Amazing Thailand

BEFORE landing at the Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport, I could see a long stretch of highway. My dad who came to Bangkok the last time about 15 years ago, said that the city has become more ahead now. Far more developed than Malaysia.

Malaysia's North-South Highway is not even that straight

There are many of these BIG interchange

Heading to the city

Their goverment has spent much on their transportation system. There are highways and flyover criss-crossing everywhere, even in the city. There are high flyovers as well as straight and wide expressway.

In the city, there is an area where the pedestrian walk on the elevated walkway above the road and above it there is a double storey Skytrain tracks. So basically it's like a four level of walkway.

Look how they make full use of the space

Some photos I took in Bangkok city:

Phetchaburi Road near the Platinum Mall

The Lumphini Park

The city's tallest hotel, Baiyoke Sky on behind

As far as I am concern, the people there are polite and they treat the tourist real nice. I don't see people wearing tudungs everywhere like KL beacuse 90% of the Thais are Buddhist. Although they look a bit like Malays, there are also some who look just like Chinese. They are the Thai Chinese.

People waiting and getting on the bus

The Thais respect their country and the Royal Family very much. Everywhere I could see protraits of their King and his family hanging in their shops and outside the malls. According to our tour guide, the current King in Thailand is the longest serving king in the world. He became king since 20 years old and will be celebrating his 80th birthday on coming December.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej

Some stories about the King I heard:

Bhumibol Adulyadej became King in 1946 after the death of his brother, which resulted from a gunshot to the head while in his bedroom.

And in 1948, while King Bhumibol was driving he collided into truck and injured his right eye. Since then he wore an articial eye on the right.

The Grand Palace

There was once when I was walking on the street then suddenly I saw people stopped moving and stood still. I heard music playing on and I guessed it was their national anthem. And on every Monday, many people will wear a yellow T-shirt with an emblem of the Royal Family. This is how loyal and respectful the Thai citizen is.

Try humiliate their King and their will send you back to China.

The Democracy Monument

The National Museum

Big companies such as Toyata set up their factories in Thailand. There are several of car manufacturing factory there. Therefore, according to Kareem (our tour guide), the car selling there is cheaper compared to Malaysia.

However, the price of the petrol is slightly higher in Thailand.

10 Bath=RM1. You do the math (price per litre)

As Bangkok is a developed city now, no doubt the population is very high. When the population become higher, eventually the number of cars will also increase. One main thing that you probably notice in Bangkok is the traffic on the road. During it's peak hour, the whole street is packed with cars. Even worse in KL I tell you.

Jam

Jam

And more jam

The cars can hardly move during the busy hours. So they have motorcycle taxi by the roadside with drivers wearing colourful vests where you can take if you are rushing time, as motorcycles are very handy for beating the traffic in unavoidable rush hours.

Sometimes you can see women wearing skirt taking the ride, sitting on just one side.



Apart from that, there are other modes of public transport to travel around:

The common public bus (some have air-con, some don't)

The Skytrain which runs above the streets of Bangkok
The subway (MRT)
The boat to cross the Chao Praya River

And also the cab
Most of the cabs are using Toyota and Honda cars and they are painted in striking metallic colours: Green, Blue, Red, Pink, Yellow etc. So it is not difficult to identify them on the street.

Oh, and not fogetting the tuk-tuk aka James Bond car!Riding a tuk-tuk can be exciting and very syok! The exhaust sound from the tuk-tuk gives me the feeling of riding a motorboat. Hold on tight when the driver is about to make a turn and going through some shorcut lanes to cut the traffic. Remember to ask and bargain for the price before riding it.

The student's uniform in Thailand...well, it is not the same with us. They wear white shirt and black pants or skirt. Some of their skirt has plits, like those in Japan. And guess what, the girls' shirt has a waist cut (I'm not sure what is it called). Meaning girls who has nice figure may able to show their, ehem..body. Hehe.

I came across a mall opposite the MBK shopping center where it has all the shops selling school uniform. Other than those, there are also manicure and beauty shops for students. It's like place a them to be pampered. I saw many students (girls especially) there after school.

Thai students

That's all for now. There are still a lot more nice experiences I would like to share. Perhaps next time as my uni is starting in less than a week's time. I gota start doing some packing and preparation for it already.

Night shots from the hotel

Truly Amazing Thailand! =)