Last day in Bangkok - 6 April 2008

Woke up early (8am on a Sunday morning is early for me, OK.. even if it is 9am back in Malaysia!), had breakfast and headed down town again.. Yes, it was back to MBK as we didn't manage to do our rounds the day before.

Didn't notice this sign (a few doors away from our hotel) earlier.. Goofing around with Godzilla outside one of the Japanese restaurants on the way to the train station.

Lunch at MBK Food Court.. I must say, the food court's very nice.. Fred enjoying his meal.. as usual! My lunch was great - all the fancy food presentation aside, basically it was nasi goreng belacan with ikan kembung, telur dadar & sambal belacan! Aahhh.. sambal belacan!! Thus far, all our meals have not been spicy at all and lucky for me.. this sambal belacan rocked, man.. I was happy!

After lunch we headed on back to Discovery Center 'coz we didn't quite cover all of it the day before. I tell you.., the two pix above (and "Super Pussy" taken the day before) were pix that definitely got the attention of my male colleagues in the office! A pix (to them) worth enlarging to scrutinize and make out details!Sadly, I couldn't tell them much about the place - didn't go in la..

View from the (overhead) bridge.. Fred and I are still trying to figure out what "The Brain" is all about.. If it's still there, must check it out next time I'm in town!

Went back to the hotel by about 1.30pm and squeezed all our last minute buys into our already very 'bloated' & heavy bags. Had to take a pix of my handiwork - not too shabby considering it was done on a whim! Didn't manage to visit any temples this time.. Stopped in front of this temple long enough ('coz it was by a set of traffic lights!) to snap this pix.

The airport from a distance.. The airport is HUGE!

This pix shows like only 1/3 or so of the entire airport. See, when Fred's not too hungry, he's a good sport & will pose for the cam! Our last meal in Bangkok - the left is mine and the rice dish is Fred's..

This temple-like structure was in the airport and right by our gate. By this time, tho' happy and full, Fred was too tired to pose for another pix.

Our flight was good, especially since we got the airbus that was not very full (we'd flown in on a 737) In-flight shopping meant there was still more shopping to be done! Tho' it's kindda sad that the trip had come to an end, I'm always happy to go home.. I miss my kitties..

Chillin' in Bangkok - 5 April 2008

Hit Chatuchak Market at 11-ish with Fred & Jamie. No pix here again.. too busy shopping! The market was everything everyone said it would be - huge, crowded, not all that cheap, HOT & if you unleash a shopaholic here, be prepared to stay all day! I'd go back only 'coz I'd only managed to cover a really small portion and there was SO much more to see. We left the market at 3-ish, went back to the hotel where Fred & I picked up our stuff and headed to our hotel in town. OK.. reality check - now that the conference is over, so is our stay at the fancy hotel! So, Fred & I booked ourselves into this place called "Take A Nap" at the Silom area.. yeah, we got it off the net and it turned out to be all that it promised to be - basic, clean, nice..

Take A Nap from the outside.. And, that's my room..

Thank goodness there was a lift!! Yes, our bags very huge & heavy! Fred in his room..

Fred also busy snapping away.. That's the.. umm.. dining hall/pool room? Anyway, that's where breafast was served the next morning. Yes, the rooms came with breakfast.. nothing fancy but it was definitely OK.. Managed to sneak a peek at some of the other rooms.. check it out..

These 2 pix are actually of the same room.. it's a big one that can easily fit 3 in it..

That's Fred outside the big room.. and that's the view if you looked above..

After settling in to our rooms & taking a nice cold shower, Fred and I went out.. We were headed to Discovery/Siam Center/MBK.. if we had time for all 3.

Came across this sign on the way to the sky train station.. it just makes me wanna go "what do you get if BN & PAS merged..." Haha.. We took the sky train and headed to Siam Center first. And, as always, first on the agenda was to makan!

A hungry Fred eating away, without even a pause to pose for the camera.. And, that's my dinner. After splitting a dessert of glutinous rice & mango, we walked around the mall. I must say, the mall certainly makes good use of graphics..

After Siam Center, we went on to the Discovery Center next door.. there was an event happening between the 2 malls.. Fred in front of DKNY and their cool window display. And, in that big fushia bag was Fred's great buy from Propaganda - yes, they were having a sale. Although I went crazy at The Loft, I ended up not buying anything.. I did buy this really cool book call "Rubber.. Fun, Fashion, Fetish" from the bookstore tho' and lucky me - it was on 50% discount! Yay! Oh, and before I forget, both malls have a strict "No Photos" rule but I snapped anyway - was gonna plead "ignorant tourist" if anyone queried! Headed on over to MBK but shops were closed/closing - we'll come back tomorrow..

We took the train back, didn't head straight to the hotel (still very early la..) but ventured to Patpong instead.. Walked around looking the street stalls with people constantly coming up to us with the offer to watch 'shows' (of the sporting and/or fruit variety mostly..) Ended up at a cafe for a snack and to people watch.. Continued walking but stall were already starting to close and we came upon this neon sign that I just had to stop and snap..

Stalls on the main stret were still open, so we had a look-see and it was Fred's turn to get hungry. So, he stopped to have some noodles. Tried some of it.. it was kindda like Penang "Koay Teow Th'ng" - nice.. Headed straight back to the hotel after that..

Conference in Bangkok - 4 April 2008

Horror of horrors! It just HAD to happen - Suya (my roomie) & I overslept! Somehow, our alarm didn't go off.. I suspect we must've fallen asleep the night before with neither one of us setting it at all! The bus usually leaves for NSM at 8.00am and we woke up at precisely 8.00am!! Haha.. It's amazing what us girls can do when pressed for time - both Suya and I (miraculously!) managed to get ready in 15 minutes flat! Rushed downstairs in the hope of catching the 'latecomer's van' and as luck would have it.. there wasn't one today!!! Aw, man...

N'er mind, we'll just cab it. The good news was.. we got a cab real quick and the bellman explained to the driver where exactly we wanted to go but the bad news was.. mid-journey we realised that tho' our driver knew WHERE we wanted to go, he didn't know exactly HOW to get there and he didn't speak any English either! Uh-oh.. By reading the road signs (we suspect the driver may not have been able to read all that much either!), we finally got there via a totally different, more scenic route than usual. And, it didn't cost us an arm and a leg either - worked out to be about Baht130 each, which is not bad at all considering we always felt that the journey took forever!

Wasn't THAT late after all - phew! This morning's keynote lecture was via Live Link. At the end of presentation, 3 questions were posed and these were to be our subjects for the round table discussion. We broke for tea, went on to our round table discussions, then it iwas the closing ceremony. Yes, already! How time flies.. Again, this was a simple affair and the next host, Taiwan, was introduced and they presented a short video of things to come. Looks great! Then it was more photos being taken! Man.. it's like we take a group photo every day! Hey, wait a minute.. YES, we'd taken group photos every day since the conference started!! Heh!

That's all of us... again!

And, this is (almost) the whole team.. again!

Last minutes snaps..
NSM mascot... A cool bench made out of corrugated cardboard..
After lunch, we had the option to either visit the Science Center for Education or the Children's Discovery Museum - I opted for the latter. A really cool place where we had lots of fun - so, you can imagine what fun it would be for a kid! Well, this place was, after all, built on passion.. all thoughts and planning, every little detail was made with children in mind..

After the visit, it was back to the hotel for a quick shower and change and I was off with Lee and Asnam. First thing's first, we HAD to eat.. and we ended up in Suan Lum Bazaar - yes, the exact place that the rest had gone to the night before. There, I had the most (mere words cannot describe!) delicious fried chicken (I LOVE FRIED CHICKEN!!!)!!! It was SOOOOO GOOD!! And, then it was a walk around the bazaar..
While I was happily walking around looking at stuff, Lee managed to snap this pix of Asnam. Next, it was off to Soi Nana for a Traditional Thai massage - definitely no pix here.. too busy being 'folded' like origami! Then, we went to have more food at a Pakistani restaurant that actually had teh tarik, walked around the stalls along the street for a bit and it was back to the hotel..

Conference in Bangkok - 3 April 2008

Woke up, showered, changed, had breakfast, boarded the bus and went back to sleep! As I'd said - it's a long bus ride to NSM. It was to be a long morning of lectures too - 4, followed by a tea break, then another 5 before lunch. Despite being a pretty serious affair, our babies of the group, Hafeez (with glasses) and Ash still managed to goof around - of course, this was before the start of the session! Hey.., they may be crazy but the boys sure ain't stupid!
Lunch was lunch.. Then it was back for the parellel sessions. The session conducted by the Japanese science centre, Miraikan, was pretty cool as we communicated with scientists based in Antartica.

After the sessions ended we made our way to the back of the museum (the same place we had our group shot taken the day before) for a special "rocket" launching.

That's Lee & Asnam posing with the "rockets" and later Hafeez lent a hand in launching them.

The "rockets" were launched, the team poses for yet another group photo and the resident NSM doggie remains totally unfazed!

Next, we were off to theNatural History Museum, which was within walking distance of NSM.

Some of the exhibits

An adorable li'l procupine.. a variety of puffer fish - tho' you can't see it in this pix but this fella has front teeth ala Bugs Bunny! So cute! After the viewing was our Authentic Thai Experience session. We got to choose from3 workshops - "Tom Yam Kung", Seashell Mobile & Palm Leaves Animals. I had opted for the Seashell Mobile making workshop, tho' I was pretty tempted to go cook up some Tom Yam, but I reckoned having a keepsake was far better..

The Seashell Mobile Workshop area.. and that's Fizz looking all pleased with her creation and yes, we got to keep what we made. Coolness!!

The Tom Yam Kung Workshop area.. the boys, Asnam (left) & Hafeez (right, also seen here as the food taster), having a go at the Tom Yam workshop. Later, a whole bunch of people went off to Suan Lum Bazaar. I decided not to go and instead went off down town with Fred & Asnam... yes, to go shopping!

Asnam (kayu model - dunno how to pose!) with the very cool looking Toyota Yaris at Siam Square

Cool grafitti art on the door of one of the shops.. Fred horsing around with one of the displays along the street.

After a bit of shopping, we headed back to the hotel..