Greyhound cafe is a must try if you're in Bangkok. It provides a chic atmosphere with great service at affordable prices! Siam Paragon is kind of like the Ion equivalent of Singapore.
The waiting list was reaaaally long so the staff ushered us to the dessert/tea cafe corner for us to order some drinks first! I had slight dehydration because I didn't have enough water that day, so I was quite grouchy and had a massive headache.
Can't miss it!
The little dessert/tea corner
My tea, which did little to soothe my headache :(
After waiting for close to 30 minutes or so, we finally got a table. I loved the unique chandeliers! Each one has a different design! Some had spoon designs, some forks, etc.
Tomato spaghetti
My seafood carbonara! The portion was just right for me and it wasn't too creamy! Quite delicious :)
Trademark Tom Yum soup!
Tried their chicken wings but found them to be overrated. They were so SMALL! And each piece had really little meat on it. Plus they were quite dry too.
The decor was superb and I was really happy with my main dish, so I'll be sure to come back again, even though the wait to get a table was long! If you pop by, be sure to let me know! :)
It was my virgin trip to Bangkok! You can imagine how excited I was. But seriously, what's with the clearance at Bangkok?? You literally are dropped off at one end and have to walk all the way to the other end?!! And when you fly off, the same thing happens! Grr. Well, I guess the whole point is to build a greater air of anticipation. Haha! (Either that or they want to screw people over who are late)
This entertained me for a while! I also caught a movie. Forgot the title but Channing Tatum was in it with the GORGEOUS Rachel McAdams. Okay I just googled it was called 'The Vow.'
We arrived in the early evening, but by the time we cleared customs, bought data plans, took a train (since it was peak hour anyway, btw I would recommend a train because you get to catch a great view of the city), cabbed from the station to our hotel, and finally settled down, it was almost dinner time!
Stopped by the tailor that my friend recommended so that my friends could tailor their stuff, and I decided to get a red dress! (More on that later). We checked out food recommendations near our area (no to foodstalls that had tons of flies buzzing around and ON food) and found, 'Once Upon a Time.'
Mystified by the name of the place, we were excited to try out their food! It was in a quiet nook and we decided to sit indoors where there was air-conditioning instead of outdoors where we would be feeding flies.
A possible mistake.
The interior. It was alright at first but after you stare at the photos and INTO the cupboards, you'll start freaking out. There was a screamer head in one of the paintings (which I obviously would not take a picture of), and the cupboards had freaky looking dolls etc. From what we gathered , this place was probably a photography studio in the past?
Needed to use the washroom... and it was upstairs. Halfway up the stairs, you're hit by HOT AIR. Like as if there was no ventilation, just thick, hot air. It freaked me out even more. The rooms upstairs had beds in them... and I didn't want my eyes to wander longer. Just washed my hands and headed (bolted) back down.
The food wasn't too bad though! Our pineapple rice came served IN a pineapple for extra fragrance and my friends liked the Tom Yum soup!
We ordered quite a few dishes (about six?) and I think it was about 70 sgd in total. Quite worth it.
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Feeling like we accomplished nothing all day, we took a cab to the skytower, the tallest building in Bangkok! My point and shoot digi cam doesn't do very nice night shots, but I will be bringing the G1X to Japan to capture everything better! :)
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Having heard so much about Patpong, you can't go to Bangkok without even knowing WHERE it is! Or how the street looks like! It's like a little pasar malam lane, with many guys trying to get you in to watch tiger shows or ping pong shows. We didn't go in but we did peak inside when we got the chance! Girls standing on bar tops in their undies and push up bras.
I don't even know how they do these things.
That's all for the first post!
Tell me where you've been in Bangkok, or how you found these places when you've been there! I'd love to hear from you :)
Don't leave for Bangkok without reading this!
So I just got back from Bangkok about a week or two ago, it was my first time and of course, I made a few mistakes here and here. Here's my compiled list of tips I'd recommend... and I hope you guys learn from my mistakes and benefit from my stumbled-upon luck!
1) Taxi fare matters
The locals use METER for their cab rides, and you should too, as long as it's not during peak hours. The jam is crazy so you'll be better off in a tuk tuk if that happens. Most of the time we were ripped off by cab drivers charging us 100-150 baht to just drive us within the area. Some even quoted us 200! We just stood our ground and said 100 maximum ($4 sgd so per person would be $1 each? Okay la) If you ask before you get in, they'll know you're a tourist immediately.
2. Foodgasm
Coconut ice cream comes in a husk where you can scoop out the flesh and coconut juice at the bottom!
Seriously I had the BEST mango sticky rice and coconut ice cream EVER. At Chatuchuk market's food section. Think there was only one stall that sold mango sticky rice and next to it, the stall that sold coconut ice cream!! Here are my food pics. Mango was perfectly ripe and coconut ice cream was perfect for the insanely hot weather!! Plus I got free coconut juice too! (I initially thought it was water).
Stall that sold me the coconut ice cream :)
Delicious mango sticky rice!! Think it was 80 baht.
3. Watch where you're going
Too many times in a day, I walked into a hole and almost sprained my ankle. There was one time I was trying to get ON a tuk tuk, right leg on the tuk-tuk, left leg still on the ground (with my weight resting on it) and suddenly my left leg slipped into a hole. My ankle hurt for a while after but I recovered in a bit. If I had an old injury I'm pretty sure it would've screwed me over!! You'll learn to appreciate Singapore roads much more after your trip.
4. Wholesale wholesale Shopping!
If you haven't already heard, many stalls will quote a cheaper per item price if you buy in bulk. For eg, 1 top is 400 baht, but 2 would become 300 baht each, and if you buy more than 10, probably 200 baht each. Now comes your dilemma. If you buy 2, you'll be spending 600 baht. Whereas if you bought one, it would be 400. Unless you have 10 friends or you're actually going to sell your items, you're actually paying more money for something you didn't actually want. Diminishing marginal returns!
5. Do as the locals do.
Insane shopping!
Thanks to Peggy's recommendation, I checked out Rot Fai Night Market, which surprised the taxi driver when we told him we were heading there! It's a NEW local hotspot, and not many tourists know of this place. In fact, I think we were probably the only OBVIOUS tourists there! Everyone spoke to us in Thai, the items were cheap-ish already, could see a variety of handcrafted items, furniture, vintage cameras etc. There was even a stall that sold puppies!! The best part? There were bars operating out of Volkswagen caravans. If that's not cool, I don't know what is. It's only open on weekdays and gets really crowded from 9pm onwards, so head there at about 7pm and you'll be in good time!
Sorry for crappy picture quality! But this is an example of a caravan bar :D
Hope you liked my tips! Will post a more detailed travelogue later on! Thought this post would come first since a few readers are going to Bangkok this month for your holidays!
<3!
