up in the air

So what I haven't mentioned is that it was actually a company trip. More like a study trip rather than leisure trip. We met other colleagues from Surabaya as well as Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. It was raining a lot so we skip quite a lot of places from the itinerary. But overall it was fun.

Until the next trip.

the food (ii): satisfied belly means well spent trip

Some of the other food photos. It's been a bit too long since the trip, but gotta finish what we've started.

Very few from Erawan's tearoom at Grand Hyatt. They sell a cute variety of tea, coffee, jams, and snacks. Didn't take many pictures as I was busy eating. Thai food. Good food. And lots of it.

At a hotel downtown before heading to airport: all you can eat dimsum buffet plus other main course meals. Sooo full but so good.

The famous Pad Thai on the street of Chatuchak market. Original.

the fun: in squares

the food (i): a personal experience

Fancy dinner at Tables Restaurant, Grand Hyatt. Dining at this kind of place reminded me of the theory about 'The Origins of Pleasure' by psychologist Paul Bloom on one of TED talks. It's like psychologically your mind will tell you that something tastes or values better when you know the origin. Basically he said something like this, "How do you get adults to really enjoy wine? It's very simple: pour it from an expensive bottle. There are now dozens, perhaps hundreds of studies showing that if you believe you're drinking the expensive stuff, it tastes better to you."

Well anywayyy, what's most impressive to me was actually the interactive part where the chefs cooked some of our dishes on the "demo tables" which are located near the diner tables. So you're not only basically eating but experiencing a process. The smell, the sight, the sound, the ambiance. And for some dishes, they came to us just of the "naked" main dish on a plain plate and the waiter would dress it right in front of you.

Here's the shrimps.

Beef stroganoff.

The chefs at the "demo table".

And some dishes and desserts.

The ambiance.

infrastructure: a comparison

We all know that Bangkok is famous for its traffic but, tell you what, if you've experienced Jakarta, Bangkok isn't that bad at all.

But I've read that one of the reason is that because they've been enhancing the city's infrastructure with mass transportation system, the BTS and MRT, although so far it still cut only a relatively small percent of those who travel by cars.

We arrived late at night at the city and with the least energy we had, we rushed to a 24 hours McDonald (I know!). From the hotel we walked pass through the a BTS station, and my first impression of the city was that somehow it reminded me vaguely of Peter Cook's Archigram. It was somehow futuristic with all of the gigantic concrete beams span across the city (My pictures don't really explain this well, oh well..). I wonder how the society reacted when they first decided to build with all these structures that definitely change the face of the city. I mean, they don't really look that bad right now, but it must have been a drastic change, from a softer environment to a much massive solid one.

Other than cars, BTS and MRT, they have the famous tuk-tuk, which are allowed to speed in toll ways, hehe. Then they have bus, of course, which, unlike the ones at Jakarta, have clear numbers which make them easily recognized, and they only stop at the bus shelters. And it seems less scary to travel in their bus, at least there are no annoying street musicians or beggars or people selling things within the bus.

And then they have the boats.

I didn't really expect anything traveling to Bangkok, but being in the same region and timezone, GMT +7 (yeah like it matters :P), honestly I didn't think it would be this much of a difference between Bangkok and Jakarta, but fact is, they are way more advance than Jakarta.

icebreaker: psychological treat

Beirut - O Leãozinho

Along the trip there's this boy who apparently had learnt about all these character-reading superstitious. Well, not sure if superstitious is the right word, I just don't know what to call it, hehe. He did palm readings, face readings, hand signature readings, and hair readings, I know, it's the most absurd one, he'd grabbed one's hair with his hand and told something about that person's personality.

I don't understand the absurd last one because he didn't do that one on me, but he did the first three. On the palm reading he said: my love life is complicated, there are many men in my life, but the one who'll be with me in the end will be someone from my past; I'll be struggling on my career (the second line on my palm has a slight bend); and I'll live a long life. And it's not easy for me to spend money.

On face reading he said I smile a lot when having a conversation while actually there's a lot of things going on in my head. (really I should smile less, often times people think I was so excited talking about something or someone, while actually I wasn't, I just happen to smile a lot, specially when I'm talking to someone I don't usually talk to).

On the signature reading he said that it's not easy for me to listen to other people, and I'm a very indecisive person.

People usually interested in this kind of thing because there's a slight truth in it whether you believe it or not. However, it was a nice ice breakers specially when a group of people who were foreign to each other travel together.

from the street: a bit of what i saw

These pictures aren't meant to tell my perception of the city, but rather showing some bit of what happened on the streets from a view of a foreign pedestrian.

It kept raining while we were there and it ruined some of our itinerary. Heard that it's getting worse with the flood today. Hope it'll end soon.

Sorry, a bit out of context, but I have a thing for neon light, hehe. These are around midnight from the walk otw back to hotel.

On our last day in the city, we had around one to two hours of free time before heading to the airport. So everyone spent time at the mall to spent some cash, which I'm not interested at all. So, instead of roaming around the uninteresting building shopping some things you could most likely find in your hometown, I split from everyone. It rained for a while so I did went inside a mall, but I went straight to the highest level, in attempt to find if there's a nice rooftop where I could hang and took the city's skyline. I even took the service elevator which made me end up in a scary service area with a very minimal light, with 2 guys who don't speak English, and the rooftop was filled with only all the gigantic utility machines.

So I went out to the street. Rule number 1 in traveling is to act like a local, no? At least I prefer to buy an experience instead of buying fancy stuff from a mall. I tried approaching some locals but they rarely speak English. But comparing to Jakarta, I can say the people are much less scary. Really. The punk bad boys street kids don't look as horrible as those in Jakarta. I didn't feel any bad intention or somehow threaten like I often feel in Jakarta. It felt safer even though I was walking down a cheap crowded market down the flyover. Will show the pictures of the market later on.

And the street food as I observed are much more healthier and CLEANER than Jakarta.

I walked and walked and ended up in a pier where people are using boat as their transportation. More pictures later.

A religious city. Almost like Bali, we can find shrine at corners of the streets. First one is the apparently famous four faces buddha, the Erawan Shrine. The rest are in front of a mall where teenagers took their time to pray after shopping.