What's Up Al ? 遊記隨筆 生活點滴

We have been meaning to come visit the seaside city of Hua Hin for a while, but the thought of the three hours' journey held us back somewhat. But hey, the trunk roads leaving Bangkok towards Hua Hin were actually 6-lanes and almost free of traffic on the morning we left the Asoke area in Bangkok. And the nice driver stopped for a mid-way leg rest made it even more agreeable. Along the way, we saw numerous Buddhist Temples and Stupas with huge (usually golden) statues of the Big Guy and high ranking monks who achieved great religious attainment.

After the weeks of rather hectic sightseeing in K.L. and the euphoria experienced at the Chinese New Year celebration in Bangkok, we hit the brakes and decided to spend a month at the peaceful seaside city of Hua Hin. The pace of life slowed from the rushing and crushing in the busy city sky trains to, hours-long breakfast with a few creamy expresso as well as ample time to sit back and watch a few movies over the Internet, all in the rural and green settings of Hua Hin.

Don Don Chang (咚咚鏘)... Don Don Chang ... the incessant resonating thuddings of Drums and the crashing and clanging of brass Marching Cymbals could be heard reverberating across the Bangkok China Town on Chinese New Year's Day (年初一) as we disembarked from the ferry boat on the River of Chao Phraya. Red lanterns, red celebratory trinkets, red Good-Luck Charms and local ladies wearing elegant red Cheongsam (長衫) were a feast to the eyes on such a bright sunny day. Of course, the main draw was the dancing lions slowly maneuvering down the main thoroughfare of Yaowarat Street, positioning themselves and danced their way into local shops, to be rewarded with stacks of Red Packets (紅包) ! A few fantastic RED photos taken from Kuala Lumpur, have been added here to add on some more colours and atmosphere of this joyous occasion being celebrated across the globe ! Enjoy !

We were last in Bangkok in 2007 during our three months Indo-China backpacking trip and the modernity and excitement of this city are still fresh in our minds. After almost 16 years, Bangkok has improved a great deal in its public transport of crisscrossing metro and skytrains, even though the road traffic remained heavy. However, the landmark train station of Hua Lamphong will be serving it's last trains and we took time to savour our memory of this beautifully designed station. 

Our surprise discovery this time around in Bangkok was the Queen Sirikit Convention Centre, just 10 minutes' walk from Asoke, with its tranquil lakes and greenery - the centre was the venue for the APEC 2022 just a few months back. We spent a good part of the morning walking around in the bright sunshine and taking in the fresh air. Taking a boat on the River Chao Phraya is an excellent way to get to know the Bangkok neighbourhoods as well as a good way to appreciate slowly the many temples and architecture erected on both sides of this clean waterway. We hopped on at the very southern end of Central Pier and took 45 minutes up to Tha Phra Athit (Stop N13) for a quick backstreet noodles lunch at Khao San Road. These tranquil side trips were welcoming distractions from the oh-so-crowded Bangkok mega malls and shopping areas of Pratunam, MBK, Siam Paragon, Terminal 21 and Central World !

Bright and early one sunny morning, we took a pleasant stroll along the River Gombak and then straight up Jalan Parlimen to reach the War Memorial and the Botanical Gardens. Having been here for a few weeks now, we found that KL offered lots of tranquil and peaceful sights worth exploring and also the malls and parks were never really crowded, thus we could take time over our photo shots and we enjoyed making amusing poses during these occasions. The Botanical Gardens grounds were immense in area coverage and we enjoyed the many lakes, lawns and conservatories, all full of tropical flora growing in luxuriant fashion. We walked out legs off before reaching the opposite exits where we dived ourselves into an Indian curry lunch before we caught a Skytrain and dragged ourselves back home.