Bangkok Thailand: The Temple, the Market and the 'Red Shirt' Compound (3 - 4 May 2010)

March 2009, I bought cheap tickets for my 2010 family trip to Thailand. February 2010, for some reasons, I could not go, so there goes my 300 dollars.

March 2010, I wanted to go so bad, I bought the tickets again for trip in May. Mid March, riots hit Bangkok and since then travel warnings were issued by countries around the world.

Question: Do I have to cancel my trip again and loose my money? Nope. I went there anyway, with my sister Helga.

We arrived in Bangkok on 2 May night. For security reason, I asked the hotel to pick us up. Expensive ... but I have to make sure I am back home in one piece!

We stayed at Arun Residence, a boutique hotel by the Chao Phraya river. It is located in Ko Ratanakosin, the Old City, walking distance to the Grand Palace. When we had our supper, a nice bowl of Tom Yam Kung, we were acoompanied by the beatiful view accross the river, the Wat Arun or known as Temple of Dawn.In the morning, the beautiful Wat Arun were our first scene off our bedroom window. It is indeed look clearer during the day!After breakfast, we walked to the Grand Palace. Lucky us to stay in the Old City area, on the way to the palace, we pass old buildings and a market which just being prepared.Mostly, this market sold tradisional medicine, many kinds of dry foods, even dry salted fish.Less than ten minutes walk, we arrived at the Grand Palace complex. After purchasing the ticket, first we entered Wat Phra Kaew or Temple of Emerald Budha. Yes, there is a Budha statue made of emerald in the main temple. The temples are very beautiful!This temple is made of pure gold.There are paintings of Ramayana story.We, with other tourists, had a nice free tour guide name Jeffry who guided us along the complex.

After the temples, we visit the Palace area which formerly reside by Thai Royal family.Around eleven we left the Palace and heading to the Tha Chang Market located closed by. The idea was to get some lunch. But I am a very picky person when it comes to food. The market made me dizzy so we ended up eating Pad Thai or Thai fried noodle at a cafe called 'Royal Navy Club.'After walking around the area and ended in another market, Amalat Market, we were on the bus heading to Old Siam market for some souvenirs. And there we were, in another market! Same ol Bangkok market. Far from what we expecting. It was hot and chaotic. No one speaks English.

I checked the Lonely Planet for the Plaza: for air conditioning and nice shopping :) .... the book suggested for Siam Paragon! So, a taxi drove us there.

I should have sense something were wrong when the driver seemed to be quiet and droped us a bit far from the plaza. My sister and I walked as directed until we found ourselves under a bridge. Within a secod, loud marching music surprised us. In Indonesia, the kind of music only heard during independencce day or .... going to war?? Something very fishy going on ... that's when I saw a bunch of people wearing red shirt around us ... we were in the 'Red Shirt' compound!The red shirt people is the group who oppose current Thai government. During my visit, they had taken over the city centre which is the surrounding of Siam Paragon.

Well, we were scared, but of course not forgetting taking pictures before leaving the area :)

The gate.Hhmm, when there is a problem ... there is a business opportunity. A woman selling red shirt articles.Later, after walking around confused in the other part of the city centreand after arguing with the taxi driver who did not want to use the meter, we stepped into Wat Po or Temple od Reclining Budha.Funny sign in front of the temple.I was happy because I got myself a nice bargain for a Thai dancer headdress from the souvenir shop in Wat Po.

Then, we went to Wat Arun. We got to the other side of the river on a ferry by paying THB 3 (or 10 cents or 1000 rupiah!). So we got up closed and personal with the view that we usualy see from accross the river.Dinner at the Deck Restaurant, then we went to Patpong, Bangkok Red Light district plus night market. We saw a lot of armed forces guarding the area. It was like a war zone.

Some guys offering us tickets for adult entertainment. But after the glimpse of it from the market, we said no, instead we walked to the next street watching beautiful Thai girls offering themselves on the street. Interesting.

The next day we went to Jim Thompson's House. A complex of Thai traditional house built by an American. Beautiful and green.Then we run to the airport. On the way there, we said bye to sets of nice pictures of Thailand King, HM Rama IX. His pictures were displayed in each part of Bangkok. It was a day before the anniversary of the King coronation. Very important for Thai people considering the country situation. There was a parade scheduled on 5 May.

But we had to skip the party as we had to get to our next destination, Phuket.

Made in Singapore (12 April 2010)

Hop onto the Hippo Bus Heritage Tour, sit on top and see the other site of Singapore! The one hour tour takes you to some old and new site of Singapore ... Chinatown, Little India, Arab Street, the Flyer, 'Thorny' building and other parts of the Nation City where you can see old buildings ... My favourites.

I did it a couple weeks ago and wodered why I have missed out this tour for years visiting Singapore.

What did I see?

1. Tower of St Andrews Church .... looking dramatic at dusk.2. Old Mosque at Arab Street3. Hindu Temple at Little India (Yes, I know, I should get rid of that apartment at the background to make the better picture!)4. Chinese temple5. Colorful Chinatown6. Shady Chinatown7. The Rafless Hotel8. Old and New .... Fullerton Hotel and skyscraper CBD Building.9. Esplanade (The Opera House of Singapore)... or is it 'Durian' ... the King of Fruit?10. The tallest flyer in the world ... Singapore Flyer.11. And of course .... Colorful Apartment where most of Singaporean spend the life with their family.The pictures only proof some of the beautiful sights we will find ....Wondering why the pictures a bit dark? Was it cloudy that day? Nope, I took them behind tinted glass of the tour bus :) But still good, right?

Good things about Singapore, besides being very clean; even it keeps building new constructions ... Resort World, F1 Facility, casinos; it still preserves its heritage. But for the variety traditional dance, show and parade ... nothing beats Indonesia ..

So, come and see it yourself! What? Singapore or Indonesia? BOTH!

No, I did not take any money from Singapore Tourism Authority :)

Malaysia Ha ha ha ... (10-11 April 2010)

Malaysia? Kalo mau dibawa serius sih, terus terang aja, saya sebal. Tapi karena mau nengok si Bonie, teman saya yang lagi di rantau, saya relain deh nambah devisa kesana beberapa ringgit.

Pas di pesawat Jakarta - Kuala Lumpur (KL), saya pasang wajah judes pada para Pa' cik dan Ma' cik (Jahat ya, padahal ada yang baik juga lho). Tapi judes mode saya ON banget pas Pa' cik yang duduk di sebelah saya, dengan logat melayu nya bertanya "Mau keja di Malaysie ya?" ...Apa Pa'cik, mau ngegebugin saya juga?

Untung udah itu saya mutusin ngak mau mikir yang berat-berat, have a look around, banyak yang bisa diketawain di Malaysia ....

1.Ternyata Pengedar masih legal di Malaysia, padahal dipikir udah digantung semua.2.Dipikir Rumah Sakit cuma untuk sakit badan, ternyata juga buat yang merasa cemas, malang dan cari kemudahan. (Check out the 'Klinik Pergigian')3.Peronda? Ketongannya mana Om?(Ternyata 'Peronda Lebuh Raya' artinya 'Patroli Jalan Raya' atau bahasa kerennya 'Highway Patrol').

4.Eeerrrrr ....No comment lah ...5.Apalagi yang ini ...6.Bisa pake 'ais' lagi....7.Baru tahu, kalo di Malaysia, AC bisa ikut pemilu ...menang lagi!8.Jangan senyum dulu, bahasa yang bikin bingung bisa menular lho. Buktinya, spanduk restoran padang paling laku di KL aja ikut-ikutan ngaco ....So my fellow Indonesian, gimana kalau kita patenin Bahasa Melayu aja? Kan lucu, bisa jadi hiburan .......

Untuk Indonesia ku yang cantik dan beraneka.

Step 2 - Let’s Make a Pinata!! (Decoration)

Now that we have the piñata shell ready, we can start to decorate it.

(For those of you who don't know how to make the shell, please look at February 2010 posting on making of pinata shell).

So what kind of piñata do we want? Hhmmmm … let’s try the easy one. Let’s make Mr.Chicken King piñata! Lulu will help us ... she's the expert, but she's abit shy to admit it :)

What you need:
1. A piñata shell. Your shell should have one hole on top of it.
2. Plastic rope
3. Some colorful paper
4. A cup of Glue
5. A scroll of cardboard paperHow to do it:
1. Make one hole in two sides of the pinata. So now you have three holes in the piñata; One on top to have the candies in later, and the other two on the sides.2. Insert plastic rope thru one side hole and come out the other side hole.3. So it will look like this.4. Pick yellow and orange papers and cut them.Stick the yellow and orange paper covering the surface of the piñata.

5. Here is the Head of Mr.Chicken.6. Make eyes and smiley lips. Glue the eyes and lips onto the Head. Make sure there is room for the Crown on the upper side of the Head.7. Use cardboard paper for the Crown and decorate all you like.8. Put the Crown on the Head and stick it.

10. Now you have Mr.Chicken King piñata ready for party!!! (Don't forget to put in the candies OK).Besides Mr.Chicken King, using the shell, we can always create many kind of piñata. Use your imagination.

Kutai National Park, Indonesia (3 April 2010)

The advantage of living in Sangata is having the nature as our backyard. Besides having monkeys, lizards, hornbill birds even snakes as neighbors, we are closed to one the largest rain forest area on earth. The area is known as Taman Nasional Kutai (Kutai National Park). It is home of the famous Orang Utan.

Today, on the sunny Saturday morning, I visited the forest. I had my colleagues joining me. To get there, we have to ride a boat. So, with life jacket on, we were on a 20 minutes boat ride.Nice scenery from the boat. Then we arrived at ‘Camp Kakap’ where the researchers and rangers stay or transit.After leaving our life jacket in the camp, we started our ‘jungle trek’ accompanied by two guides. The sun was up, but we were lucky that it was a quiet dense forest, we have the trees protecting us from the heat.There are some small rivers in the forest. So we got to pass the bridges.We also found many kind of trees.

Giant tree.Snake tree (The snaky branch is actually the root).Even hairy trees … :)We really wanted to see Orang Utan which usually comes by around the trekking area.

That morning, we found a mother and her baby sleeping on top of a high tree. A bit disappointing, because we could not see them clearly. So, we left them alone and carried on with our walk.

When were walking back from the giant tree, our guide got a call from other guide that the Orang Utans were awake and moving. So, we run to get to where they were.

And there they were …

First, we saw the mother.Then we saw the baby, it was hanging on a tree branch …So cute....It was a good two hours jungle walk.