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.....

Jatujak......Prelude to Our Bangkok Trip

it's been a long time since we last posted entries to this blog..... just to update.....

last march 17, 2008.....jon and i had lunch at a thai restaurant called jatujak at megamall. judging from how the food looked (and tasted!), they weren't far from what we actually had when we went to bangkok a few days later...... see for yourself!!!

watch out for our pics in bangkok.... coming very soon!!!

endless

after our lunch at north park, we were on our way back to the shop. lynn was driving so i was able to take photos of the beautiful sky... it almost seems like ripples on a body of water... the sky is amazing, it's possiblities are endless..

north park at the strip

we were back in medical city for my doctor's appointment.. the last one i hope.. :) then after my check up, we went to north park to have a not so early lunch. you guys might think that i ordered too little this time but actually, i didn't take photos of the other stuff because they weren't presented nicely... pleasing to the eyes they were not but my mouth loved every morsel of food that went in... :)

What a Difference a Dye Makes.....

these photos were taken a day apart..... notice the difference??

(coloring c/o jon!)

Even Lazier Saturday Evening.......

as usual, last saturday we arrive at nini's past 9:00 pm (as jon and i had to close our meatshop first). nini was already having the first half of her massage (she had the rest after dinner). dinner was sumptous yet simple and healthy.... and the dessert was delicious yet simpler still!

after dinner, we all went up and got ready for bed while watching fashion rocks 2007 on tv. jon, nini, and roberta didn't have their usual scrabble game before bed.... but i still had my 2-hour massage session.... which lasted until way past 1:00 am!!!

lazy sunday

we had made plans to go to a nice zoo in montalban called avilon. however, after having dinner we were all watching tv and felt kinda lazy... so we decided to just have a lazy sunday, nothing strenuous.. we went to aani for a while... had lunch.. then played scrabble, a game i've only been playing since nini asked me to play.. now i'm really loving it!