Since we're all about long distance, we couldn't spend Valentine's day itself together due to work commitment. Hence the boy suggested to spend the weekend in Bangkok as a post Valentine's celebration. He flew from KL and I flew in from SG after work on Thursday so I had to go to the hotel myself. Not a biggie since I've been in Bangkok for...4 times (most recent 2009 trip here) ? I go mostly for food not so much on shopping though. It's a good weekend getaway considering it's a lot cheaper than any other country.
#1 Rushed to airport after work at 6pm for 8pm flight. Changi was still having all these CNY decoration.
#2 Newspaper here is like warning people NOT to buy rabbit from pet store just for the fun of it for the CNY but buy it because you REALLY want to have a rabbit! haha. Community message wtf.
#3 My dinner. First time having Texas Chicken, also my last time coz it sucks balls. Fries are lembik, chicken is too dry until I couldn't finish the whole piece.
#4 The TV area on the 2nd floor of Changi Terminal 1.
#5 Jungle inside the terminal.
#6 I bought AirAsia from SG to BKK one way at S$76 including tax and convenience fee. Consider reasonable..I think.
#7 Arrived Bangkok at 10pm BKK time (BKK is 1 hour behind SG).
Initially I wanted to take the Suvarnabhumi rail link from airport to the city. The express rail link is a direct non stop from airport to Makkasan station at 150BHT per person, and the normal rail link stops at a few stations before Phaya Thai and it takes ~30 minutes at 45BHT per person. It's quite convenient. Once you reach the arrival hall, take the escalator down to Basement, and you will see the big sign leading you to the rail link.
But I was pretty tired when I reached after whole day of work plus it's almost midnight so I opted for cab instead. It's also 1 floor down from Arrival Hall, and head to your right after the escalator, and you can see the cab sign all the way. There will be a counter right there where you tell the woman where you are heading and they will write it down in the paper and tell the cab driver in Thai where your destination is. You pay for the airport surcharge (50BHT on top of your cab fare), cab fare and also any expressway toll charges.
ANYWAY I very geram la okay! Don't say I didn't warn you. Remember to prepare small notes like 10BHT or 50BHT for the cab fare. Because if you didn't have small change, they will NOT give you back your change if you give like 500BHT or 1000BHT okay! That's how I lost 70BHT /boo stupid cab driver.
#8 I stayed in Imm Fusion Sukhumvit, again. We booked it through Agoda.com at less than S$45 per night. It's not a 5 star hotel but it's not a budget either. The room is not luxurious type but it's decent and clean. It's conveniently located at On Nut BTS station and next to Tesco Lotus. However, it's not in the city centre so if your purpose is to stay in city and shop till you drop then maybe this would not be your preferred choice. On Nut BTS station is 9 BTS stations from Siam so it should take ~20-30 mins to city centre.
Other hotels that my friends stayed in is Budacco, Baiyoke Sky Hotel, Asia Hotel (this is just opposite Platinum Fashion Mall but pretty run down), and Twin Tower Bangkok (the one I stayed in for my 1st trip to BKK, only less than 10 mins to MBK. Room is huge and clean.). These hotels are all in the city centre.
#9 Hallway leading to the reception. The staffs are all helpful and very friendly.
#10 The lobby area which is not air-conditioned. Not too heaty but I never hang out there before.
#11 I haven't had dinner yet so after shower around midnight, we went down to the hawker right outside of Imm Fusion.
#12 One-eyed dragon wtf. Why la he never tell me to brush my hair aside. Digress a bit...Did I tell you I'm tired of the long fringe so imma cut it tonighttttttttttt! Had been delaying it coz dowan to spend money in SG to cut fringe only wtf but cannot tahan already 1 year plus never cut hair. Errm... ok back to hawker. We ordered Fried Rice and TomYam Kung. Total damage S$10. Tom Yam Kung is nice but fried rice a bit too waterish.
And then.......we called it a day since there's nothing much to do after midnight also.
#13 Woke up around 9 plus on Friday morning, greeted with Meiji Chocolate milk! The boy actually bought it from Tesco the night before I arrived because he knows I loveeee Meiji (but maybe not so much anymore because I drink Meiji in SG everyday). It's only S$4.50 for 2 big bottles of Meiji from NTUC Fairprice so I had them for breakfast every single day.
#14 On Nut BTS, which is less than 5 mins on foot. We bought the one way BTS ticket but I suggest you get the whole day for..I forgot..maybe 100BHT or 150BHT but it's definitely more worth it.
#15 The whole BTS line is categorized by area. So for us to go Siam, it's Area 6, which is 40BHT 1 way. To and fro cost each of us 80BHT already so of course buy 1 day ticket much more worth it lor you get what I mean. But if you stay in City Centre then maybe not for you. Check out the BTS map here.
#16 Woohoo. First stop MBK (get off at Siam BTS and change to a different line and get off at National Stadium BTS).
Check out the full list of Bangkok shopping malls here. There're plenty, but I mostly just go to MBK (for accessories & shoes), Platinum Fashion Mall (for clothes) and then Erawan (because of 4 faced buddha) and Siam Paragon (hang out only since they sell branded goods similar price with SG so no point).
#17 Almost every major building in Bangkok has this praying station outside, supposedly to protect and give good fortune or something like that la.This is the one outside MBK mall.
#18 On the way to the food court in MBK!
#19 Let the boy hold the camera for a while and this is what he took. Got another one close up summore! Hmph!
#20 MBK food court (7th floor) is 1 floor down from the cinema. It works on a coupon basis. It's okay to buy more because you are able to refund them if you can't finish using. Anyway the purpose I keep buying coupons is because they have a lot of small notes so I kept giving 1000BHT for a 20BHT coupon and they give me back my 980BHT change in a lot of small notes! Don't worry they wont sulk or stare at you, they have plenty to change with you.
#21 Dont have to worry if you can't find the coupon counter..unless you are blind.
#22 MBK food court is pretty big. This is one side of it, and there's another side on the left. We went pretty early around 11am for lunch so it's still pretty quiet. It will start to get busy around 12.30 noon or so.
#23 My coupons.
#24 I miss miss miss the chicken rice! Super crispy! Ok maybe you wont agree with me but I think Thailand's fried chicken rice is damn fucking yummy lah I eat fried chicken rice there almost everyday!
#25 If you didn't have Pad Thai when you're in Bangkok then please don't tell anyone you've been to Thailand wtf. Nolah not that Pad Thai is super great in MBK but they always say one of the must-eat is Pad Thai lah. I'm sure there's other places which have more authentic Pad Thai, so you can google them up. LonelyPlanet probably have the list.
#26 One of the boy's must-order. Beef Noodle.
#27 Wa very happy after waited for 1 year to eat my fried chicken rice /nom nom nom :@
#28 There's always a few chilli sauces/powder for different type of food. The 1st time I eat in Bangkok I thought their food is either too salty or too sweet for me. Now I'm getting used to all the extreme flavoring and beginning to embrace them wtf.
#29 Sunglasses shopping in MBK. 1 pair cost less than 200BHT i think. There's not so much of clothes shopping in MBK. They mostly sell fake branded bags, belts, shoes, and lots of gadget accessories. I didn't buy a lot. Only 1 iPhone cover, 1 bag, and...that's all.wtf.
#30 I was searching high and low for this bread shop. Thought it bankrupt already. My sister introduced it to me last time, had it 5 years ago and still loved it. There's no more seat so ... we went back to MBK food court AGAIN at around 2pm WTF
#31 YES FOR 2 PLATES OF FRIED CHICKEN RICE, barely 2 hours since our last brunch in the same food court with the same fried chicken rice -_-"
#32 This store. At the middle of the whole food court. Aiya no need to purposely go there and try cause I've always had weird taste for food so maybe you'll think it's not worth the trip there for this plate of chicken rice lol.
#33 'Can we stop taking photo and start eating' face haha
#34 End of MBK after 3 hours where 2 hours spent on food.
Initially planned to walk to Platinum Fashion Mall since Siam is within walking distance (connected with bridges) and it'd take maybe 30 minutes to Platinum on foot. The last time I was in Bangkok we walked to Platinum. But the weather is H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E that day in fact it was horrible the whole weekend we were there, so we hailed a cab instead. Cab fare damage from MBK to Platinum - 120BHT.
#35 Ubiquitous sight in BKK. Always so karerfullllllllllll. The boy said the different color cab represents different cab company but we don't know that for sure.
#36 On the bridge walkway heading to Siam Convention Centre from MBK, before we gave up walking that is.
Platinum Fashion Mall is a 5 floor (I think) wholesale shopping mall so it's recommended if you go with 3 girls or more because normally they sell it a lot cheaper if you buy it in bulk a.k.a 3 pieces and above. Or if you go alone (like me), then normally I'll just ask the people in the same shop whether they're buying too and if yes then buy together so I get wholesale price nonetheless. Everything is below 200BHT if you get it in wholesale price. Cheap? OF COURSE! Translates to only around S$5++ for a blouse or skirt and S$10 for a dress.
Sorry no photo of Platinum Fashion Mall coz busy shopping for 3 hours and ended up with 3 blouses ONLY wtf. Sigh I'm all over the flowery baju era that's why I have nothing to buy in the mall since it's all flower here and there. And the boy? He waited for me for 3 hours at the basement sitting area (where you can usually find all the man and ah pek sitting there waiting for their family) and then he decided to go walk around and ended up with err..10 shirts or more wtf. How unfair. How can he buy more than a woman in a fashion mall.
#37 Waited for cab outside the mall at 6.30pm to go back to the hotel because we counted and it's actually almost the same for both of us if we take the BTS.
If you damn gung-ho then you can walk opposite Platinum where there's the Pratunum night market. I've never been there but I heard you can get pretty decent priced clothes and accessories there too. Just walk out of Platinum mall, cross the road then walk straight down to the night market.
OH which reminds me. there's another market called Sampeng Lane in Chinatown. It opens from 4am-7am (Yes AM) I think and you can get the cheapest stuff there coz it's not so commercialized yet. These people sell to the other vendors so it's like 1st hand goods price. People I know actually wakes up at 5am and go to Sampeng Lane before they closes at 7. I think it opens again in the noon/evening but not as much stuff and not as cheap I think. Google it up. I've never been there since I cannot wake up at 5am so I can't tell you for sure if it's really THAT cheap.
#38 All cab fare starts at 35BHT.
#39 Came out again at night after shower with BTS heading to Soi 11 for dinner at Suk 11. Soi 11 I think means Road 11. It houses quite a few restaurants and has a club there also plus a few massage parlors.
#40 Suk 11 restaurant recommended by..iPhone Bangkok app wtf. Our very belated Valentine's dinner.
#41 The moment we sat down we saw mosquito repellent and thank god for that because a mosquito bitten boy is NOT a happy boy.
#42 My berryberry drink and his mix fruit cocktail. Don't order the mix fruit cocktail if you're there. Taste like water.
#43 Tom Yam Kung. Again. A bit too sweet for our liking even after we specifically ordered SPICY.
#44 Basil Chicken.
#45 The pathetic fried rice for one. Taste okay but toooooooo littleeeeeeeeeeeeeee even for me!
#46 Hello love!
#47 The interior. Mostly serve Caucasians.
#48 There's 2 levels. There's a pub beside the restaurant so you get free music wtf. Total damage......Can't remember but it's around 900BHT for 2 person for 2 pieces of extremely small aneroxic chicken wing, 1 small tom yam kung, 1 fried rice, 1 basil chicken, 1 dessert err I think that's all hmph. Environment not bad. No mosquito bites maybe coz of the repellent.
#49 Prices for the spa along that stretch of road. Tourist price. Not very cheap.
We walked the whole stretch of Soi 11 looking for place to hang out. Coincidentally, that day is a very important Buddha celebration day so alcohol is prohibited at most of the joints. There's a club along Soi 11 but it only opens at 10pm. We didn't want to wait there doing nothing till 10 so we took a cab and headed to Moon Bar.
There's a few well known overrated hang out places at night which is the Baiyoke Sky (I think it's revolving, not sure), Sirocco Open RoofTop Dining at Lebua and Vertigo and Moon Bar at Banyan Tree. All if you're up for breathtaking views of Bangkok.
#50 Level 59.
#51 First view.
#52 The walkway separating the dining place at the far end and the bar.
#53 It was really packed by the time we reached around 10. We couldn't find a seat at the tables so we hang out at the bar instead.
#54 My Moon Bar signature cocktail. Sweet. I like.
#55 My view the whole night. To be honest, it's not as enjoyable as I imagined a rooftop bar to be. The air-condition for the hotel are located right below the bar area and it lets out HEAT so the whole bar area is actually quite warm. Not even the wind can cool you up on the 59th floor of the building. There's only a few seats that are away from the heat but it's always packed anyway. So if you want to go, make sure you go early and pick your seat away from the heat. I was literally sweating the whole time I was there pftttttt.
#56 Our sweaty faces. Well actually he was in a foul mood at that time because he was sweating tooooooooooooooo. The man beside me was quite friendly he talked to us for a while and then after like 10 minutes, his Thai 'escort' joined him and he was a changed person after that.
This whole Thai escort system really fascinates me. I've never been to another country that has as many escort couple around compared to Thailand. I really wondered how much is it to book one girl for one day? You can see these couple everywhere you go in Bangkok!
#57 Decided to leave after 1 hour plus of sweating and passed by the dining area and omg such a big difference like a totally different planet! There's no heat at ALL so we hang out there for a while for the gusty wind because it's so cooling.
#58 Blurrish but no tripod is like that lah
Oh take note though if it rains, both Vertigo and Moon Bar will be closed.
That's all for Bangkok Day 1. Day 2 coming up next (maybe after CNY Part II heh).
