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blue pin: visited; yellow pin: transit;

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Day 4: Bangkok - Singapore

We had a last minute shopping before going back to Singapore. Guess what.. it was MBK again. For all the cheap finds, just visit the MBK and you can find everything here. MBK is a huge building with 7-storey high, you can find clothes, accessories, bags, shoes, electronics, furnitures, optical shops, jewelleries, etc. There are a few hundred small shops or little counters for you to choose from.

We had our lunch near the MBK food court. It was a small eating place serving Thai food. The food was quite nice, I think most of the Thai food I had so far was generally quite good. We ordered their coconut juice frozen, it was shiok :)

Our flight was at 19.00, so we still had time to walk around. We tried their BTS and rode for a few stations to see the city. The BTS was very efficient, the only problem was no escalator to reach the platform, so we had to climb about 3 storey high of stairs.


BTS (Bangkok Mass Transit System)

I'll visit Bangkok again someday...

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Day 3: Bangkok shopping

Siam Square has a lot of small shops that offer unique accessories and clothes. There is a shop with jeans bags accesorised with beads which is quite a fresh alternative compared to MBK. The retail concept is more like the Bugis Village or Heeren kind.

Opposite to Siam Square is the Siam Paragon where everything here spells "luxury". It is the newest shopping mall in Bangkok and has just been opened for a month. All the designers label can be found here, even those that are not found in Singapore like Jimmy Choo, Chloe, etc. You can also visit the showrooms of Lamborghini and Maserati. The mall also offers cinemas, convention center, opera theatre and Ocean World.


Siam Paragon


Ocean World

We had our lunch there. The interior design of the food hall is quite cool. High ceiling and big aquariums decorated the hall so that you can enjoy your meal while watching the fish swimming. Even the plates and bowls are not spared, they have some designer touch. All the payments are done with a top-up card bought at the counter.

Other than the food court, they also have the small counters selling snacks, cookies, cakes, etc. Believe me, they all looked so good, especially the cakes. They were very pretty, like those you could find at the upscale cake shop. After browsing around, I tried the sticky rice + mango (SGD 3). The mango was very very nice, I'm not sure whether it was from Thailand itself.

Then there is a supermarket called Gourmet Market. It looked very classy, our Jason's supermarket lost in comparison.

I declare it as the most luxurious shopping mall. Highly recommended.

But anyway, for all my shopping I went back to MBK hehehe... Over there, I bought a few boxes of Acuvue contact lens which was about SGD 10 cheaper per box than in Singapore. I also bought some roseapples (red jambu) from supermarket, which was half the price. They were really sweet.

We went back to Zen again for dinner. This time I had a Saba set meal. The fish fillet was quite big compared to Sakae Sushi portion here, and it only cost SGD 6! What a deal... I really love Bangkok :D


MBK Center

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Day 2: Bangkok city tour

We took a cab to Sanam Luang where the demonstrations were held recently. From here, the Grand Palace and temples are within walking distance. We passed the Democracy Monument on our way there.


Democracy Monument


Sanam Luang



Wat Phra Kaew


It is in the same compound as of the Grand Place



Grand Palace















Wat Pho


Located at another side of Grand Palace




Wat Arun


This is just across the river from Tha Tien port.

Chao Phraya river


Tha Tien port


Chao Praya river






Don't underestimate this home owner, just count how many cars he owned... :P

Nothing much to see at the river, it's all muddy and depressing.

Next, we stopped at the Oriental port (there is an Oriental Hotel nearby, so we go there to refresh ourselves). The hotel is one of the earliest hotel built in Bangkok, and has been refurbished for a few times which is why it still looks every inch a 5-star hotel. From here, we took a cab for our massage at Health Land Spa at Sathorn.

The spa is actually a two-floor bungalow. It looked exclusive, there was even a doorman to greet us when we arrived. The building interior gave us a cosy feeling and the staff was very friendly too. Traditional Thai massage only cost 350 B (SGD 14) for two hours and the massage really felt so good. We won't be able to get any deals like this in Singapore. For reservation, it cost 450 B. I called first to check whether any reservation was needed because sometimes they were fully booked. They also had a 10 times package which cost 2500 B.

We had our dinner at T & K in Chinatown (near 463 or 453 Yaowarat Rd). As advised, we ordered seafood dishes like prawns, crabs and crab omelette. Six giant prawns only cost SGD6, crab cost around SGD8 (not very good, the size is quite small). Next time, I'll just order two portions of prawns :P

After dinner, we headed to Patpong. It's a night market with all the sleazy bars and pubs. Nothing much to see here, they were selling the same things as MBK.

Monday, March 06, 2006

Day 1: Singapore - Bangkok

It was my first trip to Bangkok (can you believe that?? I think everybody must have been to Bangkok numerous times). I had written down my shopping list, places that I wanted to see, massage places, restaurants to try, I even carried with me a Bangkok guide borrowed from the library.

We departed from Singapore at 09.20 am by Jetstar Asia. The air ticket was very cheap, it cost around SGD 18 one way. The return trip would be by Air Asia which cost zero!! So total cost was SGD 85 including airport tax + fuel surcharge.


Jetstar Asia

The flight took two hours and the service was nice and friendly. We were given seat numbers, not like other budget airlines.

We took an airport shuttle bus because it would stop directly in front of the hotel. It cost 100B (SGD 4) per person, but the frequency was every half an hour. Later we realised that taxi cost about the same and I could have saved at least an hour. :((


Airport bus


City of Bangkok



We had our lunch in the hotel. Coconut juice cost only 20 B (SGD 0.8), and we ordered Pad Thai and Fried rice with beef, overall the bill was just around SGD 8.

Then we headed to the shopping district at Siam. We walked around Siam Discovery Centre, Siam Centre, and then MBK. Toiletries and cosmetics were considerably cheap compared to Singapore.

We had our dinner at a Japanese restaurant called Zen at MBK. We ordered a fried fish set (came with miso soup, kimchi alike and appetiser) and teriyaki chicken set with green tea shake. The fish portion was quite big and it was deep fried like gurame, I could almost eat everything because it was so crispy. The green tea shake was so shiok. Total damage was just around SGD 20. We would come back for more in the next few days.