Lots of first time happening on this trip.
My first trip with
It's my parent's first free and easy trip.
First time travelling in budget airline.
First time we went to Bangkok without any tour guide.
With so many first times, i took on the task of being the tour guide. So i prepared myself heavily for the trips. Thanks to lots of people as well who poured in their recommended places, guide and itineraries. I'm glad that ShuXia helped me with most of the planning. Along with that, she helped me in the booking of the air tickets and also recommended this great hotel as well. Kudos to her. Another main person behind this planning would be my brother. His 3 months stay in Bangkok certainly didn't go to waste. Those 'must-go', 'must-eat' and 'must-try' are all possible thanks to him. We managed to make our trip a more fulfilling one because of those tips from him.
After concolidating everyone's guide, i came up with by own after compiling them up. Therefore, introducing Kelvin's Guide to Bangkok
Siam Square / Siam Paragon / Siam Center/Discovery Center / MBK Center
Getting There:
Siam Square is in Pathum Wan district and is bordered by Henri Dunant, Rama I and Phaya Thai roads. Opposite across Rama I Road are Siam Paragon and Siam Center/Siam Discovery Center, which can be accessed via the Bangkok Skytrain's Siam station, as well as a pedestrian bridge; MBK Center is across Phaya Thai Road, and accessed from the Bonanza Mall, via a covered, air-conditioned pedestrian bridge.
Watching:
- 4 movie theaters to watch movies nightly
Restaurants
- Hard Rock Cafe – Popular tourist spot in Bangkok.
- Scala – Chinese restaurant on ground floor of cinema.
- S&P – A Thai restaurant chain with a Thai and international menu.
- See Fah – Another Thai chain of restaurants.
- Coca – The first Thai suki (Thai steamboat) restaurant chain in Thailand.
- MK – A popular Thai suki chain restaurant.
Shopping:
Aside from chain stores, such as a two-story Watson's pharmacy branch, there is a myriad of shops and boutiques, selling local designer-label apparel, jewelry, music. The Bonanza Mall, opposite MBK Center, is a warren of stalls selling discounted fashion items .
Mahboonkrong, or just MBK (National Stadium BTS Station) There's a heavy emphasis on clothing, especially the cheap and trendy teen type, but the floor devoted to electronics is Bangkok's best place to buy a mobile phone, MP3/4 player, digital camera etc. Thai, Asian & Western food and a section of the 6th floor has been dedicated to handicrafts and souvenirs. Don't miss the dried fruits and Chinese-style snacks like pork floss at Champ on the 4th floor, near the central escalator. The top floor has movie theatres and restaurants, and there's a large Tokyu department store bolted on the north side facing the BTS station. MBK is just across the street from Siam Square and has a connecting walkway through the perennially crowded Bonanza Center, which offers more of the same.
Inzeen Shoes @ level 1 and 3 has shoes sold at 199 baht. At Boots Pharmacy, ask for discount coupon.
Dining: Zen Japanese restaurants Location: MKB, Siam centre, WTCRating: THE BEST JAPANESE FOOD!
29 Plaza, 2nd floor of MBK links you to 29 plaza. Lots of manicures stuff and also teenage fashion. 200 baht for manicure and 200 for pedicure. Good skills but cramped area.
Pantip Plaza, 604/3 Phetchaburi Road. A six-floor shopping mall devoted to computer gear, and famous for its pirated media. Opens at 10:00. Closes at 20:00.
Siam Center (Siam BTS Station) [8] is one of the older malls in these parts, and has a good range of eating options.
Siam Discovery Center(National Stadium BTS Station) [9] is a newer, more upmarket addition to Siam Center. Loft [10], on the 3rd floor, is a Japanese home decoration store, with an array of bizarre plush toys on offer. Real authetic Levis stores which sells cheap jeans.
Siam Paragon (Siam BTS Station)[11]. Shopping mall right at the heart of Bangkok, anchored by the Paragon department store and also featuring the Siam Ocean World Siam Ocean World aquarium, the largest in South-East Asia. The fourth floor has a very good (if pricey) selection of modern Thai arts and crafts, as well as a large Kinokuniya bookstore. Great eating options in the basement, including a gourmet supermarket, two food courts and a canal-lined strip of fancy restaurants.
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Chinatown
Getting there:
Ordinary buses 1, 7, 8, 37, 49 and 75 will take you into Chinatown, some stopping on Charoen Krung, others on Worachak road (near the Thieves Market) though the river is normally a better bet due to the consistent traffic jams round here. The Tha Ratchawong pier is just a few hundred meters from Yaowarat road and Sampeng Lane.
Get off at the Ratchawong Pier, and walk up from Ratchawong Road to Sampeng Lane and Yaowarat Road. Ordinary buses 1, 7, 8, 37, 49 and 75 will take also take you here, but it's much better to travel by boat. The Ratchawong Pier is just a few hundred meters from Yaowarat Road and Sampeng Lane.
When you reach the Odeon Circle, a huge ceremonial Chinese gate marks the entrance.
An alternative to get to Chinatown - and to avoid at least some of the traffic - would be to take the underground (MRT) to Hualamphong station, and either a taxi or tuk-tuk from there.
Shopping:
- Pharcists and goldshops are all around
- Stuff ranging from garments, textiles, stationery. Roasted nuts are good as well. Usually cheap and wholesale.
- Be careful of motorbike and gangfights etc
- Antiques can be easily found at thieves market (Nakhon Kasem)
- Usually open until around 6pm…
Sampheng Road – Allow match and mix of certain stuff like accessories. Hair accessories super cheap.
Dining:
- Mostly Cantonese cooking, with dim sum, seafood etc.
- Yaowarat road restaurants are more expensive as compared to those in little sios (streets).
- Nam Shing - Yaowarat (Chinatown) , MBK 3rd floor. The restaurant to eat shark fin/bird nest....(bt might be slightly overrated) – worth the price, including the zi char.Recommend stir fried galic soft shell crabs but don’t order salad prawns...Average spending around 1200 bahts in total..
- T & K Seafood - Location: Chinatown (Not sure if they have one at MBK)The must try are sharksfins soup (only 300bath), birdnest soup (100bath). The prawns (big n juicy!), the crabs (very nice, so fresh n sweet)
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Phat Phong Night Market
Getting there:
Train to Sala Deang BTS Station
- Red Light District
Suan Lum Night Bazaar
Getting there:
MRT Train to Lumphini MRT Station /
Take the skyrain to Sala Daeng & den transfer to MRT & alight at Lumphini. Suan Lum is within walking distance frm Lumphini MRT stn (note: do tk note of the diff lines for the BTS, i cant rem if i chged lines @ Siam to go to Sala Daeng)
Info:
- Night Bazaar opens from 3pm to midnight.
- Sells gifts, clothing, jewellery, fruit, CDs
- Similar to Far East but super cheap.
- Has a beer garden with lots of entertainment and food.
- Quality of goods are higher than those found in Chatuchak weekend market.
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Chatuchak Weekend Market
Getting there:
The Skytrain's Sukhumvit line runs north from Victory Monument to Chatuchak/Mo Chit, where it intersects with the Metro Blue Line. SRT's Bang Sue Train Station is also accessible by the Metro, and may be an option if heading north or northeast.
Sight-seeing:
Victory monument - Constructed in 1941 after the French Indochina War to commemorate those who lost their lives
Buying:
- Buy whatever you find because you hardly find the same thing @ other store again.
- Open 7am, reach there early to beat the crowd and heat, avoid this place is raining.
- Beware of pickpockets.
- Advice girls to wear spag so that you can try clothes on easily.
- 700 baht for fake Levis ¾ pants.
- Discount of 100 baht is considered a lot because storeholders aren’t ready to bargain.
- Plain T(60 baht), sun dresses(100-150 Baht)
- Bikinis (450 baht, free size)
Eating:
- look at price and menu before eating
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Pratunam Market
Getting There:
You can reach this market by BTS Ratchathewi station from there, exit down the right-hand stairs, take a right at the next main intersection and walk down Phetchaburi until you see Platinum department store, the market is directly across the street from Platinum Fashion Mall. Or exit at BTS Chidlom (Chitlom) station, turn north (right) at the Gaysorn Plaza corner and walk past Big C and Central World to next intersection.
Info:
- Largest and cheapest clothing market in Bangkok
- Closed on Monday
- Open 24 hour
- Sells also watches, handicraft etc
- Can go to Platinum Fashion Mall located in Pratunam if can’t find what you want in the market
- Platinum Fashion Mall is located on Phetchaburi Road, next to Pantip Plaza and opposite Pratunam Complex, a 14-storey mall. It is also near Central World Plaza.
- Platinum Fashion Mall - The clothes shops operate on the principle that buying 1 piece is a retail sale and warrants retail price, but buying 3 (or sometimes more) pieces is wholesale and you get the wholesale price. An example of pricing structure is 1 men's shirt retail 250 baht, 3 shirts wholesale 500 baht.
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Khao San Road
Getting There:
The metered taxis will try to charge you a flat rate of about 200-300 baht to take you to Khao San Road, rather than use the meter (which would mean no more than an 80 baht fare from the Silom district, or 100-150 from Sukhumvit road).
As a rule, avoid the parked taxis and hail a moving taxi (red light on dash board indicates available). Recommend to go at night.
Shopping:
- Great deals, anything from jeans to silk. And also silver jewellery.
- Most restaurants on Khao San serve freshly brewed coffee.
- There is a branch of the chain Coffee World (great brownies!) across from the McDonald's in Buddy's shopping center.
- There is a very nice Starbucks in a converted house around the middle of the street.
- Prakorb's House, 52 Khao San Road (see eat section) has good coffee, a selection of herbal drinks and a peaceful atmosphere in which to enjoy them.
- Iced drinks: Coconut milk, iced and drunk directly from a fresh coconut is a cheap and good way to cool the body. Coconuts are available at all the restaurants on Khao San Road.
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[DAY ONE] 5th June - Thursday
- 7.50am - Tiger airways TR 102 Flight to Bangkok
Remember to travel light, luggage limit per person only 15kg.
- 8.30 am – 9.00am
Reach Samran Place and Leave luggage with Counter, Check if they have any packaged tours.
- 9.00am – 10.00 am
Have Breakfast in nearby places.
- 10.00-12.00pm
Walk around nearby shops.
- 12.00pm – 1.00pm
Check In Samran Place and Unpack things
- 1.00pm – 2.00pm
Lunch at A & W near Samran Place
- 2.00pm – 7.00pm
Shopping at Siam Square Shopping Centres (ie. Siam Square, Siam Paragon, Central World Plaza) If no time, can skip MBK and 29 Plaza & other nearby shopping centres. Dinner there as well. Don’t have to spend so much here, not the cheapest shopping places. But can buy original levis, sports stuff, lingerie, contact lense etc.
- 7.00pm – 10.00pm
Make way to Khao San Road. (Taxi) Have dinner here and roam around Khao San until 10pm
Much night scenes and ang mohs.
- 10.00pm – 1.00am
Make way to Memorial Bridge Night Market (Sa Phan Poot)
Quite a lot of cheap clothes
- After 1.00am
OTOT
[DAY TWO] 6th June - Friday
- 9.00am – 10.00am
Have Breakfast at Hotel
- 10.00am – 6.00pm
Walk to Platinum Mall and Pratunam Market (turn right from Samran and keep walking straight, it's about a 10 minute walk.)
Wholesale Market. Said to be Best & cheapest place for shopping. Recommended for everyone to shop together to take advantage of wholesale prices. (3 piece and above)
- 6.30- 8.00pm
Have Dinner at Siam Area
- 8.00 –11.00pm
Walk whichever we can’t finish @ Siam
- After 11.00pm
OTOT
[DAY THREE] 7th June - Saturday
- 9.00am
Breakfast at Hotel
- 10.00am – 5.00pm
Make Way to Chatuchak Market (take Skytrain to Mochit Station) From the entrance of Samran hotel, turn right and follow the path., you'll turn a corner after an internet cafe and you'll see the steps leading up to Rachethewi BTS station
I’m sure you all have heard of CTC Weekend Market. Freaking HUGE place. Very hot as well, so please wear casual and comfortable.
- 5.00pm – 7.00pm
Dinner – Siam Area
- 7.00pm – 12.00am
Suan Lam Night Market (Take Taxi)
- 12.00am
OTOT
[DAY FOUR] 8th June - Sunday
- 9.00am
Breakfast at Hotel
- 10.00am – 12.00pm
Grand Palace and Sight-seeing
The place with tiger and piglets is called Si Racha Tiger Farm
- 12.00pm – 6.00pm
ChinaTown & Dinner there as well
- 6.00pm – 8.00pm
4-faced Buddha
- 8.00pm – 10.00pm
Healthland Spa Location: Sathorn road (walking distance frm surasak BTS)Tel no: 0-2637-8883. 350 bth for 2 hrs of thai massage. 850 bath for a 1.5hr aromatherapy massage Must make advance booking (at least on the morn itself for a nite massage) 'coz it's really packed. Their last massage is 10pm ending at 12 midnight
- After 10.00pm
Phat Phong Night Market
Sin City of BKK, Much nightlife, Many sleazy women and tiger show, haha. Also has night market here.
[DAY FIVE] 9th June - Monday
- 9.00am
Breakfast at Hotel
- 10.00am – 5.00pm
OTOT day [ie. Visit MBK, 29 Plaza or other places that you didn’t manage to complete in previous days]
- 29 Plaza is famous for cheap manicure and pedicures.
- 5.00pm – 6.00pm
Return to Hotel room and Pack Luggage
- 7.00pm
GATHER AT SAMRAN PLACE LOBBY WITH LUGGAGE and Check out of Hotel. Take Taxi to Airport. DON’T BE LATE
Can ask Lobby to help call for meter taxi
- 8.00pm 9.00pm
Reach Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport, can walk around airport area and duty free shops.
- 6.00pm
Check In at Tiger Airways Counter
- 8.10pm – 11+pm (SG Time)
Board Flight TR 109 back to Singapore
Home Sweet Home :)
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Map of Chinatown
Samran Place in Red
Grand Palace in Blue
Khao San Road in Black
Phat Phong and Suan Lum Market
Pratunam Market, Pantip Plaza and Siam Area
And so with all of the above, i turned in early the night before to tried and get ready for that early flight, thinking that i must have ample amount of so that i'll be able to enjoy my holidays fully. BUT, i slept only for 3 hours because it's just not me to turn in that early....
Woke up at 3.45am and by 4.15am, all of us were on our way to the airport. Arrived at the airport, there's already quite a small crowd. Thankfully, we checked in first and managed to sit together. =)
Had our breakfast at The Hans before we book in.
Han's Breakfast @ Budget Terminal
Enjoy the difference (I felt the difference but certainly didn't enjoy it)
Flight were on time and left as expected. Great flying experience before the flight and not long after i'm up above those clouds, i began to feel sucky. Stupid seats at really awkward angle really made me feel very uncomfortable. Luckily, i have my PSP and mp3 player to keep my company.
We arrived at the airport as expected as well. Everything went smoothly. When we arrived, we got luggage and after coming out of the exit, we help ourselves to those free maps. Different maps with different kind of infomation, how to even get lost in Thailand!
Bearing in mind the advice my bro gave, we hopped onto a meter-charged taxi and we were on our way to the hotel. Jams already appearred even before we reach the hotel. It took us near 35 minutes to reach the hotel.
We were able to check in at near 10am. That's really good. So what Jo said is so true. We didn't need to wait till standard check in time - 1pm.
We dropped our lugguage back in our own rooms, have a quick shower (the weather is already unbearable) and out we go, A&W was all on, mummy and my mind. We followed our brother little guide and we go there in a moment after feeling kind of lost.
A&W!!!! Miss it?
The smell of the chicken, the taste of the fries, the sizzling sound of the root beer, all seem so familiar. It's like i'm back to the past. Really missed those food. I aimed their huge chunk size chicken, their root beer and of course, the chocolate sundae! Hmm...yummy!
Huge Chicken, Yum Yum!
Remember this?
Their debut curly fries...
The beer that never gets you drunk
Chocolate Sundae...yummy!
After lunch, we were ready to go for some real kick ass shopping. It's a great exercise as claimed because at last. We regretted after walking awhile because the weather is so hot, so much so that, umbrella and sunglasses became our best friends.
'A half-bucket tour guide'
We shopped at MBK and bought lots of things. My shopping list became of no use when the variety of items there are too much to spell it out. We spend half a day there and soon, it was dinnertime.
We had our dinner at Shabu-Saki (Japanese Style steamboat). We queued for awhile before entering. It didn't disappointed us especially when it's considered cheap to us as well.
Their variety of drinks
Their soup are really tasty
Look at the La-La, it's so tasty that we couldn't stopped eating that
Japanese style of serving those food. Cool.. 
Their Mini-Bar
I love their cup noodles, ever since that Phuket trip with Don
What's holiday without alcohol at night, too bad nobody's drinking with me..
I love this pair of shoes, mere 12 bucks (Sing Dollar).
Two fake Armani and CK wallet, one for me, one for my brother.
I stopped the temptation of buying 3/4 in Singapore all because of this!
My XXX Man Utd Jersey! C.Ronaldo this time round.
Believe it or not, i can't live without this
The Victory Monument
The Buzzling nightlife @ Khao San Road. Ang Moh rules here..
Messy room....housekeeper will have trouble..
Their toilet are really clean.
They even have a bathtub
One of our take-aways....
Again upon brother's recommendation, we hopped into the Cream and Fudge factory where they served really nice ice cream. Dad and mum shared one mint flavoured ice cream, i took one . It was not cheap but then it's still considered affordable. It's however really worth the money. It's not too sweet and tasty at its own flavour.
My Mint flavoured ice cream.
We had an early supper that night as well. We went to MK restaurant at Tesco Lotus. It's a place yet again recommended by brother. He mentioned that everything there is cheap. It's just a super gigantic supermarket, a few times bigger than GIANT or Carrefour i think.
AT MK Restaurant, we order a few dishes and especially the duck meat which brother strongly recommended. Alongside, we order some dishes and tried it out.
The highly recommended duck meat
Char Siew Bao
Pork Ribs
Wanton Soup
Dessert - crushed ice and mized fruit.
Tesco Lotus - the largest supermarket in Bangkok
I bought this @ Tesco Lotus...first time buying a shirt @ a supermarket
I fell in love with this Potato Chips when i was in Phuket and now, i'm back again!
The next day, we went to Chatuchak market. It's a quite a long ride there because of the jam. While at traffic junction, you can see someone walking in between cars and carrying a basket full of flowers. The cab driver beside me intend to get one for himself and replace his old one. I guess the flower will bring them luck. I tried asking the driver that's this for our of curosity but obviously, he doesn't understand English. In Thailand, it's quite frustrating that we can't communicate well with the Thais. It's like a chicken talking to a duck.
Driver's lucky charm, i assume!
When we arrived at Chatuchak market, it was burning hot. The market was so huge that we don't know where to start. We walked our way through those narrow alleys. The things there are super cheap as well. Much cheaper that the ones we saw in MBK.
The crowd at Chatuchak market
Street hawker at Chatuchak market
Mum bought this sewing machine. It's amazing how it works...
We spend near half day there and as it was raining soon, we headed back to the hotel which yet again, tons of stuff.
Every night when i reached back to the hotel, i would surely ordered room service. We chose different dishes every night. For all our 4 nights there at the hotel, we had our supper at our room. Their food are really cheap as well, around 4 bucks (Sing Dollar).
Our 2nd night supper, stir fried chili shrimps with rice and Bee Hoon soup
We also have one of our meal over at their restaurant. Their service and food are so nice that mum was intending to give them a real big tip, dad joined in shortly.
Different kinds of thirst quenching drinks..
My Chilli Seafood Pasta!
Stir fried chicken
I'll consider this the best dish at Samran, Stir Fried Noodles with Shrimps.
That night, we visited Suan Lum market. I'm curious how it was described in the guide as that they have a large beer garden over there. And indeed, they have a large communal area with drinks vendor, beer girls everywhere.
Special landmark of Suan Lum Market
Mother managed to buy a fake watch for my brother which my bro has been asking for, which cost 70+++ (Sing Dollar). Crazy brother...
3 little cute kittens
The next day, we were back at Siam area. We had Mac there. I spotted Breadtalk from afar. Little wonder that they have expanded till Thailand. They even got their outlets in China already...
I tried their mcFlurry. It was smaller as compared to the one in Singapore but definitely taste nicer.
That night when we were walking back to our hotel, we saw a man walking his elephant. To think that such things still exist in Bangkok, which i later found out that it's actually illegal to walk an elephant on the street.
The man walking his elephant
My supper that night....
We arrived at Chinatown the next day. No question why it's called Chinatown. This place is so chinese. First time i see sooo many chinese character in Bangkok. Singapore's chinatown didn't even have so much 'Chinese atmosphere'.
Chinese signs filled the streets.
We walked through the streets of Chinatown and arrived at the Thieves market. This place sucks, all because there's nothing much there and worse, the walking paths are so narrow. Well, god bring this sucky trip to a halt by pouring drizzle rain.
Pistols and rifles can be found at the thieves market...i was stunned to see this in fact.
Upon the guide Shuxia gave, we arrived at this restaurant - chinese restaurant at Chinatown. Birdnest and sharks fin seems to be their speciality. We ordered several dishes, Sharks Fin, Birdnest, crabmeat roll, black pepper crab and goose. Their best dishes would be the crab, sharks fin and bird nest....i missed it...aww..
Their bird nest displayed nicely..
The sharks fin
Yummy...it took my quite long to finish this, all because i taste it, not eat it
Crab meat roll
Finally, bird nest. It's really nice....
The Euro 2008 Mascots
We did went to the Platinum mall as well. Bought lots of clothes there. They have got nothing but tons and tons of clothes, especially for the ladies...
Our boiling steamboat
On our way home, we tried flagging for metered taxis, but all started charging 100 baht instead. Dad think it's not worth the money and we took Tuk Tuk instead which charge us 60 baht. Think when it turned night, all taxi start to charge instead of on-ing their meter, perhaps it's because of the jams..
Our Tuk Tuk ride back...quite scary actually..
Not to forget mentioning the free breakfast at the hotel. I woke up early to have their breakfast every morning, that's because their breakfast is soo nice.
Chinese style Char Mee
My American Breakfast
Toasted bread...
We left for the airport at around 5pm that day. We gave the stuff a big tip before leaving because it's really a nice hotel with great service and great food. We had our dinner over at the airport and their food aren't as nice as compared to the hotel's. Already i'm missing the Hotel's food...oh. gosh..
Checking...in...
Wanton Noodles
Stir fried chili shrimps with rice
We reached Singapore half an hour late due to some cock up at the hotel. Overall, a nice trip (all because i don't have to pay for our food, dad did the paying) and i could love to go back there again some time....
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