Today, the palace is only used infrequently, and then mostly for state occasions rather than as a royal summer residence.

the palace is very European in design. The buildings are laid out along an artificial ornamental pond. In what was formerly the public area of the palace, the lake is a long rectangular pool, lines with formal plantings and the odd folly of copying buildings or ornaments from other places."

in contrast to the Grand Palace in Bangkok which is toured on foot, to our relief, the Summer Palace can be toured with a golf cart (for a fee); in fact, jon enjoyed the entire tour just driving the cart so much he never left it until the tour of the grounds was finished!!!














from the Summer Palace, after about a 30 minute-travel by bus farther north, we came to the old city of Ayutthaya.

"Ayutthaya, or Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, the Thai capital for 417 years, is one of Thailand’s major tourist attractions. Many ancient ruins and art works can be seen in a city that was founded in 1350 by King U - Thong when the Thais were forced southwards by northern neighbours. During the period of Ayutthaya being the Thai capital, 33 kings of different dynasties ruled the kingdom until it was sacked by the Burmese in 1767.









at the last stop of our Ayutthaya tour, miguel and i even had the chance to enjoy a 30-minute elephant ride through the streets and ruins of this old city.


the trip back to bangkok was a 3-hour leisurely boat ride along the Chao Phraya River.
on the boat we had a sumptuous buffet lunch, lots of cups of coffee, and a few hours of rest for our tired and aching feet.


we got off the boat at River City and took the "Shuttle Boat" of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel to their spa just accross the river from the hotel.




after touring the spa, we took the shuttle boat again, this time for the hotel itself. we were picked up by our rented van from the lobby of the hotel.... then brought back to Rachaprarop.
after freshening up, we were off to the Spring/Summer Restaurant for dinner. This is what Gourmet Traveller says of this retaurant:
"Every night BMWs and Land Rovers fight through the city's noxious traffic; their Prada-clad occupants heading for the oversized cushions outside this pair of retro-fabulous 50s houses in the Sukhumvit neighbourhood. Zesty spring rolls and lemongrass chicken skewers dunked in tamarind sauce get the palate off to a familiar start. Spicy wing bean salad has plenty of zing, as do creamy braised scallops with sweet onions and chili oil. Linger under the stars or head into the lounge-like Summer Chocolate Bar to indulge in a selection of equally standout chocolate treats, vanilla crépes and Thai tea custard."




too bad we left our BMWs and our Pradas in Manila (hehehehehe).... because this review notwithstanding, we didn't stay long in the place!!! although the food was fabulous, the service was bad.... and it didn't help either that there was a group of foreigners dining with us who talked sooooo loud you'd think they own the place!!!

(as before, jon will post the 'fusion" gourmet food we had at Spring/Summer.)
to cap off the night, we all had a family style massage at the 8-storey Health Land Spa and Massage.....
"While the settings are grand and luxurious, our services are priced at the same level as in general massage centres rather than the high-end spas found in hotels. Attention to fine details of customer service and satisfaction remain our key goals in striving to offer superb services that are worth the customer every single penny. Henceforth, customers who come to visit Health Land are left with the impression that we provide better premium services and offer a heavenly escape from high-stress lives. Our broad customer base include expatriates, office workers, housewives, university students as will as forgien customers who come from overseas to visit us."