Shangri-la Bangkok

For my recent short trip to Bangkok, I stayed at the Shangri-la hotel. I think it was my first time staying in a 5-star hotel. My friend was able to get a discounted price for the rooms. So we decided to pamper ourselves.

The Shangri-la Bangkok is a luxury 5-star riverfront hotel on the banks of the Chao Phraya River in Bang Rak. Often called the river of Kings’, Chao Phraya River is the main waterway flowing through Bangkok. The hotel is a stone’s throw away from the Saphan Taksin BTS Skytrain, and the Sathorn Pier.

Here are some photos taken from the hotel.

A nice swimming pool.

Buildings across the river.

The hotel provides free ferry rides across the river to ICONSIAM, a luxury mega-mall.

Views from the hotel at night. Ferries and cruises ply the river.

There was some rain on the third day. We were taking a break in the room when we saw this rainbow.

The weather was on our side. There was none of the heavy rain reported a week prior to our visit. Just a little shower on our third day in Bangkok.

You can click on the picture for a better view.

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My Bangkok Trip

My three nights, four days trip to Bangkok last week turned out well. It was my maiden trip with three other mates. We got along well, had a great time, and we are still friends.

It was a ‘free and easy’ trip, a short break. There was a lot of eating, and window shopping. We did take time to explore their Chinatown and the city center.

Bangkok is the capital and largest city of Thailand, serving as the nation's primary cultural, commercial, and political center. It is famous for its vibrant mix of ornate royal temples, buzzing street food culture, massive shopping malls, and lively nightlife. It also has the unsavoury name of ‘Sin City’ because of its massive, world-famous nightlife and extensive sex tourism industry.

Bangkok is busy, noisy, and there is lots of traffic. Crossing the road is a challenge. The motorists don’t pay very much attention to you. They zapped past you and they will not wait for you at the pedestrian crossing. You just step onto the road and hope that someone doesn’t run you down.

You can travel on the BTS Skytrain and MRT – the city’s rapid mass transit systems to bypass the street traffic. You can also travel on the ferries and river taxis to get around.

Here are some photos from my visit.

Shangri-la, where we stayed, sits on top of a slope. Down the slope is this. The contrast between old and new is quite glaring.

It must be quite a job sorting out which wire goes where.

The city center.

We were walking around the city center when we found ourselves walking into a religious celebration. The road was jam packed. We had to inch along.

After a day’s walking it’s time for some food to replenish our energy.

A night market.

On the second day, we took a ferry to Chinatown.

A Chinese temple in Chinatown

You can click on the picture for a better view.

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Going On a Trip to Bangkok

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I am off to Bangkok, Thailand with some mates for a four days, three nights’ visit. This is the first time the four of us are travelling together. We shall see how that turns out. I am sure you have heard of friends travelling together for holidays and they were not so friendly after their trip.

I don’t see any problem with these three mates of mine. We are all seniors and we have known each other a long time. Recently it just occurred to us that we haven’t travelled together. So someone suggested that we go for a short trip together and here we are.

I have been to Bangkok once. That was in 1989, a long time ago. It’s time to revisit the place and have a look around again. It will be a ‘free and easy’ trip. We are not planning on doing a lot of exploring.

Unfortunately, there has been a lot of rain in Bangkok and there were flash floods at the airport recently. We are keeping our fingers crossed that these would all stop by tomorrow and we wouldn’t be too inconvenienced by it.

I will see if I can come back with some interesting stories to tell.

Meanwhile, I have scheduled a daily post so you will have something to read when you come by.

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Doha Airport

Right. Holidays are over and I am now back home in Singapore. I flew with Qatar Airways and had to transit at Doha Airport for my connecting flight between Malaga and Singapore. Doha airport is huge. For someone who is directionally challenged, like me, the airport is like a maze. It was quite a job finding my way around. After several trips, I am slowly beginning to have an idea where is where.

Hamad International Airport is an international airport in Qatar, and the home base of the national flag carrier airline, Qatar Airways. Located east of the capital, Doha, it replaced the nearby Doha International Airport as Qatar's principal and main national airport and one of the busiest airports in the Middle East. – Wikipedia

Doha airport is a multi-award-winning travel hub that “blends world-class amenities with cutting-edge design”. It was recognised as one of the World’s Best Airports and won Best Airport in ME for the 11th time at the 2025 Skytrax World Airport Awards.

Wander past giant sculptures,

or relax in a tropical garden before your next flight.

ORCHARD is a 6,000 square meter indoor tropical garden with over 300 trees and over 25,000 plants and shrubs sourced from sustainable forests around the world. It also boasts a 575 sqm water feature, which is an aquatic plant-filled sustainable bio pond. It is illuminated with natural light through a grid shell roof, with performance glass to control and filter the light required to maintain a rainforest of mature trees.

This installation is the “Wild table of Love in Doha” bronze sculpture by artists Gillie and Marc, located in The Orchard indoor garden at Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qata. A public art installation meant to symbolize harmony, coexistence, and wildlife conservation.

It features a massive banquet table where various endangered and native animals from around the world and Qatar sit together. The artwork highlights the loss of global wildlife and promotes awareness for protecting endangered species.

Visitors can sit on the bronze stools alongside the animals for photos.

You can click on the picture for a better view.

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Barelang Bridge

Barelang Bridge is a chain of six bridges of various types built in 1997 connecting the Barelang island group of Riau Archipelago. Over time, the bridge sites have grown more into a tourist attraction rather than just a transportation route.

The Barelang bridge is probably the only tourist attraction worthy of note in Batam. The bridge is free to use, but there is a small entrance charge to go to the lookout point, where you get a nice view out to sea and the islands beyond.

It was midday when we arrived at the ridge. That probably wasn’t a good time as it was rather warm at that time of day. Plus, the view would have been a lot more amazing in the evening sunset.

The other thing that we were not aware of was that there is no signal in the area. We were informed by the taxi driver when we arrived that we wouldn’t be able to call a cab to take us back to town. He volunteered to wait for us to take us back to town if we pay him the same price as he took us there, plus a small tip. We agreed readily to it as the alternative would be to be stuck in the area, and we never know how far we have to walk before we get a signal for our phone.

Some photos of the bridge and views from the bridge.

You can click on the picture for a better view.

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"Love Seafood" Restaurant

On our second evening in Batam, we went to ‘Love Seafood’ restaurant for dinner. This came highly recommended by someone from Singapore who had been there. So, of course, we had to go and try it for ourselves.

Apparently, they have been around since 2013. They have a branch very near to our hotel. But we didn’t know that, or rather, we didn’t know that it belonged to the same owner. Anyway, in the restaurant, there were tanks displaying the seafood where customers can have their pick for dinner.

We had six dishes, excluding rice. They were all good and prices were a third of those in Singapore. Someone in the group suggested that we should go back again. But unfortunately, that was our last night in Batam. However, I am sure the evening, and the restaurant will be mentioned to friends in Singapore, and should any of us go back to Batam, I am sure ‘Love Seafood’ will be one of the stops.

Drunken prawns

Fried Squid

Fried rice vermicelli

Stir fry spinach

Chilli crabs

Steamed pomfret

You can click on the picture for a better view.

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