Kuala Lumpur Airport

Reached KL Airport on a Sat early morning after 12 hours flight. Feeling groggy due to lack of sleep despite the fact of flying in a new A380. Immigration line for Visitors were long but adequate. For Malaysian there are special automatic lanes with machines to scan their passports. But today the machines seems to have taken a break as I overheard the immigration officer told the local that machines were on "holiday" but not to the bemusement of  the travelers.

Waiting time for luggage was displayed on screen, a plus in my book! Custom clearance is another plus, not much hassle and friendly smile.

Coming out from the gate was a bit overwhelming with many people waiting behind retainers. Rather difficult to see any sign-ages. Worked my way  through the crowd but instead greeted by some not so decent looking guys asking "taxi?" "KL?". My hunch told me this is not legal activities. Such a big and nice airport but marred by this sort of activities. There were plenty of armed policemen standing in groups in a corner and not seems to be marching compared to other international airport. However I still felt safe seeing any armed personnel.

Platinum Fashion Plaza

Platinum Fashion Plaza: A short walk from Central World.  A 6 levels plaza, filled with clothing for young ladies and men, babies, and  kiddos! The more pieces you buy the more discount is given. Food stalls almost every level. Most of the girls who operate the shops were young girls. They had good personality and they always snack-ing. They are wholesaler and retailer unlike Pratunam Market which is right across the road. Be careful of quality and size, I am an M size but the L could not fit me. 1 of the best thing I found outside of Platinum was the steamed glutinous corn from road side stall. The grain came in white or yellow, even grey. Very starchy just like the way it was tasted 20 years ago in my hometown. Taxi outside the mall was 3-4 times more expensive and none would want to use meter. This is the center of everything, malls, traffic jam and near to the famous Erawan Shrine, do expect a losing battle with the drivers.

Bobae Whosale

Bobae Market : My Thai friend had caution me on this place of some wholesalers' attitude. There were stalls before the bridges that close quite early and shops after the bridges. Most shops would sell in pieces of 4, 6, 12 and more likely in sizes of S,M,L,XL in varying patterns. While most wholesalers were polite but 1 particular shop did give me a lasting bad taste. This wholesaler was more impatient than the 2 girls she employed. As this was my first experience, and all signage in the shop was in Thai, had to ask couple of questions. I should have left after seeing her offensive body gestures but I didn't. I had to ask how to get a deal but she had hard time describing it. And at one point, she barked at me after failed to convey her message across. She even tried to chase me out of the store that she do not need 'walk in' customer. She repeatably emphasized that this is wholesale not department store like a broken records. At 1 point of time of time when I asked if i can check the merchandise after paying she lamented on wholesale rule (maybe her own rule) that I can not check the goods in her store and neither can I check it outside her store. Sounded ridiculous as once paid it's mine but that's her rule.  From this experience, I  think, as a frequent traveler, one should avoid going to wholesaler market by yourself, get a local language translator guide is better , Yeah!

Chatuchak

Chatuchak : 1 of the best place to shop. Everything under 1 roof (or roofs). Kichen wares, decorative, clothing, leather goods, puppies, kittens, some even say monkeys, snacks, fruits, food, soaps, massage oils are conveniently co-located. As the sun goes higher the temperature can be quite daunting. Do see some parents with their babies in a pram and the little ones start crying as well. Photo taking of some shops may not be allowed. Ask before you shoot unless you are interested to take a quick lesson in Thai colorful language. Be wary of pickpockets as well. Always bargain...

I spent almost the whole day in Chatuchak. I had to throw in the towel thus a nice shady place with garden seats near the bank area became my heaven. Muscle aching and body sweat formed a white wave line on my black shirt, just had to rest those legs. My mate helped me to massage both calves and the new massage oils seems to do wonder. I was on my feet again but it was closing time and we could see shops started to pull down the shutter or packing their wares up to their vehicles. A bit of praise, and the right timing sure did miracles to your pocket.

The best part was when we were about to depart from this wonderful place in the evening...

Chinatown, Sampeng

Reached Chinatown. All the Soi(s) and lanes are filled with shops, shoes, clothings, toys, accessories and so on and on and on...Some lanes are so narrow only for 2 lines of human traffic. But shoppers local and foreigners are polite to give way. Some shops are retail and some are wholesales. Crocs lookalike, fashion shoes, hair pins, hair clips, umbrellas, cow leathers, toys in bulk and anything that will feast the eyes and drain the wallet. Public toilets of 2Baht were tucked inside buildings but clean.

Food carts on wheels that is extremely mobile, coconut in its shell 20Baht, steamed corn 10Baht, Pomegranate juice 40Baht and charcoal grilled banana, sweet potato, tapioca, squid, tasty and cheap! The charcoal give its' the aroma and best taste. I think I have reached the no frill heaven of food...1 word of caution be careful, the place is crowded, my backpack caught the wire mesh where the food sit and almost make a big mess. Quickly I apologized but not without some Thai harsh words from the lady...my bad!

Art of Taxi-ing

Took the airport taxi. Big sign board saying passenger need to pay the toll and surcharge of 50Baht. After 2 min leaving the airport ground, driver said 450Baht and I pay toll! What!!!??? I said firmly but politely "Isn't it Metered?" and pointed my finger at it. He reluctantly switched it on and mumbled in Thai (i need to learn some Thai bad words...). Being a Sunday afternoon, there wasn't much traffic and I enjoyed the scenery of high rise condominium, showrooms of Ferrari,  temples as well as shop lots with infrastructure cabling dangling everywhere.  It was a serene drive and the weather this time round was gloomy being of raining season. Reached my hotel and the meter showed 250Baht. Pointed to the meter and said "250Baht only, but I give you tips of extra 100Baht". Throughout my stay I met many taxi drivers who try to charge 3-4 times higher than normal meter rate. But I also encounter some honest drivers whom I would give them 20-50Baht of tips. 1 taxi driver even showed his frustration by overtaking dangerously and accelerated unnecessary (similar to a roller coaster ride) when he didn't get what he wanted from me, sorry dude no tips from me! Always, Always, Always ask before boarding "Do you use meter?". If you know your price then  bargain especially during peak hours or when taxi is scarce. Remember traffic jam can be 3 hours from airport to city center.

Of course there are many more things I enjoyed in Bangkok which overweight the above by tenfold. More to come in my next post....

Thailand Airport

Landed on Suvarnabhumi airport on Sunday noon. Immigration queues with more than 200-300 foreigners. 10 lines of of unofficial queues trying to squeeze into the 1 single line...People were trying to jump queues and made their ways to the front. I was left to defend for myself of the imaginary space that I  was standing on. A lady immigration officer came and politely asked a couple with a young kid to follow her to a shorter queue. But her other members, friends and whoever stand next to her start to join in,  the officer stopped them politely, only parents with kid eligible. But the group ignore the 1st warning, 2nd warning and followed closely like little ducklings. The officer had to say STOP with some tai-chi moves...

Left and right saw kids and adults were unstrapping the retractable barriers, the scene was total chaos. Finally after 1 hour I emerged from the airport and what a relieve...