YUNNAN & BANGKOK Day 8

Day 8: JI Hotel Kunming Cuihu Branch [全季酒店(昆明翠湖店)] -> Green Lake (翠湖公园) -> Yuantong Temple (圆通禅寺) -> Kunming Changshui International Airport (昆明长水国际机场) -> BKK Suvarnabhumi airport -> Centre Point Hotel Pratunam

view from our room @ level 7 at 6.15am

As it was pretty late the night before, we did not take photos of our room and only managed to take in the morning. We had 2 rooms - 零压高级大床房 (Zero pressure - Superior double room) & 高级大床房 (Superior double room). We booked both rooms from Ctrip. The former is slightly more expensive at RMB 314.15 (SGD $ 66.95) while the latter is RMB288.40 (SGD $62.19). Yup the difference is just about SGD $5 which is minimal. 

Room at level 6 (Room 8620) - Zero Pressure superior double room(零压高级大床房)

Room at level 7 - 高级大床房 (Superior double room)

You might have noticed a difference but you might have not. The zero pressure superior double room had 2 memory foam pillows in addition to the 2 basic cotton pillows while the superior double room only had 4 basic cotton pillows provided. Yup, they pamper you by giving you good hotel service - 2 pillows each. We feel that the soft standard cotton pillow is sufficient and they are really comfy. The bedding for the Zero Pressure room includes an additional memory foam layering which is known to reduce the pressure between the human body contact and the bedding, hence enabling a good night sleep.

What we experienced was:

1. The normal bedding at Superior double room (高级大床房) was comfortable enough for us to sleep through the night

2. By right, the Zero Pressure superior double room(零压高级大床房) should be the larger room, but we thought the Superior double room (高级大床房) was bigger with the extra long table in front of the bed (See comparison photos above)

3. Superior double room (高级大床房) was at level 7 while Zero Pressure superior double room(零压高级大床房) was at level 6. Superior double room (高级大床房)  was above the water/aircon pipes (as seen in the first photo) while Zero Pressure superior double room(零压高级大床房)  was overlooking a carpark. It can be really noisy in the middle of the night for the one overlooking the carpark as there were people gathering at the carpark and talking loudly.

Perhaps we were lucky to get such a good Superior double room (高级大床房), but if given the standard we stayed at, we would really rather choose the cheaper Superior double room than the Zero pressure superior double room.

The following are the same for both rooms, with slight difference in arrangement of toilet & bathing area.

Sofa and table

Sink separated from the toilet and bathing area 

Toilet (separated from the sink and the bathing area)

Kettle, teabags/coffee

Just beside either side of the bed are charging ports and light switches. This really makes it convenient to charge your phone and to off the lights before sleeping. They provided a charging port and usb kind of charging port too.

Charging and switch area

Another tip: Only rooms that are more expensive - Superior double room (高级大床房) at least, gets window view overlooking outside. The rest either had no windows or windows facing inner ledge (almost equivalent to no window as sunlight won't gets in). So be sure to take note of this point if you prefer a room with view.

Our booking does not comes with breakfast. However when we were checking in, the counter staff told us that we can top up for buffet breakfast at RMB 25 (SGD $5.83) per pax. Alternatively, one of us can be a member of JI hotel and pay membership fee of RMB 39 (SGD $8.125), all other people with the member can get free breakfast. It seems like a good deal of almost SGD $2 per pax for buffet breakfast. So one of us signed up as a member, and yup we got our breakfast deal at a bargained! * It was encouraged by the counter staff haha*

2 of the breakfast coupons

Breakfast was served from 7am and we proceeded at around 7.15am.

on our way ~ passing through the narrow corridors to get to the lift

view from the lift (transparent glass lift)

Breakfast at level 8

Ta dah Breakfast place ~

Ample seats available

There were lesser people at around 7+am. Crowd started to stream in when its nearing 8am. There was a great variety of food served (international buffet standard). There's congee, noodles, fried rice with various vegetables and meat to go with. There's also a self-help noodles soup counter, salad counter and toast bread counter. There's practically food for everyone and they are nice too. On dessert side, there's fruits (watermelon, honey dew...), cereal and yoghurt. Drinks wise, coffee and soya milk was served. However the soya milk is a little bland, you might need to add sugar.

breakfast ~

Overall we are really satisfied with the breakfast provided - even better than our breakfast at 7 Days Inn @ Shangri la. Of course, we top up a bit more for breakfast at kunming while that at Shangri-la was included for all guests. Worth trying we say :)

We went back to our room to do final packing before we leave our hotel for Cuihu Park (翠湖公园) & Yuan Tong temple (圆通寺) at around 9am.

Entrance of JI Hotel (全季酒店)

Airport bus (空港快线)

JI Hotel Kunming (Cuihu Branch) 全季酒店 where we stayed at is situated at the last stop of Kunming Airport bus (空港快线) Route Number 1. There's 6 different routes if you were to depart from Kunming Changshui International Airport. So do take note. You can look at their airport web for more information. If you were to take airport bus, alight at the 3rd stop (West Inn/Kunming Nanjiang hotel). To the front facing left of the hotel is JI Hotel already. Very convenient. Bus ride is about 45mins - 1 hour. In terms of price, If you have 4-5 or more people, it might be more convenient to get a hired car like we did to transfer between the hotel and airport. However for solo passengers, the airport bus will be an economical decision (About RMB 25/pax). Frequency is of around 20 mins.

From our hotel, it is of walking distance to Cuihu Park.

screenshot from Baidu Maps - Direction from JI Hotel to Cuihu Park

The route to Cui Hu Park is not complicated, just remember a few of the road names that you will be on:
1. Bai Yun Alley (白云巷)
2. Qian Ju Rd (钱局街)
3. Cuihu South (翠湖南路)

breakfast store near our hotel

Despite being in Kunming but the price seems alright, like a plate of fried mee cost RMB 3.5 (SGD $0.73)

Baiyun Alley (白云巷)

Notice that in the photo above, at the top left hand is West Inn (which is just beside our hotel)! So just walk out of the carpark and walk straight and continue on Baiyun Alley.

On Baiyun Alley

Taiwan food

Soon you will reach Qian Ju Rd (钱局街).

Qian Ju Rd

Turn right and onto Qian Ju Rd (as seen from Maps), until you see Cuihu South Road (翠湖南路) then turn left and walk on cuihu South road and you will reach your destination :)

Cuihu South Road

Along Cuihu South road, we start to see alot of elderly walking opposite direction from us. We believe they came from Cuihu Park after their morning exercise. True enough we saw a lot of elderly in Cuihu Park later on.

Ta da ~ this is the view that greets you when you first step into Cuihu Park.

First glimpse of Cuihu Park

We took about a leisure 15 minutes walk from our hotel to Cuihu Park. At the entrance is also a bridge called 九曲桥.

bridge with many turns

Similarly to our Erhai experience, we didn't get to see Seagull (海鸥) as it has past the winter season and they have migrated elsewhere :(

This was what we were expecting:

Image courtesy of China Tour and China Travel Agency 

Creative ways of reminding people to steer clear of the grass area

Locals exercising

Scene @ Cuihu park

Elderly/Retirees sitting by the lake and Willow Trees. Such a peaceful and serene scene ~

Cuihu

We didn't see a lot of tourists, mostly were locals which was surprising to us. As Cuihu Park was ranked on the number 1 list on Tripadvisor's Things to do in Kunming. Perhaps tourists will only come in the afternoon. The attraction is free of charge / open for free to everyone, but they do charge for eg boat ride around the lake (see above, bottom right collage)

active, vibrant scene in Kunming Cuihu Park on a weekday morning

There were various mass workouts going on. It was comforting to see the elderly people in Kunming engaging in an active lifestyle. About 10 minutes into our stroll, we saw this beautiful lotus pond, with those nice eastern architecture in the background.

Lotus pond

The sun was shinning really brightly, making everything looks so young and full of energy.

up close of lotus

We would consider this Lotus pond as the most beautiful place in Cuihu, during summer perhaps. Since we did not get to enjoy the sight of seagulls :(

Statue of Father of Seagull @ Cuihu

Description to statue

spot the white sea bird (stork?)

Saw a couple of sea birds 'walking' on the water lily leaves. Is this '轻功' aka 水上漂 haha.

Willow trees alongside the lake

" Cuihu Park also known as Green Lake is sometimes described as a "Jade in Kunming".The park consists, in effect, of a group of 4 small sub-lakes linked by bridges in the traditional style. The lake was originally a water reservoir for the city. "

- Wikipedia (Green Lake Kunming) 

Intersection path in Cuihu

The Lotus Temple (莲花禅院) and its surrounding

As we walked in Cuihu, we stumbled upon a temple however it seem to have been taken over by commercial business. When we enter we only see stores selling a variety of jewellery / cafes...

As we carry on our walk, we saw ...

Row of bamboos ~

bridge

Eventually we met this make shift shop that states 'Coin exchange place'. We were puzzled, on why is there a need to exchange coins. In the photo below on the left, you can see the man stacking up coins on the table. Then we approached him and asked and realised its for exchanging notes into smaller coins. If I am not wrong its exchanging RMB 5 (SGD $ 1.04) into 20 coins.

coin well

"bamboo island"

We saw 3 swans ~

swans ! Cuihu

Cuihu Park is really big and if you want a relaxing stroll through the whole of the park, you need to give yourself at least half hour (2-3 hours). As we were short of time, we started to make our way out hoping to exit from the correct exit so that our walk to Yuan Tong temple will be nearer. Along the way of getting out to an exit of Cuihu, we got lost and asked the locals on the route. They were very helpful! We were really thankful to them for the directions.

Cuihu Park

Last glimpse of Cuihu Park

Initially, from the map, the distance from Cuihu to Yuan Tong Temple is pretty near of around 15 minutes walk. However we ended up taking the longer distance as we couldn't find the correct exit out of Cuihu Park. Be caution about this if you are planning to visit the same places as us!

We exited at this place near Cuiyunlou (翠云楼).

Screenshot from Google Maps - Cuihu Park to Yuan Tong Temple

If you see the map above, the pink route is the longer route which we took while the brown route is the shorter route which we planned to take initially but we didn't as we couldn't find the exit. In the end we took about 15-20 minutes brisk walk there.

CuiYunlou

First, after exiting, we took the flight of stairs up to reach Beimen St (北门街).

stairs up

Beimen St

Then we walk along Beimen St until we come to Yuan Tong St (圆通街).

Yuan Tong St

direction

Yuan Tong st

And there we reach Yuan Tong Temple on the left @ 10.40am.

Road outside of Yuan Tong temple (Yuan Tong temple on the left)

Yuan Tong Temple entrance

Do note that admission fee is required for Yuan Tong Temple (圆通寺) at RMB 6 (SGD $1.25) per pax. Tickets can be bought at the counter at the entrance then proceed to pass to the uncle sitting at the desk there for verification.

Ticket counter

Each ticket entitles you to redeem a set of candle and joss sticks near the door (See below).

Redemption of candles and joss sticks

There won't be people to monitor the taking of the offering items however please exercise honesty and take only the quantity that you are entitled to.

Entrance

walk the long path in to the actual praying area

Yuan tong Temple

Yuan Tong Temple was bigger than what we expected. We thought there's only a praying area, but there's actually a lot more areas to look at within the temple.

There's also a mini pond in the temple with bridges built around it.

Yuan Tong Temple scenary

Yuan Tong Temple praying area

Copper Temple (铜瓦殿）

Not too sure what it means but we saw some people touching the 2 statues in front of the temple above and then onto their own faces. Perhaps it can bring good luck or health? Not too sure either!

mini temples within Yuan Tong Temple

Yuan Tong Temple

The helper at the temple gave us some chinese cake to eat for good luck/health...

some chinese cake given by Yuan Tong Temple

As we were running short of time (we need to head back to our hotel by 12pm to check out), we left Yuan Tong Temple at around 11.15am. We did manage to explore around the temple but then it was a little too rush, would be good if we have another half hour at least. We were afraid the walk back to our hotel will be too far, so we took a cab back instead. It was easy to get a cab outside Yuan Tong Temple. They go by meter.

our taxi

It was quite cramp within the taxi but luckily the ride was short. It took around 6 minutes to get to the main road near our hotel. The taxi did not enter the carpark at our hotel.

Hence we were back at our hotel room at 11.30am, still had sometime to do last minute check/packing before we check out of our room at 12pm.

Bye JI hotel (Cuihu branch)~

We booked a car and driver from Ctrip earlier on to fetch us to Kunming Changshui International Airport. We paid upfront online an amount of RMB 118 (SGD $25.11).

Hotel lobby overlooking Nanjiang hotel

Our flight (TG 613) was scheduled for departure at 3.20pm and the driver was supposed to come at 12.25pm. He was on time! :)

our 6 seater car

some tall building that we came across

It can be quite difficult to cross roads in China especially the city. There were a lot of cars, motorcycles and lacking of traffic light. So basically cars go, humans go. Tourists often find it hard to cross roads as you see the cars coming but not sure whether to cross or not. If you don't cross, it is impossible to find a chance where there's completely no cars on the road and safe to cross :/

crossing road

street sights view on the car

beautiful intersection of expressways

road on airport expressway

During the period when we were at Kunming (14-15th June) it coincide with their 4th China-South Asia Expo which was held at Kunming Dianchi International Convention & Exhibition Centre from 12 June to 17 June 2016. It seem to be a very grand event as our hotel was also almost fully booked - and the reason given by the receptionist was the expo. Along our way to airport we also see signs asking the locals to treat guests properly during this Expo period since they are the host.

signs regarding the China-South Asia Expo @ Kunming

Our journey was pretty smooth until around 30 minutes into the journey, we met with a slight traffic jam due to some random checks on big trucks ahead.

Traffic Jam

Luckily, traffic cleared pretty fast within 10 minutes time.

En-route to Kunming airport!

Kunming Airplane building

And here we are approaching the airport, on track to Departure!

On track to Kunming Airport

We successfully reached Kunming Changshui International Airport (昆明长水国际机场) at 1.10pm! It took slightly less than 1 hour to reach the airport from our hotel!

Check in counter J for Thai Airways

check in at counter J 16 ( TG613)

crowded counter (to the far end)

After we check-in, there were many tour groups checking in to the same flight as us. Luckily we were one step ahead of them if not we had to queue very long :(

By the time we were done its around 1.30pm. We had sometime before boarding and decided to try out this popular China fast food chain - True Kung Fu (真功夫).

KungFu 真功夫 Restaurant

Left to Right: Steamed Chicken and mushroom, Pork Belly and preserved vegetables

We ordered 2 sets to share. Couldn't remember the actual price but both sets were below RMB 100 (SGD 20.8) each. Of about RMB 80-90+. Each set came with a small bowl of mixed vegetables (carrot, pea, corn), curry fishballs (6 each), 1 bowl of sweetcorn, carrot, pork rib soup and of course rice. The rice portion looks big but actually its really shallow haha. We find them not bad, worth trying but a little pricey :/

Just beside True Kung Fu (真功夫) is popular US fast food chain KFC!

KFC

We wanted to spend our lose coin change as we didn't want to bring back to Singapore and ta dah, we found a vending machine near the departure area.

Vending machine

We bought two packs of potato chips (China brand of course) for RMB 1 (SGD $0.20) each. We tasted them in Bangkok and they were nice hehe.

We enter the departure clearance area at around 2.15pm. We were 1 hour ahead of our flight departure time (3.20pm) and we thought we had ample time but oh man Kunming Airport clearance is very very very strict. At least for us foreigners!

Please allocate ample time for clearance at Kunming Airport!

As you know, no photography allowed at the clearance area so I shall recall verbally.

There was a long queue to the counters for chopping of passport thereafter another round of scanning of baggages. Over here it is quite strict, you have to take out umbrella, phones, portable batteries devices too in addition to normal tablets, belt...

Not just that, the system is a little messy too. For eg our bags kept going through the system and they ask if we had any portable batteries in our bags, then they ask us to open our bag and then it go through the system again. Everything was chaotic and messy. Eventually they let us go perhaps they didn't want to hold up the queue. It didn't just happen to us but also a few other people in front of us. That's when we realised its really messy here.

For body scanning part, its not the usual either walking through the scanner or they use a rod to track your body. Overhere they really TOUCH you everywhere. From top the arms to your breast/chest to bottom and legs. Luckily its female officer. It was a really detailed check. Of course if you wear shoes you have to take them out too.

Strict checks is alright afterall its for the safety of all passengers given the many security threats. However if the system in place is messy ( lack of space and many people), everything become chaotic then it wouldn't be a pleasant experience already and I believe this also adds to immense stress to the custom officers there. Sadly, our last experience at Kunming is also the worst Airport security check experience we had so far.

When everything was done its about 2.50pm already. We were rushing to our plane boarding area then we realised we still have to catch an internal transfer bus to where the airplane is. And on the bus there were many people already. We were so afraid that we couldn't get our passport cleared in time and hop on this bus and we will miss the plane :( But luckily, we managed to. It departed shortly after we board.

Airport internal bus

The bus ride was short and soon we see Thai Airways ~

TG 613 Thai Airways

We finally reach the ground of Thai Airways at 2.55pm. Plane was ready for boarding~

TG 613

Though plane boarding via the bus transfer is always tedious however the process of walking up to your flight is really WOW. haha

Thai Air stewardess welcoming you at the door

Welcome on board Thai Airways TG 613 Airbus A330 ~

TG 613. The colour Thai Airways cabin 

Adequate leg space ~

Leg space

We did not depart by 3.20pm. There was some delay and it started to rain :/

Rain at Kunming Airport

Eventually it departed at around 3.40pm.

Bye Kunming, Bye China

Perks of ordering special meal (done via online booking) is that you get your meals served earlier. This time round we ordered 2 seafood meal to try.

Special Request: Seafood Meal (From top left clockwise, salmon sashimi salad, chocolate cake, bread, Thai style fish & baked potatos and mixed vegetables)

It seems a bit weird for Thai Airways to serve Seafood meal since seafood meal seems to be more of a privilege rather than a special dietary request. The fish can be more tender however the sauce makes up for it. Was surprised that they serve sashimi - really a seafood meal.

The standard meal for the flight was pork rice or chicken noodles and we chose chicken noodles.

Standard Meal: Mushroom Chicken Noodles (From top left clockwise: ham? salad, chocolate cake, bread, chicken mushroom chinese noodles)

To be honest, the ham salad wasn't nice. There's a smell to it but the chicken mushroom noodles is acceptable. Time passed quickly with food and on board entertainment and soon we are approaching Bangkok!

view @ 5.15pm China time

Do note, Bangkok is 1 hour behind China. So the photo above was taken at 4.15pm Bangkok time.

We can see the expressways, houses and cars!

Finally we touched down at 4.40pm. It was around 10 minutes behind schedule, but since we weren't rushing for time so its okay :)

touch down Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport

Sawadee ka ~

Custom clearance wasn't too bad however we had to walk a really long way to the customs and had to wait for sometime before the luggages were on the conveyor belt.

When we eventually exited the arrival gate we headed to gate 3 where our Asiatravel person in charge will be there to receive us. We had book an airport transfer van to our hotel (Centre Point Pratunam) earlier on via redemption through Asiatravel.

We headed for gate 3 at arrival hall and saw many names hanging outside the gate from various agencies and hotels (Novotel, ctrip...) and after going thru the names we finally spotted ours with Asiatravel logo on it! We identified ourselves with the person in charge and she told us to wait awhile while she made a call to the driver to come pick up point.

Gate 3 waiting area

There was also another pair waiting for the car which they booked via Asiatravel too. We waited for around 10 minutes and we got to board the van. It was meant to be a private charter so we had the whole van (9 seater?) all to ourselves ~

Inside the van at the pick up point

And off we go at around 5.42pm ~ We got this via redemption if not the usual price is THB 1342 (SGD $53.10) one way. I am not too sure if this is the cheapest hire however we thought that if you are travelling in a group, this is actually quite convenient if you have heavy bulky luggages and not exactly too expensive too. Otherwise, you can opt for airport rail and it reaches city/pratunam in about half hour time.

It started to rain along our way to our hotel. Sigh we thought the rainy season will stop in China but it followed us throughout Bangkok too. Previously, June was supposed to be the hottest time in Bangkok however it was surprisingly okay. The heat was bearable, we thought Singapore was hotter.

rain ~

There were some jam along the way and we reach Centre Point Hotel Pratunam at around 6.40pm. The lobby was much posher than expected and the bellboy were very nice to help us unload our luggages immediately once our van reached. There was no queue at the counter when we checked in. we just pass the receptionist our booking confirmation and 4 passports. Thereafter she proceeded with some administrative matters and gave us 4 bottles of cold mineral water and 4 wet towels for cleaning our face/hands. That's really nice of them :) Do note that they require a deposit of THB 1000 per night. So for us since we have 3 nights, we need to give them a refundable deposit of THB 3000. They accept equivalent amount in SGD which is SGD $100.

We requested for high floor and non smoking and true enough they gave us a non-smoking room at level 18. But do note that for some reason or other, it does not seem to have 2 levels (f i am not wrong is level 16 and another level). So in actual fact we are sort of level 16 but they name it as level 18. Didn't manage to take a photo of the lift but if you were to stay there do take a look at the lift level numbers and you will get what I mean. Don't get your minds wondering, so far our stay there has been pleasant and we love the hotel actually :)

Room 1802

And there we go, Room 1802 just a short walk to the left of the lift. We booked near the period of Songkran when the hotel was having a discount of 15% on top of existing discounts. The period coincide with the DBS GOSF promotion of 10% rebate too. So in total, we actually paid THB 10548.5 and after all the discount and rebate we incurred SGD $378 for 3 nights stay for 4 person @ Centre Point Hotel Pratunam. Though it might not be the cheapest, however we thought that the pricing is reasonable considering the prime location it sits on.

One funny thing about Centre Point Hotel Pratunam is that it provides the same room (Deluxe Executive) no matter you have 2 or 3 or 4 guests. However they charge you differently, the more the guests, the more expensive it will be. Of course, there tend to be incentive to choose the cheaper one even if you have more guests afterall you will feel that since you are getting the same room (Deluxe executive - 2 queen beds and 4 pillows). However we read some reviews online prior to booking that they seem to be quite sharp on the number of guests in the room during check in. For example, when we check in, there was no one else at the lobby except us and its staff. So of course how many people you came with everyone knows, and if the receptionist see you booking a room with less guests than what you have, they might force you to pay the higher price.

Okay without further ado, lets show you the Deluxe Executive room @ Centre Point Hotel Pratunam!

2 queen sized bed

Tv, dressing table, cupboard

kitchen area (sink, fridge, microwave machine...)

Plates, cutleries were also provided. So feel free to take away your food from the night markets of Bangkok and eat at the comfort of your own hotel room.

bath tub

Toilet

You might have noticed from the room pictures earlier, that there's a window with view. That's actually leading to the balcony! All deluxe executive room have balcony just that the view might be different (some looking at main road, some at alley some at pool)

So below are some of the photos taken from our balcony @ 7pm Bangkok time.

view : right

view: centre (Pantip Plaza)

View: Leftmost (shibuya & Glow Pratunam Hotel)

View: Left (Overlooking Petchaburi Road)

From our hotel we can also see Big C and Siam Paragon. According to our research on Centre Point Hotel Pratunam prior to staying on Tripadvisor, we saw many reviews asking people to get a high floor. As bangkok can be quite busy at night due to the night markets and massive road traffic, if you get a low floor, it might be quite noisy and disrupt your sleep. Hence getting a high floor not only guarantee you a good view of the Pratunam shoppings as well as giving you some peace when you sleep at night. Indeed, we slept peacefully every night (thanks to the bed and pillows too) and didn't hear much traffic sound.

We wanted to head to Platinum Fashion Mall's food court for dinner initially, however as we were still full from the airplane food we went for a walk along Petchaburi Road instead.

Over at Bangkok, its always best to take the overhead bridge whenever possible as the roads are almost near impossible to cross them.

View of night traffic and platinum fashion mall on the right @ overhead bridge 

From our hotel to Platinum Fashion Mall is really super near. We took the overhead bridge across to the mall and there were many makeshift stores outside the mall. It is like a night market but not sure what market it is called. At around 8pm, a lot of the stores seem to close already in Platinum Mall. So we ended up walking along the street instead. Along the streets we spotted quite a few stores that sell shoes at just THB 100 (SGD $4). Some were made in China but most made in Thailand. Really good buy however if you tend to lean towards a larger shoe size of around 40 and above, it might be harder to fins a shoe/sandal with your size.

Thankfully we brought along umbrellas as it started to pour at around 8.30pm. We decided to head back to our hotel and when nearing our hotel we stop by this roadside hawker to buy 2 packs of mango sticky rice. At the store we also met fellow Singaporeans.

Mango Sticky Rice Store

They sell Durian Stick rice too. Mango sticky rice cost THB 60 (SGD $2.40) for one pack with blue and white glutinous rice and mangos. The glutinous rice is blue due to the natural dye from the blue flowers seen in the picture above (near the pot of blue rice). We bought back to our Hotel as supper hehe. But if there's something hot to eat during this rainy weather it will be even better hehe.

shoe hawker - with plastic covering its shoes when it rain

Mango sticky rice @ THB 60

We find the mango sticky rice to be nice - our first sticky rice in Bangkok. However the mango is a little too overripe - good if you have a sweet tooth though.

And with that, we look forward to enjoying more Bangkok delicacies over the next few days ~ Yum Yum.

Side-note:

Inside Kunming Taxi

Something that we find amusing was that in Kunming Taxi, they have like metal grilles surrounding the cabby. Upon research on Google, we then realise this 'taxi cage' phenomenon seems to be common in China and not just Kunming. It is said to protect the cabby from assassination or theft when they drive. Seems to be a legit protection, but not too sure psychologically, how is it like for the taxi driver.

Day 9: Floating Market and Siam shopping district