Let me start of by saying that travel journaling/blogging is not at all easy! To be honest, my initial plan was to put all 5 days of photos and details into one post but the codes and scrolling messed with my head and I can imagine loading would be a killer! Hence, I’ve settle for a 4 part series of our Bangkok Adventures.

Zilin, Nasri and myself have gone way back. As friends, seen each other through thick and thin and of course, bitching buddies! There’s never a dull moment with them. So imagine our excitement when we booked our tickets to the land of smiles! It was a trip I’ll never forget – the smouldering heat, checking out cute angmoh boys in Khaosan, bra shopping, condom restaurants and penis temples, chilling to Disney’s Brave in our hotel room, rollin’ on the river, thai massages, walking with tigers – we had so much fun, we wanted to burn our passports and stay in BKK (obviously we didn’t)! So you can see, my dilemma when I returned home and tried to blog. OMG, I didn’t know we can take this many photos and do this much in just five friggin days!

So without further a do, I present to you Part One of our Bangkok Adventures.

Us onboard JetStar 3K515. Just brought bitching to new heights (pardon the pun) but I’ll keep that one between us.

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Novotel Hotel Siam Square

Address: 392/44 Siam Square Soi 6 Pathum Wan, Bangkok.

We headed to Novotel Siam Square straight from the airport where we stayed for the next 4 days in Bangkok. Its located at a prime location near to most big shopping areas and it was simple yet cosy.

The room looked so good and the bed was calling us to lie in it but we had to rush over to Chatuchak Weekend Market since we arrived on the last day of the weekend and we must see Chatuchak! Because how can you say you’ve been to Bangkok and not visit Chatuchak? Hence, we got off our asses and made our way. Our preferred mode of transportation was the train.

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It was actually quite easy to buy our tickets and go around, almost like Singapore’s MRT and an alternative when you’re in a hurry and want to avoid the crazy traffic!

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Chatuchak Weekend Market

Chatuchak Weekend Market is the largest market in Thailand and the world! It covers over 35 acres and contains upwards of 15,000 stalls. Most stalls only open on Saturdays and Sundays.

Chatuchak offers a wide variety of products including household items, clothing, handicrafts, religious artifacts, collectables, foods, and even pets.

Whoa. I guess I under estimated my shopping capabilities. We were in such a rush to get there to grab cheap good stuff but alas, we couldn’t take the heat! If you thought Bugis Village was big, get a load of Chatuchak. This place is massive! As quoted by Nas, “Eat your heart out Bugis”. I ended up buying just one bikini dress. While Nas bought a bunch of cushion covers, coffee table cloths and elephant tissue covers. This was when Zizi and me learned of Nas’s domestic side. Out of all the things we could get at Chatuchak, this was all we got. But these ice-creams were out of this world delicious. Or maybe the heat made it all the more heavenly.

Since we were dying of hunger and ready to get away from the heat, we decided to have an early dinner at Cabbages & Condoms.

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Cabbages & Condoms

Address: 10 Sukhumvit 12 Khlong Toei, Bangkok.

Cabbages & Condoms is a restaurant that stands for a safe cause: instead of after-meal mints, diners receive packaged condoms, and all proceeds go towards Population & Community Development Association (PDA), a sex education/AIDS prevention organisation. And who better to be the opening debut to our visit than Nas…

I was amused by the theme in general. Mannequins that were dressed in just condoms, condoms given after dinner instead of mints, posters that encourage the use of condoms (and don’t swallow!), spin the wheel that educates you of the various sexual transmitted diseases and condom themed souvenir shop! Basically, its dedicated to the use of condom and safe sex which I feel is a positive (and open-minded) way to teach and reach out to the public.

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After dinner, Zizi and myself decided to explore the streets of Bangkok at night while Nas spent some time with Crispy Crème doughnuts.

As we were walking along the streets around Siam Square, we noticed some temporary street stalls set up at the corner and we were delighted to find pretty little trinkets and handmade handphone cases at one of the stalls. We watched them decorate the cases and bought some, we had a very hard time deciding because they were all too cute! So creative and talented. Zizi and me were so happy with our buys.

After shopping, we took a tuk-tuk in search of Thai massage!

The streets of Bangkok at night was quite safe. Zizi and me walked quite a distance after our tuk-tuk ride (the driver stopped us at a expensive massage parlour that he was probably earning commission from but more tips on a later entry). It felt good crossing the roads, watching the street lights and shopping in a foreign country with your best friend. We felt so free and independent. But of course, be wary of your surrounding, don’t wear expensive watches and jewellery, don’t walk into strange dark alleys, follow the traffic rules and signs and carry only what is necessary. Basically, be street smart and you’ll be fine. The thais are quite friendly people and most can speak English so if you ever do need directions, you can politely ask around.

I really enjoyed my first day in Bangkok with my two best friends filled with a handful of experience already especially with familiarising the streets of Bangkok, the weather and currency (counting is not my forte, hence, thanks the genius that came up with xe.com). More of our Bangkok adventures, 4 more days to go!

More from the Bangkok Adventures Series: