Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Bangkok Trip 20 - 24.03.08

Fun times always pass so fast...I am back from the shopping paradize. This trip has been the most extravagant of all my bangkok trips. I spent the most this time and shopped without much constraits becos I think this'll be the last trip to bkk for a long long time...i wanna use the money to see the rest of the world. We set off on a bright afternoon...but alighted at the wrong terminal..i thought all budget airlines fly from the budget terminal except for JetStar but I was wrong...so we end up having to take the shuttle bus from Budget Terminal to Terminal 1 to board our plane. It was my first time visiting budget terminal too and its realli budget..looks like an empty warehouse.

DAY 1 - Flying off to Bangkok
It'll be our first and last time taking airasia..if we do take a second time, i'll surely buy the Express Boarding pass. I've heard stories about bad experience with kiasu people and AirAsia and I finally withness it for myself. Those who thought Singaporeans are the only kiasu people in this world should experience taking AirAsia. When we entered the boarding zone, there were Ang Mos, Dark skin people whom I think are phillipinos or indonesians sitting at the first row nearest to the boarding gate. 10 mins before the gate is opened, one AA staff walked towards the boarding gate and everyone started walking, running over to crowd at the gate. Within a short span of 5 seconds, almost everyone was standing at the gate. And the gate is not even open yet!! So there we were, shocked and stuck in the midst of the crowd. The poor people who paid the extra bucks for express boarding have to squeeze through this mad crowd to get to the boarding gate. Once the gate opens for normal boarding, you can see those people running down the aisle without even letting the AA staff check their boarding pass. The poor staff have to stop the plane from flying to check the boarding pass of some of the passengers. The journey towards bkk was smooth though and we arrived on time. Best part was, the drinks and food on board the plane was in Thai Baht. Drinks cost about 30baht ~ SGD$1. Compared to JetStarAsia which charge in SGD, this is considered really cheap. Bad part was, they do not have everything featured on their menu..i ended up having to buy their cup noodles cos was really hungry, and even their seafood noodles is spicy. Wierd.

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We have to alight somewhere away from the main airport and take their shuttle bus to the main terminal.

Upon reaching BKK airport, like wat some forummers mentioned, we went up to the Departure Hall to take a taxi and saved on the 50baht tax. Hehe...by the time we reached our hotel, its close to 6pm BKK time.

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The hotel lobby of Baiyoke Boutique. The location was excellent! Its just behind Baiyoke Sky..so its super near to Pratunam and you don't have to pay a 4-star price.

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We were given a room with two single beds although I've requested for a double bed. And the room faced the railway track..so i din have a good sleep for the first 2 nights. The aircon also change temp by itself. Good thing we requested for a change of room on the 2nd night and was given a better room not facing the railway track and have a double bed. As we've stayed in worse hotels during our Europe Trip so this hotel is quite acceptable for us. The breakfast provided was quite ok too..our fav. was the ommelette and sausage.

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Our first dinner at Suan Loom Night Market. The Tang Hoon - Glass Noodle with Crab is super delicious..we still crave for it after we came back. This market is still pretty much alive and shows no signs of closing..unlike the rumors spreading around on the net.

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Shopping from the 1st night.

DAY 2 - Chinatown & MBK
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Heard some recommendations online that Sampheng sells cheap stuff so we went to take a look. Nothing much except for wholesale of hair accessories. Bought some Hello Kitty stuff there. Quite cheap as compared to buying individual elsewhere. Only thing is you have to buy 6pcs of anything to get wholesale price.

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Since there is nothing much at Sampheng, we went down to MBK earlier to do our shopping. Donuts galore~ but not really nice..SG donuts are still nicer.

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The legendary Mango with Sticky Rice. I have it 4 times while in BKK. Mango is super sweet!!

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Loots from Day 2 shopping.

DAY 3 - Chatuchak & PatPong
We were well prepared for this famous spot. Armed with our fan, ice water, shorts, trolley bag and caps, we set off for Chatuchak early in the morning. Reason for being early, some shop owners believe that clinching the first deal smoothly would give them a smooth business day ahead. But alas, we were wrong cos there were not much discount for my first few buys.

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Spotted Captain Jack Sparrow there...talking on his handphone. So that is where he ended up at after Singapore..???

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My poor caddy for the 5 days...

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Loots from Chatuchak. Despite being so well prepared, we still have to stop several times for cold drinks and we finally had a chance to eat at one of the stalls there.

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We went for dinner at Yaowarat after dropping our stuff back at hotel.

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Sharks fin was so-so.

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A TV crew was doing some filming at the stall that we're eating at...guess this stall must be really famous.

DAY 4 - Pratunam, Platinium and Pantip Plaza for dear
This is the day to shop till I drop on clothes. We started at 9am and only ended around 7pm. Brought dear to Pantip Plaza to look at his IT stuff to reward him for being so nice the past few days. We bought the new Asus Mini Laptop there..saved about $200 as compared to buying in SG. Many shops were selling iPhone and we were so tempted to buy...but already asked Heng to buy for us from USA..so nvm.

BEWARE: Not for the faint hearted. Those with weak heart should not view as it might result in uncontrollable shopping desire, big hole in wallet syndromes. Keke.
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Loots! The double bed was not enough to display all.

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DAY 5 - Sad day for me cos its time to come home.
Sad but we had to leave the shopping paradise. Partly becos our pocket is quite broke already. But the past few days have been fun and I can't wait to go back again..probably in 1-2 years time. Hopefully I'll get to go on business trip there soon. LOL

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Acrylic Nail Art - 700 baht

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1 luggage go, 7 luggage back. :P

That concludes our short 5 days Bangkok Trip. The traffic is still terrible there, air is still as polluted and things are more expensive than before...but food is still good and shopping still fun. Stay this way ya Bangkok!