Day 1-2....Bangkok trip 26th Aug-30th Aug

Celebrated my birthday at Genting actually this year......went to the casino and won some money, enough to cover dinner for 2 at Genting. Then we were invited by our dearest friend from Bangkok to visit them at Bangkok. So called sponsored by Genting coz Mod won alot at Genting in the previous trip end of July. So we visited our dearest friend Ying, Mod n Bik at Bangkok on the 26th Aug 2010.
Ying pick us up at the Airport and we then join Mod for a late supper somewhere near the Nestle Office. The chicken rice Thai style. For me the Chicken Rice is almost similiar from the one in Malaysia but the difference is the soup. Free refill and the pepperish chicken soup is kinda nice. Then there is also some herbal soup which the taste is quite nice. We then went to MyHotel at Pratunam to check in. The hotel was clean and pleasant and very much recommended for those whose looking for budget and clean hotel at Bangkok. They also offer free shuttle from the hotel to the main street. Its actually situated at the street opposite the Platinum Wholesale mall.

The next morning Mod actually took leave and took us around Bangkok. First Stop the Erawan Temple or the Elephant God temple. The special thing about the Elephant god is that it has 3 head. The architecture of the temple show some chinese influence when they use ceramic bowl as part of the decoration. I remember learning about this art when i visited the Cheong Fatt Tze mansion at Penang. The religious practice at this temple is similiar to the Hinduism practice here in Malaysia, Bali and also Angkor Wat at Siem Reap. This show how powerful the Hindu empire were at that time. The temple also has 4 pillars to support it with each pillar crafted with the story of each religion. Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and the story of the Goddest of Mercy. I asked the guide why Islamic wasn't one of the pillar and explained that it's sensitive to have carving of the Prophet as the Islamic doesn't practice praying to altar or statue.

Inside the temple of Erawan, there are 3 layer, also known as Heaven, Earth and Underworld. We also learn about some rules and regulation in the temple which very much explain about our daily practice. Always starting from the left and end at the right which means staying away from evil deeds. This remind me when i was young and praying at a temple, my aunt taught me that you have to always use the left hand to place the josstick coz the right hand is always the hand that commit the evil deeds. Therefore the left is less sinful.

We then proceed to Lunch at Bang Pu near the Nestle factory. Its actually at a military base canteen open for public. The location at the beach sees lots of people frequent there for lunch coz of it view. Food was ok but the waitress miss out a few of our orders. We then went back to Nestle Office to meet up with my previous boss Patrick for a cup of coffee at Starbucks before proceeding to China Town for some shopping.

We then meet up with the rest for Dinner at a KOBA BBQ Korean Restaurant at Langsuan. Ying, Bik, Patrick, Mod, My dear n myself had a nice BBQ dinner at the restaurant although everyone went back with BBQ smell. We then went for foot massage with Mod before going back to the hotel to prepare for our trip to Koh Samed the next morning.