Land of a thousand smiles(part I) June 7, 2009

Huda  needed a break from her hectic school and work schedule  while yours truly  needed a holiday for the sake of having one.  haha!

As a matter of fact we had planned this trips some time ago only to be disrupted by unforeseen circumstance(riots in bangkok and my enlistment date). When we finally got everything together that feeling was indescribable.  You know the feeling when you have that urgency to pee in the middle of your sleep but hesitate because you just feel so lazy and when you finally cannot take it and let it all out. that blast of emotions from down under to way up your head. Okay I could have just used the word “relieve” but relieve doesn’t justify the feeling of peeing. Okay nevermind….

Destination: Capital of Thailand, Bangkok

Touched down safely and we were greeted by Thai ladies giving out bags of Lychees in celebration of their fruit festival .

Had some trouble locating our designated driver to the hotel,  dialed some numbers end it with a few Sawadee Kaps and we were good to go. Our hotel the residence Rataeevee was located at Petchburi Rd, right smack in bangkoki itself.

After checking in we headed down to Pantip Plaza IT Mall which was just down the road from Petchaburi Road where our hotel was located.This IT mall is the Thai version of Sim Lim Square in SG.

Ahhh… Aircon plus a nice glass of root beer.

Did I mention the Thais are truely religious people?

Infront of every shopping mall, on top of every building, on the bumper sticker of every car, on the pendant of almost everyone and on the shelves of every single shop. There would be a Shrine, Pendant, Altar or Symbol of some sorts to mark their devotions to their God . Even pedestrian crossing the overhead bridge would stop and bow their head in respect.

With just a map in hand we walked from the hotel to the “orchard road” of Bangkok where Siam paragon, Central World Complex, MBK and Siam Discovery was located. In terms of variety, price range and customer service the thais are on par or slightly better then our local malls.

One thing you will realise after walking through their mall. That the place is huge.When I say Huge I meant huge huge kinda huge.

Imagine this, Vivocity our largest shopping  mall: Total Retail Floor Area of 1.04 Million square feet and Parking lot capacity of 2,179+-

I Googled central world complex and I got these figures : Total Retail Floor Area of 11 Million square feet and Parking lot capacity of 7000+-

BOY thats like asking you to shop around vivocity 11 times, that being said it is only one of the many shopping mall around. Now it make sense why  ladies there are fit like man.

The Thais will tell you, you need 2 red extinguishers and a mighty messy  hose for a sure fire good time

We wanted to discover and  experience  the real and modern  Thailand, not what tour agencies wants us to see.  Since our hotel was within walking distance from their sky train we mostly board the train at  Ratchathewi station and move on to where we wanted to go, fare range  from 10 to 40 baths which is roughly 50 cents to 2 dollars. Reasonable if you ask me.

Their BTS is very much similar from our MRT, infact they still use the old ticketing method we long upgraded ages ago, remember the paper thin red card which we used before EZ-link arrived on our shore.Even right down to the yellow marking on the floor used to direct people to give way and the train map. Sadly that is where the similarity ends. As  economically matured as we are, our social graciousness will hardly be on par with the Thais.

Huda and I were chatting and waiting for the train when  she looked around and started giggling and pulling me away. I realise at that point how tolerant and socially graceful the Thais are, actually standing patiently  in two line leaving the center free for passengers to alight before boarding. We felt so embarrassed, In SG we would normally abide by this rule even if some idiots blocks the center, but amidst our chatter,  this simple act slipped our mind.

Oyea, we were actually standing in between the two line before we realize how embarrassing it was and move on to another cabin.

I couldnt tell what huda was feeling but If I could this would probably be whatever that was going through her mind

Trashy

&  Shitty! (eh dun play skin colour! I lub her deep deep hor)

We  read about a forensic museum in BKK and  manage to pinpoint the location with a map and help from my bro in SG.

Took a Tuk Tuk  to the Chao Praya Ferry terminal

“AHHH TOO FAST!!!! SLOW DOWN!!! NOooooo…”

I seem to have left my smile in Singapore. Must have left it out in my “to bring” itinerary.

This is the clearest picture of all the 4 similar retakes with this damn delicious grilled sotong stall. You do the math and figure out whose photography skill this belong to. hahahha

The Forensic museum is located within the Siriraj Hospital which was behind a bazzaar of some sort.

The hospital was quite confusing and had limited English translated signs to guide us. We had to approach one of the staff for help who in the end brought us there personally.

Camera was forbidden but I accidentally turned it on in my bag and snapped a few pictures in my bag. Since the rule  was  broken, no point continuing abiding by it. I must stress I am a law abiding tourist. Plus I could’t make out the “no camera” sign because I was in Thailand and it could meant a tick instead of a red cross on the symbol which could totally mean YES CAMERA ALLOWED!

SO I took some pictures although the bad lightings and though of getting caught was always in my mind.

This museum is not  the usual museum you would want to visit on a daily basis. Trust me

The following sets of pictures are meant to scare you and make you squim like a girl. O well I did when I was there.

There were skulls injured in car accident by dragging along the road, injuries by burn, and another one suffered laceration from a sharp object. Hhuman hearts, tongues and spleens with gunshot wounds, and also intestines damaged by drinking acid. Gangster fights with slash to the head and M16 gun shots to the heart. All real human being preserved by chemicals.

This is a place for mentally sick people to seek solace. I remember watching clips of  real victims in car crash dying or live beheading by terrorist and ended up slightly paranoid. The Siriraj Forensic museum takes it one step further .

The one on the right only scary when you step on her toe or make fun of her.

Anthracosis of the lung, Coal miners, heavy smokers and RP students who smoke during presentation, a glimpse into your future

Liver stab wound, probably from a improvised toothbrush of sort.

Abortion due to car accident. Placenta still attached to fetus.

Cat got your tounge?

Actually I got caught by the staff  towards the end of my visit because my damn camera didn’t have a function to turn off the snapping sound.  The lady made me delete a  dozen more gruesome pictures from my camera in front of her eyes. While smoking my way pass her on why I didnt read the sign at the entrance I scrolled the opposite direction  in my camera album which shows the pictures taken earlier on at the airport. BAH! only manage to save 5 pictures.

However I just googled and manage to find a few photos of the exact same “subjects”  in the same museum I saw. These “exhibits” or deceased are real and not fake stuff up model. Look closely at their skin and wound laceration and you will know.

Babies who have died from both natural and un natural causes in plastic casing filled with liquid

Gunshot to the head.

Gun shot wound to the head

Severed Tattooed arm

Severed hand with tendon and bone still attached

They had a few more exhibits which are re enactment of the Tsunami victims and how the forensic team did their work.

The mock up were so realistic you would’tn know which was real until you read the description of the situation.

There was one mock up  which showed  life size corpse wrapped from head to top in white cloth which resemble the way deceased are wrapped during a traditional Malay funeral. When I pointed and got Huda’s attention to that. She freaked out and walked straight out of the museum.

I was trying to keep up with Huda  when I saw at the corner of the museum, these dehumidified corpses in a casings. It wrote “rapist, murderer, hanged and dehumidified”

One of them was Si Quey,  executed (by hanging) for the crimes of multiple murders and  multiple rapes. He was then mummified to server as a warning to potential offender.

Prayed to the shrine outside the hospital for good luck for the both of us since it was our first day in Bangkok and  inauspicious on many level to see so many unlucky things.

But truth be told. I did met something later that night that scared the fcuk outta me….

To be continued…