On Temples, Elephants and a Wedding – a Trip to Thailand

Experiencing a culture apart from my own is one of the best things that happened in my life. I have traveled recently in Thailand to attend a wedding of my boyfriend’s cousin, Weywha. She married a Thai and we got to experience the beauty of other customs.

I’ve never been outside the Philippines before and this trip is one of the highlights in my life. Preparations have been done for almost a month, searching over the internet on what I could expect in an unknown place.

Day 1: August 15, 2013

We took an early morning flight from General Santos City to Manila. We arrived at Manila around 10:00 am and went to UP Diliman, where I finished by BS degree in Industrial Engineering. I tour my boyfriend around the place, ate our lunch at Roddics, where you can taste the best “tapsilog” ever. Took some pictures at Sunken Garden, College of Engineering and even at the famous, “Oble”. We also had a time to meet a college friend, Pinay. We had our merienda at Mang Larry’s Isaw, the best isaw in the Philippines I must say.

 After 3-4 hours stroll in UP, we went back to the airport and wait for our evening flight to Bangkok. While waiting, we’ve found a family of B, my boyfriend.

Two hours before the flight we’ve check in, had our dinner and finally faced the immigration.

They got to interview us a little and there we’re now officially exiting the Philippines. We’ve waited for a while in the boarding area until our flight has been called. The Cebu Pacific plane flight 5J 931 is now waiting for us. After three hours in the plane, Bangkok welcomed us around 1:00 am. We’ve queue at the immigration area and we can be called foreigners officially.

Shayne, our former officemate, fetch us at the airport. She welcomed us at her place at Ratchada Thapra SOI 5, Bangkok around 2:00 in the morning.

Day 2: August 16, 2013

Though we only had a little time to sleep, we manage to wake up around 8:00 in the morning and made ourselves ready for a very long day of trip. Shayne bought us food (rice mixed with chicken and vegetables).

Since Shayne knows how to speak a little Thai and became our tour guide for the day. We went to Victory Monument via Bangkok Train Station (BTS) or B-T-et in Thai, as they find it hard to speak the letter “S”. Shayne taught us how to ride the train.

As we arrived at Victory monument, we find the minivan going to Ayutthaya, an hour and half drive from Bangkok. But before we went there, we bought Thai sim cards at Seven Eleven. Since it is a long drive, we just internet using our new sim cards at the van.

We really feel like a tourist at Ayutthaya. When we arrived, we immediately hire a tuktuk driver and ask if he can drive us to the Elephant Ride. We feel pity with what they are doing with the elephants but still we insist that we should ride one, at least once in our life. We paid 500 baht per person for a 30 mins ride. Also, the trunks of the elephants are also asking for a tip, so you should be prepared to have given one. As for me, I am not prepared and I don’t understand Thai that’s why I wasn’t able to give to the first elephant that asked me.

After the ride, we bought “pasalubongs” at the place. We also ask our tuktuk driver if he can drive us to other areas such as temples and floating market. We went to a man made floating market in the area and had lunch there.

Then, after the floating market, we visited the temples around the place. Since we have a limited time to visit other temples, we did not enter to it anymore. We only pick those temples and ruins which are near with each other. It was great and it was really fun to see a different culture. We even ask our tuktuk driver to drive us to a place where they sell fruit trees and flowers, as this is the request of my B. We went home around 5:00 pm and paid our manong tuktuk with 800 baht.  We went back to Victory and had our dinner there. We ate at KFC and tried the different taste of Chicken, as well as their famous egg pie.

Even though we are tired, we still find time to go to the famous night tourist place, the Khao San Road. There you can see different nationalities. There are music, live band, shops and massage areas all over the road. We didn’t drink since we are already tired; instead we tried their famous Thai massage. Indeed, the massage is very relaxing and very good.

Afterwhich, we tour around the place and to my surprise, my B had given me these beautiful roses.

We went home around 1:00 am by riding a Tuktuk. The driver is a fast driver and violated almost all the rules when we are riding him. We were all scared but we enjoyed the ride. And Day 2 is finished.

Day 3: August 17, 2013

Since my friend is not available at that day, we hire a tour guide. His name is Yaya. He picked up at our apartment around 9:00 in the morning. We ride a taxi to a place where we can ride a boat taxi to go to the real river market, the Taling Chan river market.

While waiting for our boat taxi ride, we went to the artist house. The items are not for sale in the artist house, it is only for sightseeing purposes. When the boat taxi arrived, we followed to a river. The river is not clean but it’s ok, atleast we experienced it. After the 30 minute ride, we pay 900 baht for it. Then, we arrived at the Taling Chan market, it is the only river market that is in Bangkok and it is only open every weekend. There, you can really experience the real life of a Thai. We roam around and had our breakfast there. Our tour guide bought the food for us. I tasted everything he offered.

After Taling Chan, we went to the famous temples in Bangkok: The Wat Arun, Wat Pho and Grand Palace. Unfortunately, we never enter the Grand Palace since they are requiring us to wear shoes and I did not bring any. But its okay since we enjoyed the view of Wat Arun and Wat Pho. Also, our tour guide said that entrance fee for the grand palace is 500 baht per person and what you will see there is the same temples you can see around it. So, we decided not to go.

Instead, we went to the Jim Thompson Place by riding a tuktuk and a river boat. The river boat only stops for a while in a place, so we need to hurry as we go. But in our case, we took some picture of us and the lady who is in charge there got angry with us. Nevertheless, we don’t understand her, so we just laugh at her.

Around 3:00 pm, we went at the apartment of our friend. Yaya, our tourguide, accompany us as we go home. He is good in English, inserted some jokes along the way and a very wonderful person. We paid him for 900 baht inclusive of the lunch he paid for us. We appreciate his concern with us as he checked us every now and then if we are okay.

After having a little rest at the apartment, we prepared ourselves to go the bus station to Chiang Rai. Ara, my highschool friend and a common friend of Weywha, will join us as we go to Chiang Rai. We met at the BTS station.

The bus arrived before our departure time. It is a 2-storey bus and we are very much happy to ride it since it will be our first time.  We will be having a 12 hour travel to Chiang Rai and so we sleep during the whole time. A stop over has been made for us to eat around 12 midnight. But since I don’t like the food, we just manage to look at the place.

Day 4: August 18, 2013

We arrived around 8:00 am in Chiang Rai. Since the wedding will start around 10:00 am, we still have time to prepare for the wedding. When we are ready, we walked from our room to the reception and manage to enjoy the rituals of the wedding. We cannot understand Thai, so we just look around and had a small talk with Weywha’s family.

Around 3:00 pm, we went to the house of the groom, where we will stay for an overnight. Around 5:00 pm, the continuation of the party started. Thai people invited us to dance, so we invade the place and dance. They taught us how to dance in Thai and we also taught them how to dance in Philippines. It was a great night.

Day 5: August 19, 2013

We woke up early and immediately went to the farm of Choi, the name of the groom. We saw the rubber trees, the pond and definitely the farm. We took some pictures. For an hour, we just stroll around the farm.


We had our late breakfast and early lunch at the house of Choi. After an hour of preparation, we are now ready to invade Chiang Rai. We went to the Goldent Triangle, the boundary of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand and saw the Maekong River. We also went to the great White Temple.

After the tour, we went back to the house and prepare for the departure back to Bangkok. Around 5:00 pm, we bid farewell to our new found friends and went back to Bangkok.

Day 6: August 20, 2013

We arrived at Bangkok around 6:00 am. Since it’s early, we visit a friend of my B near the Yanhee Hospital. It is Ara who accompanies us since she knew the friend of B. We ate our breakfast at a friend and jump off to the apartment of Shayne.  The apartment of Shayne is very far from Yanhee, we took the BTS.

We arrived at Shayne’s apartment late; it is already 11:00 am and this is because of the traffic in Bangkok. We just rest for a while and prepare ourselves for the shopping time. Shayne accompany us to a place like divisoria where we can buy cheap clothes. We bought our pasalubong there.

After the shopping, we went to Shayne’s apartment to prepare for our night flight back to Philippines. We bid farewell to Shayne. I guess it’s so hard to say good bye, Shayne had her tears as we bid her good bye.

We arrived at the airport around 9:00 pm for a 12:00 midnight flight. Sad to say, our flight has been delayed due to the bad weather condition in the Philippines. We sleep at the airport. Around 3:00 am, we had our flight back to Manila.

Day 7: August 21, 2013

Philippines welcomed us around 8:00 in the morning. Our next flight back to General Santos City is around 4:00 pm. Our plan is to visit a place of a friend, however, because of the heavy rain; we decided to stay in the airport.

We had our long wait in the airport when it has been informed to us that our flight has been delayed again until 8:00 pm. We were so tired at that time that we sleep at the airport. Finally, our boarding has been called past 8:00 pm and we arrived at Gensan airport past 10:00 pm. My mom and tin waits for our arrival.

The travel might be exhausting but it was a great experience. I hope to visit Thailand again in the future. Hopefully, I could still see and have some more in other countries.