Leading the wild into the ways of the man…
Bangkok Best Coffee seems to be a franchise in Thailand and I went to check it out after seeing it one too many times (it’s a compulsion I have, I can’t stand seeing something multiple times and not go ;)).
I don’t know if they deserve the moniker Bangkok Best Coffee but their coffee is alright…and most importantly it’s got caffeine in it.
I just realized that I have so many Bangkok back posts that it’ll take me ages to clear…
Got meth caffeine?
This is Hard Rock Cafe in Bangkok.
We went to the Hard Rock Café Retail Store…
…and got matching Hard Rock Café Bangkok 2006 Limited Edition t-shirts as a souvenir.
Update:
This is the matching tees that we got. It says 1991-2006 “15 Years of Rock” Hard Rock Café Bangkok.
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BTS or the Bangkok Transit System is the fastest and cheapest way to get around Bangkok. BTS is a train much like the LRT and they offer airport services via the BTS Skytrain network too.
The BTS trains are operated using a coupon system – the tickets are bought at the respective train stations…
…and used in the turnstiles to exit or enter the station.
The train station closest to Siam City Hotel Bangkok is Phaya Thai station (3 minutes walk) and the BTS network connects this station to stations which are in Pat Pong, Siam Square, Siam Paragon etc. Basically, you can get to anywhere you want to go in Bangkok city using the BTS.
This is what a BTS ticket looks like – it’s a coin operated vendor machine dispensed magnetic strip card that has a preloaded value onto it. Two train stops costs just 15 baht (about RM 1.50) so it’s the most affordable method to get around Thailand.
BTS trains are long and relatively new, much like its counterpart in Melbourne, Australia except that it runs on suspended rails instead of on the ground.
Here is a peek inside a BTS train. It’s usually packed with people at all times of the hour but the same thing can be said of Bangkok.
Sure, the BTS connects you to strange stations like On Nut and Mo Chit but get around the initial chuckle with the names and you’ll be fine. 🙂
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Patpong is the red light district of Bangkok offering live topless and nude shows in the many alleys that has pimps (promoters?) offering live shows and girls. I went to Patpong just now with MDC to check out the place at night.
Patpong is a lot like Petaling Street and Jalan Alor combined together – it is full of narrow and crowded alleys with the sides lined with street vendors selling everything from t-shirts to BB guns. There are also bars and the relentless glow of neon lights advertising “Hot Go Go Girls Live Show” as well as massage centers (which don’t just give you a massage if you catch my drift).
Patpong is not just a red light district but also a shopping haven. There are goods ranging from bags…
…to attire…
…and shoes. It’s possible to get cheap stuff from here but you need to have strong bargaining skillz. I usually try and get discounts for bulk purchases and walk away if the price wasn’t right. It usually works – the vendor will beckon you back with a “OK, just for you, special price” and the deal is sealed. 😉
Patpong has a really lively nightlife that constitutes mostly of live shows of women in various states of undress. There are also pimps that would approach you to offer women or lap dances in addition to the various self-promoting girls standing outside their topless bars.
I was walking with MDC and got accosted many times by promoters despite the fact that I seem attached. I did want to go in and check out the live shows but MDC gave me THE LOOK when I casually brought it up. One promoter who saw that blurted “Girls can also see!” which I found rather funny and kept on bugging MDC about it.
She didn’t let me go so I’m sorry guys, the best I can do is show the outside of the clubs and strip dance places and the girls standing there:
Download: Patpong red light district video [sixthseal.com]
Patpong is a great place to go if you want to shop for cheap goods and catch a live sex show while you’re at it but I highly recommend that you leave your girlfriend or wife back at the hotel.
Trust me, you’re gonna thank me for it. 😉
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I woke up this morning and walked around during peak office hours to get some food. I wanted to check out the street food by the roadside (it’s kinda like a moving hawker stall) so I ended up going to this noodle place that a lot of Thai people were at so I assume it must be good.
The friendly girl manning the noodle stall didn’t speak much English but I managed to point at a dish that most of the people there are eating. It’s a noodle dish soup with a choice of original, round or green noodles and I chose the original one.
The tables are arranged around the hawker stall and plastic stools are available for patrons to sit on. I was a bit puzzled when a little boy handed me a tin cup filled with ice until he motioned to the water containers on the table (complimentary). Iced water! Sweet.
This is what the noodle dish (40 baht – around RM 4) looks like – it had more ingredients than noodles. There are pork slices, pork balls, pork dumplings (they sure love their pork over here) and another kind of smaller pork dumplings at the bottom covered by wiggly noodles and vegetables in soup. It tastes surprisingly good, it’s different from the noodle offerings back home.
I went to get some drinks after that and noticed a street hawker doing brisk business selling fresh, chilled local mandarin orange juice (20 baht – around RM 2). I saw a lot of people patronizing the stall so I deduced it must be good if local Thai office people were ordering it. The man at the stall is real friendly too and showed me how it’s done.
The local mandarin juice is really good – cold and refreshing after the hot soup meal. Check out the street food when you’re in Bangkok, it’s interesting.
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The tuk-tuk experience is a must have for first time Thailand visitors. Tuk Tuks are practically an icon of Bangkok – small motorized rickshaws that can seat up to three people at the back and it’s really fun to ride during breezy Bangkok nights.
The tuk-tuk consists of a driver (who usually drives in a manner that would make most professional F1 drivers green with envy with their daredevil weaving through traffic and general disregard for safety) who takes you on a comfortable seat at the back, which is partially sealed. I went with MDC (My Dining Companion) and Jia Chui (read previous post) for the tuk-tuk experience.
It is advisable to negotiate the fare before going coz we got charged 300 baht (RM 30) for a trip from Siam City Hotel to Siam Square (for a comparison, a metered taxi would cost 45 baht – RM 4.50) but it was worth it coz of the photo op and the experience. I bargained for 150 baht for the return trip. This shows me with the driver and Jia Chui at the back. MDC took the photo.
Download: Tuk tuk video [sixthseal.com]
Get a virtual tuk-tuk ride! The video shows the tuk tuk going through
Bangkok streets and also Jia Chui (but not MDC who must not be named,
or seen for that matter).
Tuk tuk drivers will also not-so-subtly encourage you to patronize certain outlets, e.g. we got asked many times if we wanted to go to a particular seafood restaurant by the return tuk-tuk but the first tuk tuk didn’t do that so YMMV.
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This is a public service announcement – The Platinum Fashion Mall in Bangkok is evil. It’s a wholesale emporium of attire, a shopper’s paradise and it will drain all your baht away. I think I spent 3,000 baht just on clothes just now.
The Platinum Fashion Mall has a lot of floors dedicated to all sorts of attire you can think of – I spent a lot of baht in one shop alone.
It’s called Marijuana. How can you not buy stuff from this place? I got a lot of t-shirts for myself and also – Cherie, Irene, Joanne, David, Jimmy and Robyn, I got you all stuff from this place, you’ll love it!
I ended up looking like this…and I’m not even much of a shopper! I just couldn’t resist the counter-culture, drug and sex reference t-shirts. The place is really cheap too, if you bargain, you can get probably 5 t-shirts for 500 baht (RM 50).
The Platinum Fashion Mall is a baht drainer coz it has its own food court as well so you can spend the entire day there if you’re so inclined (and you probably would if you visit every shop in this huge mall).
The food court at The Platinum Fashion Mall uses a coupon system for purchasing food. There were three of us, and we each got 100 baht credit coupon cards and shared the food.
I ordered Somtam (the famous Thai mango salad) with blue crabs and chicken feet (55 baht) and the mango salad was pounded into a dish that looked like this:
It tastes REALLY GOOD. I can’t describe how good it tastes, it was just so good that I nearly came while eating it. My dining companion (MDC from this post onwards to protect her privacy) and Jia Chui (a pharmacist from KL that I met at the hotel) both agreed somtam is THE SHIT.
Please do try Somtam if you’re ever in Thailand, it’s orgasmic!
Other highlights is this dish with really hot sauce (don’t know what it’s called) that was really good as well.
There’s also a local home made grilled bread that we ordered.
This is the chilli paste and pork floss version (15 baht). It’s great!
This is the Thailand tea custard version (12 baht) which MDC ordered. It tastes like tea custard.
Just be careful when you walk down the many aisles of The Platinum Fashion Mall…it’s temptation personified in a large concrete building. You’re going to spend a lot of baht here coz everything seems cheap.
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Sawadee ka! Greetings from Bangkok, Thailand. I just arrived yesterday and spent most of the night walking around. I’m staying at Siam City Hotel in Bangkok.
The flight from Kuching to KL to Bangkok was timed perfectly and Bangkok is one hour behind Malaysia (GMT +7) so I’m going to pre-date all the posts I make in Bangkok by one hour coz that is the time over here.
There is a Thailand immigration card that you need to fill in (both the arrival and departure details) so you can clear customs real fast (took me all of one minute). The immigration in BKK airport has one of those new Logitech webcams that swivel to your direction.
I arrived at Bangkok International Airport at 4:30 pm local time (that means the time in Thailand, not Malaysia) which would be 5:30 pm back home.
The people in Thailand are decidedly more polite and accommodating and friendly than the Malaysian counterparts (sorry, it just had to be said). Which part of it is due to the tourism industry is debatable but I haven’t had a bad experience so far.
I breezed through BKK customs via the green lane (who said Bangkok was strict?) and took a taxi to Siam City Hotel from the airport for 650 baht (about RM 65 or US $30) coz I wanted to do the tourist thing at night.
Download: Bangkok video [sixthseal.com]
Check out the video, I took it in the airport limousine service and the driver was kind enough to teach me some Thai phases (khopun kap – that’s Thank You in Thai) and even took the liberty of passing me a catalogue for a massage center close to my hotel. 😉
This is Siam City Hotel, Bangkok where I’m staying. I’m staying at this place coz it’s clean (just got a new tattoo and gotta take care of it remember?). I’m more of a traveler than a tourist, but then there’s also this event I wanted to gatecrash (more about that later ;))
I tipped the driver 50 baht coz he was being real nice and told me where to catch some real muay thai (Thai kickboxing) action and taught me some Thai phrases which I used immediately upon arrival at the hotel. I think the receptionist was quite impressed but she told me that it’s gender specific, khopun kap as a gender neutral but decidedly masculine tone and khopun ka (without the p sound) for a more feminine address.
I’m rambling a bit over here…there’s so much to share with all of you, I’m having fun over here in Bangkok. I’m going to make more posts today okay? In sequence, as a travelogue, did so much in a single day over here and net access costs 640 baht for a day (that’s a whopping RM 64) so I might as well make good use of it right?
Till then, la got!
That’s Thai for goodbye. =D
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I had planned to go to Siam Reap in Cambodia tomorrow – the tickets were booked through AirAsia a couple of weeks ago on a promotional fare. I wanted to check out the Angkor Wat (which is closer to Siam Reap than Phnom Penh, the capital) and perhaps smoke some old skool opium if I manage to find an opium den. 😉
The trip was supposed to be for one (1) week – and I wanted to check
out Phnom Penh as well, using their internal transportation services,
just backpacking, roughing it out a bit.
(and smoke some opium in an opium den)
Alas, the trip was not meant to be coz one of our projects starts next week and I’m heavily involved in that project, thus I cannot take leave. AirAsia does not have a refund policy (they are a low cost ticket less airline, much like Virgin Blue in Australia) so I’m scrapping this trip. I’ll go again some other time.
In other news, I won back the cost of the tickets to Cambodia last night alone. 😉
Argentina vs. Serbia & Montenegro
Asian Handicap Odds: Argentina conceding one (1) goal
Bet: Argentina (RM 300)
Result: 5-0 to Argentina
It was an absolute trashing mate! =D I knew the game was in the pocket when the result was 3-0. 😉 I won RM 300 from this match.
Netherlands vs. Ivory Coast
Asian Handicap Odds: Netherlands conceding a “half-ball” (1/2) goal
Bet: Netherlands (RM 300)
Result: 2-1 to Netherlands
It rose from 2-0 to 2-1 so this one is also in the bag for me. 🙂 The half-ball concept is not that difficult to understand – basically, the team conceding the “half-ball” means you lose if the result is a draw (since there’s a 1/2 goal handicap for Netherlands) but if the team wins by even a single goal, you win all. I won RM 300 for this match as well. 🙂
I won a total of RM 600 last night. That covers my Cambodia trip costs (plane tickets) that were not meant to be. 🙂
Oh well, I’ll just go traveling when work is less hectic…
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Jong’s Crocodile Farm is located about 30 km from Kuching and it’s the only crocodile breeding farm in Malaysia. There are plenty of road signs to direct you to the crocodile farm which is located along the Kuching – Serian road. It is home to the legendary man eating killer croc Bujang Senang. I went there with a couple of friends to check out the crocodiles during the weekend.
The entrance of Jong’s Crocodile Farm features a huge crocodile sculpture in front of the diminutive entrance. It’s a replica of Bujang Senang. The zoo is actually quite huge, with various breeding farms for crocodiles. Jong’s Crocodile Farm also features other animals native to Borneo, but the main attraction is the crocodiles, specifically the crocodile feeding session (video below).
Jong’s Crocodile Farm charges RM 8 for adults and RM 4 for children below the age of 12. It’s best to go during the crocodile feeding times which happens twice daily – once at 11 pm and once at 3 pm. The afternoon croc feeding demonstration is a good one to catch as there are plenty of other interesting things to occupy your time. I would recommend at least 2 hours for checking out the other sights at the farm.
There is a huge glass display that confronts you right as you step inside Jong’s Crocodile Farm. It contains the substantial skull and jaw of the notorious Bujang Senang killer crocodile that reigned in blood until the fateful day on the 12th of May 1992 when it was brought down by a shotgun in Sri Aman (also on display).
Jong’s Crocodile Farm has pictures of Bujang Senang’s reign of terror on the walls of the entrance. I remember the crocodile from my childhood – it was something of a household name during a killing spree during the early 90’s. Bujang Senang translates to “Happy Bachelor”. Don’t look at me, I wasn’t the one who named it.
There is a slot beside the shrine where people can put in cash (though to what purpose, defeats me) and 4D numbers. Bujang Senang is a huge crocodile that grew to 19 feet and 4 inches. It was struck down by a shotgun shell in Sg. Pelaban in Lingga Batang Lupar at Sri Aman and judging from the well formed and worn canines on its huge jaw, it must have been justified. 😉
Jong’s Crocodile Farm and Zoo also has other animals on display, like these two iguanas having a staring contest. I don’t know which one blinked first.
There is also a museum like display of the lifecycle of a saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus Porosus) in the form of live exhibits ranging from eggs to the hatching stage at 92 days and right up to a six month old crocodile. The exhibits are real crocodiles and eggs preserved in embalming fluid.
The entrance to the outdoor Jong’s Crocodile Farm is accessible from a small gate which has a sign with the crocodile feeding time and directions to the various other animals in the large Jong’s Crocodile Farm natural zoo.
Jong’s Crocodile Farm features concrete enclosures (more like pits actually) with lots and lots of crocodiles in various stages of their lifecycle. The crocodiles are separated according to their age (and thus, size) and does not seem to display aggression towards their own kind.
There was even some reptile lovin’ going on in one of the pits…some sort of crocodile orgy.
The crocodile pits have wet and dry areas to simulate the natural habitat of a saltwater crocodile. It goes sequentially from small (young) to large (older) crocodiles and after a certain age, the crocodiles are released into another area inside the crocodile farm.
The larger crocodiles look kinda cute with their intricate scaly exterior. I like the two crocodiles sizing each other up in the middle. Crocodiles have existed since the age of the dinosaurs and they predate man and probably would outlast us in the evolutionary cycle.
This crocodile looks sinister (in a nice way) when it’s partially submerged in the water with only the snout showing. It looks rather like a log when it does this. I think this is the stage where it learns how to hunt.
I think this crocodile doesn’t like me very much…
There were two unusual live crocodiles on display.
This is a Tailless Crocodile. I don’t know if it’s a genetic defect or whether another crocodile ate its tail. It’s still alive and staring. It looks grumpy.
Jong’s Crocodile Farm also has an “Eyeless Crocodile“. I feel compelled to share the signage coz it’s like Ripley’s “Believe it or not”.
This is the “Eyeless Crocodile”. Again, no mention is made on whether the crocodile was born without eyes or whether another crocodile took out its eye. I think it’s the former though coz there’s only scales where its eyes are supposed to go.
There are also other animals in cages or roaming around freely. This is a very curious bird that doesn’t fly and isn’t afraid of people. It came up to me and cocked its head to look at me.
This is a colorful ostrich. I didn’t know ostriches look like this.
There is also a Borneo Sun Bear which was isolated in the middle of a concrete unit. It was pacing around restlessly.
I had to console this monkey after she was brutally raped and left bleeding and crying. We chatted for a while, and after I established that she was OK, we moved on to the other exhibits.
Jong’s Crocodile Farm also features a huge manmade pond full of Arapaima Gigas. It’s one of the largest freshwater fish in the world and the size of these things easily reaches meters.
It’s not exactly a very friendly fish though…there is one partially submerged in this photo. It’s shy but you can find it in the upper right hand corner if you squint a bit.
There are actually crocodiles wondering around, so watch your step when you go to Jong’s crocodile farm.
It was soon nearing the 3 pm feeding time so we made our way to the crocodile feeding pond.
The crocodile feeding pond has a watchtower of sorts on the other side (inaccessible to the public) which features a contraption spanning the entire pond (which is crawling with crocodiles).
The contraption is operated by a staff of Jong’s Crocodile Farm and features a pulley system to put whole chickens on hooks before rolling it out to the crocodile infested pond.
The meat is suspended about a meter off the surface of the water and the hungry crocodiles slowly float towards the chicken. It’s the calm before the feeding frenzy starts…
Crocodiles can leap from the water and launch themselves surprisingly high into the air to snap at the meat dangling from the hook.
More crocodile acrobatics from Jong’s Crocodile Farm…
/me holds up sign for 10.
Download: Jong’s Crocodile Farm crocodile feeding [sixthseal.com]
Jong’s Crocodile Farm is worth visiting for some quality time with our reptilian friends. The crocodile feeding show is worth the RM 8 entrance fee itself!
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