BKKats Day 2 True Love Cafe x Platinum x Siam

We slept real late on our first night so the two of us were slightly zombie-like, though this was a consistent vein in most of our mornings. We walked around the market area for a bit and hailed a cab to the True Love Husky Cafe! The cafe has 3 specific timeslots and the first begins at 1230. It is usually advisable to arrive at 1200 to avoid long lines and disappointment so we set off early just in case we got caught in a jam/got lost etc. Guess we were a little too cautious though because we reached the place at 1030 and... there was absolutely nothing to do there, haha.

Friendly kitty just chilling in the shade. 

The other session times are stated on this board! 

We were so early and had no idea what to do so at first we just hung around and took some photos, lol. 

A kind security guard of a condo nearby came over and invited us to sit with him in the shade which we gratefully accepted. The sky was beautiful but the sun was also scorching. 

This huge truck selling all kinds of market goods came in and out, it was like an ice-cream truck except without the ice-cream haha. 

The security guard got us a tuktuk that was supposed to bring us out in search of a quick massage to kill time before our husky session. However by the time we got to those places, we didn't have enough time to get a full massage so we just ended up having a joy ride, haha. 

Finally we were allowed to enter! 

We were so glad to be able to get into air-conditioning, the place was really clean and cute with loads of husky toys. 

Before arriving at the cafe, I read a couple of reviews about the prices etc but all those reviews' info seem to have become outdated. Here is what we experienced:

Everyone pays 350 baht which comes with a drink and dessert of your choice, this is all you will get, you can no longer choose the option of a main. There is a menu for main courses as well and those are charged separately. 

Thai chicken stew which didn't taste thai to me but was delicious. The portion is pretty small and would probably only satisfy the appetite of a girl, haha. 

Our drinks and cakes! We demolished our food and drinks pretty quickly and eagerly waited for the time to see the huskies. Since we were there for the 1230 slot, the pups were released around 1300! 

Two border collies amongst the huskies. 

Excited girls! Most of the dogs were pretty uninterested in the visitors and were more keen on grabbing snacks and licking on ice provided by the staff. It took some time for them to calm down and a few were more receptive to us, but it did take some quiet cajoling. 

Baby sleeping on my thigh :') 

I wuv you. 

Twinzies!

And a kiss for me! 

Going crazy at snack time. 

This girl was particularly calm and beautiful.

It's absolutely amazing being surrounded by so many of those majestic creatures. 

Joni trying to grab a shot with Momo, he's a shitzu x japanese spitz! So so so so so adorable. 

Final husky picture! This was taken towards the end when all of them were a bit tired and restless, they're not meant to be out in the heat for longer than an hour so I think they knew it was time for them to go soon. And for them, that meant lunch... so they were excited, haha. 

We were a little upset during the visit because we saw some visitors "playing" with the dogs in a really rough manner. It hardly seemed like playing even, grabbing their limbs and agitating them, it made us so angry ): Overall though, it was quite a splendid experience, I'm glad we made it there. 

After having our fill of puppy loving, we finally hopped into a cab to head to Platinum Mall to begin our shopping spree! 

Not too bad a loot bag for a 3 hour stint :3 

We were starving on the way back to our hotel (wanted to head back to put down our crazy bags and to rest a little) and saw my favourite pork skewerssssss. 

Best. Shitz. Eva. 

Stopped by Siam Paragon for dinner and bumped into Tom, bahahahha. 

Shopping at the night markets outside of Siam, perf. 

Drink break!

Really cute and kind street hawker. 

We were mad tired by then so we took a tuktuk back to the hotel to dump our stuff before heading to the massage parlour downstairs. It was soooooooooo great to have a good massage after a whole day of walking and lugging huge bags. 

After our massage we went out to the streets to seek food for supper :3

Legendary grilled fish, it was SO GOOOOOD. 

Some fried egg with mussels. 

And not to forget our favourite pork skewer!

Pretty majestic supper if I do say so myself. 

Happy end to the night! 

BKKats Day 1

I'm finally done editing all the photographs from our BKK trip so here's a not-so-blow-by-blow account of our time there. "Not-so" because I was more concerned with shopping than taking pictures, hehe.

Super excited to go (though we were slightly worried about the bomb situation, we figured that it was a wrong-time-wrong-place kind of situation anyway). 

Pretty fluffy clouds enroute to the magical land of BKK! We were stuck in traffic for about 2 hours due to the terrible rush hour and were so glad to finally arrive at the hotel. 

We stayed at Budacco Hotel which is located in the heart of Pratunam Market. It's very cheap (ours was $50/night), spacious, and clean. The location is very good especially for young ladies who want to frequent the market and Platinum Mall. Overall, considering the price, it's an awesome place to stay at, especially since there're 2 massage parlours right outside the hotel and loads of food nearby. I must say though, I've stayed at better located hotels which are nearer to the main road. It still takes a fair bit of walking (between 5-15mins depending on which side you're coming from) to get to Budacco from the main road, and it can be mad tiring if you're holding loads of shopping. 

We were mad delighted to discover all the food stalls near the hotel because we were starving but didn't want to stop as we were rushing to the Rod Fai Market! 

Bought a packet of this handy basil chicken rice to nomz in the taxi, it was absolutely amazing and only cost 30baht! 

And of course a bottle of my favourite thai orange juice! 

I had been having a mad craving for those huge pork skewer chunks, this did not disappoint. 

Took us about 20-30mins to get here and at first we were a little bummed that the place looked empty-ish. But we later discovered just how huge the market is! Spent a good 3-4 hours here.

Lots of cute kitschy vintage stuff for sale. 

QT <3 

A whole row of vintage stores and loads of friendly community puppies, the locals here were also a lot friendlier compared to the ones in the otherwise more touristy spots. Apart from this cultural looking area, there were also loads of gazebo stores selling interesting and cheap merchandise (including clothes and accessories) - cheaper than Chatuchak and Platinum Mall I believe. 

This sweet baby was kind of shy and skittish at first but I managed to coax her over. 

Loads of these amazing vintage vehicles, most in pretty decent condition. 

More babiesssss. 

Assortment of old school candies. 

Baby macarons for cheap, super super super cheap. They didn't taste fantastic but they were decent especially for the low price. 

Things that most people wouldn't typically buy, but super interesting to check out. 

After shopping for hours we were really tired and dehydrated so we went to look for some drinks. We had seen people walking around with huge cups of yummy looking stuff and were excited to try! 

Huge selection to choose from. 

I had a concoction that tasted very much like honey lemon, it was refreshing. Could barely finish it though! 

I was still being conscious about my spending since it was literally only our first few hours into the trip, but I was still happy with my buys :3

awhile, adv.

"I love the vagueness of words that involve time. 'It took him awhile to come back' -- it could be a matter of minutes or hours, days or years.

It is easy for me to say it took me awhile to know. That is about as accurate as I can get. There were sneak previews of knowing, for sure. Instances that made me feel, oh, this could be right. But the moment I shifted from a hope that needed to be proven to a certainty that would be continually challenged? There's no pinpointing that.

Perhaps it never happened. Perhaps it happened while I was asleep. Most likely, there's no signal event. There's just the steady accumulation of 'awhile'."

- David Levithan