Monthly Archives: November 2011

thai chronicles: two wats and a palace

Posted by rob on

i never had a specific itinerary for my trip in thailand.  as i was in bangkok, all i was thinking was the bustling night life that it offers.  i still have two whole days to spend and my first day shouldn’t be wasted by me only staying in my too-comfortable-room.  i think that is one disadvantage of having a good room (lol!) and being alone.

i know grand palace is one place worth visiting, as i was too lazy to find my way to get there, i searched in the internet rental taxis in bangkok.  i did found one that gave me a good deal and informed the cabbie to pick me up in the hotel.

grand palace is a complex of artistically designed complex buildings.  there was a crowd of people when i was there, and being a saturday i have expected it.

tickets to enter the palace costs 350 baht.  grand palace is a complex of artistically designed buildings, and served as the official residence of the kings of thailand from the 18th century onwards.  here’s a proof of how majestic this place is.

there were visitors dipping budding lotus flower in water in the photo i took below, i know there is a meaning of it maybe sort of a blessing for them.

near grand palace is wat prachetuphon or wat pho, one of the oldest wats in bangkok where you can find one of the largest single buddha images of 160 ft length, the reclining buddha (phra buddhasaiyas).  entrance fee to wat pho is 50 baht.

there was a lot of these carved stone giants in the temple.

one of the major tourist attraction in bangkok is wat benchamabophit or well-known as, the marble temple.

this beautiful temple is made of italian marble, admission fee is 20 baht.

that is me infront of the temple, the ordination hall but it is prohibited to go inside.  those chinese tourists are not on line to get in actually.

thai chronicles: sawasdee bangkok

Posted by rob on

my plan to visit bangkok almost never materialized.  i was in dubai then for work and things just got ugly when i was about to go home as scheduled.  our personnel department informed me thru e-mail that my departure ticket to manila was cancelled and i do not have a reliever to fill in if i am going for days off.  i have told them that i have already booked a non-refundable, round trip flight ticket to bangkok, even the hotel i was staying in was already organized in advance.  my plea for consideration fell on deaf ears and unanswered e-mails.

i have worked for another four weeks before i was able to go for my days off.  i thought of cancelling my bangkok visit for i have already lost money due to the cancellations.  but still, there was this urge inside me to push through so after a few days after i arrived in manila, i booked another ticket and found myself flying to bangkok.

my flight from manila was actually rescheduled for about two hours, but the limo service that i have pre-arranged from the hotel was still there waiting for me when i arrived at suvarnabhumi airport.  the hotel i stayed in were from the vouchers i purchased from ensogo (that almost expired!).  it was in rembrandt hotel and towers, a four-star accommodation in sukhumvit road.

the deluxe room i stayed in was a corner room in the 11th floor (non-smoking), and offered a view of the chao phraya river.

Rembrandt Hotel and Towers’ Superior Rooms offer inviting, comfortable, elegantly decorated accommodation to business and leisure travelers who know the importance of value.  All Superior Rooms are spacious 30 square meters with bath room. The in room amenities include complimentary high-speed wireless Internet access, LCD screen TV, pay per movie, in-house phone, mini bar and Rembrandt signature toiletries such as shampoo, conditioner, body soap. etc. The large bathrooms are all equipped with a bath tub, some with separate shower cubicle, dressing mirror, a hair dryer, hand basin and telephone. The comfortable beds, all with duvets, are available in king size or twin size, smoking or non smoking.

hotel rembrandt has a variety of restaurants and i chose to have dinner at red pepper, a bright, colourful restaurant that offers many thai specialties including a variety of unique vegetarian and fusion dishes.

i ordered one of their appetizer vegetarian specialties, poh pia je (vegetarian spring rolls) and their pad thai goong sod hor kai (fried noodles with king prawns wrapped in omelet).

my stay at rembrandt hotel was over all, satisfactory.

emirate chronicles: ajman museum

Posted by rob on

the place i stayed in when i was in uae was not actually in dubai but in ajman.  ajman is about a 45-minute drive to dubai.  one of the things i did when i was there was visiting their museum which is housed in an old fortress. 

there is a small entrance fee to go inside the museum and as i paid, i asked the guy who was giving out the tickets if it was okay to take pictures and he said it was.

the fort was built in the late 18th century which served as the ruler’s palace and during the 70’s, was the town’s police station.  it was then transformed as a museum, dedicated to the people of the united arab emirates.

this life-sized figure welcomed me which heightened my curiosity.  the fort used to be the police station, so this piece of wood as displayed was most likely being used in offenders which serves as their punishment.

getting one’s feet trapped like that is considered torture.  i guess that is their way before to cut back on crime. 

there was one room in the museum where they presented traditional professions of the past.  i took some photos of the wax figures which i found interesting.

artifacts discovered in an ancient burial site in al mowayhat are also exhibited in one of the rooms in the museum. 

these objects dates back to the bronze age and it is said the the site where they were found is about 5,000 year old.

a burial jar, where the remains of a child and funeral gifts were found. 

ajman museum is situated on the east side of the central square, and is open saturday to thursday 0900-1300 and 1600-2100, closed during fridays.