Platinum Fashion Mall and Jazzie's

Day three was an interesting day. Sadly, I didn't actually take any photos. Sometimes it's really tedious having to lug your camera around. Sometimes I feel like I can't properly enjoy myself when I'm taking photos of everything. I just want to live it and enjoy it.

Anyway, I went to Platinum Fashion Mall with Liam, Biz, Chai and Yuthana. It's this shopping centre that's full of cheap cheap clothes and jewelry. We started our day with some food. We went to the food court at Platinum Fashion Mall. My weird meal of noodles and fishballs was weird and too oily, but Biz's som tum was tasty as. Damn. I always get food envy. We then shopped for a little bit but little yuthana got a bit cranky so Biz and Chai decided to go back to the hotel room. Liam had some work to do so he went back too. I found out later from Biz that he was concerned about me making my way back to the hotel room because I have a "bad sense of direction". Thanks dude.

I think I spent about 3 hours there. I bought so much stuff! What I noticed was that there were a lot of people who bought things in bulk, like you know, 50 of one item etc. I think they must sell them at the markets or online. That explained why touting at Platinum Fashion Mall never worked.

Should I post pictures of what I bought? I bought so much. A lot of it were tops. I found another pug t shirt so I had to have that. I also bought these tops that came in really cute prints. I reckon they'd be great for spring and summer especially with some high waisted shorts. One thing that annoyed me at Platinum Fashion Mall was that you weren't allowed to try anything on, not even something like a vest, which was super lame. Anyway, pretty much anything you bought was a bit of a gamble. That's why I didn't bother with skirts and shorts, which was a shame because there were some really cute ones.

Once I was all shopped out, I headed back to the hotel room. It was there that Liam and I decided to go find Forever 21. Well, actually, Liam wanted to find Kinokunya, this awesome book store, and I wanted to explore Forever 21. So we split up.

Let me tell you, Forever 21 was HUGE. It's the size of one floor in Myer! It was so big I was super overwhelmed. I didn't have time to try anything on, but I couldn't wait to explore it properly. Also, just a note, I went to Zara and Topshop the day before and I have to say it was kind of disappointing, especially Topshop. They were doing the whole bright colours thing which I have to say I'm not a huge fan of.

Dinner that night was great. We went to Biz's favourite place called Jazzie's. A really tiny lady runs the place and does all the cooking. She's immaculately made up as well, with her hair pinned up elegantly and make up applied skillfully. That night, we ate with Biz, Chai and Guillaume. It was the first time Guillaume would have proper Thai food (he said he had pizza for dinner last night). We wanted to blow his mind.


This was what we ordered. There's a chicken and pepper stir fry, som tum, a glass noodle salad, larb gai and some Thai fish cakes.


Chai ordered this. It's raw prawns with a spicy, tangy sauce. The lime juice in it cooks the prawns slightly. It was delicious, and very spicy.

We had such a good time. The food was great and the beer kept coming and we only paid 150 baht each, which is like... AU$5 each. Bargain!

Getting scammed. Kinda.

Well, our second day in Bangkok was interesting. We were excited because Liam's best friend Guillaume was coming to Bangkok for work and so was Liam's sister Biz, her husband Chai and their 1 year old son Yuthana. We were just really excited to have a gang to hang out with. Plus Biz lived in Thailand for a long time and Chai is Thai so having locals with us gave us a bit of cred.

However, during the day we were alone. We were going to find Topshop but on our way there we bumped into this man. He thought we were looking for MBK and helpfully gestured for us to go a certain direction. He even thought I was Thai. A lot of people thought I was Thai. When he realised we were both foreigners, he started talking to us about our holiday and told us about this really good restaurant that he goes to with his family that does really good tom yum soup and this factory that sold cheap designer clothes. I'm not so into designer clothes, but my mum is and I figured I could find some nice scarves for her. This really nice man spoke to a tuk tuk for us so he didn't overcharge us.

I know what you are thinking. This is not going to end well. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

So the tuk tuk was taking us to some mysterious restaurant for amazing tom yum. As we were driving, I realised we were in Phaya Thai because we drove past the station. The tuk tuk began to slow down and head into a gigantic seafood restaurant setting up for lunch and dinner. We felt a bit weird because we were expecting some kind of small eatery, but we headed inside anyway. When we were seated, it was quite obvious that we were expected to order some kind of lobster or crab. As it was just lunch time, we opted for some Tom Kha Gai and a Pad Thai.

Sadly, I don't have any photos, but the food was very tasty. The only issue was that both dishes cost 300 baht. That's AU$10 and while that might be totally acceptable for a delicious Tom Kha Gai (FYI Tom Kha Gai is a coconut and galangal soup), but pad thai? Pad Thai is 40 baht from a street vendor. We didn't mind too much since that meal was still cheaper than what we could get in Australia. We paid and left.

When we went to find our tuk tuk, we noticed there was a Puey Thai sticker on the tuk tuk. Liam started talking to the tuk tuk driver about the Bangkok massacre last year where the Red Shirts were protesting their right to democracy and the millitary sent snipers on the sky walk to shoot the protestors. Our tuk tuk driver, who was probably about 60, rolled up the leg of his pants and showed us this massive scar on his leg. He said he was shot by the snipers. It was really moving. We shook hands. I think he was just really happy to have someone to talk to and to meet foreigners who knew what's going.

Afterwards, we went to this "factory" with the discounted designer clothing. Except it wasn't a factory but a tailor. When we went in, we were super confused. The tailors were super confused. There was no factory full of discounted goods so we just left. Our tuk tuk driver took us somewhere that sold legitimate duty free jewelry. I was so close to buying this gorgeous emerald and white gold ring when Liam received a phone call from Guillaume. We left abruptly and headed over to MBK for a drink with Guillaume.

Later that night, Liam and I went back to Phaya Thai and had dinner at this bar. I don't know what it's called but it was very busy. We sat outside. The atmosphere was great. One table was full of off duty business men, another table full of young adults.




Chicken and cashew stir fry


Squid Larb



The squid larb, for me, was a revelation. It was beyond delicious. We had a few more of these beers before we headed back to the hotel. While we were in the lobby using the internet, we received a call from Biz and Chai. They were in the hotel lobby as well! We found them and exchanged hugs and hellos. Yuthana was in a cranky mood, crying and all that. He was being carried by Noi, Chai's younger sister's bestfriend. She was so wonderful and friendly. We also met Bank, who is Chai's older sister's son. Noi and Bank left and we helped Biz and Chai up to their rooms. When they settled in, we started chatting and drinking beer and gin until pretty late.



Cheers!

Second First Day in Bangkok

Bangkok started off a little shaky. My boyfriend was really upset actually because he expected something better. Pretty much, he wasn't pleased with the hotel room or the view (our view was the level 5 swimming pool) and the lack of internet and how much it cost. It was a bit crap. We could only access the internet at the lobby and we had to pay $20 for it too. But that aside, Bangkok was and is awesome. My boyfriend (I should call him by his name, I don't know why I do this), Liam, took me to Phaya Thai, which was close to where his sister, Biz, used to live when she was in Thailand. We stopped at this place and had some really yummy lunch to soothe our disappointment with our hotel room.



Tom Yum Soup


Chicken Larb

We then went to MBK for some shopping. Unfortunately I don't have any photos, but MBK is this shopping centre that has 6 floors of just stuff. Clothes, food, furniture - everything, and even things you don't need. There's also a floor just dedicated to tech stuff. Really crazy. I didn't really buy anything there, but it was a good place to hang at.

Later that night, we went across the road for some dinner.




We were meant to get friend prawns but something got lost in translation and we got fish instead. Still tasty though!


Mango Salad with Prawns. So good and spicy.

Last day in Ao Nang

Our last day in Ao Nang was really interesting. We found this bit of unexplored road the night before and decided to walk down there and see what was happening. It seemed way more touristy with restaurant after restaurant more Western than the previous one. As we walked, we were approached by this bubbly young lady wearing a bright pink t shirt and jeans. She had a big smile on her face and she was holding yellow fliers in her hand. She started speaking to me in Thai. When she realised I wasn't Thai she started speaking in English and telling us about her family run massage parlour. We weren't really keen on getting any massages done, but we followed her anyway, just to suss it out. She gave us some really delicious pineapple, then offered us some seats near the beach. we were a bit confused about what was happening, but went with it. It was a good view.We sat there and watched a French family swimming at the beach. The breeze was also refreshing in the tropical heat.

I had a look at the flier. They listed all these kinds of massages and since I had a sore foot from exercising, I decided to get a foot scrub and a foot massage. The Thai lady came back with some watermelon and we told her what we wanted to do. She said it was an excellent choice and told me that we both could get free manicures and pedicures. I was pretty stoked about that.

It took me a long time to realise that this was probably some kind of massage spa resort thing. You know, the ones that feed you and stuff. I guess that's what all the free fruit was about. I've never been to one before because I have issues with people touching me. This place was a simple, big hut with straw mats on the ground for those keen on being pampered. It was surrounded by other very similar massage places. It must get competitive if all of them offer the same stuff.

We first got our feet scrubbed. We had to lie on our stomachs while our foot scrubbers applied some kind of liquid to our heels. After a few minutes, they used what looked like nail filers to scrape off the dead skin gathered on our heels. Let me tell you there is a lot of dead skin on our heels. They just peeled all that skin off. It was alarming.

After, we had our feet and legs massaged, which was really nice. We didn't really talk much so I just watched all the people on the beach. A young but tall girl came over to my masseuse and he gave her some money for soup noodles. He told me she was his daughter and that she was 11. I said she was very big for 11 and he nodded. He pointed to my boyfriend's masseuse and said he was his cousin and he was really small for a 27-year-old. I kept watching the family for a bit. There was a grandmother sitting at a table, talking to the lady in the pink t shirt, who was getting a 4 year old girl to eat her food. It was just really nice.

My boyfriend then pointed to a bunch of 60 year old men sitting at a nearby table. My boyfriend said he saw one of them place his hand on one of the staff's butt. I found it disgusting. It was weird because I've heard so much about the whole sex industry in Thailand and the old western men going there for sex, yet I hadn't seen any evidence of it. It kind of shocked me.

In fact, when we landed in Bangkok the next day, as we were collecting our luggage, there was a man maybe not quite 60, but getting there, in front of us and his girlfriend was probably my age. I say that because she looked quite young and I was admiring how cute her outfit was. It startled me a bit when I saw this, but I don't think I'm the one to judge.

Anyway, so that was the end of our trip to Ao Nang. It was really wonderful. If you are ever in the area, please go visit that massage spa place that we went to. I have no address or anything, but if you are approached by a friendly Thai lady with a big smile and long hair, smile back and get massage, because it was a great experience. When we left after our massage, the whole family said goodbye to us. If we ever come back to Ao Nang, we'd definitely go back for a massage and a foot scrub. The foot scrub is a must. We left with the softest feet ever.

Ao Nang in pictures

"Healthy" Breakfast


Sticky rice and mango


Tamarind prawns


Larb gai (Issan-style chicken salad)


Awesome dog that chills out at the local gold store


Dog chilling out at a bar



Som tum with prawns and squid


Steamed fish with coriander, lemon and chilli



I LOVE CONDIMENTS


Flat rice noodles in thick sauce


Awesome chicken rice soup


Chicken with garlic and pepper


Cheese stuffed chicken. Was very overcooked.



Malai kofta, my favourite Indian curry


Bloody amazing garlic chicken curry


GARLIC NAAN!


Grilled chicken


More chicken with garlic and pepper


Pad thai


Larb gai


Our last meal in Krabi

Visiting the Islands

When my boyfriend suggested that we go on a boat to visit all the islands, I had to admit I was slightly uneasy about it. See, I can't swim, and water can make me super nervous. But you know what, I had so much fun that day! We went to Tub, Poda and Chicken Islands, all for 1700 Baht, which is like, AU$53! Can you imagine hiring a boat to take you around to Islands in Australia for only AU$53?

We started our day with banana roti. We got up a bit later than we should so we had to eat and walk.







Bloody delicious



We hopped in a tuk tuk and made our way to the docks to get on a boat. Yes, cue all the "I'm On a Boat" jokes.









Obligatory tourist shot

The view was amazing. Photos don't do the views and scenery any justice. Here are some shots:









These monkeys stole this bag of snacks from some tourists. Word of warning, don't take snacks to an island full of monkeys. They will rob you.



We got back on the boat and visited Chicken Island. It's called Chicken Island because it looks like a chicken's head!






Feeding the fishies




I don't know if you can see, but Tom Oliver, who plays Lou Carpenter was totally on the island when we visited. He gave me some bread to feed the fish and him and my boyfriend started talking and I lost my shit by blurting out, "ARE YOU TOM OLIVER?", But totally tried to redeem myself. He was a really lovely fella.

Anyway, after that very exciting afternoon, we were super hungry so we munched on a pad thai omlette and some chicken pad krapow. Check it: