Friday, April 7, 2017

Bangkok Day 1: Pratunam + Rod Fai Ratchada Train Market

The past few months have been a busy one for me dealing with school assignments and work. Finally, March has gone. Given that I can spare a few days before mugging on my school assignment and work again, bf suggested to put our work aside and go for an overseas trip to relax ourselves, and have our energy recharged.


We booked this trip just 2 weeks before the flights date and now we were ready to take off.
Our flight was early in the morning and we arrived at the airport in the wee morning. Despite only having 2-3 hours of sleep the night before, I was still feeling awake and energetic for my trip.


After we were done with the administrative procedure, we went to McDonald to have our pre-departure breakfast. I was having my favourite Mcdwrap. It was raining when we came so I have a cup of hot milo to warm myself up.

The rain has stopped when we took off and we were blessed with the rainbow after the rain. Feel like we were so near to the rainbow, it was so amazing to watch the rainbow from above.

Up in the air.
We took Scoot to Bangkok. For short and medium haul flight, I am okay with taking budget airline so long as it transport me safely to the destination.

We reached Don Mueang International Airport after 2 hours of flight. 
We have one full day today since the time was only 8am in Bangkok. Singapore is 1 hour ahead of Bangkok.

After clearing the custom, we took a cab down to our hotel. 

As the time was still early for hotel check-in, we went over to Platinum Fashion Mall after leaving our luggage with the hotel.

Platinum Fashion Mall is 10 minutes walk away from Chidlom BTS Skytrain. It's like the air conditioned version of Bugis Village selling all sorts of clothes wear, belts, shoes, bags and food. Since it is a shopping mall, the price is much highly than those shops retailing in the market.

I got a belt (100 baht) and 2 t-shirts (150 baht each) from the Platinum Mall. 
Exchange rate was S$1: 24.60 baht

We then walked to Pratunam Market for more shopping. This place is also Bangkok wholesale market. Just turn in into the small alley and you will be able to find them. The place is filled with shops along the sidewalks. 

The roadside stall is a must try when you are at Bangkok. We have fried squid eggs that was served piping hot. They were fresh and tasty. 

We needed something cold to cool us down so we purchased this coconut milk ice cream in cup at 25 baht which after conversion was about S$1. Coconut ice cream always taste so good and refreshing. 

Every stall got me fascinated, I was blew away by their wide range of fashion stalls available. Totally spoil for choice. The apparels were trendy too, the trend here are what we always get in Bugis Village but at a cheaper price. I have a good 2 hours shopping time over here with new clothes to be added into my wardrobe. Got another 3 apparels over here at 550 baht.

 Pratunam Market
869/15 Ratchaprarop Rd, Khwaeng Thanon Phaya Thai, Khet Ratchathewi, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10400, Thailand
Operating hours: 4.30am to 12am
Nearest BTS: Chit Lom (10 minutes walk away)

Time to proceed with real lunch after we were done with shopping, it's already 2pm. I decided to give Zaabver Fried Rice & Tom Yam a try.

Finally found a place to take a breather after 3 hours of shopping.
Girls can go madness when comes to shopping.

The Thai ice milk tea was just what we need to ease our thirst, we were super thirsty. Imagine being out there in 37 degree Celsius temperature. Gonna melt soon.

Fried rice and crispy fried prawn for late lunch.
The food served was pretty decent and total cost was about 400 baht (S$16.30).

We then made our way by foot to CentralWorld and Siam Square to shop around.
The reason for coming to Bangkok was to shop and eat throughout our trip.

We have a really long day with lots of walking involved. We decided to go back to hotel to have a short rest and putting down our shopping bags. before heading out for dinner.

We were staying at Citrus 13 Sukhumvit Hotel Bangkok, a 4 stars boutique hotel with 79 rooms available for booking near Nana BTS. The hotel is about 8 minutes walk away from Nana BTS which is convenient for us to travel via BTS. This area is also near to the nightlife of Bangkok, for people who like to go siam du, a place you can offer staying when at Bangkok.

We paid about S$96 per night. The room was cozy and clean, pretty decent. Having a clean and cozy is something I expect of a hotel, we all want to have a comfortable stay during our holiday/staycation.

We were staying at level 8 and here's the view from our hotel room. As our hotel is located inside an alley, there isn't much view.

So dead tired from the hours of walking and we have no energy to do anything else. We have 1.5 hours rest before we feel like getting out. 

Usually when people go overseas, they will either become closer or you will drift apart from each other because we all have different thinking and different habits. No relationship is smooth sailing, it is through the ups and downs that will bring relationship even closer. 

Citrus 13 Bangkok by Compass Hospitality
22 Sukhumvit Soi 13, Bangkok 10110, Thailand
Nearest BTS: Nana (8 minutes walk away)

Get a bottle of collagen peptide from 7 eleven nearby our hotel. We need some vitamin boost to replenish our energy loss. 

Passed by the roadside stall selling sunglasses when we were on our way to Sukhumvit line, got 2 sunglasses from here at 450 baht.

We took the Sukhumvit line to Thailand Cultural Centre station. 
Just right outside the station, you can find street food available. We stopped by to get a packet of fried chicken. They are cheap, delicious and convenient to get, sometimes even taste better than those serving in the restaurant or eatery. Having street food is a must try things in Bangkok, it's part of their cultural. 

After a short walk of 10-15 minutes, we arrived at Rod Fai Ratchada, one of the best train market in Bangkok. They have many rows of stalls line up in the market selling street food, modern fashion and bars. 

Break away from the chain of coconut ice cream, we stopped by this stall to purchase the unique flavour of ice cream.

Uji matcha & bamboo charcoal with topping of mango jelly and red bean at 79 baht. The combination tasted delicious.

We were literally eating all day long. It's okay to eat along when going overseas because the calories will be burn off by the long hours of walking. 

We ordered some of these grilled sticks that was served hot. We can't get enough of the street food, all the food tasted so delicious. 

Halfway walking, it started to drizzle. But luckily only for a short while.

We have another round of squid eggs at 50 baht. 
Not really a fan of this.

Banana prata with chocolate syrup.
This was freshly prepared and served. It has a chewy texture in it. The prata was mouthwatering good.

Rod Fai Ratchada is really a food heaven, we were practically having street food the entire day.

The scallops were very juicy and flavourful when coated with the sauce, it was grilled to perfection. Never thought I will be able to taste such a standard in street food stalls.

Rod Fai Ratchada
Ratcadaphisek Road
Nearest Station: National Cultural Centre

We bought mango sticky rice from one of the stalls earlier on  but was too full to eat now. So we took it back to hotel for late night supper. 

End the post with the sunglasses I purchased.

It was nearly 10pm when we reached our hotel. 
Time for a good sleep because I was sleep depriving due to catching the early flight.
Good night.

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