Bangkok trip

Finally I am on my study break.  That explains the frequency of blogging.  The last few weeks were terrible.  I was packed with essays, presentations and mid term exams... all in a shot.  This is due to the short semesters I have in my university.

Despite all the crazy schedules, classes and with 2 UNCOMPLETED essays that was dued on a Monday, I flew to Thailand last last Friday.  I missed my classes on Friday itself, prepped myself with my laptop and all the the necessary materials needed to complete my essays. 

Our flight was about 7am in the morning.  We reached Thailand about 9am.

It was a rather special trip because a group of us was going to visit the temple at the countryside and stay there for a night.  We had to travel for about 6 hours riding the bus....Boy was it long!  Thank goodness we had stop overs which were rather fun because we were all looking forward to grab something to eat!!
 

 We bought fruits from this lady.  It was 40 degrees >.<!  But the fruits were really sweet and it quenched my thirst!!

 There was a pretty cafe called the 'Amazon cafe' and there was aircon!  Its like Singapore's starbucks or coffee bean concept.

 

 Joyce and I.  Joyce is one of our family's friend.

HAHAHA... Candice was not feeling well.  So she was not allowed to take cold stuff.  But she's crazy!  At that kinda hot weather, she was drinking such a HOT drink!!

The bus ride was long and honestly, due to all the recent busy schedule, I was sleeping in the bus throughout the whole trip other than stop overs!   And it was good because before I knew it, we reached the temple!
It was a really peaceful place.  The temple was located in an open space and the main shrine was an open shrine.

 That was the place where we stayed.  It's called the "Kuti".  Men were supposed to sleep in tents provided while the ladies could sleep in the Kuti.

 Each monk's personal Kuti.

It was rather interesting.  Dinner was offered and prepared by the Thai's devotees.  I was not used to the food provided.  Everything was curry curry curry =p

What frightened me was when the monk was trying to catch the snake and let it go..... There was a snake on the compound... >.<!  Luckily, I did not meet any.  We all took our cool showers before we headed to the open shrine to listen to the monk's teachings.  Apparently at night, that open shrine was so cooling and was so comfortable to sit there.  They mentioned that in December, the place would be about 12 degrees =)

There were no beds in the Kuti, just our sleeping bags.  I had a slight neck ache the following day as my sleeping position wasn't too good. I woke up early in the morning to catch the sun rise.

The sunrise was such a beauty!  We had breakfast and we went to offer food and enjoyed the Songkran festival and everyone was splashing water all around!!

It was indeed a wonderful experience.  And at 12 noon, we were all packed and we proceeded on to return back to Bangkok.  Another gruelling 6 hours of bus ride which again, I slept through the whole journey.  When we reached bangkok, it was already 6pm and we checked into the Evergreen Hotel in the heart of the city!  Took a quick shower before wanting to explore the night life of Bangkok!

 Beautiful view in our room!  The sun was setting!

We meet up with my mum's Thai friend.  She brought us around and we walked all the way to malls like Platinum, times square.  The objective of last day of the trip was to go shopping, so we had a quick dinner and explored malls.  My mum and Joyce were busy shopping at Naraya while the guys explored the whole building.  And my dad, sis and I chilled at Starbuck's for an hour.

After they were done, we went to the mart to get some goodies that we can bring home to singapore!  The rest of the the guys and Joyce went for full body massage at a shop (which became full house), my family tried to find other massage places.  Unfortunately, everywhere was full house!!!!Even some till 3am.  So we decided to return to the hotel, where my parents slept early and now was the chance for me to do my essays.  But honestly, I was so exhausted.  I did up a little of my essay in bed.

The next morning, we woke up at 5 am!  Prepared and got ready for breakfast at 0630hrs.  Breakfast was provided at the hotel and it was goooooood.

 I would have eaten much more!!  But I had a few outbreak of ulcers from the heat of Thailand =(  And that made me lose my appetite and did not wanna eat anything other than drink water. And I did not have oracort with me!!!!! =(

My mum and her Thai friend.  She was such a wonderful lady.

We went to Platinum and the wholesale market opposite.  Bargained a GREAT deal with her kind efforts and help!!  We only had 2 hours to shop =( and we were rushing!  I bought what I thought was lovely but there were many other shops that I was not able to explore.
We will definitely be back for more!!

The lady drove us to the airport where we had to catch our flight at 1245hrs.  It was a pity that this trip could not be extended because of me.  On Monday, I had to go to sch to hand up all my essays!  And till at that point of time, I was still NOT done!!! >.<!

We had lunch in the airport at an open restaurant.  I wonder how they cooked!! No food smell.  No sizzling sounds!!....

On the way back to Singapore, I slept all the way back and being unable to do any work.. At Changi airport, we had a quick dinner at Soup restaurant and we were home at about 7 plus nearly 8pm.  I started to rush one of my essay till 2am.  I was so tired and I decided to sleep and wake up and continue the next day.  But I overslept.  Went to school, hand up my first assignment and continued the second one.  Managed to complete it by evening and attended evening tutorial.  PHEW!  It was sure tough!!  But I told myself that I must complete it by the actual day itself!

Right now, I am starting to put my constant effort to read up and all in preparation for exams!!  Wish me all the best!!

Yours truly,
Roxanne