Business Trip to Bangkok with the bosses and 3 other colleagues on 13th - 16th March 2013.
My first time ever to Thailand. And first time ever on a business trip. How good is life?
We took the 11am plane on Air Asia and reached there local time 1+pm. Reached our hotel called 'Anatara Hotel Sathorn' and had to wait for checkin.
Because it was so late already, we had our first lunch there at the hotel's restaurant. I had fried rice! The portion was huge and it was really quite nice. Not to mention. pretty too.
Time to checkin for our room and I realized how big it was!!! It was one person to each room. I was initially quite scared of staying alone in my own hotel room but after awhile I got used to it. HAHAHA cos it was so damn big, and clean. and just awesome! I'm staying at the 24th floor!
King size bed can u imagine! I cant even reach the ends of the bed even after stretching out to my max! Too big alr! The toilet was also so clean and huge. But sad that I had no time to use the bathtub. It was clean! Not like alot of hotels which have slimy and dirty bathtubs. This was clean!!!!
Ok after a quick bath we had to rush to the office which was 10min walk away.
There was a longgggg introduction for the thai colleagues and they were soooo hospitable!
And you know what, because our office is at the 45th floor of the Empire tower, the view was magnificent!
This was the view from our boss' office. Awesome rite?
My office space for the next 3 days, which was a room by itself only for the L&D (Learning and development) people. awww awesome much?:
I rmb doing some bit of email clearing before going off for dinner with all the Thai colleagues!
We had dinner at Siam Square, at this famous restaurant apparently opened by a celebrity: Somtum.
There were all the traditional thai food:
Fried fish
Pork
Liver
Basil Pork
Sausages
Papaya Salad
Sticky rice
After a very fulfilling dinner, we walked to the atas Siam Paragon opposite the road and into the Siam Center.
And saw this Magnum cafe! Why SG no have?
After some walking around we realized its too late and the shops started closing at around 9+.
So they recommended this Mango dessert place called 'Mango Tango'
We took the mango desserts back to hotel and ate after bathing. You can't imagine how hot and sticky we felt at the end of the day. Thailand's weather is really too hot for me.
Well I don't eat mango, so I only had some sticky rice and some watermelon and kiwi. sobx.
Didn't take any picture, but we took motorbikes to work on the 2nd day.
I rmb it being 20baht for each person.
There are actually alot of "taxi motors" around. The guys wear an orange vest, and u just flag them and they will bring u to your destination, without the hassle of a jam! The jam there was just terrible so we took the motor which was so fast. The next time I go Bangkok, I will just take the motor instead. But you must stand the heat la. hahaha.
We had lunch at this food court below the office building.
I had this horfun-tasting noodle. (which they called thai noodles) It was really similar to our horfun so I found it quite nice.
On the 2nd day, our colleagues decided to take us to this place which has just been opened for a few months: Asiatique
We had to take a free shuttle boat to this area u know!
This place kinda reminds me of our Clarke Quay. Really similar with the lighted shophouses and the surrounding waters..
We went to this place for thai noodles. I had this: it was similar to our wanton mee, except that they don't put any black sauce or whatsoever, so it was plain. But I found it quite nice! Their noodles are nice, and they put alot of meat!
Didn't buy alot of stuffs there cos I thought it was more pricey. But nonetheless, we had fun exploring this new place!
On our 3rd day, which was a Friday, I was pretty sad it was the last day there.
My colleague who sat beside me, (I call him Big), lent me this Piyo to accompany me for the 3 days I was there.
Of cos had to do some selca with the Piyo I hugged for 3 days:
Oh and cos it was the last day there, we all had buffet lunch at a nearby hotel. The food was quite ok. Quite limited though I guess cos I can't really eat really spicy thai food. So I spammed the sashimi.
At the buffet:
After work, we had to go back hotel to put our laptops and stuff, and had to rush back to the office to meet them. And we took the Tuktuk for the first time! 4 of us squeezed into it! hahaha.
And so at night, the colleagues brought us to Chinatown:
Had this thai noodle again. It looks like our Kway Chap! Except that its curled up instead of ours being flat. Interesting rite? Taste is quite similar tho. I think both are nice in their own way.
After that I said I wanted to eat Birds Nest. There were sooo many vendors selling Sharks Fin and Birds Nest at Chinatown we wouldn't know which one to pick!
100 baht for 1 bowl. About SGD 4-5!
I lament that its too little! But hahaha except Chloe, each of us bought 2 big jars of Birds Nest home! About SGD 40+ for 1 jar. They wrapped in the bubble wrap. And I just wrapped it among my clothes in the luggage. Forgot to tell them to put the 'Fragile' tag and I'm glad that the 2 jars were safely home. hahah.
And becos this is concentrated Birds Nest, meaning, u have to add water to this. So this can last for very long, and its really very cheap! Not sure whether its real or not lah... But ohwells..
After that, Big brought us to Silom for massage, cos I said I really really wanna go.
Me and Huiling had a shoulder massage while John and Chloe had the foot massage. Can't rmb the price but it was definitely cheaper than SG. We only massaged for half hour. Not shiok enough man. The next time I go Bangkok, I'm gonna do the 1 hour one.
hahaha.
Ok so on the 4th and last day which was a Saturday,
Had to show my breakfast at the hotel for the 3 mornings. Had my favourite cereals with milk, and some eggs and pancake which was MADE ON THE SPOT! I tried scrambled egg and omelette for the 3 days and it was soooo awesome. The pancake was really fluffy too!
Ok we had some time before Big came to fetch us to Platinum for some last min shopping. So we went up to the 37th floor of the hotel so catch some good view of Bangkok:
Really awesome, the city horizon was endless. Which of cos, would not happen in SG.
John helped us to take some photos!
After that we took a cab to Platinum, and its a must-do to have your photos taken with the Thai Macdonalds!
Ok after just less than 3h of speed shopping, which I didn't find any cheap and nice stuffs, (only got a few basic clothes) we went back to the hotel to change and get ready for the airport.
The thai colleagues were really too nice to come and see us off at the hotel.
Not to mention, they bought 3 big plastic bags of food for us to bring back to the SG office.
Aye, soooooo hospitable and nice. Really appreciate them!
Ok then we reached SG at around 8+pm. And I'm glad we are home to a lower temperature country.
Still hot, but nonetheless, I'm glad I'm home. But I miss Thailand tho, and will be back next time for a real holiday trip and really do loads of shopping!
But here are my loots for the trip. Some Naraya bags and pouches which I got at the Asiatique branch, and some clothes, accesories, skirts from Platinum.
hahhaa. I will be back!
