After much time spent on thinking about to go or not to go finally we packed our bags to visit four cities of South East Asia - Singapore, Kaulalampur, Pattaya and Bangkok. The entire tour was planned well in advance since it was the first of its kind to all its participants. The tour took us to the cities in the order mentioned above keeping in mind the costs so that we are happy, happier, happiest by the time we come back to town.
Singapore: We landed in Suvarnabhoomi Airport (what a marvel) to take a flight to Singapore, we needed to do a lot of formalities like counting luggage, seeing if all the things are in place, brush, almost have bath oh yes and do paper work like immigration. We landed in Changi Airport the airport and were escorted to the Windsor Hotel. We then did some organized sight seeing of City Tour covering Orchard Road Central Business District, Thian Hoch Keng Temple, Merlion Site, Raffles Landing Site & later headed for unorganized shopping at Sim Lim Square n Mustafa. Organized tour was also to the Sentosa Island and itsUnderwater World with coveted Night Safari. We did travel in all possible modes of transport in Singapore - Mono Rail, Metro Rail, Taxi & Bus Services. Singapore is So Organised n Clean, So Organised n Clean that I felt that its better to be outta there before I would be deported.
KL: KL was the best City of the lot, not as organized as Singapore but not as bad as Bangkok. We landed in quite average Garden City Hotel (but with a fantastic view of Petronas Tower and the Communication Tower) and started our sight seeing. Covered most important and visited places like Batu Caves and Aquaria KLCC and ofcourse the famous view deck on the Comm Tower. I cant forget the mad shopping I did in China Town. I was given to understand that our Bangalore airport will look like KLIA. Lets hope for the better
Pattaya: With these two cities behind we landed in Pattaya, gosh I was so much at home. But from airport to Pattaya it was some 200+ Kms all of us in the van were shocked when we were told that we will reach in maximum 90 minutes. We did go to Corel Island, Saw all menTiffany's Show and Nong Nooch Village around Pattaya. I cherish the beer with cricket loving British people in a small roadside bar opposite our New Day Night Hotel.
Bangkok to BangCock was my line before I went there but I was mesmerized by its similarity to Bangalore or any other coastal Indian city. Smiling people but language problem did hinder my Tuk Tuk ride. Shopping was central attraction in Bangkok. Our hotel Manohara was the best of the hotels we stayed in the trip. Did finish half day temple tour (the photo above is the 17 tonne gold Buddha) and visited safari park.
Singapore: We landed in Suvarnabhoomi Airport (what a marvel) to take a flight to Singapore, we needed to do a lot of formalities like counting luggage, seeing if all the things are in place, brush, almost have bath oh yes and do paper work like immigration. We landed in Changi Airport the airport and were escorted to the Windsor Hotel. We then did some organized sight seeing of City Tour covering Orchard Road Central Business District, Thian Hoch Keng Temple, Merlion Site, Raffles Landing Site & later headed for unorganized shopping at Sim Lim Square n Mustafa. Organized tour was also to the Sentosa Island and itsUnderwater World with coveted Night Safari. We did travel in all possible modes of transport in Singapore - Mono Rail, Metro Rail, Taxi & Bus Services. Singapore is So Organised n Clean, So Organised n Clean that I felt that its better to be outta there before I would be deported.
KL: KL was the best City of the lot, not as organized as Singapore but not as bad as Bangkok. We landed in quite average Garden City Hotel (but with a fantastic view of Petronas Tower and the Communication Tower) and started our sight seeing. Covered most important and visited places like Batu Caves and Aquaria KLCC and ofcourse the famous view deck on the Comm Tower. I cant forget the mad shopping I did in China Town. I was given to understand that our Bangalore airport will look like KLIA. Lets hope for the better
Pattaya: With these two cities behind we landed in Pattaya, gosh I was so much at home. But from airport to Pattaya it was some 200+ Kms all of us in the van were shocked when we were told that we will reach in maximum 90 minutes. We did go to Corel Island, Saw all menTiffany's Show and Nong Nooch Village around Pattaya. I cherish the beer with cricket loving British people in a small roadside bar opposite our New Day Night Hotel.
Bangkok to BangCock was my line before I went there but I was mesmerized by its similarity to Bangalore or any other coastal Indian city. Smiling people but language problem did hinder my Tuk Tuk ride. Shopping was central attraction in Bangkok. Our hotel Manohara was the best of the hotels we stayed in the trip. Did finish half day temple tour (the photo above is the 17 tonne gold Buddha) and visited safari park.
More details and photographs soon, will let you guys know. And if you are planning a trip to these places let me know, I am sure I will be of some help with my fresh SEA experience.
Few photos are on at
http://pdschandra.shutterfly.com/action/?a=0AYt2bFw3Yt2Lqw¬ag=1
(more to come from other cameras)
This one video was shot on my cellphone in Singapore check it out at -
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7584450411104682543
Originally Posted on Yahoo 360 Blog on Monday May 21, 2007 - 10:47pm
Comments
Post a Comment
Tell me what you think...