Bangkok: The Grand Palace

As my friends had not been to (or fade memory of) the dazzling, magnificent Grand Palace, I put a half-day palace tour in my proposed itinerary. I wanted to learn about the exotic palace! Gasp, it must be a mum thing for unable to run away from planning an "educational tour".

But I'm lucky again, no one objected.

It is really a beautiful palace!

Bangkok: Street Food

When we were in Bangkok, we stayed in Glow Pratunam Hotel, a very new hotel as I understand from Trip Advisor. Google map which has not caption the latest completed structure/building, would not be able to tell you the actual location unless you type in 919 Petchburi Road, or Shibuya 19. Yes, Glow Pratunam and Shibuya are co-located, vertically.

Ok, I am not talking about the hotel here. Yes, it is a very nice hotel, bed is comfortably clean and soft, staff are friendly, etc etc. But I am actually wanting to lead you to food. Right behind the hotel, there's this yummy alley called Soi Petchburi 19. This is the highlight here- the street food!

As my hotel booking did not include breakfast, Soi Petchburi 19 was the place we went to for first meal of the day. Every morning of our stay.

Feb 2014: Risky Affair

I forgotten how my secondary school classmates' chat group sparked a brilliant idea to travel together. It maybe because we ran out of topic to chat(?). There are nine of us, and by now I know the routine of each one of them and pretty much to sum up that our living as mother is boring and those singles are... boring too. Of course, we share more than just routine. Like old days, we argue sometime and piss off one or another, but we get to usual selves fast too. Certain days, we talk non-sense, we laugh crazily in front of our own phone; we give virtual hugs, we understand one's long silent without much asking. 

Sorry I digress. As majority of us supported the idea of  a weekend trip together, the destination has few criteria to meet: fun, safe and easy for us ladies to explore. I suggested Bangkok: cheap, exotic and not too far of distance, from both KL and Singapore. Truth to be told, I had not been to Bangkok! They all did, many years back. Lucky me, the travelling time and budget match most everyone, the food and shopping in Bangkok are already well known and attractive, they agreed unanimously to the Land of Smiles, again! Yay!!!

It's exciting, undoubtedly. No man, no kids, just us, ladies having lots of fun over a weekend. Just like old days. Since my friends were so accommodating, I volunteered to hunt for hotel and crafted the brief itinerary. I love doing it, I love learning about the city prior to the trip. It was overwhelming, too much resources, too big a city. 

Along the way, the news about the riot came in. We got worried. I doubled the reading about the city, about the situation. The news about the explosion near Central World shopping mall and at Lumphini Park protest rally site were just happened few days before our departure. 

To go or not to go?! We asked each other.