10 Things Thailand!

Amazing Thailand as their tagline

Off to the country considered divine

Come and see

Some things to be

A few quick facts

For guided acts

Now get into the maze

And set ablaze

For Amazing Thailand!

1.  Elephant Trekking

The elephant is Thailand's national symbol and one of their most revered animals.  One should not miss having elephant encounters once in the country and I recommend Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai for an animal-friendly experience.

Damnoen Saduak:  Elephant Village

2.  Temple Hopping

Thailand is devoted to Buddhism and there are 40,000+ Buddhist temples in the country!  Each temple has its own style, reverence, and story.  You can definitely visit one since these temples are scattered around the country!  But the must-visits are Wat Arun, Wat Pho, and Grand Palace.  Just take note of the time or you'll get barred like us.  There'll be no entry from 3 PM onwards.  Curfew is really early for these temples.

Wat Intharawihan, Grand Palace, and Wat Benchamabophit

3.  Altar Offering

Unlike the Roman Catholics, Thai Buddhists are very showy of their faith by putting up altars everywhere in the streets, outside their houses, establishments, etc.  Their stone gods are the different personas of Buddhism, elephants, and snakes.  They offer food and drinks to them as well as incense.  I may not understand each representation of symbolism especially with the Banyan  tree but I just considered the work of art instead.

4.  Monk Alming

Monks play a great role in religious Thailand.  They are considered as holy people who make merit for their respective families.  We see them in the streets early in the morning for their daily alming for food, drinks, and toiletries.  They don't have any source of income so they greatly rely on alms.  This also coincides with the country's tradition to give alms not only to the monks but also to the poor. Thai believe that it is good karma to give for them to receive.

Another Group Asking for Monetary Support from People

5.  Tuktuk Riding

We, Filipinos won't be surprised in this 'coz we do have motorcycle rides like this.  We have 'em as traysekel in Tagalog, rela in Cagayan de Oro, payong-payong in Lanao, motor in Ozamiz, or habal-habal up in the highlands.  So this isn't new to us.  Ours is even more thrilling and exciting!  By the way, tuktuk rides are really expensive for tourism purposes.  The drivers charge really high and even the locals discouraged us to ride one.  Better hail a cab than go around on tuktuks 'coz we have motorcycles here anyway around our city!

6.  Thai Massaging

Nuat Thai and Thai Boran.  These are the only two massage parlors in our little city.  Common denominator is, they both have the word "Thai" in their names.  That's because, Thailand claims to be the country of origin of massage.  So massage chairs are everywhere in the country!  You can have a relaxing foot massage anywhere even right on the streets!

    
7.  Bangkok Shopping

The country's capital city is the shoppers' haven!  There are lots of malls and they have 'em specialized like one whole mall for gadgets only, another whole mall for ladies' wear only, and another for appliances only.  Like, can you imagine it?  You go from mall to mall 'coz you can't find a one-stop shop.  Plus, they have plenty of bazaars and night markets.  The biggest is Chatuchak which is a bit outskirt of town but they do have the total package!

Damnoen Saduak, Gems Gallery, The Platinum Shopping Mall, and Royal Thai Handicraft

8.  Food Tripping

Foooood trip, my favorite part every time I go visit a place!  There's nothing much to say here 'coz you have to taste it for yourself.  Eat all you can while in Thailand 'coz you'll surely miss the distinct flavors of authentic Thai food!

Fried Insect, Pad Thai, Steam Boat, Thai Fruits

9.  Sightseeing

Aside from the usual sightseeing, marvel at the capital city on top in a 360-degree revolution!

Check out Baiyoke Sky Tower for this!

10.  Backpacking

Backpacker hotels are never as good as Diamond City Hotel, our home away from home in Thailand!  Our rooms are very spacious with king-sized beds and cinema-sized tv's.  Apart from the daily breakfast buffet, coffee, juice, and biscuits are unlimited 24-7 in the dining room.  Just serve yourself as you please!  Additionally, the staff is very accommodating.  And oops, include the Auntie owner who is already very old but still entertains her guests very well by talking to them even in not-so-fluent English and dancing with them if they might do the honor!  I just loved our stay here so thanks to Rulyn's Travel Hub for picking this hotel for us.  For travel bookings, like their FB fanpage here!

So these are 10 things about Thailand I learned, experienced, and couldn't ever forget from our country visit two months ago!  Watch out for more travel posts only here on The Other Side of Mae! #tosomtravels

Related Posts:

Damnoen Saduak: Elephant Village

Damnoen Saduak: Floating Market

Damnoen Saduak: Royal Thai Handicraft Center Company Limited
Wat Benchamabophit: Marble Temple

Wat Intharawihan: The Temple of the Standing Buddha

Baiyoke Sky Hotel

Bangkok Shopping

Literally Street Fooding

#tosomeats in Thailand

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Bangkok Shopping

When I was still in the RTW business, I often heard my suppliers say, "That's the last price.  This is of good quality 'coz this comes from Bangkok.",  "New arrivals from Bangkok!", "That's already very cheap from Bangkok.", etc.  So I got really curious why they always mentioned Bangkok, Bangkok, Bangkok when in fact, all the world is already made in China.

Then my curiosity got satisfied when we went to Thailand last March for a tour.  Bangkok indeed is one big shopping district with prices very cheap especially in the clothing line.  If you're into fashion, then Pratunam is more than perfect for you!  Clothes, accessories, shoes, beauty products, gadgets, etc. both for men and women are flooding in the area.  It's the busiest part of Bangkok where malls and hotels are situated including Baiyoke Sky Hotel, Thailand's tallest building which we also visited.  Check out our Baiyoke experience here.

Around the district are The Platinum Fashion Mall, Palladium World Shopping Mall, Pantip Plaza IT Mall, City Complex Pratunam, and Pratunam Market.  Honestly, I'm not into much shopping and my company always got tired feet the whole trip so we only checked into three.  First was City Complex Pratunam where starting from the third floor to the top floor are all textile shops.  The mall served as our headquarters where we left Papa to sit and had our shopping bags watched by him every after purchase.  The mall was not too crowded so it was perfect for him for his snoozes.  Second was The Platinum, the women's haven where Korean fashion is at the pedestal.  Girls are clamoring over K-fashion 'coz it's hip, chic, and trendy.  Lastly, we tried to conquer Pratunam Market, Thailand's largest clothing market.  It's one big Divisoria, very hot, chaotic, and super crowded.  But the prices here are very very low, half the price from the air-conditioned The Platinum.

The Platinum vs. Pratunam Market

Aside from the malls, there are also plenty of stalls lining up the sidewalks just like Colon-Carbon district in Cebu.  In these stores, you can haggle lower than 50% of the original price.  And what captured us most was this little make-shift store of personalized stuffs where you can have your name engraved on your bag, wallet, passport holder, etc.  The salesgirl here speaks fluent English, very accommodating, and friendly compared with the other salesgirls, salesboys, and salesgays who are rude.  It's just in their system.  The others just don't care if you buy from them or not because they do have sales anyway so they don't have to treat their customers right.  But as a fellow salesgirl (for I do keep my store too), I love the kid here in this stall because she's so sincere in doing her job.

  
However, you have to be very careful while you do your shopping in Pratunam district because just like here in the Philippines, snatchers, thieves, pickpockets, and the like are also rampant in the area.  We experienced that for ourselves!

My Sissy's Bag Bladed by a Thief Inside Pratunam Market

In addition, if you want to buy genuine jewelry and don't want to squeeze into the crowd of Pratunam, you can visit Gems Gallery.  This is always included in the city tour where tourists are being entertained with a short AVP of how gems are mined in Thailand and how jewelries are manufactured.  We even saw their actual workshop with their goldsmith and craftsmen busily working on their respective masterpieces.  Free drinks are also offered with aircon on full blast for the tourists to be comfy in picking their precious Thai souvenir.   Our tour here was the same as our Royal Thai Handicraft Center tour in Damnoen Saduak.  But cameras are restricted here so we only have these photos:

   
Lastly, I was very curious about Patpong Night Market so I also led the troop there.  Funny thing was, goods are not for sale in the area.  What's for sale is flesh with heaps of boobies, loads of butts, and torrents of bootycalls.  Truly red light district at its maximum tolerance.  Tsk tsk tsk.  Oh, what a sight to pity.  Sin is everywhere.  As we passed by the long streets, I prayed to God for deliverance of the place.

   
And this is all about Bangkok shopping.  My curiosity satisfied and gratified.  At long last, I've seen why Bangkok is known as the shoppers' happy place to myself!  Watch out for my next post on Thailand's street food only here on The Other Side of Mae! #tosomtravels

Related Posts:

Baiyoke Sky Hotel    

Damnoen Saduak:  Royal Thai Handicraft Center Company Limited 

Feeling at Home in Old Quarter

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