The Big BANGkok Theory

This post has been long overdue.

From March 19-23, I was in Bangkok with 4 girlfriends and a Tita (my friend's mom tagged along) and while I was on the verge of crying everyday because I missed Joaquin sooo much, this trip was a much-needed break from everything.

ACCOMODATION

We stayed in Budacco, a hotel I found online. Read the reviews on Tripadvisor (i always check this site before making a reservation at a hotel/resort I'm not familiar with) and was satisfied with the feedback so we decided to book.

Love love love Budacco! We got 3 rooms for 4 nights and this was how much we shelled out per person: Php 3,200!

The lobby of Budacco


We got a yellow room. The rooms were clean and were kept clean everyday!


They serve buffet breakfast but it was the same everyday--rice, eggs, sausages, ham, fruits, coffee, juice and bread. We didn't mind because the food was good and we all fell in love with the orange marmalade. (We asked the manager for the brand of the marmalade and we were told it was "Best Foods" so when we went to the supermarket, we bought some to take home!


Amazing staff! They helped us with everything! They even lent us a weighing scale when we were packing to leave so we wouldn't worry about going over the baggage allowance. Great great service!

The absolute best thing about Budacco was the location. Only a hop and skip away from the Pratuman Wholesale Market. And because we were all Bangkok virgins, we didn't discover this until we got there. It's located in the heart of Pratunam area, which is basically, the divisoria of Bangkok. And just like Divisoria, everything was less expensive and if you bought 3pcs or more of anything, you got it at wholesale price and since there were 5 girls shopping together, wholesale it was! Pratunam was such a bargain that when we visited the supposedly cheap malls such as MBK and Platinum, we still found their items expensive. I plan on visiting Bangkok again and will DEFINITELY still stay in Budacco.

THE EATS

The first thing we did when we got to Bangkok was eat. Tita's friend who is based in Bangkok brought us to Sukhumvit Soi 11(soi=side street) near Ambassador Hotel which is where the club scene is. But we were not going to a club. We were going to get the best street food ever! I swear, this was the best meal I had this year. We went here twice and all agreed that suddenly, the food in Som's wasn't very good. Haha!


This is the restaurant--on the sidewalk!


Getting the table ready






Best Pad Thai EVEERRRRR!!!


Tom YUUUMMMMM!!!!

We ate food from the street everyday.


Seafood Pad Thai for only 40 baht. Not as good as the one in Soi 11 but pretty yummy as well


Papaya Salad while shopping.


Tilapia stuffed with lemongrass and rubbed with lots of salt, then grilled to perfect yumminess!


Grilled Prawns that cost 50 baht per stick. Cheap, noh?


Spring Rolls from the Floating Market


This one, I didn't like so much. Inside the taco shell is grated coconut and its covered with icing. Too sweet!


Our ultimate favorite-- Sticky Rice with Mango!


Tastes like Gyoza but healthier as it just had vegetables inside. This was one of the things we ate off the street and only costs 10baht. Soo good!


Iced Thai Milk Tea. It was hotter in Thailand compared to Manila but this drink made us forget all that. Where can I find good thai milk tea here?

We also found street food we didn't want to eat:





THE TOURS

At the very last minute at around 7pm on a Sunday night, we booked a tour for the next day at Thailand Tours Center . We loved that they could accommodate our request at such late notice (unlike this other tour guide who totally rejected us. He was more expensive pa!).

First stop was the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market.

I thought the floating market was just...well...a floating market. Turns out that it was like this entire village on water...with street names pa! We found the items sold here really expensive. All we ended up buying was food! Hehe! I guess you just come here for the experience.


The boat would stop at these stores on stilts...




My friends bought saffron from this pretty lady.


LAMON!


Spices!


After lunch, we headed to the Tiger Temple. We were already warned the night before that we couldn't wear anything sleeveless or short at the Tiger Temple. So we all brought extra clothes. I was wearing a tanktop at the Floating Market and when we arrived at the Tiger Temple, I decided to just throw my black shirt over it, thinking that when we got inside, the tigers would already be there. It was just a temple, wasn't it? WRONG! It was scorching hot and we had to walk/trek for about 10-15mins to the Canyon where the tigers were.





It was all worth it though because I have never seen so many tigers in all my life. It was siesta time so almost all of them were asleep.

There were 2 lines--one for those with cameras and the other for those without. If you have a camera, you get 2 guides. One will hold your hand while walking through the Tiger Canyon and the other takes pictures. Here are some of my pictures:








After the Tiger Canyon, we walk a little more and we see more tigers and a few other animals--deers, horses and water buffalos.





Next destination, Saiyok Elephant Park.



This wasn't included in the package tour but since we really wanted to ride an elephant, we paid an extra 300 baht for this.

First we watched the elephant show, where the elephants did tricks.


Like standing up

Then they asked for volunteers for the elephant massage...


I raised my hand and here I am! The elephant gave me a smooch on the cheek before the massage


I also got a nice long hug!

The elephant ride was scary at first. It got particularly scary when the trail she was on would go up and down (Our elephant was a girl called Bob) . Our only form of seatbelt was a long nylon(?) strap which we tied to the end of our seat. Haha!

I felt so bad for Bob because she was tugging along her baby with us. This was the only thing I didn't like about that trip to the Elephant Park.




Manong said I could ride in front




Love love love this group shot! Soo cute that baby is snuggling close to Mom

When I have some money saved up again, I will go back to Thailand. Or maybe Vietnam :)

P.S.
My very good friend, Aina, gave me round trip tickets to
Coron in June. I'm soooo excited!!!