Revisiting Bangkok: Experiencing Blissful Heaven

CEBU, Philippines - I first visited Bangkok, also known as the City of Angels, exactly a decade ago, to attend the wedding of my cousin to his Thai fiancée. I remember being fascinated with their traditional ceremony, beginning with waking up at midnight for the tea serving ritual initiated by the engaged couple towards us, their family in attendance. I still have photos of the temple wedding; our spectacular dinner cruise on the Chao Praya River, the River of Kings, wherein we glimpsed modern Bangkok at night in all her glory; and the majestic, bejeweled Grand Palace. Last year, I had the opportunity to be in Thailand again for work related reasons. I was able to visit both Bangkok and Hua Hin, a well known beach resort town in Thailand frequented by Thai royalty. In fact, the Anantara Resort & Spa, where we stayed, is considered to be a popular holiday resort, a romantic and luxurious hideaway.

Due to my positive experiences while in the country, I was looking forward to the gracious familiarization tour invite by Philippine Airlines and Destination Specialists Cebu Inc. in cooperation with the Tourism Authority of Thailand to visit Bangkok for three days. With me on the trip were 11 other travel agents from Cebu and Bacolod.

Our Philippine Airlines flight journey began in Cebu to Manila, then finally the three-hour flight to Bangkok. Upon landing shortly after lunchtime at the ultra-modern, massive Bangkok International Airport (Suvarnabhumi), we were warmly welcomed by Apple, our local tour guide from GM Holidays. We were soon ensconced in one of GM’s spacious, comfy tour vans on our way to Ecotel Hotel, our official hotel for the duration of our stay. Ideally located at the hub of central Bangkok, this new three-star boutique hotel impressed us with its Victorian-inspired façade, lobby and interiors. Our deluxe rooms were white, modern, and large enough for me and my roommate, Christine Lim of Rainbow Tours & Travel. Since we had the afternoon pretty much to ourselves, Christine and I wandered around our hotel block, stopping to buy the roadside treat of sweet corn on the cob. This tasted so good, and was so well packed; we ended up buying sweet corn every time we saw a corn vendor! We also took note of the amazingly clean surroundings whether on the streets or in establishments; there were no mosquitoes or flies anywhere from our first to our last day! A couple of adjustment we had to make during the first day were our tummies and the sleeping pattern regulating to the time difference, as Bangkok is one hour behind Cebu.

Dinner and cultural show that first evening was at Siam Niramit at Tiamruammit Road, opposite the Thailand Cultural Centre. Considered to be the premiere show to catch in Bangkok, Siam Niramit is a one-hour world class spectacular performance depicting the enchanted Kingdom of Siam (former name of Thailand), showing its glorious past, from ancient kingdoms, to overseas traders, and traditional village life. What were truly amazing with this particular stage performance were the lavish stage props, backdrop, and costumes which added to the authentic aura of the scenes depicted, such as the ancient Kingdom of Lanna, the romantic Loy Krathong festival (similar to our Valentine’s celebration), and scenes of a blissful heaven. Performance highlights – seeing an actual flowing river onstage where the performers could bathe in and engage in boat rides; big yellow flowers growing and blooming under the heat of the sun; genuine rain and lighting during the second act in the mystical Himapaan Forest. Indeed, it came as no surprise that the stage of Siam Niramit is certified by Guinness as the highest in the world to be able to accommodate all these spectacular feats! Small wonder too, that the show price was at 1,500 Baht per person, given the luxurious theater seats we were in.

Meanwhile, our entrance ticket of 350 Baht included a buffet dinner and tour of the grounds, with a massage area and an enclosed traditional Thai rural village. Walking around the village, we were able to sample delicacies given out by the locals such as rice pudding and egg tarts. We also observed traditional wooden houses, arts and crafts, and means of livelihood, such as weaving, just like what we saw in our very own Bohol Bee Farm in Panglao Island. We realized that as neighboring Asian countries, we truly have more similarities and commonalities than differences in our culture and traditions.

The itinerary on our second day was chock-full of hotel visits, from five star category, to business and budget hotels all within central Bangkok and therefore close to the major shopping and commercial district, and Pratunam Night Market on the corner of Phetchburi and Ratchaprarop Roads. Our first stop was a stone’s throw away from our hotel, the bustling Ramada D’MA Bangkok. We then proceeded to the Baiyoke Group of Hotels, composed of Baiyoke Suite Hotel and Baiyoke Sky Hotel. The Sky Hotel is Thailand’s tallest and BKK’s most scenic hotel. Indeed, while we were at the Observation Deck, we had a 360 degree view of bustling Bangkok, from the morning rush hour traffic, to the mountains in the distance. After lunch, we headed to the modern, all-white My Hotel. The hotel lobby, rooms, and furnishings reminded us of G Hotel in Roxas Boulevard in Manila. We were quite taken with their complimentary tuk-tuk (Thailand’s motorized rickshaws, similar to our Philippine motorelas) service for their guests, which was all white and bigger than most, which we labeled the “limousine” of tuk-tuks. Our last official hotel stop was at the Indra Regent Hotel, an elegant hotel filled with traditional, delicate ornaments such as a wooden gong and musical instruments, and with fragrant jasmine scent in the air everywhere, even in the bathrooms. Outside Indra, our guide, Apple, then directed us towards the nearby Pratunam Market and the new Platinum Fashion Mall. In terms of brand quality to be found, location, and mall design, we felt that the 4-storied Platinum was in between Tung Chung outlet mall in HK and Greenhills in Manila. Our hosted dinner that night was at the romantic Sky Lounge & Restaurant on the 43rd floor of Baiyoke Suite Hotel, where we had a spectacular view of downtown Bangkok. We enjoyed a shabu-shabu dinner with live piano music in the background. Since Christine and I felt quite exhausted from a day of walking up and down the streets of BKK, we gladly accepted Apple’s offer to take us to Petchada Spa, just next door to our hotel. Since we booked through Apple, we availed of their relaxing two hour Thai massage for only 600 Baht per person. Truly a perfect end to a perfect day.

Refreshed and invigorated from our massage, we eagerly looked forward to visiting the famous Damneonsaduak Floating Market on our last day in BKK. From our hotel, it was a one-hour van ride, and a 30-minute long-tailed speed boat ride through the many small canals, twists and turns that led us to the floating market. On the way, we saw glimpses of how the residents lived on the riverbanks, from washing clothes, to selling merchandise on their sari-sari stores, putting gasoline on their own speedboats, and floating kitchens selling noodles and other fried treats. Upon embarking in the Damneonsaduak market area, we mingled with the other tourists poring over the numerous attractive wares on display: unique handmade silver ornaments, clothes, sarongs, jewelry, and food items. About an hour and a half’s ride away from Damneonsaduak is the Samphran Elephant Ground and Zoo. Upon arriving in the premises, we proceeded for a late lunch at their Erawan Restaurant for a delicious, extensive international selection of curries, meats, soups and desserts. By the entrance, we bought bananas to feed the talented elephants, who are well trained in delighting visitors with their cute antics. Then it was time for the entertaining Elephant Theme Show, wherein we were treated to huge, graceful elephants dancing, being circus stars, playing football and a reenactment of the Yutha Hathi, an ancient royal Thai battle scene on elephant back. We were further entertained with a comical magic show and Crocodile Show by the fearless performers, who placed their hands and heads inside the crocodiles’ cavernous mouths!

Soon we were headed back to the city for our last evening dinner in Bangkok at the prestigious Amari Watergate Hotel. After a grand tour of their well-appointed rooms and suites, we were escorted to their exotic Thai on 4 restaurant for a most memorable sit down dinner with Apple and Niza Simakul (Reservation Executive) of GM Holidays. Our dinner began with assorted palate-teasing appetizers: sho muang (flour shell with chicken and onion filling), kra tong thong (crispy noodles in pastry shell), khao tang na tang (crispy rice crackers with minced pork and shrimp dip), gait alai (steamed minced chicken with cork kernel and salted egg yolk). Adding spice to the meal was tom yam goong mae nam (spicy river prawn soup flavored with lemongrass, limejuice and chilies). What made me finally break my diet and give in to eating rice was the piquant gaeng gai prik khi noo (green chicken curry with coconut milk, chili and Thai herbs served with roti), which I dipped with the ubiquitous Thai fish sauce. Another familiar dish served was gai hor bai toey (deep fried marinated chicken wrapped in pandan leaves), similar to what you can find in Café Laguna. To cap off the meal, dessert was bua loy khai wan (similar to our very own Cebu binignit). Needless to say, we ended that evening in gastronomic bliss, along with our shopping purchases, and bags of sweet or spicy sampaloc for pasalubongs which we ordered through Apple (we paid her 35 baht per bag).

As we learned in Siam Niramit on our first night, we felt we had just experienced our own version of blissful heaven in the City of Angels. Till the next travel adventure… Sawadee-ka!