Took a 2.5 hours train ride from Hua Lamphong Railway Station (accessible via Hua Lamphong MRT) and arrived at the quaint little town of Ayutthaya where we rented some bicycles. Hopped onto the ferry to cross the river and visited the ruins and elephants.

Train ride from Bangkok to Ayutthaya

Stumbled upon some semi-wild elephants

On my last weekend in Thailand, we took a bus from Bangkok to Hua Hin – very touristy area with lots of gogo bars. Clean beaches with relatively clear waters spotting an occasional jellyfish. It was quiet due to the lull period and we managed to get a guesthouse for 500baht a night instead of 800baht, complete with air-conditioning, fridge, TV and heated shower. 都說我愛小巷了。

View of Hua Hin from Hilton

Beach boys

Friendly monks who stopped for a picture

Dog with a brow

Sharing food

Nick digging for his juggling balls

Sunrise or sunset, I forgot

Yoyo-tsuri

Taken at the Japanese Summer Festival in Singapore last Sunday. Had a great time dressing up in a yukata and joining the bon-odori dance. This is the second time I participated in the natsu matsuri. Many years ago, they had the “kingyo-sukui” where you catch goldfish with paper nets. It was fun but cruel and those poor fishies die in a couple of days (I was heartbroken)! I’m glad I got to experience it before it got discontinued by the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA).

House @Dempsey

JH brought me to Dempsey for some Ben & Jerry’s (love cookie dough). I’ve never been to Dempsey mainly because it’s so inconveniently located (without a car) and because my friends don’t hang out there. Only one out of four photos I took that night turned out nice, I guess 25% isn’t too bad a ratio.

http://www.dempseyhouse.com/

曼谷 x Vivitar 超廣角 初體驗

Bangkok

Crossing the river

<3 the skies

Classing parting shot

I’m not your typical shopping-girlfriend so don’t count on this too much.

Start the day with the infamous Chatuchak, and start early! We had a map but we still didn’t manage to navigate so heck, just go with the flow! Stuff here aren’t exactly cheap what with the hordes of tourists that visit, their sense of fashion is not in sync with mine either. How about adding Mr Sun to the picture? Nonetheless, it is an experience to window shop this labyrinth of shops amidst sticky shoulder rubs. I left empty handed.

Sky Train

Shopping with Kenji & Suya

Fancy some airconditioning? Try Emporium Thailand for Propaganda and the Thailand Creative and Design Center (TCDC). In fact, Propaganda alone is reason enough for me to shop there, look at what I found:

Letterpress by Bold Ideas

Expression dish by Surasekk

Emergency wedding ring by Propaganda

I regretted not buying a couple more emergency wedding rings! My friends love it!

Got money? Go burn a hole in your pocket at CentralWorld. I love what they sell in here but everything is in hundreds of (Singapore) dollars. I was greeted with so many dresses that caught my eye even though I’ve never heard of labels like Heidi’s Secrets & Paradiso, De Pil, KIDDING AROUND and Sara’s Wand.

When the sun sets, head over to Suan-Lum Night Bazaar for dinner, some REAL shopping and a massage! Suan Lum has a lot of shops that sell designer housewares and nice apparels. Things are cheap here but you can still bargain up to 30% off! It’s much better to shop at night when the sun is sleeping, and the crowd is not as thick as Chatuchak. I scored a denim short-overalls for less than SG$20!

Suan-Lum Night Bazaar

Rendezvous point

On the first night, we ate at a Hawker Centre and ordered many different Thai dishes. I love the Tom Yum Soup in Thailand! <3 <3 <3 There was a soccer match going on, though we didn’t catch it, I think it’d be exhilirating for soccer fans to rahrah with the crowd over sausages and beer.

臺灣的朋友

Soccer fans in Suan-Lum

We liked Suan-Lum so much that we revisited it two nights in a row! On the second night, we had dinner in a slightly upmarket Thai restaurant – Relax. Enjoy the laidback way of life, dine indoors or alfresco with old English love songs in the background.

Relax

I think I’ve more photos in my Vivitar, shall update again once I’m done with the roll tomorrow… in Penang! Heh!

3 things: Cash, Sunscreen and a Cap.

You can’t hide from the sun unless you’re shopping indoors (and they have a few good ones too).  Asian countries like Thailand and Singapore have high humidity levels so you’ll perspire easily. Oh, and wear your most comfy pair of sneakers or slippers.

River boat with Kenji's Olympus Trip 500

Note to self: Beer and KTV the night before + 3 hours of sleep later, still looking fresh! Lol!

Take a ride along the Chao Phraya River

Lazy afternoon

Buy a One-Day Pass from BTS to take the Sky Train to Saphan Taksin station and transfer to the Chao Phraya Express Boat. Drop at stop 9 instead of 8 and walk to Wat Pho (to see the HUGE reclining Buddha) because there’s an interesting flea market en route selling lots of amulets and nick-nacks (Kenji and I “discovered” it because we missed a stop with me dozing peacefully). I spied another tourist eying a pair of vintage, pirate’s telescope that I’d love to own (just so you’ll know what treasures you may find)!

Alm bowls at Wat Pho

Monks at Wat Arun

You’ll need to take the river boat to cross the river and get to Wat Arun. Magnificent temple with steps so steep, my knees turned jelly when I was descending. It was quite fun to climb and picturesque too! Ladies: please don’t wear skirts unless you’d like to showcase your panties, and don’t wear stuff that’s too revealing or you’ll need to rent a shawl.

Khao San Road

Last stop, take the boat to Khao San and forget you’re in Asia because in this ghetto for backpackers, it’s like 95% non-Asians. Littered with backpackers’ inns and bars, I swore I’d re-visit Bangkok just to chill here with a book in one hand and an ice-cold beer in another.

Related links:
Bangkok Mass Transit System Public Company Limited (BTS)
Chao Phraya Express Boat
Wat Pho
Wat Arun
Khao San Road

Best part about “re-uniting” with Kenji after all these years is to find a spontaneous photography buddy! Not to mention, my new friend, J – the unknowing victim who willingly jumped into our crazy whirlpool of film/digital SLR/DSLR/toy cameras after a spontaneous decision to meet in Taipei! Sooo… the 3 of us went on a little excursion last Saturday…

魔鬼！

Geek specs!

Notebooks

More notebooks

Kenji and his SLR

Cat Socrates is a bookshop that also carries a variety of tin toys, CDs, tote bags, notebooks, stationery and other zakka, with a tiny corner that serves coffee (for like only 6 people!). They’re organising a Space Tin Photography Competition, submission deadline 30th June, chekkit!

Cat Socrates
苏格拉底猫·新生活阅读·创意杂货
ttp://www.catsocrates.com.sg/
231 Bain Street
Bras Basah Complex
#03-39
Singapore 180231

As we couldn’t get seats at Cat Socrates + it was getting too dark for some lomo action, we headed over to the Mint Museum of Toys for coffee. J getting trigger happy with his funny conversion lens (wide angle) that Kenji and him bought from Cat Socrates at only SG$8.50.

J

Me & my Sony α

MINT cafe

Mint Museum of Toys
http://www.emint.com/
26 Seah Street
Singapore 188382

p/s: They sell the funny lenses at Strapya World too, but at US$9+! Pricey!

“Team-bonding” getaway in Tioman. The company always makes a difference and it was a great trip. 想念。。。

Tioman

Doris and the cat

*meow*