T56. Bangkok Part II

Chatuchak Weekend Market

As the name suggest, this weekend market is a must if you are in Bangkok.  Since I was staying around BTS's Nana Station, I conveniently took the train from Nana Station to Mo Chit Station.  If by MRT, the station to align would be Kampheng Phet station.
This time of the year Bangkok is always hot and humid so my wife decided to wear a mask.  I wonder if her intention was to filter the smell coming from the market.

Busted!!!

Price of goods is not really that cheap maybe the sellers want to give enough room for us to haggle, so haggle we did especially for buying shirts. General rule:  start asking for 60% from the written price for any goods.  I am not really good in haggling so I leave most of this sort of things to my wife.

My favourite rustic-looking plague

Halal foods also available

The famous clock tower.

The entrance into the market is relatively small but once inside, with the many twist and turn you might end up somewhere you are not familiar.  Luckily, there is a clock tower as a landmark and if anything happen such as lost or break away from your group, just regroup at the tower which is quite near to the exit.  With all the heat and stuffiness of an enclosed place, I got confused about direction, but my wife as usual steadily found the way out.  She always have no problem figuring out direction when shopping, be it open space market or complicated complex.

People gather for a damn cheap goods.

Platinum Fashion Mall & Tuk Tuk

Based on our reading, another not to be miss mall should be Platinum Fashion.  So we took the BTS on the opposite direction towards Chit Lom station.  Platinum Fashion should be walking distance. 

Out from Chit Lom station, there is a long stretch of walking alley on top of Ratchadamri Rd and on the left a huge shopping and high end living complex called Central World. 

We saw people gathered on some part of the walking bridge and certain part of the bridge and road were closed.  There were big number of police personnel at every corner that made me worried. 

Heavy security around shopping malls.

As it turned out, there was a reenactment of the bombing event that had happened recently around Erawan area and apparently the suspects were using this part of the city as a launching place.  That answers the question of heavy security condition and the many police personnel around this place.

  In the Platinum Fashion itself, we did find some interesting shirts with quite unique design which should be suitable for souvenir.  There is halal food stalls as well on the sixth floor.

The traffic back to jam-packed.

We couldn't imagine walking the same route back to Chit Lom Station so what's our choice?  Tuk Tuk of course.
Tuk Tuk is a three-wheel motorbike that used to be main transportation means in Bangkok but with the existence of city train its usage is less popular.  But I felt I need to ride this tuk tuk before this form of transportation unique to Thailand is forever gone.

Feel the Tuk Tuk ride [30s]

Terminal  21

 Taking BTS one station after Nana is Asok Station.  This is the centre of Sukhumvit district and Terminal 21 stands out among the many malls.  Why Terminal?  The concept of the mall is following an airport terminal, thus its name.  Each level is designated based on the airport of the city around the world such as London, Tokyo, LA etc.  Not surprising to find London bus and Sumo wrestlers in these levels.

Does it look like an airport?

She still thinks of Malaysia.

Samurai.

Spot the Sumo wrestlers.

London tube.

London red bus

I have no problem with this concept but knowing this is actually a shopping mall, the goods sold not really follow the concept of the floor.  I found a Chinese restaurant in the London floor.  How come?

So, what kind of 'shopping' do we ended up with in Bangkok.  Well not really till u drop shopping but it is more city touring or just a weekend in Bangkok.

Rare t-shirts, according to my wife.

Another rare items?

T55. Bangkok Part I

That question still lingered few days prior to departing for Bangkok.  Is this the right time to go to Bangkok?  The explosion around Erawan in Bangkok is still not completely resolved, the falling ringgit, and also the depleting pocket.  But I have bought the flight ticket long before all these happened so I have to brace it and ride that plane.

It was the worst time as far as the ringgit performance against Thai baht is concerned.  If it was RM11.27 for 100 baht back in July when I first check the currency exchange, by the time I did the actual exchange, it was at RM12.04.  Really unlucky but I still have to carry on with it.

Obviously we didn't bring much baht even though the concept of travel this time is urban shopping.  We have to think about that exchange rate still.  Hmmm and the flight has been delayed for few hours as well. 

Luckily, MALINDO Air sell food on board nowadays, and we like that idea so much.

 

 Finally, all doubt about our decision have been cast aside when we saw the vast paddy field beneath us.

  No wonder Thailand is exporting rice and Thai rice is always better than ours.  They seem to make use for every inch of the land.

We safely landed at DongMuang airport, the designated airport for Malindo airline.  We have a good  impression after taking Toyota Altis taxi from the airport to our hotel.  Taxi is clean, the driver is nice and friendly, and most of all he used the meter.  It only cost us 300 baht for the taxi ride but since we used the highway (they call it tollway), the toll charges is on us too.  All in we paid about 375 baht.  My study of the route showed the taxi cost to be around 400 baht so I am not far off this time.

Toll slip.

After we unpack our bags, we hop on to the BTS or skytrain, the name they give to train service running on top of Sukhumvit Rd, which I suppose the main road in Bangkok.  Going back to the theme of our visit, which is leisure, I had planned our trip to include river cruise with dinner on board.  I made a book in advance and when I call the personal from the cruise company, they have our names in record and we have been advised to be at the right jetty latest at 5:15pm.

BTS Nana station

The print out information that we brought from home indicates that we have to ride the boat at Si Phaya Expressboat pier no 3 near Royal Orchid Sheraton.  We ride the BTS from Nana station with interchange at Siam station and head to Saphan Taksin station.  As we look for pier no 3, we walked northbound for about one kilometre without realising that we are suppose to take a pick up boat at the Taksin Bridge pier just in front of the Saphan Taksin station.

Exit from Saphan Taksin station.

Taksin Bridge pier.

Taksin Bridge crossing Chao Phraya river.

 We knew we will not be able to catch that 5:15pm timeline so we decided to let go off the cruise this time.  Tired after that walk, we stop by a spa and get a good 30 minutes feet massage that cost us 150 baht.  You can do the conversion and see how cheap they are.

The unplanned massage.

This look like a school.

Some makeshift canopy for stall.

Bangkok is generally clean.

 In the midst of that great walk, we encountered a mosque.

 Along the Sukhumvit Rd, there are plenty of shopping malls.  Bangkok is always associated with modern malls so it is no surprise to see so many malls but the Siam Paragon is one of high end malls.

 It is located at Siam station where the interchange is.

 

Looking for halal foods in Bangkok is generally easy since there is a big Muslim community in Bangkok as well as Thailand.