Some points to note:
1) Bangkok is certainly NOT a family friendly place to visit if you are travelling with young children or elderly (free and easy). Not all the BTS stations are equipped with service lifts to train platforms. There are no zebra crossings or pedestrians' traffic lights at some of the road junctions.
2) Remember to get prepaid card from True Move. I bought the 7 days unlimited data for 300 Baht equivalent to SGD 12 (based on 1 SGD to 24.81 Baht). I never had such a swift service when queuing and paying for SIM card overseas. Not even in Taiwan or HK. My phone was all set and ready to use within 10 minutes.
3) If you are arriving at Suvarnabhumi Airport, you may board the Airport Rail Link at Basement B. The fare is cheap, starting from 15 Baht to 45 Baht (SGD 0.60 to SGD 1.80).
4) If you really need to take a taxi, better get a metre-taxi. But, the traffic jams in BKK is terrible. There are tons of cars on the roads 24/7.
5) Do not board any Tut Tut as you may be overcharged since they don't work on metre.
After years (two years in actual fact) of travelling via budget airlines, we wanted to pamper ourselves a little this year. There was a promo fare for Thai Airways at SGD 220 per pax inclusive of taxes. We booked the air tickets immediately. Remember to check out Sky Scanner SG's website so you could compare the fares among all airlines (both budget & economy). You may search the cheapest month or by whole month to decide your travel dates according to the prices.
~ Day One : Terminal 21 ~
We did not have airlines' meals for ages! Yeah..Ethan was so excited. Thai Airway's meals were still acceptable. But our menu was the same during our return flight too. Sigh pie.
We followed the airport's sign to basement B to board airport rail link. We stopped at Ratchaprarop which was about half an hour from the airport. Our ticket cost 15 Baht per person (SGD 0.60 - could you believe that?).
Our hotel was just a 5 minutes walk from Ratchaprarop station.
Our initial hotel's choice was Hotel Pullman Bangkok King Power near Phaya Thai station. However, the hotel charged SGD 150 per night which was way out of our budget. We will usually go for hotels' reviews, travel blogs before deciding an accommodation. Most hotels which we had googled suggested a "haunted" at the end of our search. *gasped*
Centara Watergate Pavillion was pretty decent, and charged about SGD 120 per night. It was still quite expensive as we knew there were other cheaper hotels. But we did not regret staying there. Our room was so spacious, and we loved it a lot.
 |
| Our delicious welcome drinks - should be cherry juice or something |
We walked back to Ratchaprarop rail link station, and trained to Phaya Thai station. After which we switched to Phaya Thai BTS, and alighted at Victory Monument BTS station. You may follow your google map and walked on the overhead bridge as per below route. You will be passing by Victory Monument on your left, and a huge drain on your right before you reach the end of the bridge.
There were several boat noodles stalls along the drain, but we went all the way back to The Best of Noodle Boat. Look out for staffs wearing orange uniforms. The reason why so many tourists recommended this stall was due to this shop was the only one with English menu. Not all the staffs understand English, so just point to the menu. Show them how many bowls you would like to have, then point to the type of noodles you want.
Each bowl of noodles was just a mouthful, and you had to eat at least 5 bowls. Don't worry, it cost 12 Baht per bowl (SGD 0.50). In total, we paid about SGD 12 for this meal. The noodles thicken soup was very spicy, our lips were quite swollen after that. Remember to get the large pepsi. Trust me, you will finish the whole bottle.
From Victory Monument BTS station to Asok BTS station took us about 15 minutes at 37 Baht per ticket (SGD 1.50). You may check out the travelling time, and ticket fare on BTS website.
Each levels at Terminal 21 Shopping Mall featured themes from different countries, and even the washrooms were uniquely designed. I actually went to every washroom to capture the decorations. You feel truly excited just by window shopping there. Let us take a look at level 1 - Tokyo.
Level 2 - London
Level 3 Istanbul was too lovely. Made me wanna visit there someday.
Level 4 San Francisco where most of the restaurants were located. We stopped by Mr. Jones' Orphanage for some tea. Loved the tea-sets, and yummy apple crumble. Vanilla milkshake was not so nice though.
We sort of like time-travelled to Rome at their Ground level.
You may stock up groceries from supermarket located at LG level Caribbean.
It was time for our dinner, and we took BTS back to Siam BTS station. Som Boon Seafood had lots of branches, but we went for the most convenient one at Siam Square. Remember to reserve at least a day in advance to avoid disappointment. We tried to book a table online, and waited for ages. No email confirmation was sent to us, so we decided to try our luck by walking in instead.
We were told to wait for 45 minutes, and were quite fortunate as we managed to get a table at around 25 minutes. Do try out its famous fried curry crabs (the sauce was damn good!), steamed freshwater prawns with garlic, and of course stir fried morning glory aka kang kong. Morning glory is like Thailand's national vegetable, this is usually the only vege dish you could see from the restaurants' menus. We paid about SGD 50 plus which was totally worth it.
Do note that Som Boon Seafood is only located in Bangkok, and there are only 7 branches. Some taxi drivers may brought you to a restaurant with similar name, claiming it to be Som Boon Seafood. Sometimes, you just could not differentiate the name from their Thai accent. Check out its website for the correct branches.
 |
| Ticket at SGD 1.10 |
We walked back to our hotel which was a loongg walk about 25 minutes. After surviving with google map on the first day, we were able to navigate ourselves around Bangkok with our eyes closed. *smiles*
Suvarnabhumi Airport
999 Moo 1, Bangna - Trad Rd., Km 15 Rachathewa, BangPli Samut PRakan 10540 Thailand | +66 2 132 1888 / 1111 / 1112
http://www.suvarnabhumiairport.com | suvarnab_suggestion@airportthai.co.th
BTS - Bangkok Mass Transit System
http://www.bts.co.th/customer/en/02-route-current_new.aspx
Centara Watergate Pavillion Hotel Bangkok
567 Rachaprarop Rd., Makkasan Bangkok 10400, Thailand
+66 2 625 1234 | cwb@chr.co.th |
http://www.centarahotelsresorts.com/centara/cwb/accommodation
The Best of Noodle Boat (near Victory Monument)
Sutyot Kuetiau Lua Payak Phaya Thai Bangkok 10400 Thailand
Opening Hours: 11am to 9pm daily
Terminal 21 Asok
LH Shopping Centers Leasehold Real Estate Invertment Trust 88 Sukhumvit Soi 19 (Wattana) Sukhumvit Rd. North Klongtoei, Wattana, Bangkok 10110
+66 2 108 0888 | http://www.terminal21.co.th/asok/home/en
Mr. Jones' Orphanage
4th Floor. 2,88 Sukhumvit Soi 19, Sukhumvit Rd, North Klongtoei, Wattana Bangkok, Thailand 10110 | +66 2 022 4051 | Opening Hours: 10am to 10pm
http://www.mrjonesinternational.com/index.php
Siam Square One
BTS Siam Exit 4, Rama 1 Rd., Pathumwan 991, Bangkok 10330
+66 2 255 9999 | http://www.siamsquareone.com
Somboon Seafood
4th fl., Siam Square One Building Rama 1 road, Patumwan, Bangkok 10330 (BTS Siam Station)
+66 2 115 1401 / 2 | Opening Hours: 11am-10pm | info@somboonseafood.com
http://www.somboonseafood.com/index.php/en/site/home
~ Day Two : Platinum Mall | Big C Supercenter ~
Our hotel served extremely good breakfast buffet spread. Seriously.
We were more of the groceries' shopping type of people. So we went to Big C Supercenter to check out the local foods. We had fun browsing through each items, some of which we had never seen before. We nearly bought back the whole supermarket. Its Mama instant noodles, and pocky alone already had at least ten types of flavours. Gosh!
We read from Miss Tam Chiak's post about a pig trotter's rice with bitter gourd soup near Superrich Currency Exchange. Khao Kha Moo Truk Sung was located diagonally of Bangkok City Inn. If you are unable to locate from google map, just look for Krua-A-Roi seafood. This stall is just next to it.
Platinum Mall's food court was also selling this dish, but I did not have a chance to try it. We enjoyed our simple lunch especially the bitter gourd soup. Just like home cooked food.
Platinum Fashion Mall was a must visit place on our itinerary. I did not buy any clothes at all as all shops' policies were strictly no trying. Though everything was cheap, I don't see a point of shopping for a bunch of clothes which I could not fit in. We headed straight to the food court on level 6. Note that you need to purchase for a card from one of the counters as the food stalls operate on cashless mode. You may get a refund if there are any amount left before you leave.
We ate almost non-stop for our entire trip which was good as we walked equally too much too. No one would believe us if we told them that we strolled from Platinum Mall to Siam Square One. We thought we were crazy as we had to carry our baby stroller up and down of the overhead bridges because of some inaccessible roads with no traffic lights or pedestrians' crossings. We saw other families facing the same problem as us too.
After 20 minutes of trudging, we finally reached Ban Khun Mae. The restaurant was a stand alone which was opposite of Siam Square One. Do try the Thai milk tea as we had the best at BKM during our trip in BKK. Not even Som Tam Nua or After You's milk tea could beat theirs. Phad Thai Tang Hoon, Pandan Chicken, and Roselle drink were great!
Oh. My. God. I would normally blog according to the orders of my photographs taken during our travels. I thought that we would be visiting Mango Tango on our third day, but tata.. we saved some space for dessert right after dinner. I hereby declare we are literally not humans. *cries*
Mango Tango's desserts were just nice, especially the mango sticky rice portion. Not too jelat for us which was cool. Order the set which comes with a little bit of everything. Like ice-cream, pudding, sticky rice etc..
Finally, we decided we had enough of food for the day, and slowly slogged back to our hotel. We had to turn in early for our half day tour tomorrow. But before that, we enjoyed a massage at Sabai which was located next to our hotel's entrance.
 |
| Loots for the day |
Big C Supercenter
9/11 Rajdamri Rd., Lumpini Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330
+66 2 250 4888 | sgm.rajdamri@bigc.co.th
Opening Hours : 9am to 11pm daily
http://corporate.bigc.co.th/en/stores/bigc/rajdamri
The Platinum Fashion Mall
222 11th Floor Petchburi Road, ThanonPetchburi, Ratchthevi
Opening Hours: Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri - 9am to 8pm | Wed, Sat, Sun - 8am to 8pm
+66 2 121 8000 | http://www.platinumfashionmall.com/index.php
Khao Kha Moo Truk Sung
Ratchadamri Rd, Khwaeng Lumphini, Khet Pathum Wan, Krung Thep Maha
Nakhon 10330, Thailand
Opening Hours : 8am to 5pm closed on Sundays
Ban Khun Mae
458/6-9 Siam Square Soi 8, Rama 1 Road, Patumwan District, Bangkok 10330
+66 2 250 1952 / 53 | +66 2 658 4112 / 13 | contact@bankhunmae.com
http://www.bankhunmae.com
Mango Tango
Siam Square Soi 3 | +66 81 619 5504 | mangoeveryday@hotmail.com
http://www.mymangotango.com
~ Day Three : Maeklong Railway Market | Damnoen Saduak Floating Market | Neon Night Market ~
We could never get enough of our hotel's wonderful breakfast. Even the lobby and washroom look chic.
At 7:30am sharp, our tour guide, Tik, came to pick us up. Our journey to Maeklong Railway Market was about an hour to two drive away from Bangkok. We passed by a stretch of salt lakes where the farmers held a temporary stalls selling all types of salts. Tik bought a packet of salt, and I bought prawn paste back.
We reached Maeklong Railway right before the train departed at 9am. Local farmers were selling their produce along Maeklong railway. When the train passed by, all stalls were being moved aside. Each stalls were arranged in a way where they were just inches away from the moving train. All stalls at Maeklong market went back to business as usual once trains passed by. According to Tik, he would usually go for marketing there when he had a tour at least once a week.
We moved on to Damnoen Saduak Floating Market which was at least half an hour's drive from Maeklong Railway. We stopped by a local house to see how coconut's sugar were made. The coconut sugar tasted so pure, and sweet.
Up next, our long-tail motorised boat passing through the man-made canals along wooden houses on stilts. You may find cheaper boat rides, but those are without shelter or some are like sampan where you need to paddle the boat by yourself. Our ride ended at Damneon Saduak Floating Market. It felt awesome just by sitting at the river bank eating local foods.
Our half day tour was about SGD 200 for the three of us. We don't mind paying more for the comfort, and our tour guide was very good. We learnt a lot about Bangkok from him.
Our driver left us at Siam Paragon as per our request. We crossed the road over to Siam Discovery for our lunch at Som Tam Nua. Remember to try their famous Som Tam (Thai papaya salad), Gai Thod (deep fried chicken wings), and go for the sticky rice you are ordering white rice.
After some shopping at Naraya, it was dessert time. Who could ever resist After You's toast? We had a mouth-watering green tea ice-cream thick toast.
We were lucky that Talad Neon Night Market were recently opened in Nov 2016 if I remembered correctly. Located next to The Berkely Hotel Pratunam which was also less than 10 minutes walk from our hotel. There were so many foods to eat, I hope that Singapore has night markets like Taiwan, and Bangkok.
 |
| Loots for the day |
Absolutely Fantastic Holidays Co., Ltd
118/17 Rumruay Mansion 2, M.6. Soi Chinnakhet 2/6, Ngamwongwan 47, Thungsonghong, Laksi, Bangkok 10210, Thailand
+66 2 954 9401 / 02 | info@absolutelyfantasticholidays.com
operation@absolutelyfantasticholidays.com | af_holidays@hotmail.com
http://www.absolutelyfantasticholidays.com/index.php?lay=show&ac=article&Id=539265993&Ntype=11
Som Tam Nua
Siam Discovery, 392 Siam Square 11 Alley, Khwaeng Pathum Wan, Khet Pathum Wan, Krung Thep Maha, Nakhon 10330, Thailand
+66 2 251 2880 | Opening Hours : 10:45am to 9:30pm daily
Naraya
1-3 Floor Room No. 3/17-19, Rama 1 Rd., Siam Square One, Pathumwan Bangkok 10330 | +66 2 115 5020 / 80 | Opens 10am to 10pm daily
https://www.naraya.co.th/shops
After You Dessert Cafe
Siam Square One, Ground Floor | +66 2 115 1949
Opening Hours : 12pm to 12am daily
https://www.afteryoudessertcafe.com/branches
Talad Neon Night Market
1087 ถนน เพชรบุรีตัดใหม่ Khwaeng Makkasan, Khet Ratchatewi, Krung Thep maha Nakhon 10400 Thailand | +66 2 121 8000
Opening Hours: 4pm to 12am except for Mon and Tue
