Went to Putrajaya yesterday morning to visit the Floria flower festival. It was the 1st day of the festival. We reached the venue at 9am but the opening ceremony was not started yet. The weather was cloudy, and it rained early in the morning. Heard that PM Najib was to dropped by as he was there for some koperasi event. The launching was supposed to be by FT Minister, but I saw on TV PM launching it. We saw Tourism Minister Ng Yen Yen turun padang as well.
First impression we got was that last year’s festival was better in terms of the flower attraction. Maybe since its the first day or because we have seen the same stuff last year. Noticed that the small amount of the roses were not fresh or starting to wilt. I think the weather in coming days will make it worse. There were platforms to walk this time, so can avoid the mud after rain.
We were interviewed by RTM but it didn’t appear on TV.
We spent about 3 hours visiting the flower booths and the stalls. The aircond pavillion was closed (supposed to open at 2pm only). Will visit again to cover the pavillion and also the night floral parade.
The food stalls were similar to those last year.
This time around, we saw more activities lined up for families and children.
Crowd was about 100 cars by 9am, but by the time we left at 12pm, I estimate about 400 cars were in the parking bays.
Continuing from part 1, at 3.30pm we stopped at the famous Si Racha Tiger Zoo in Si Racha district (Between Chonburi and Pattaya) for their tiger show. This is zoo where tiger and piglet photo was taken (widely circulated in the net). We actually saw tiger cubs trying to suckle milk from pig. They also had crocodile shows, AND, pig racing!
There were lots of photos, so I divided the day into 3 segments. Part 1 covers from morning till about 2.30pm. Part 2 covers from 3pm till we reached Pattaya at around 6.30pm, and Part 3 covers the rest until night.
Part 1
Wake up call at 6am. Had breakfast at the hotel by 7.30am, checked-out and off to our first destination – boat trip on the Chao Praya. We took the tour coach to the River Complex, one of the stops for the ferry service.
This is the river complex. notice people walking by? They alighted from the ferry and walking to their work destination. Imagine our Damansara/Segambut/Klang/Gombak rivers used for such purposes.
Along the way to the complex, we saw something unique – motorbike taxis. The pillion rider pays the motorcyclist a fee to drop them at certain location. Unique indeed!
The tour group had 25 people, so things moved a bit slower than usual. We took the boat at Hilton area and went up to the location where can feed the catfishes at the temple area.
We turned back at the fish feeding area and then stopped at Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn), which is located at the banks of Chao Phraya, at about 9.15am. It was the Royal Temple dedicated to the 2nd Chakri Dynasty. Ticket to climb the structure costs 50 Baht (RM1 is about 10 Baht) per person. The stairs are very steep.
Next (short) stop was a leather factory, which I think the tour company tried to earn some commission. Unfortunate for them, no one bought anything
This was followed by visit to four faced Buddha (which looked like Lord Brahma) in the shopping area. Its known as the Erawan Shrine near Ratchaprasong Square. We can buy the flower and incense stick and pray here. Similar to Bali, we noticed that many houses/buildings in Bangkok has a shrine outside. It seems that the shrine is build first to protect the construction of the house/building. This particular shrine is very famous.
We stopped at McDonalds at Amarin Plaza (they serve pork burger, so not halal ya…) to buy ice cream while waiting for the bus (did I mention it was HOT? ). Cost 13 baht for chocolate coated vanilla ice cream.
Managed to squeeze a short holiday to Bangkok and Pattaya (thanks Then) last month (no Internet, so that explains lack of activity on blog and social networks). Here’s the short and long of the trip:
Day 1 is basically getting to Bangkok from KLIA and nothing much to visit. Took a two-hour flight at 12.30pm and reached Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport (which looks similar as KLIA) at 1.30pm or so (Bangkok is (-1) hour from Malaysian time).
The trip to Bangkok centre took nearly an hour, traffic was not as bad (it was school holiday as well) as usual. Noticed that Bangkok looks clean. The people are similar to Malaysians (you have Malay and Chinese looking people), and the weather/environment/plants/cars/roads etc all look similar to Malaysia. In fact, if you don’t notice the signages and don’t hear the Thais speak, you’ll be thinking that you are in Malaysia. Oh, one difference – can see more dogs and also lots of non-halal food.
Our guide, Alex, warned that the weather is a bit unpredictable and that it has been very hot lately.
Checked in to hotel at nearly 3.30pm since our tour group consisted of people from different packages. We stayed at Siam City Hotel at Si Ayuthya road. Early dinner at 6pm at a local restaurant. Met some of the other tourists – few elderly Chinese couple (some Malaysians and some who migrated to Australia). Later took a walk to Victory Monument roundabout (15 mins from hotel) just to see the city environment and after office movement.
This is the 3rd year running that I got a chance to talk about post SPM/STPM options on Astro Vizhutugal (thanks to Ms Khrisna!). Was not feeling well with the sore throat, and didn’t manage to cover all the points I wanted to talk.
I talked about the study paths available, factors to consider in deciding the study path, the need for urgency, and that’s about it. Couldn’t cover scholarships and also counseling options.
The interview was done live on 28th April. Now only got time to blog it …sigh.
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