Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Bangkok Traffic

What happens when you seat a group of friends at Thai Express who all agree that its "Kao Niao Mah Muang" (Sticky Mango Rice) is inconsistent?

A last-minute snap-decision to fly to Bangkok for the real deal, the very next weekend!

That's what happened last Sunday after church when a group of us had lunch at the Siglap Thai Express. Before you know it, we were up, up and away to the land of smiles!

Flew in on Friday night to check into a dodgy-looking three-star hotel with HDB white lighting, and back on Sunday evening.

This was my very first trip into Bangkok, so I didn't really know what to expect. Much of central Bangkok where we stayed is dominated by 2-tiered roads, the bottom tier for the tuk-tuks and cabbies headed towards the eating and shopping districts, and the higher tier for fast-moving vehicles headed out of the city.

Very grey, very concrete. Badly-maintained pavements which were a nightmare terrain for Dylan's stroller to manoevre over. Reminded me a bit of the less glossy parts of KL.

But what an adventure it was! After midnight Singapore time, we found ourselves braving the traffic in tuk-tuks, bundling little Dylan in arm, and headed for seafood at Song Nam (did I get this name correctly?)

The following two days saw 6 of us squeezing to the back of cabs (dear hubby's the biggest sized, so he gets to go the front passenger seat!). Quite an experience, but I wouldn't recommend it if you are stuck in an hour-long jam - my entire left leg went completely asleep at one point, and so did Aihua's, I think!

6 at the back of the cab

This trip is also significant because it is the first time we're taking Dylan on a flight. I've been advised to nurse him during take-off and landing so that the pressure-change won't cause him ear pains, and it seemed to work like magic.

SIA also served delicious baby bottled-food. Dylan had "Pumpkin, parsnip and roast beef". Yum, doesn't it sound gourmet?

He really didn't enjoy being confined to the baby bassinet, though. So E. and I couldn't enjoy our airline food at the same time cos one of us had to attend to him always.

Mommies out there who have travelled with their babies, let me know what you can do to coax the little ones to sleep in their bassinets!

Some photos to share, will post more photos when we get to download them from our phones. These are courtesy of Aihua and James, the lovely newly-weds (we joke that this is their first unofficial honeymoon!):

AH & J

At Don Wai's floating market, we had duck & pork noodles, and thai otah for breakfast -
Floating Market
Duck and Pork Noodles at Don Wai 2

Sunday afternoon, just in front of the MBK mall, along our final walk back to the hotel from all the shopping, before flying home (and Dylan looking a little grumpy after having his cheeks pinched by the 50 millionth Thai shopkeeper):

In front of MBK 1

2 comments:

  1. Amazed at your spontaneity and bravery. :)

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  2. yeah, tell me about it.

    It was good that the baby took to the travelling pretty well, hardly kicked up any fuss. Although he was pretty wiped out after the trip.

    Slept the whole of the next day, and the day after that. Grandma and grandpa says he's got jet lag.

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