Sparklette Magazine » Bangkok

Full Moon Wine Coolers from Thailand – Cheaper than Water

Veron Ang — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 03:00:26 +0000

Have you ever seen wine that is cheaper than water? I sure have not, until I decide to walk into a convenience store in Chiang Mai.

On this trip, our hotel is conveniently located near a convenience store, manned by a local that I enjoy having little conversations with and polish up my Thai at the same time. One night, while browsing for some interesting snacks and drinks, these wine coolers catch my eye. (Okay, so they are wine coolers, not wine per se, but still!)

As you would see here, the labels look quite attractive with a vintage feel. The bottle caps are the screw-on variety so there is no need to hunt for a bottle cap opener.

Full Moon wine cooler
28baht

These wine coolers come from the Thai Full Moon brand and are available in two flavours — red and white. Each 300ml bottle has a 5% alcohol content which is hardly detectable in taste, but it’s there all right if you know what I mean.

The drink tastes mostly sweet, almost exactly like grape juice. I like it so much that I’ll go back for a second round.

And can you believe that it only costs about a dollar each? At that price, it really is cheaper than water.

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Sirocco, Bangkok – Cocktails on Top of the World

Veron Ang — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 05:49:59 +0000

One place that I have long wanted to check out in Bangkok is Sirocco, the sky bar at lebua Hotel. What makes this bar particularly awesome is that it is perched open-air on the hotel rooftop, more than 60 floors above the ground! Imagine having a drink here with the wind in your face and the world at your feet. Now, isn’t that a thrill!

There are at least two such bars in Bangkok, the other being Vertigo at The Banyan Tree. Between the two, Sirocco boasts a bigger and higher sky bar, with a view of the Chao Phraya River as a bonus!

Directly adjacent to the bar is a restaurant with rather pricey food. So our plan is to simply go there, have a drink and enjoy the marvellous view. Apparently many people, expatriates and tourists alike, have the exact same idea.

Which is why even with just standing room available, the bar is crowded with people. The restaurant on the other hand has just a handful of customers!

And this is the view from the second tallest building in the city, 66 floors above the ground. The tallest would be the Baiyoke Sky Hotel.

Here, you get a good view of the Chao Phraya River and the other side of town. There is netting by the edge of the bar, so if anyone gets overly excited and drops their glasses, they would simply fall right into the net.

Our drinks (beer and kahlua on the rocks) are rather expensive even by Singapore standards. But this is exactly the kind of place where you pay for the experience more than anything else. I am glad I can finally check it off my list!

Sirocco
lebua Hotel at State Tower
1055 Silom Road
Bangkok, Thailand
Nearest BTS/mrt: BTS Saphan Taksin
Tel: +66 02 624 9555 | Website

6pm – 1am daily

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Kaiton, Pratunam Bangkok – Cheap, Good, Possibly the Best Khao Mun Kai in Bangkok

Veron Ang — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 06:04:56 +0000

At first glance, Kaiton in Pratunam looks like any other street food vendor in Bangkok. A small stand fronts the eatery, where staff busily prepare plate after plate of food to be served to customers.

Yet, beyond its nondescript facade lies possibly the best Khao Mun Kai (chicken rice) in Bangkok.

Kaiton is one place where I would always make a stop at on all my trips to Bangkok. For the past five years that I have visited, the portion always remained the same, the food remained as good, and the price never increased.

Chicken rice
30baht
Rating:

The food is similar to the Hainanese chicken rice we have here, but certainly much healthier and less oily. The dish comes with a serving of chicken, a bowl of soup, and a small bowl of dark spicy sauce.

And at 30baht, it converts to just a little over a dollar!

The dark sauce is sour, SUPER fragrant and bombastic, enough to give you a high. No joke! The chopped green chilli makes it extremely spicy and ups the excitement factor.

On its own, the chicken rice would have been quite ordinary. But with the sauce poured all over it, it transforms into something out of the world!

Even the soup is good, too. Unlike most chicken soup that very often turns out bland, this one is peppery and very tasty.

If you’re visiting Kaiton for the first time, look out for the stall with staff wearing white caps and clad in bright pink t-shirts with a chicken logo at the back.

When I take a cab there, very often the taxi driver immediately knows what I am talking about when I mention khao mun kai along Petchburi Road. It’s a favourite haunt especially among the locals. During chow hours, the place is packed, although the staff always manage to find you a seat somehow.

Kaiton
Petchburi Soi 30
Bangkok, Thailand
Tel: +66 02 252 6325

5:30am-3pm, 6pm-3am daily

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Collagen Beauty Drink – Tried and Tasted in Thailand!

Veron Ang — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:34:56 +0000

In Bangkok, I find myself constantly heading to the 7-Eleven stores to stock up on these collagen drinks. Apparently, these “Beauti” drinks are made with some form of collagen formula and promise to be chock-full of the beauty-enhancing collagen protein!

The first thing that catches my eye is not the word “collagen”, but rather, the beautiful packaging of the translucent bottles. Each one is adorned with pretty orchid flowers, along with nutrition facts of just how much collagen you’re getting.

The pink collagen drink contains 1000mg of collagen. Is that a lot? The other flavours come with proteins such as fibre and vitamin E.

Most importantly, the drinks taste wonderful, sweet and fruity due to the grape and lemon juices. When it comes to bottled drinks, I don’t think I have tasted better!

The Thai brand, Sappe, makes them in 4 juicy flavours:

If memory serves, each bottle goes for just 35baht, a real steal considering how refreshingly good these taste. If it wasn’t for the airline liquid rule, I would have brought some back to Singapore. Or are these available here already?

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11 Gallery, Sukhumvit Bangkok – Old World Thailand

Veron Ang — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:38:43 +0000

If you are looking for a memorable dining experience in Bangkok, head to 11 Gallery in Sukhumvit.

The moment you enter the restaurant, it is as though you have walked through the gateway to old world Thailand. The waitress, clad in traditional Thai clothing with the sabai (shoulder cloth) ushers you in. You have the choice of outdoor seating amongst greenery, or indoor at the old wooden houses.

For the latter, you dine barefoot at a double-story gallery building and make yourself comfortable with the triangle pillows. (I learned how to use those pillows at Jim Thompson House.) If you prefer to keep your shoes on, there is also a little wooden house further down that provides a homely ambience.

The decor is done in generic Thai style. Simple wooden furniture, antiquities, and sensual lighting all around, perfect for an intimate dining experience with loved ones.

We quickly order some wine, curries and spicy dishes. 20 minutes later, our food arrives in a pinto, the traditional tiffin container that stacks dishes in separate tiers. The accompanying rice is served in banana leaves topped with a purple orchid.

Green curry chicken
120baht
Rating:

The spicy green curry is simmered in coconut milk with pea eggplant and sweet basil leaves. With the first taste of it, it feels as though time has stood still, and that phrase takes on a whole new meaning at a place like this.

Red curry chicken
130baht
Rating:

I would also recommend the red curry, which may not be as delicious as its green counterpart, is still extremely gratifying to a curry-craving soul. The servings here are smallish, and I find myself slurping up every last bit of both curries in delight.

Shrimp with chilli and basil
145baht
Rating:

Our seafood item for the night is stir-fried shrimp with chilli and basil leaves. The dish comprises a few juicy, fresh prawns in a soy-based sauce. It is not terrific and I have tasted better.

Halfway through the meal, the power goes out, and restores itself some moments later. But during the blackout, the staff calmly lights up some candles and we have ourselves a candlelit dinner! This is truly a meal from the past.

The restaurant oozes the mystical charm of an old world Thailand. Finding the place gets a little tricky though. It is situated on a sidelane that runs parallel to Sukhumvit Soi 11. Just look for Ambassador Hotel; the restaurant is directly opposite its main entrance.

11 Gallery
1/34 Sukhumvit Soi 11
Bangkok, Thailand
Nearest BTS/MRT: BTS Nana
Tel: +66 02 651 2672 | Website
Service:

10am-1am daily

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Koko, Siam Square Bangkok – Lovely Flavours in Siam Square

Veron Ang — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:36:32 +0000

Siam Square is an area that appeals to tourists and locals alike with its eclectic mix of shops and boutiques that sell local designer-label apparel. When it comes to chow time, aside from the big players like the Bangkok Hard Rock Café, you can also choose from small café-restaurants like Koko.

Koko is a Thai eatery that caters to vegan palates, with a sprinkling of meat dishes.

Most importantly, they have Thai curries. Well, once you have set your mind to slurping down a bowl of curry with the lovely flavours of sweet basil and lemongrass and lime leaves, it’s hard to put that thought away.

Sweet curry pork
95baht
Rating:

Many Thai restaurants offer you a choice of meat for the curries. Over here, however, it seems that only pork curry is available on the limited English menu. But that alone is enough to curb the curry craving. It goes wonderfully with steamed white rice (15baht).

The bowl of piping hot flavourful curry arrives with chunky pieces of tender pork flesh. Rather than being chilli hot, Thai curries are more about a harmonious blending of sweet and slightly sour flavours, tamed with coconut milk and sugar. The whole dish is sinfully satisfying, even if not very good for the heart.

Deep fried fish with sweet and sour sauce
170baht
Rating:

Another Thai delight is any deep-fried item with “sweet and sour sauce”. This, in the local context, simply refers to the famous Thai sweet chilli sauce.

The fish, in this case, is totally bland. I mean lacking in any flavour, the kind that my Mom has promised to cook for our kitten Snowy many times. They must be very confident about their sauce, I thought.

And well, the sauce does help a lot. What was originally flavourless turns out to be palatable after all.

Chili fried shrimp
190baht
Rating:

The fried shrimp with chilli certainly offers more of a kick. The crunchy pieces of shrimp with the combination of sweet, spicy and garlicky flavours make for a wonderful sensation on the palate.

The prices here are steeper than that of most other Thai restaurants. Take for example the fish and shrimp. Similar dishes cost the same at Lerk Thai in Singapore.

Koko
262/2 Siam Square Soi 3, Rama 1 Road
Bangkok, Thailand
Nearest BTS/MRT: BTS Siam
Tel: +66 02 658 4094

11am-9pm daily

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The Offshore, Sukhumvit Bangkok – Fish-and-Chip Shop in a Red-Light District

Veron Ang — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:16:03 +0000

On a recent trip to Bangkok, I stayed in the Sukhumvit area and visited what is perhaps the best-known chippy in Bangkok — The Offshore. It is situated in Soi Cowboy, the red-light district in Sukhumvit that is notorious for its strip bars and risque sex shows.

The Offshore first started out as a bar, and expanded into the fish-and-chips business with a unit next door. I may be wrong, but I think the owner is a Brit, if he’s the same elderly male who is seen supervising his female Thai staff.

Most customers buy their fish and chips as take-outs, waiting at the stainless steel front counter while the staff deep-fry their orders. You can dine here as well, in the rather dingy-looking backroom, and order a drink or two from the bar. The place is run-down, yes, and lacking in any decor whatsoever. But the food speaks for itself.

Red snapper & cod
100baht & 150baht
Rating:

We order both the red snapper and cod. These arrive as chunky, square-shaped fillets, lightly coated in batter. Both are moist and tender, and thankfully devoid of that unwelcome fishy stench. Of the two I actually prefer the cheaper red snapper; it has somewhat of a more delicate taste.

The fish certainly do not sport a heavy jacket of batter. Rather, the texture is light, crispy and tasty. None of that cheese-stuffed glitz, too. Just simple, wholesome English food.

The accompanying tartar sauce, home-made perhaps, and a whole jar of it, is served cold straight from the fridge. Hmm.

If you’re wondering, where are the chips? They come only as a separate order. But in this case we opt for the rings of gold instead:

Onion rings
35baht
Rating:

Jumbo-sized onion rings! You see, I have an unconditional love for onions, however pungent or breath-polluting they may be. Sure enough, this is one appetiser that we find extremely enjoyable. Once again, they get the batter right. The dish is light and crispy and bursting with sweet onion flavour.

For a complete experience, wash down all the deep-fried calorific goodness with imported beers like Tetley’s (170baht) and John Smith’s (150baht) from the bar.

To avoid all the naughty action of the area, visit Soi Cowboy in the day. It is a short walk from the Sukhumvit MRT and Asoke BTS stations.

The Offshore
7/8 Sukhumvit Soi 23
Bangkok, Thailand
Nearest BTS/MRT: BTS Asoke / MRT Sukhumvit
Tel: +66 02 661 7830

11am-2am daily

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Bangkok (Day 9) – Homebound

Veron Ang — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:16:53 +0000

when we first arrived at the Bangkok suvarnabhumi international airport, I was marveled by the vast difference it was from the rundown don muang airport. At that time though, we were in a rush to start exploring the city, eager travellers that we were, and didn’t linger.

Now that we were leaving (boy, do 8 days whiz right past!), we got to spend a bit of time here and grab some quick bites before our flight. You know that feeling when you’re waiting for your flight home after a vacation. It’s kind of bittersweet.

The airport is practically made out of glass, like our Changi T3!

Even in mid January, Christmas trees are still abundant in the city of Bangkok. No one’s complaining though. They are cheery :)

There is a whole row of nice restaurants at the terminal. But we didn’t have much of a choice, left with pittance having spent all our money on shopping. Fortunately, we’re in Bangkok! A couple of hundred baht can still buy a 3-course meal for two.

Starters: two skewers of chicken kebab. These were awesome! I sank my teeth into them, expecting to tear into dry and tough chicken flesh, and was surprised at how tender and succulent the meat was. Yummy!

Main course: crispy chicken rice. The sweet chilli sauce was great.

Dessert: a couple of vanilla cream waffles. Bonus drink: a piping hot cup of Blue Mountain coffee. And we’re all set!

Looking at the map of the airport terminal, I noticed a few cute icons on the floor plan. Look where the pink arrows are pointing. One red pavilion on either side and what appears to be a dragonboat in the middle. How unusual! So we set out to find these.

The first pavilion that we stumbled upon had a roof in blue and gold. Nope, this isn’t the one from the map.

There’s our dragon!

As with every major airport, the duty-free zone has designer boutiques like burberry, cartier and chanel.

Ta-da! The red pavilion from the map! It’s also a shop that sells stuff to the tourists.

There’s a certain futuristic and clinical feel to the airport. It seems pretty cold especially when few people are around. Or maybe I just felt sad to be leaving.

Notice the symmetrical arch-shaped design, a defining characteristic of the airport.

One last look at the airport from the plane. This is the only exterior shot that I managed to get that has most of the terminal in it. And thus began our flight back to the lion city. Home sweet home!

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Bangkok (Day 8) – Shop, Eat and Relax!

Veron Ang — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 04:28:40 +0000

Our last day in Bangkok was spent shopping and using up our remaining baht, because those are no good back home. Bored of MBK and all the malls in the Siam area, we made our visit to the platinum fashion mall in petchaburi.

It was an excellent choice. The mall is literally packed to the brim with hundreds of fashion shops spread over 5 or 6 levels! It’s like a bigger version of far East plaza, with more to look at and way cheaper to boot.

We also noticed that there’s practically a Black Canyon Café on every level! No complaints from me though — I like Black Canyon, especially the Blue Mountain coffee. What do you call Blue Mountain coffee from Black Canyon Café? Why, black mountain of course.

The coffee was presented very nicely, with a saucer big enough to hold cute little tubs of biscuits shaped like alphabets and numbers. I loved these so much when I first had them, and I’m glad they still continue the practice of serving these sweet and salty biscuits today. The sugar sachets came in pretty floral packaging too.

Then it was shopping, shopping and more shopping! Of all the purchases I made, my favourites are the Juicy Couture charm bracelets! i love charm bracelets. The great thing is that because the charms are the miniature version of something, you can wear a different one to suit each and every occasion!

For instance, when catching a game at the sports bar, I would wear the soccer-themed charm bracelet, complete with soccer ball, club crest, jersey and world cup trophy. Isn’t it creative that they have girl-ed it up by substituting the gold ball on the world cup trophy with a pearl?

This lucky charm bracelet with a mint green four-leaf clover and a diamante-studded horseshoe would bring some luck during a job interview or when buying lottery!

What about this beach-themed charm bracelet? Doesn’t the coconut tree look gorgeous with those diamante leaves and pearl coconuts?

The adorable lobster charm bracelet would be a perfect accessory when visiting a seafood restaurant!

I was impressed that some of these charms even have movable parts! The butterfly and bee wings flap, the heart-shaped locket opens, and the lobster’s tail wiggles! I went crazy and bought a whole ton of these bracelets!

Our last proper meal in Thailand was at a casual restaurant beside the food court. (hey, we had to conserve all our remaining cash for shopping!)

After all that shopping, there’s nothing quite like gulping down a tall glass of refreshing watermelon juice!

The plump breaded prawns came with a delicious sweet chilli sauce.

If there’s one kind of rice I love, it has to be the oh-so-fragrant pineapple rice. It’s usually served in a pineapple, from which you can scrape off the flesh of the fruit as well.

The rice comes with yummies like cashew nuts, pork floss and egg. Some restaurateurs cut costs by leaving out the cashew nuts. Then in that case, the rice tastes only half as good.

I was not a fan of the green curry, unlike the one from the previous day. It wasn’t the sweet version that I like, but was tending towards the salty and sour variety.

While walking back to our hotel, we saw the terrible rush hour traffic. (to the right is the skytrain station.) that’s a long jam! It doesn’t help that it takes a long time for the traffic lights to turn green in Bangkok. Boy were we lucky we decided to make our way back on foot instead of taking the taxi.

That’s it for our last day. With little cash left and luggage bags full, we’re ready to fly home the next day!

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Bangkok (Day 7) – Forensic Museum, Temple of Dawn & Chao Phraya Dinner Cruise

Veron Ang — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:38:59 +0000

We had planned the entire day’s activities down to a tee! In the day, we would explore the sights along the Chao Phraya River. At night, we would take a dinner cruise whilst admiring the city lights! Doesn’t that sound wonderful?

The bustling river runs through Bangkok and several other cities, with river taxis providing an important mode of transport for both locals and tourists alike. After travelling around on taxis and skytrains for the past days, it was refreshing to be commuting on boats for a change :)

A few types of boats ply the river. This “airy” and open kind is probably the cheapest. A boat ride from one bank of the river to the other costs just 3 baht!

With very few seats on board, people usually end up standing around and holding on to the hand rails. It took us to our first destination of the day: Siriraj Hospital, the oldest hospital in Thailand.

If you’re wondering why the heck we’re visiting an old hospital on our vacation, this particular hospital houses six small museums. The one we’re looking for in particular is the forensic museum that showcases various states of human death with actual… Specimens. As far as curiosity goes, we were pretty psyched up about visiting the museum.

(For obvious reasons, photography isn’t allowed here. I did manage to sneak a few photos with the intention of displaying them on this blog. Ultimately, I’ve decided not to. It makes me feel too uncomfortable.)

The exhibition area wasn’t huge. Picture a large room with fluorescent lighting, row after row of glass cabinets with jars of preserved body parts and organs, and that very heavy and gloomy hospital atmosphere. The entrance corridor is lined with photos of people that died from hangings, being mashed in machinery, cut wrists, etc. It was all very depressing.

The saddest sight, though, has got to be the jars of dead babies and fetuses, including some very well-developed ones. One particular jar had an infant that died from drowning. We noticed that someone had left a couple of sweets by its side.

There is also an entire section dedicated to executed criminals (rapist murderers and the likes) with their mummified corpses.

Obviously, the experience wasn’t a pleasant one, but I can’t deny that it was an eyeopener. For those of you that are curious to see exactly what the exhibits look like, here’s a 360 degree view within the exhibition.

Forensic Museum
Siriraj Hospital
2 Prannok Road
Bangkoknoi
Bangkok 10700
Thailand
Tel: +66 2419 7000 (ext. 6363/6440)
www.si.mahidol.ac.th

Nearest pier: Wang Lang

Opening hours: 9am – 4pm (Closed on Sundays)
Admission: 40 baht

You would think that a visit like that would take the appetite out of anyone. But my stomach was rumbling after that. Street hawkers like this were aplenty, but it was at a cosy little restaurant where we had our meal.

A colourful plate of chicken pasta!

I’m a big fan of Thai green curry, although the only version I’ve had was from Lerk Thai. I thought the green curry in Thailand would probably taste different. It was actually very similar to Lerk Thai’s. I guess Lerk Thai does serve authentic Thai food!

Our next destination was the beautiful temple of Wat Arun. This time round, we had to take a different type of river taxi, the Chao Phraya express boat.

Look how crowded it is! The boat is much bigger than the one before and has more seats too.

Even on a boat with passengers almost smashed together, there was someone going around to inspect everyone’s ticket.

From the boat, we saw the silhouette of Wat Arun.

And finally, we arrived at the Temple of Dawn!

The prangs are decorated with thousands of multicoloured porcelain pieces and must have looked magnificent in the temple’s heyday.

This was my second time to the temple. I made my first visit in 2005, though my memories of it are fuzzy at best.

What I do remember vividly are the very steep and scary steps leading up the 80-meter-tall main prang. Not only are the steps narrow, with a width of less than 20 centimeters, each one is easily a foot tall! Aren’t people shorter in the past? They must have had found those steps even more challenging!

Just watch these people struggling up the stairs! I, for one, was terrified! A very narrow landing separates the two flights of stairs. So if anyone was unfortunate enough to trip over, he would probably tumble all the way down!

After braving those killer steps, we reached the balcony where we got a panoramic view of the Chao Phraya River and the surrounding sights. Can you spot the Grand Palace in the distance?

Well, that’s it for the Temple of Dawn!

Wat Arun
34 Arun Amarin Road
Kwang Wat Arun, Khet
Bangkok Yai
Bangkok 10320
Thailand
www.watarun.org

Nearest pier: Tha Tien

Opening hours: 7:30am – 5:30pm daily
Admission: 50 baht

We made our way to the river once more to pamper ourselves with a sumptuous dinner on a cruise. That seems a perfect way to end the day, does it not?

One advantage of cruising along the river is that you get to see many landmarks and bridges, such as the rama VIII bridge. This is a beautiful single tower asymmetrical cable-stayed bridge, easily my most favourite bridge at the Chao Phraya River.

And that’s the Grand Palace.

Of the many dinner cruises available, most are buffets that typically cost a bomb. We picked riverside Bangkok as they offer Thai/chinese ala carte dishes at very reasonable prices.

The cruise is a baby blue double-decker, possibly the biggest passenger boat on the river. It sails off at 8pm, making a trip up and down the river before disembarking at 10:30. That gives diners a nice 2.5 hours on board.

(and no, I did not digitally change the colour. The sky was really that gorgeous shade of pink!)

A colourful balloon arch welcomes people on board. At times the staff would offer to take pictures of passengers standing underneath those balloons.

Both indoor and alfresco dining are available. Seats for the alfresco area are the first to run out so it’s better to make your reservations fast! We neglected to make advance reservations and sat indoors instead.

A live band entertains the diners on the stage, which transforms into a disco dance floor during the later part of the night.

Our first chang beer!

For starters, we ordered my favourite chicken satay. The gravy is quite similar to the satay peanut gravy in Singapore.

What’s different is that slices of toasted bread are served instead of the lontong (rice cakes) that we are familiar with.

A surprise find on the extensive menu was the roasted duck in coffee sauce. It reminds me of the delicious coffee pork ribs at Tung Lok zhou’s kitchen. Sure enough, there’s the same delicious coffee aroma, although I would have enjoyed it better if it was chicken.

I thought the shrimp in coconut cream would be something like the one at mustard, where the prawns are served in a whole coconut. (coconuts are all over Bangkok!) I felt a tinge of disappointment when it came in a small bowl. Still, the shrimp tasted great — sweet and creamy with a touch of spice. Yum.

The fried pork ribs were dry and stiff — not good. It convinced me that ribs are never meant to be fried.

But anyhow, the main cool thing about being on a dinner cruise is that you get an ever-changing scenic view. You can stand by the railing and feel the breeze in your hair. You can even fly like jack and rose if you wish.

There are easily a dozen bridges stretching across the river banks, and each time the cruise passed underneath one, all on board would erupt in cheers just for the heck of it :)

Bangkok is not exactly a dense skyscraper city. You don’t really get to see the grandeur of a brightly lit skyline unlike other urban cities.

We did spot the golden dome of the state tower. It felt surreal to see it from so far away when we were just there the night before, having a couple of drinks at Sirocco the rooftop bar.

That’s the Temple of Dawn again. It looks magnificent even at night.

Riverside Bangkok
195 Ratchawithi Road
Bangkok 10700
Thailand
Tel: +66 2883 1588

Nearest pier: Krung Thon Bridge

Dinner hours: 8pm – 10:30pm
Admission: 120 baht

Once again, this was a thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding day. All the places we visited are on the West bank of the river. There was a mild scare when none of the taxis we flagged down were willing to take us back to our hotel in the main land of Bangkok and it was getting pretty late by then. But eventually one did agree. Phew!

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Bangkok (Day 6) – Muang Boran the Ancient City

Veron Ang — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 11:21:11 +0000

Muang Boran, the ancient city, is one fascinating sight that is missing from every traveller’s guidebook and website. After a day trip to this amazing park/outdoor museum, it feels as though we have toured the whole country. Honestly — and I’m not exaggerating here — Muang Boran is hands-down the best place I’ve ever visited in Thailand.

First of all, the place is so huge, it is a city in its own right! You can explore more than 100 historic landmarks all in one place! Not only is the park in the shape of Thailand, the landmarks are placed according to their actual location. This meticulously-designed museum is literally a miniature Thailand!

The ancient city is located in Samut Prakan province outside Bangkok. We hired a cab to take us there and back to our hotel. It was an hour’s drive to get there. And — I can’t stress this enough — it was so totally worthwhile!

The sheer size of the park makes it practically impossible to explore on foot. But you can drive your car in (for a fee), rent bicycles and even buggies! Boy do we love the buggies. It sure brings back memories of Bintan Lagoon Resort!

With that, we’re ready to begin our journey back to the past!

Most of the landmarks here are replicas that have been painstakingly constructed to accurately match the originals. The bell-shaped stupa is a third smaller than the actual monument at Nakhon Si Thammarat. Do they deliberately give it a faded paint job? Because it sure looks every bit as aged as the original that was built in 555 A.D.! In fact, it looks just like the stupas from the ruins of Ayutthaya!

The masterpiece of ancient city is the beautiful Sanphet Prasat Palace from the early Ayutthaya period. What’s incredible is that the palace was completely destroyed in 1767 when Ayutthaya fell to Burma. But through extensive study of archaeological and historical evidence, plus sheer determination, the palace has been rebuilt in Muang Boran.

Isn’t it remarkable how Muang Boran has made it possible for us to walk amongst the buildings from centuries ago, even the ones that have been completely destroyed? Centuries from now, would anyone build a miniature Singapore?

One particularly famous Buddha head at Wat Mahathat in Ayutthaya has tree roots growing around it but, strangely, never quite covering the face. Similarly, this image of a Hindu deity also has tree roots growing around it. (Gotta say that the Buddha head is more intriguing though.) Doesn’t he look like he’s waving?

The original statues are kept at the Nakhon Si Thammarat National Museum.

The Phra Mahathat of Chaiya is one of the most sacred and important monasteries in the South of Thailand. The design of the mud-red stupa was inspired by the most ancient form of stupa found in Java, Indonesia.

This model of the Stupa of Phra Mahathat in Ratchaburi province is duplicated to scale at three quarters the original size. “Mahathat” sure is a popular name for temples! There seems to be a “Wat Mahathat” in every province!

The Buddha’s posture, seated with his feet resting on the floor, so called the teaching posture, is a distinct artistic style of the Dvaravati kingdom that existed from the 6th to 11th centuries.

Religious structures and Buddha images constructed during the Dvaravati period tend to be large. With only broken pillars left standing, the wihan (assembly hall) above is not much of a hall anymore. The Muang Boran architects have certainly done a great job in making the monument replicas look as realistic as possible.

If you have seen the Grand Palace, you should probably recognise this landmark. The Dusit Maha Prasat Palace is the most easily identified structure on the palace grounds. The replica in Muang Boran is meant to recreate the original state of the palace when it was first built in 1806, so it is not exactly identical to the one in the present day, which has seen some modifications over the decades.

As we’ve already learned from the trip to the Bangkok National Museum, King Naresuan was an outstanding warrior. This monument commemorates the Great Battle of Yuthahathi, in which he defeated the son of the Burmese king in 1592. Kings that can physically fight and win a war simply make my knees go weak.

The pair of feet at the foot of the staircase offers a clue as to what this place is. Climb up the steps and you would get closer to the footprint of… Lord Buddha. Considered one of the most sacred places of Thailand, the original structure is on the top of a hill in Saraburi province. As the legend goes…

A hunter named Phran Boon followed a deer that he had shot to the ridge of a low hill. There, he saw the wounded deer drinking water from a small pond. Astonishingly, the wounds on the creature’s body suddenly disappeared. When the deer fled, the hunter came to look at the pond and found that in fact the pond was the footprint of the Buddha. Being reported and investigating the site himself, Phra Chao Song Tham (1620-1628) found the ancient Buddha footprint of which its appearance in Siam was foretold by Ceylonese monks in a Ceylonese scripture.

If you’re wondering whether this replica actually houses any footprint, the answer is yes. It belongs to an Indian president.

Speaking of deer, we spotted some of them grazing in a barricaded area. They were so adorable!

This monument represents the courage of the people of Bang Rachan from the late Ayutthaya period. They were a group of villagers that fought bravely and eventually sacrificed themselves to defend their community from a Burmese siege.

It kind of reminds me of the Heineken Christmas tree.

The Grand Hall of Wat Mahathat in sukhothai province now lays in ruins. Imagine what it was like, back in its heyday when the pillars belonged to a whole building. This replica is smaller than the original hall by three quarters.

Standing behind the Buddha image is the main chedi (stupa in Thai) of the temple.

Notice that its square base is accented with little motifs of walking Buddha images.

Along the way, we spotted some big birds by a lake. Those are geese right? Anyway I got off our buggy to get their pictures. When I squatted down, they looked about the same height as me. And then those darn birds came after me! If I wasn’t quick enough I would have been pecked!

This fruit-shaped tower is modelled after Wat Mahathat, Sankhaburi in Chai Nat (there, another Mahathat!). If you were to ask me what fruit it is, cucumber immediately comes to mind. The actual fruit that gave it its name is actually starfruit (!!!).

The tower goes way back to the pre-Ayutthaya periods, around the 13th century. The unusual thing about this 20 metre tall, 12 metre wide structure is that no plaster was used to hold the bricks together. So how does the whole thing not collapse?

Even older than the fruit-shaped tower is the Chedi of Cham Thewi at Wat Ku Kud, dating back to the 9th and 10th centuries. Quick math question: the stupa bears a pyramidal shape that is divided into 5 levels. On each level there are Buddha images, 3 on each of the 4 sides. How many Buddha images are there altogether?

Although most of the monuments here are replicas, some are actually originals that were obtained and refurbished for the park. This bell tower came from Wat Yai, Bang Khonthi in Samut Songkhram province.

Another original is Wat Chong Kham, a temple-monastery that came from Lampang province. Much care was taken to preserve all the details of the teak building, modelled after pagan architecture.

Chedi Chet Yod, the seven-spired pagoda, is currently situated at Wat Photaram Mahawihan in Chiang Mai. The stone arch opening on the main chedi leads to a rectangular hall 10 metres wide and 22 metres deep, with a seated Buddha image. It was built sometime in the 15th century.

Stucco motifs of Indian celestial beings adorn the base walls.

The Reclining Buddha. He has kind of a curvy figure.

This group of stupas above are replicas of the Sikhoraphum stone sanctuary of Surin province, dating back to the 12th century. They were originally Hinduism stupas, but were eventually converted to Buddhism stupas in the 15th century.

The Phimai stone sanctuary, located in Nakhon Ratchasima province, is the largest Buddhist monument in Thailand.

You recognise her, don’t you? Kuan-Yin, the Goddess of Compassion, used to be male until after the Tang dynasty! I didn’t know that!

Many locals were spotted praying around kuan-yin. Hanging from the trees around the statue were these red cards with little bells, written with prayers and wishes.

Besides replicas and restored originals, creative designs of the Muang Boran architects can be found here too. Take for instance the Phra Kaew Pavilion above. The octagonal structure was built in the Ayutthayan style to represent Ayutthaya as a centre of Buddhism in the past.

The Pavilion of the Enlightened is very popular with the Thais. As these elaborate pavilions and temples with their green roofs and gold fringes are built upon a lake, they can only be accessed via a bridge.

Spot the jolly laughing Buddha!

Look, this beautiful ship has eyes! In the past, Bangkok and Ayutthaya benefited from their strategic locations along the Chao Phraya River, the same way Singapore benefited from the Singapore river.

Back then, traders would bring Thai goods overseas using such ships, called Thai junks. They gradually disappeared some 50 years ago.

Altogether there are 116 monuments in Muang Boran so this is just a small sampling of them. Eateries and drinks stalls are littered around the park. There are also a couple of markets selling souvenirs.

It’s hard to believe that this incredible place is really the creation of just one man who had a deep passion for Thai culture and architecture. Today, his heirs continue his legacy. I heard that this magnificent project isn’t even financed by the government. Labor of love indeed! I encourage everyone to go visit it if you can. It would be an experience of a lifetime.

Muang Boran
296/1 Sukhumvit Road
Bangpoo
Samut Prakan 10280
Thailand
Tel: +66 0 2709 1644
www.ancientcity.com

Opening hours: 9am – 5pm
Admission: Adults 300 baht; Children 200 baht

Back to Bangkok, we had our lunch/dinner at a nice Japanese restaurant in MBK Center, above the Tokyu department store.

Some of the set meals were extremely value-for-money.

The set meal I had came with the unadon, udon, salad and tofu.

The curry katsu don wasn’t too shabby either. This is one of those places I would return for a meal if I was to visit Bangkok again.

We end the day with drinks at Sirocco, one of the highest bars in the world.

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Bangkok (Day 5) – Thailand Cultural Centre & National Museum

Veron Ang — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 14:15:17 +0000

Being huge fans of museums, we dedicated the day to exploring some of the museums in Bangkok. Before embarking on our cultural journey, we made a stop at MBK Center for some cake and coffee.

Gateaux house is a little bakery café at the first level of the mall, near the tokyu department store. I still remember having some snacks there with my Mom during our first trip to Bangkok in ’03. We both agreed that the cakes were yummy and affordable.

This time round, what attracted my attention was this purple, bizarre-looking pastry which resembles some sea creature that I can’t quite put a name to. It’s fluffy and yam-flavoured, and tasted surprisingly good! The waitress even warmed it up for us! I was so in love I wanted to buy a couple more to bring back to our hotel.

We noticed that the café was crowded with Westerners. Actually most of MBK was crowded with Westerners. Compared to Singapore, it sure seems like Bangkok is much more popular with the Western expatriates!

This strawberry sundae was bought from KFC. (or was it McDonald’s?) notice the oreo cookie on top and the layer of oreo bits in the middle. It was yummy!

And with that, we were ready to brave the hot weather and travel to our first destination: Thailand Cultural Centre. To get there, we took the BTS skytrain to silom station and made a transfer to the MRT line. It’s something like our northeast line, except that it’s not quite as seamless — you have to fully exit one line before you can use the other.

Besides being newer than the BTS skytrain system and fully underground, the MRT line is also pretty darn strict. Just check out all their rules!

I distinctly remember 4 years ago when I tried to bring in a balloon. A security guard stopped me and promptly pointed to the “no balloons” sign. I was so amused they even have a sign for that!

What’s also amusing is that 4 years later, they are still using these round black easy-to-lose tokens as ticket passes. Instead of scanning cards at the sensor gates, you scan these tokens!

We exited from the Thailand Cultural Centre MRT station and soon realised that the name of the station is misleading as the Thailand Cultural Centre is nowhere near it. It was sort of a blind 20-minute walk for us as there was hardly any sign to guide the way. The map we had was mostly useless too. In that hot and sunny weather, the long walk really kills! So everybody, do pack your sunblock for such trips.

Along the way, we saw familiar names like carrefour hypermarket and robinson department store.

Finally, we reached the Thailand Cultural Centre, a quiet and tranquil place that resembles a university.

If not for the odd number of people that walked past occasionally, the place seemed peaceful, almost deserted.

These wooden rocking chairs put a whole new meaning to the term “wheelchair”!

Our main purpose in dropping by the cultural centre was to visit the thai life permanent exhibition. It showcases the traditions and history of Thai civilisation, something like the Asian civilisations museum in Singapore.

From the exterior, the exhibition hall appears deceptively small. But the actual exhibition area is large, divided into five topical areas:

evolution of the Thai nation
rice and the Thai way of life
thai language and literature
thailand and the world
heroic deeds and major events in Thai history

The museum targets students, researchers and locals, which explains why the exhibits have descriptions in Thai with minimal English translations. I did enjoy the miniature models very much (probably the same reason why I love polly pockets and lego).

The models above depict the varying physical attributes of housing in the different parts of Thailand.

Barges out at sea.

The models come in handy in illustrating certain things accurately, particularly those that are hard to explain clearly in words. For instance, I had always thought that when carrying such sedan chairs, the two guys in front would walk side by side, likewise for the two at the back. But the model shows otherwise.

The streets of Thailand gradually opening up to foreigners.

In this exhibit, the trading routes of Thailand in the past are lit, including the silk road of China.

If you have visited the Grand Palace, you would find this familiar. This is a miniature Wat phra kaeo, the temple of the emerald Buddha on the palace grounds.

The royal ploughing ceremony. Do you know what this ceremony is for?

These Thai inscriptions looked really cool and mysterious (mostly because I have no idea what they mean). It’s also here in the Thai language and literature section where the curator came out and had a chat with us. He said that he has visited Singapore before and was impressed with our Asian civilisations museum! He also kindly offered to write our names in Thai script :)

The painting portrays the nine Thai kings of the chakri dynasty, from the first king naresuan to the current king bhumibol adulyadej (rama IX). I also noticed that King Rama VIII (on the bottom right) was very handsome. Little did we realise that we were about to learn so much more about them in our following visit to the Bangkok National Museum.

Thai Life Permanent Exhibition Hall
Thailand Cultural Centre
Ratchadapisek Road
Bangkok 10320
Thailand
Tel: +66 0 2247 0028 (ext. 4223/4224)
www.culture.go.th

Nearest MRT: Thailand Cultural Centre

Opening hours: 9:30am – 4:30pm (Closed on weekends & PH)
Admission: Free

To get to the bangkok National Museum, we had to take a taxi as it has no skytrain or MRT station nearby. Once again, here’s a reminder to all: always make sure the driver uses the meter!

The Bangkok National Museum is the main branch of all the National Museums in Thailand.

A small café within the museum grounds sells drinks and beer to visitors, so that’s where we sat down for a cappuccino.

Just like the Thai life exhibition previously, miniature models are also featured heavily in this museum. The Thais must love this form of exhibition mechanism. So do i!

Many of the models depicting battles are tributes to king naresuan the great, the fearless warrior king that fought and won numerous battles.

Here’s one of the city of Ayutthaya, the former capital of Thailand with parts that now lay in ruins. It’s surrounded by a moat of water, with an elaborate network of rivers that run through the city.

Thinking back, I wish I had visited this museum before making my trip to Ayutthaya in ’04. It certainly would have helped me appreciate the place more, having learned a bit more about its history. Moreover, it would have made a whole lot of sense why I had to cross the river back then.

More Thai inscriptions.

A pipe with a lion’s head and a pistol in the shape of a, uh, snake-like creature. Aren’t these cool?

An entire section that takes up more than half the museum is dedicated to the nine kings of Thailand in the chakri dynasty. There are detailed descriptions, life stories and relics of each king. King viii, in particular, became king at the tender age of 9! He also died young when he was assassinated at age 21. Following his sudden death, his brother, the current King Rama IX, was crowned.

It’s obvious that the Thais hold the king with great respect. Even without having to visit the museum, I have learned from my Thai friends and the media that the king is very much loved, especially for the way he cares for his people. He is also currently the world’s longest-serving head of state.

Unlike the Thai life exhibition that appears small on the outside but is huge on the inside, the National Museum is the reverse; it is housed in a nice building but the actual exhibition is pretty small. Still, it’s a great place to learn about the basics of Thai history and the nine Thai kings from past to present.

Bangkok National Museum
Naphra That Road
Bangkok 10200
Thailand
Tel: +66 2224 1404
www.thailandmuseum.com

Opening hours: 9am – 4pm (Closed on Mon, Tue & PH)
Admission: Adults 40 baht

Outside the museum, we spotted a nice-looking bus stop. It was very eye-catching as it was particularly green, with potted plants stacked in rows.

It certainly was refreshing!

Not too far away, there was also an entire street of roadside stalls selling one common thing: Buddhist amulets. Wow! Do they actually make profits? Everyone is selling the exact same thing!

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Bangkok (Day 4) – Jim Thompson House & Suan Pakkad Palace

Veron Ang — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 04:14:52 +0000

Following a weekend of shopping and dining, it was time for some serious sightseeing. Having visited the usual sights like Grand Palace and the Floating Market, you would think that there’s nothing more to see. That might have been true if the city wasn’t filled with so much culture and diversity. But having culture and diversity is exactly the strong point of Bangkok. As a matter of fact, we paid visits to several new spots for the rest of the trip!

Jim Thompson House

Our first stop was at Jim Thompson House which used to be the home of James H.W. Thompson, the “legendary American of Thailand” recognised for his exceptional contribution to the development of the Thai silk industry. This is a great place for people that wish to explore a traditional Thai house.

The house combines six traditional Thai-style buildings made of teak. Even though it was constructed in 1959, some of the buildings were at least two centuries old. They had been purchased from different parts of the country, dismantled and brought to the present site.

The house was a fine example of Thompson’s keen eye for design and colour, and became the “talk of the town”. Sadly in 1967, he disappeared mysteriously while holidaying with friends in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia. Until today, no one knows what happened to him there. But the Jim Thompson legend lives on.

Visitors are only allowed into the house in groups, brought around by tour guides. So after paying the admission of 100 baht an adult (I paid only 50 baht for being under 25!), everybody would wait around until the guide brought us into the house.

Near the ticket counter was a pond with some fish in it, plus the biggest stingray I’ve ever seen! It’s gigantic! And I certainly wouldn’t want to fall into the pond with it.

Before going up the stairs into the house, we had to take off our footwear, following Thai tradition. The house was elevated a full storey above the ground to avoid flooding during the monsoon season and prevent animals from getting in.

We were brought from room to room in the house, with our guide giving us an overview of the various furniture. For example, the dining table was actually formed by joining two heavy mahjong tables. (I doubt mahjong here refers to the game!)

This drawing room is the oldest part of the house, dating from around 1800. It originated from the silk weaving village of Ban Krua. Hanging from the ceiling is a crystal chandelier that came from an old palace. On both sides of the room, you can see Burmese figurines of Nat (good spirits) from Amarapura that decorate the niches, which were originally windows.

All the things were obviously pretty old, so no photography was allowed. Some of the colourful porcelain wares were exactly like those we’d seen at the Peranakan Museum in Singapore.

Interestingly, in both the master bedroom and the guestroom, we found potties, or what they call “pee-pee pots”! Haha! One was shaped like a cat, the other, a frog, with lids on them.

Due to the elevation, there’s a vast open space beneath the house. Ornate carvings and sculptures decorate the area.

This statue of the Buddha has the head missing. It’s centuries old, and was highly priced by Thompson himself.

The beautiful patterns on this wood panel are used as a stencil for making sarong.

The octagonal table features a highly unusual circular blue painting.

Following our tour, we stopped by the Jim Thompson restaurant and bar. It’s a nice looking place that serves Thai food and drinks.

See these triangular cushions? From our guided tour we learned that you’re supposed to turn them sideways so that you can rest your arm(pit) on it.

That’s exactly what I did whilst enjoying a singha beer. It’s interesting to note that in many places in Bangkok, the beers cost almost the same or just slightly more than the coffees and fruit juices.

Jim Thompson House
6 Soi Kasemsan 2
Rama I Road
Bangkok, Thailand
Website

Nearest BTS: National Stadium

Opening hours: 9am – 5pm daily (last guided tour at 4:30pm)
Admission: Adults 100 baht; Students 50 baht

Suan Pakkad Palace

Our second stop for the day was another traditional Thai-style house, the Suan Pakkad Palace. This was the private residence of Prince Chumbhot Paribatra, a grandson of King Rama V.

The lacquer pavilion below was originally from a temple in Ayutthaya, the former capital of Thailand.

The prince brought it here as a 50th birthday present to his wife, although he never lived to see the completion of its refurbishment.

We were allowed to go up to the second level of the pavilion, where magnificent mural paintings in gold on black lacquer decorate the walls. The murals depict the life of the Buddha.

The eight houses in the palace are connected via bridges. Again, we would take our shoes off to explore within the houses. As the trail starts from one house and ends at another, we were provided plastic bags to carry our shoes as we explored the place.

The darker area on the wooden floor are actually tables! They can be brought up when needed, and retracted into the floor after use.

That’s Baiyoke Sky Tower in the background, the tallest building in Bangkok. You can actually go right up to the rooftop and enjoy the night scenery on a rotating open-air platform.

Can you guess what this is?

And with that, we’re done with our sightseeing for the day!

Suan Pakkad Palace
352-354 Sri Ayudhya Road
Ratchathewi
Bangkok 10400
Thailand
Tel: +66 2245 4934 | Website

Nearest BTS: Phaya Thai (Exit 4)

Opening hours: 9am – 6pm daily
Admission: Adults 100 baht; Students 50 baht

Steamboat dinner at Siam Center

During my trips to Bangkok, I would always make a stop for steamboat buffet at coca suki at Siam Center. The buffet used to cost just 99 baht, and you can select all the food you want from a conveyor belt, just like the sushi restaurants in Singapore.

This time round, we went there and found that the price has increased to 219 baht! Nonetheless, it was still cheap by buffet standards, and there was better variety of food than before.

I like that the juices are served with pretty flowers. There’s nothing like a watermelon juice to cool one down after a whole afternoon walking in the sun.

Coca Suki
Siam Center
Rama I Road
#430-432
Bangkok 10330
Thailand

Nearest BTS: Siam

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Bangkok (Day 3) – Chokchai Steakhouse & Manchester United Restaurant and Bar

Veron Ang — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:10:59 +0000

The mornings in Bangkok are extremely cool and comfortable. When we stepped out of our hotel each morning, we would be like, whoa, chilly! Compared to the hot climate in Singapore, the 15C weather was pure bliss.

That’s why shopping at Chatuchak Weekend Market in the morning feels a whole lot more bearable. Unfortunately by 10-ish, the weather gets pretty hot. So we did our last bit of shopping in a hurry and escaped the heat after buying gao sai (pork floss rolls).

Being the thrifty travellers that we were, we commuted on the skytrain and MRT (two separate lines) or walked whenever possible. At times we did wander around like lost souls, and depended on the helpful locals to point us in the right direction. While trying to locate Chokchai Prime Steak House, a place I came across online, we even mistakenly combed Soi Cowboy, a red-light district area!

Once we found Prasanmit Plaza, identifying the steakhouse with its prominent rock exterior was a breeze. The waiters wore suits, although the restaurant did not appear to be particularly posh. There was even a wild wild west theme in place.

Carnivores can indulge in stuff like buffalo wings and various kinds of meats. We were rather disappointed by the sight of the plain wings that arrived at our table.

I guess not everyone can do wings like Jerry’s! This was considered a main course rather than a side dish, and came with fries.

On their own, the wings tasted every bit as bland as they looked. But the two different spicy dips served alongside totally saved the day! One was the traditional sweet Thai chilli sauce. The other was a thick sourish chilli paste. The Thais really know their spices, and we love to eat them just as much!

The beef steaks came in either the usual plain slabs or cooked in a sauce, like the hot and spicy one we had. It’s pretty good, and was beautifully garnished and served with rice, strangely.

There’s even a whole page on the menu that gives diners a crash course on the various types of steak and the pros and cons of each. Perfect for a steak idiot like me!

I’m not sure about the other meats, but the beef here actually came from their very own farm, Farm Chokchai! It’s pretty cool — you can go there for a farm stay and learn to make ice cream, presumably with milk from their cows! That’s going straight into the itinerary for my next Bangkok trip!

As I was nursing a sore throat at that time, I ordered a chicken steak with honey. The portion was ample and the chicken was just okay, mostly because I’m no big fan of honey. The checkered pattern on it was a nice touch though :) and that’s that for our meal at Chokchai Steakhouse.

Chokchai Prime Steak House
Prasanmit Plaza
45 Sukhumvit Soi 23
Bangkok 10110
Thailand
Tel: +66 0 2259 9596
Service:
www.farmchokchai.com

Our next stop was the new Manchester United Restaurant and Bar in Bangkok. (There’s one in Singapore, too.) We are both die-hard fans. So when we first knew of this restaurant, we couldn’t wait to check it out. It would be so, so awesome to catch a game there!

The place is located on the ground floor of the President Palace Hotel. As the hotel has yet to open for now, some taxi drivers may not know the place. A good tip is to print out the address, preferably have it in Thai script as well, and show that to the driver. We adopted this practice for all the not-so-famous places that we wanted to go.

The restaurant is rather big, decked out in the club colours of red and black.

Near the entrance is where you’ll find the merchandise section. There are jerseys, t-shirts, bags, caps and scarves. Some other items such as glasses, coasters and cushions that are in use within the restaurant are sold here too. We bought a t-shirt with a silver crest that we had never seen in Singapore! I would have gotten a tote bag too if it wasn’t so darn expensive.

The ceiling at the bar counter has the club’s name in changing colours.

On one side of the wall fans can admire the black and white photos of players from past to present.

I also spotted a couple of signed jerseys that were framed and displayed proudly. One was of David Beckham, the other, Ruud van Nistelrooy, both who were once great united players.

Wish I had gotten a picture of the Rooney jersey too!

The private VIP room can accommodate larger groups, with karaoke facilities and its own washroom.

In that washroom I spy this framed montage picture of the four great #7′s — George Best, Eric Cantona, David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo! In the past four decades, has there ever been a united player that wore the #7 jersey and wasn’t spectacular?

The menu consists of a variety of Asian and Western dishes. There’s even nasi lemak! That’s probably because the owner is Singaporean.

We ordered crab and lobster bisque, quesadillas and a couple of pasta dishes. With the exception of the seafood bisque, the food was pretty much abysmal (a word I first learned from playing Championship Manager football).

But that’s okay. We weren’t there for the food anyway. But it definitely was a delight to use the fancy United napkins and coasters, and serviettes in red and white!

Besides the giant projector screen in the alfresco dining area, the restaurant also has multiple LCD screens. And when the game started, that’s when our (and many other fans’) nightmare began.

We soon realised that despite the many screens available, only a handful of these were hooked up to show live matches. The rest were simply replaying past matches. That’s not a big issue, although it sure would be nice if all the screens were tuned in to the game.

But here comes the real nightmare. The live feed is streamed directly from the — get this — internet! For a place that claims to be an official sports bar of Manchester United, can’t they at least subscribe to a decent cable channel?

Imagine watching a stretched and disproportionate youtube video on a large widescreen LCD. That’s exactly what it’s like. The video was so horribly pixelated that you can’t even see the jersey numbers, and the right portion was cropped off. The worst thing is that the streaming lagged horrendously, paused frequently and even stopped for MINUTES at certain points. When Ronaldo took his direct free kick, the video stopped at the precise moment where his foot touched the ball! We never got to see how that played out. You could hear all the boos in the room.

We left barely 20 minutes into the game. It was an utter disappointment and calling this place a disgrace to Manchester United wouldn’t be too harsh a word. The feeling of being in a United-themed restaurant was nice. But the experience of catching the game there completely sucked.

Manchester United Restaurant and Bar
President Palace Hotel
Sukhumvit Soi 11
Bangkok 10110
Thailand
Tel: +66 0 2651 2933
Service:
www.mufbthai.com

Has any of you been to the United bar in Singapore? I would love to hear your feedback!

We did find some funny moments in the taxi ride on our way back to our hotel. This sign was pasted prominently at the back of the two front seats. It’s so in your face you can’t even ignore it! Is it just us or does it really mean “no farting”? Lol!

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Bangkok (Day 2) – Chatuchak, Central World & Roadside Dining

Veron Ang — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 13:31:31 +0000

A trip to Bangkok would not be complete without a visit to Chatuchak Weekend Market. There are over 15,000 stalls packed closely together, rendering it almost impossible to comb every single one. Nonetheless, we were determined to spend not just one but both days here! This is the place where the locals shop as well. In other words, it’s where you can buy things at a steal!

The variety of stalls sure is dazzling. Things you would find include food, fashion, footwear, furniture, floral and fauna, and furry animals. Do you see a common theme here? Well, I spotted this interesting sign at a shop selling street-wear.

Sure, it doesn’t make one bit of sense. The dirty word seems to have been thrown in there for the sake of having it. But the grunge designs of the t-shirts were pretty cool!

We were there around 9am, when the stalls were just getting ready for business and the crowd was thinner. Some shops had yet to open, so we got to see some of the cool graffiti art on their shutters.

Yet another big name has fallen victim to imitation products. This time, it’s our favourite blue — Tiffany & Co.

There were a number of stalls selling these silver pendants. One particular seller quoted 400 baht for each. The moment I walked away, she slashed the price to 200 baht. I didn’t bite. But this is a good example of why we can be daring when haggling. A good rule of thumb is to start haggling from 30 percent.

My favourite purchases are the Pocahontas feather earrings, and the purple racer-back top. It’s a gorgeous shade of deep purple, and features a phoenix in brilliant blue at the back!

I also got these pretty rose flip-flops for just 99 baht (less than 5 Singapore dollars)! I adore them so much! And at that price it’s a real bargain!

Besides the clothing and accessories section, which is the biggest section by the way, my favourite is the pets section. It’s where you can see cute animals such as puppies, kittens and bunnies. We even saw some bunnies in little t-shirts! Too cute!

I never thought chihuahuas were adorable, until I saw these puppies. They’re so small and precious!

The brown and white one is my favourite! He’s so playful and adorable! Yup, definitely a “he” :)

One of my favourite things about Bangkok is that the coffee is really cheap. There are many such coffee joints scattered around the city, selling all kinds of coffee at low prices. This particular Fresh Coffee stall at Chatuchak even packages the drinks in nice cups!

A tall cup of Blue Mountain coffee and hot chocolate cost under 2 bucks each! We could just sit there, sip on our drinks and people-watch…

…or grab a snack from one of the many food stalls. I was trying hard to find one selling mango sticky rice, but was disappointed :(

It hardly rains in Bangkok during the December-January period, but the sun really kills. Boy, does it get sweltering hot in the afternoons! At that temperature it’s no fun when you’re walking body to body in the crowd at a snail’s pace. So we got out of Chatuchak before the heat baked us good and vowed to return the following morning.

Waffle (my favourite!) stalls like these were quite common. The difference between these and the usual waffles I’m accustomed to is that they were smaller, thicker, fluffier and had fillings! Chocolate, vanilla, fruit, you name it. They were very yummy and we had a number of these during our trip. There’s one such stall at Mo Chit skytrain station, the one at Chatuchak.

Back in our hotel, we set down our shopping bags as we jetted off to our next location: Kaiton along Petchaburi Road. That’s where you would find the best chicken rice in Bangkok.

Initially, our taxi driver had no idea where to drop us off along Petchaburi road, but the moment I mentioned khao mun kai (chicken rice in Thai), he understood immediately and drove us right to the shop entrance!

Here’s my detailed review of Kaiton chicken rice.

A few stalls down from Kaiton is where I found what I’ve been craving for — mango sticky rice! At 80 baht, it wasn’t exactly cheap. I had the feeling I was overcharged for being a tourist. Can anyone verify if this is in the standard price range for mango rice?

Ooh la la! Overcharged or not, I couldn’t really care anymore because the food was what I had wanted for a long time. It tastes sweet, which is why it falls under the desserts category on most menus. The coconut milk is drizzled over the sticky rice, making this a rather sinful dish too.

The streets of Bangkok are filled with many interesting sights and landmarks. That’s ~~Gaysorn Plaza~~ Big C Pratunam, with a very eye-catching conical roof.

How many different coloured taxis can you spot? My favourites are the rare purple ones. The pink taxis were the commonest and seemed pretty reliable. Reminder: Always insist on using the meter!

A huge elephant led by a couple of locals caught our attention. They were offering rides to passers-by, for a fee of course. I noticed one of them was holding a bag of fruits. I had once bought the fruit to feed a baby elephant. The poor little chap was starving! I suspect that these elephants plying the streets are probably undernourished, and depended on people buying fruits to feed them. This particular elephant looked tired, and reminded me of a weary old man. Sigh.

The experience of dining right along the busy traffic is one you would hardly find in Singapore. But roadside hawkers in Thailand are pretty ubiquitous. Many of them are makeshift stalls. Surprisingly, some of them even sold fresh seafood!

Shrines can be found outside every major shopping mall where devotees would pray. The two shrines at Central World are dedicated to Phra Trimurti, the god of love, on the left and Ganesh, the Hindu elephant god, on the right.

Central World is one cool-looking mall with glass facades. Many giant billboard advertisements can be seen on it.

Even more gigantic is the Christmas tree! But it’s really this smaller one that I like.

Green men huddled together to form this beer bottle tree. With that distinctive red star, make no mistake that this is a Heineken! Notice that their outstretched arms are all pointing to somewhere in the distance. It’s a clever way of letting people know of GreenSpace, a Heineken bar on the 18th storey of the Zen World building.

The Christmas decor outside Zen World was a little bizarre. The blue Christmas trees were fine, but there were all these ships and military tanks. Not very Christmasy!

We did more shopping at MBK Center, and ended the night with a budget meal at a fast-food place called Santa’s.

Who says Santa only lives in the North pole? Here at MBK, you can visit Santa anytime!

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Bangkok (Day 1) – Arrival in Bangkok

Veron Ang — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 14:55:39 +0000

Hi guys! I’m back from my 9-day trip to Bangkok! The journey is far from over though. Now’s the time to really relive the memories and start my traditional day-to-day posts about the vacation.

For a city that I’ve already visited four times, it’s amazing how there are still so many new places to explore! I had plenty of new experiences and it was a whole lot of fun through and through :)

With the riots in recent months, many people are unsettled by the thought of travelling there. This also marks the first time I’ve actually bought travel insurance. You know what they say about insurance — you’re paying for something you hope you’d never have to use. And I didn’t have to. My entire trip was pretty much peaceful throughout.

Welcome to the Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport. Let’s get started!

It was my first time at the new airport, which certainly is a far cry from the old rundown Don Muang Airport. The terminal sports a futuristic steel and glass structure, although I couldn’t help but draw parallels between it and our own Changi Airport T3. Some people rank it as the third best airport in the world!

I was also pleased to find that the taxi system was far more orderly than the one at the old airport. You get a slip of paper with the taxi license plate number and a hotline you can call to complain if the driver overcharges or refuses to go by the meter. Yay! (Still, that didn’t stop our driver from not using the meter, and we had to tell him to.)

We checked in to our hotel, the cheap and rather suckass Diamond City Hotel (low quality breakfast, mosquitoes, charges for EVERYTHING and that includes helping guests to dial the local McDelivery). But heck, it costs just 50 bucks per night so I probably shouldn’t even be expecting much in the first place.

The ten minute long walk from our hotel to the nearest skytrain station, Ratchathewi (coincidentally the same one I used during my trip in ’04), was shared with many cats and dogs. I think the roadside hawkers took good care of them. The dogs far outnumbered the cats so each time I spotted a kitty, I would squeal with delight!

These kitties seemed ready to pounce at me for waking them up from their furry slumber. I bet the one at the bottom is Daddy!

Ratchathewi is just a stop away from Siam, the central shopping district. Several malls are concentrated in that area, with 3 major shopping malls — Siam Discovery Center, Siam Center and Siam Paragon — side by side, as well as the bustling Siam Square and MBK Center on the opposite side of the road.

Siam Paragon, the newest mall here, would appeal to the upper class. If you are noting a resemblance with our very own Paragon in Orchard Road, you’re absolutely right! The designer boutiques you would find here include the likes of Chanel and Burberry.

Even the Christmas tree looks classy, formed completely out of shiny silver shards that look like upside down icicles. That was just the first of the many unique Christmas trees we would spot in Bangkok!

We stopped by Black Canyon Coffee at Siam Center for a cuppa joe. Black Canyon is the most popular café chain in Bangkok and you can find at least one of it in each mall. One mall that we went to had five Black Canyon Cafés alone!

These frappé coffee cost around 2 dollars each, less than half of what you would have to pay at Starbucks. The drinks are good too. There used to be a Black Canyon Café in Singapore, at Serene Centre, but I think it has closed down.

A huge Christmas tree made out from coca-cola cans stood outside the mall’s main entrance. It certainly had that wow factor! Here’s a closer look:

See how closely the cans are packed together? I wonder if they encountered any problem building the tree. If they hired a klutz like me to stack up those cans and paid me by the hour, they would go broke with me having to redo it many times over!

A short distance away we found another Christmas tree that looked like it had shiny disco balls. Groovy, baby! Can you tell what the tree is made of? Hang on, don’t scroll down first.

Compact discs! I bet you didn’t see that comin’! I wonder if any of them were pirated movies or software?

At that point I started to wonder if I should do a Bangkok edition of the Christmas Tree of the Day series! For a city with a largely Buddhist population, they sure pay a lot of attention to Christmas!

With our shopping done at the malls, we paid a visit to the Hard Rock Café at Siam Square. These days I try to make a stop at the local Hard Rock Café when I travel. So far I have collected t-shirts from Bangkok, Dallas and Tokyo. (I missed Bali’s narrowly!)

This black ladies tee is the newest addition to my collection. The logo is completely formed with shiny diamante studs!

We spotted yet another gorgeous Christmas tree outside Hard Rock Café. It’s majestic and pretty in pink!

Snow white and the dwarfs say hi!

Photo by hloc

Not only was the tree pink, even the Christmas lights on it were pink too!

Dinner was at a fancy Thai restaurant in Siam Square. It was a double-storey building with a wooden exterior.

Fresh coconuts are a must-have in Thailand. They are very cheap here while in Singapore they go for 10 times the price! The other drink we had was lemonade with honey.

I was determined to have Thai curry for our first meal in Thailand so we ordered two curry dishes — one with prawn, the other chicken. They were superb, while the kang kong did not taste as good as the one in Singapore.

Walking around Siam Square uncovered some interesting shops, mostly selling clothing and accessories. Unfortunately, I could no longer find the Doraemon merchandise shop that I visited in ’04. It must have closed down and I know so many of you were looking for it.

What attracted me most about this flower shop was how quaint it looked!

A little Christmas tree on the second floor waved goodbye as we left Siam Square. And that’s it for our first night in Bangkok!

Stay tuned for Day 2 tomorrow!

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It’s Time to Come Home…

Veron Ang — Sat, 18 Dec 2004 07:28:56 +0000

Alrighty, I thought since I blogged all the way from my departure for Bangkok right up to my last day in Bangkok, I might as well blog about my return trip to Singapore too.

I remember waking up early Wednesday morning feeling all sad and blue as I had to leave Bangkok in a couple hours’ time. The past one week would have seem short anywhere else. But in Bangkok, it felt as though I had been there for a month! I realised I had already fallen in love with living in Bangkok, eating from roadside stalls, commuting via public buses and skytrains.

I couldn’t even bear to leave my apartment. Although it did take me a couple of days to get used to it, not having to fear ghosts at night, it had become a cozy and very comfortable home for me for the whole week.

So one hour before checking out at the hotel, what did I do? I decided to extend my stay in Thailand. I called up the zuji office (my ticket agent) all the way in Australia to make my ticket changes but the lady said I had to call up Cathay pacific airway directly. So I called up Cathay pacific in Singapore, was put on hold for a bloody long time before someone decided to answer. And the person said they couldn’t do a thing, and I had to make my changes through zuji! What a shitload waste of time and money making those long distance calls for nothing!

I decided to just come back home to Singapore. My family was waiting for me.

I got to the airport via the airport expressway, hence no traffic congestion. Checked in at the counter, and what did I get?

A business class ticket, AGAIN! They bumped me up to business class the previous time too! Cathay pacific airway is definitely generous towards their passengers, or maybe it’s just the people at the check-in counters.

After paying my airport tax of 500 baht, I still had some Thai baht left. So even with just half an hour left to board my flight, I decided to have one last meal in Bangkok.

The service was excellent again, as it had been in all the dining places I had visited for the past seven days. That’s another thing I’m gonna miss about Thailand. It really lives up to its nickname as the Land of Smiles. People are always friendly to others, even if it’s to an alien like me from a foreign land. The service they provide in restaurants is even better. In Singapore, people are just so bloody stuck-up. To attain the same standard of service as that of the Thais would be an impossibility here, unless we employ only Thai waiters and waitresses of course.

I had seafood pasta and coconut juice before running off with my garlic bread to catch my flight.

The moment I got onto the plane, I knew it was going to be a thoroughly pleasant ride. The stewards and stewardesses were all smiley and very pleasant. The most important thing was that they actually looked sincere and happy to be serving the passengers onboard.

I finally said goodbye to Bangkok. It had been a truly memorable trip, and the past seven days there were priceless.

Almonds to munch on and coffee to keep awake.

It was marinated seafood papaya for appetiser. That one was yummy yummy.

And seabass in black bean sauce for the main course. Yummy.

Very pleasant flight with good food and good tv. But towards the last part of the flight, I just found myself tearing. I couldn’t bear to leave Bangkok at all! Waaaaaa! And the moment I touched down at Changi Airport, it was a world of difference. I truly felt like I came to hell.

I was treated like a criminal so many times, simply because I asked if I could go to the duty-free shops at the departure level. Just say no and I would be on my way out! But nooo, they had to behave like arrogant bitches. The female policewomen at terminal one were fucking old hags, all sitting around literally shaking legs, doing NOTHING at all except shaking legs and engaging in their own meaningless banter. Don’t even try to speak to them or ask any question, because they would only snap at you with their menopausal hormones at maximum power.

Granted, I had never liked nor respected any of the policemen and policewomen in Singapore. But my experience at Changi Airport made it all worse. Changi airport is supposed to be a world-class airport, and won numerous prizes for “best airport”. But its status and fame would only be an empty shell if people working within can’t even live up to its name. Shame on them.

Okay that was a gross generalisation. Not every single staff member working at Changi Airport is like that. Probably only 95%. Perhaps it’s because I had just returned from Thailand, and hence could really see the stark contrast between Thais and Singaporeans.

I decided to take the MRT back to redhill. Had so much trouble with my very heavy luggage. I was a very inefficient packer, and didn’t realise I had packed it in such a way that one side was heavier than the other, so the luggage bag would sometimes topple over when left standing. With momentum on the escalator, the luggage was at times threatening to topple down the steps and hit someone in front.

I had a physical struggle with the stupid thing and a few men were standing directly behind me witnessing the whole thing. Yet not a single one of them in their barehandedness lifted a finger to help. Singaporeans! I was totally disgusted because in Bangkok, that would never have happened. I could carry on and on and on about the ugliness of Singaporeans, but I shall stop here.

I have really come home.

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Bangkok Solo Trip (Day 6) – Grand Palace, Reclining Buddha & Baiyoke Sky Hotel

Veron Ang — Thu, 16 Dec 2004 08:33:21 +0000

The day started off with me ignoring the alarm clock and waking up late. Had planned to go to Ayutthaya for the day. But when I got to the Hua Lamphong train station, it was already after noon. And if I caught the two-hour train ride to Ayutthaya anyway, it would be about 4pm on arrival while most of the temples and ruins closed at 5pm. Not much exploring left to do.

Something really unpleasant happened after that, and I shan’t elaborate here. Let’s just say I was lucky to have a very narrow escape, but the experience haunted me for the rest of the trip.

Anyway after that I decided to take a cab to the Grand Palace, since I missed it the previous day. Some very nice and helpful Thais helped me find a cab driver when they saw that I had some trouble flagging for an available cab. Did I mention the Thais are (generally) wonderful people?

It’s a good idea to sit in the front seat when taking a cab in Bangkok. The drivers tend to be very friendly people, and even though they may not speak much English, they still try their best to answer your questions about Bangkok, and point out sights along the way. But they may also offer to take you around an area for a lump sum of money. I would reject such offers mostly, since I was intent on travelling around on my own.

The driver who drove me to Grand Palace was in particular a very funny and jovial guy. We had a lot of laughs along the way. He also said that he was already 32 years old but had no girlfriend because women in Thailand tend to look down on cab drivers. Probably true since I had also heard from another caucasian man that Thai women love money a lot. And in Bangkok, I saw ALOT of caucasian men with Thai girlfriends.

When we got to the Grand Palace, a guy who spoke to me the previous day was standing at the entrance again. He recognised me and commented that what I wore was appropriate for the Grand Palace. And with that, I entered the palace with confidence.

Notice that the structures all have pointed tops. The trees there had been trimmed to look alike, and had pointed tops too! I thought that was extremely cute of the Thai people. A monk could be seen teaching a group of school children under one of those cute trees. I liked the way they were sitting precisely in the shade of the tree’s canopy. Cute!

It cost 100 baht for the admission fee into the palace, more expensive than the normal 20 to 30 baht to enter temples. Finally entering the Grand Palace, I was totally captivated by the beauty of the place. I quickly saw why many proclaim this to be the most beautiful place in Thailand.

The structures and monuments were all shiny and gold, and very majestic looking. They don’t appear to look big in the pictures, but were actually huge… At least ten storeys high for each. Keep in mind that the pictures you see are of structures finished in the year 1782. The people didn’t have as advanced tools but were still able to come up with such masterpieces of work.

Below, the building on the right is the royal monastery of the emerald Buddha. It houses a Buddha image carved from jade actually, which was first discovered in the year 1434. A ceremony officiated by the king is held three times a year to let the emerald Buddha wear different outfits according to the season, summer, rainy season or winter. Cute! Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to take pictures.

You can see the fine artwork and intrinsic design of the monastery, built by people in the 18th century.

Golden mosaic tiles form the side of the golden chedi.

This is a model of the Grand Palace carved in stone.

Highly detailed architectural features.

These are the royal galleries. The walls are decorated with paintings made in the 18th century, and since then have been restored several times.

I sneaked a shot of this monk from behind his back.

The Grand Palace complex.

The time came too soon for me to leave, as the place closed at 3:30pm. I then made my way to Wat Po. Unless otherwise stated, I made all my journeys on foot throughout the entire trip, and it’s been quite tedious at times especially in the hot afternoon sun. But I’m actually thankful for the fact that this time of the year, it doesn’t rain at all in Bangkok. Which is why you would hardly see any clouds in my pictures, only clear blue skies.

Wat Po is famous for its Reclining Buddha. The gold-plated budhha image is seen resting on its side and measures 46 metres long and 15 metres high. The Buddha looks very happy and relaxed in my opinion.

Along the side of the Buddha was a long chain of black metal buckets. People could be seen walking along, tossing coins into each and every bucket until the very last one.

Well that’s about it. My camera ran out of battery AGAIN. But I had fulfilled my goals for the day, that’s to visit the royal palace and see the Reclining Buddha at Wat Po. So I was still a happy girl. Found some skinny cats at the temple though. They looked extremely weak and hungry.

Took a taxi back to my apartment. The driver was again, another jolly funny person. He was very adorable too in his way of speaking. I asked him about the Baiyoke Sky Hotel near my apartment which I saw a lot of, be it from my balcony, or walking along the streets. He said I could actually go up to the hotel myself to have a good view of the city. I was excited because at 88 storeys, Baiyoke Sky Hotel was the tallest building in Thailand. So I went back to my apartment, got my camera charged, and made my way to the hotel.

View of Baiyoke Sky Hotel from my balcony…

As I could see the hotel from my place, I figured I could make my way there on foot. I walked through a maze of dark alleys and walkways for a quick shortcut. That’s when I realised how safe Bangkok was. Because even when those alleys seemed deserted and no one was using them, I was very surprised to see the odd security guard here and there. So I never felt like I was in any real danger at any time.

At Baiyoke Sky Hotel, I had to take a lift up to the lobby where I paid 120 baht for a ticket to go up to the observation deck. There were two places in the hotel where I could get a real panoramic view of the city, one on the 77th storey and the other on the 84th storey.

I got to the 77th storey first, where there was a scale model of the hotel.

They had huge glass windows all around the entire floor.

I had a really good view of the Bangkok city at night. Beautiful. I had always loved city lights.

But that’s not the real deal. I went up to the 83rd level, and then took the staircase up to the highest accessible level of the building, the 84th storey. The stairway had an outer space theme to it, perhaps to signify that it was so high up as though it was in outer space.

So I finally got to the roof deck. It had a revolving platform that was moving rather fast. People could just stand in one spot to get a view of the city from every angle.

It was fantastic. The roof deck was open air and I could totally feel the night wind blowing in my face. It got really cold too but was totally worth it. I had an unobscured view of the highways, the tallest buildings around, the colourful lights, and even my own apartment building. I even recorded the whole view of the city into a movie file. It takes approximately seven minutes for the platform to revolve through one complete round. Standing at 84 storeys with the wind blowing on my body, I had the whole world at my feet. It was surreal.

After that, I went back to the 83rd floor and paid a visit to the bar there. It was called the roof top bar and music, and I wanted to see the difference between it and the new Asia bar in Singapore. For a weekday night, there weren’t that many people there.

The place was very dark and totally non-sleazy. The laser lights around gave the place a funky atmosphere. There was a deejay playing and patrons were very well-behaved. The place was definitely on a higher class than the new Asia bar or (now defunct) embargo we have in Singapore.

I got a nice cozy seat right by the window. Again, a fabulous 83rd-storey view of the city below me.

Ordered snacks and drinks, although I was careful not to get anything alcoholic since I had to go back to my apartment by myself late at night. Before the actual food came, they served complimentary popcorn and breadsticks to keep people occupied. The manager was an extremely friendly and nice guy. He would come over to chat with me, and I would notice he took extra care of me probably because I was a solo foreigner there.

There was a live band where people could do song requests. The manager handed me a pen and a slip of paper but I had no idea what to request because I thought they might not know the song(s).

Finally I had to go. And I was surrounded by the manager and his staff, in a friendly way of course. I told them it was my second time in Bangkok, how much I loved the city, how beautiful it was, and totally meant it. Not too sure whether they understood everything I said, because the manager looked blank at times. But I could also see that he liked me a lot. He gave me his card, and asked me to pay them a visit again the following night, because I said it would be my last night in Bangkok.

Okay, so the food at the roof top bar and music wasn’t fantastic, but the people certainly were. I was treated like a princess, and would most certainly return there if I had a chance to visit Bangkok again. Probably even stay at Baiyoke Sky Hotel!

I came down to earth again. Along the way back to my apartment, I popped by the 7-eleven and bought ice cream!

As well as ice cream cake from Swensen’s!

It was a way to keep myself up at night because I hoped to catch the first train to Ayutthaya at 5:50am. Wasn’t planning to sleep. I knew if I slept, I would definitely not wake up on time. It was my last day in Thailand, and my last chance to visit Ayutthaya. I couldn’t afford any mistake. I just HAD to go to Ayutthaya.

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Bangkok Solo Trip (Day 5) – Golden Mount, Democracy Monument, Giant Swing, Chinatown & Suan Lum Night Bazaar

Veron Ang — Sun, 12 Dec 2004 21:49:44 +0000

Gosh, I can’t believe I have to leave Bangkok in two days’ time. I have already gotten so used to living in my serviced apartment, walking to the BTS station to take the skytrain, exploring the city by myself, taking pictures wherever I go, talking to random strangers, etc etc etc! But today, I saw the ugly side of Bangkok.

Tuk-tuk drivers. NEVER agree when they approach you to drive you to your destination. Chances are they would drive you off to a jewellery store where you would waste your already very limited time browsing through the boring jewellery so that they could earn commission and free gasoline from the store.

How they operate is usually like this: the tuk-tuk driver spots a tourist. He then approaches the tourist asking where he wants to go. The tourist names a place called XXX. The driver would then suggest going to another place called YYY before driving him to XXX, claiming YYY is a great place. But in actual fact, it’s only because the jewellery store lies along the route to YYY. And he doesn’t mention the jewellery place until he has already driven you off. Usually, he would offer a very cheap fare of 20 baht which you would find hard to resist.

And that’s what happened to me today. The last time I came to Bangkok with my mum, the same thing happened too. Anyway, I ran into this tuk-tuk driver outside the temple, Wat traitmit (golden Buddha), and he asked where I was going. I said I was planning to go to the Grand Palace. And he suggested taking me to the Golden Mount, another temple, before going to Grand Palace. I hesitated because Grand Palace would be closed at 3:30pm and I didn’t think I had time. But he said since it was Sunday, Grand Palace would close at a later time. So I agreed because I didn’t know the area very well, and it would be good if someone drove me around. I went into Wat traitmit first. He said he would wait for me to finish taking my pictures, then take me to the Golden Mount.

Wat traitmit is famous for its golden Buddha statue. It is made from pure solid gold, weighs five tons and is more than 700 years old.

These statues looked quite creepy. There were people praying and pasting gold plasters onto the statues.

It was a pretty small temple so there wasn’t much to explore. There was also not much unique architecture. After that, the tuk-tuk driver drove me to the stupid jewellery store instead of the Golden Mount where he promised. I had my lunch there of something called kuey-tiao, which was nothing special.

Finally, he drove me to the Golden Mount. Along the way, he had the cheek to say that he would take me to another jewellery store. What a nerve! And I told him NO.

Golden mount was a very well-designed and beautiful temple.

Pictures of very dead people gave me the creeps. I was all alone there and wondered if I should even have taken these pictures. Some of the people must have died a long time ago because their pictures were missing.

Stairs that go on forever to take visitors and worshipers to the main part of the temple.

This is a small and cramped circular room where people can go in and pray.

The lady in red was shaking the divine lots where eventually, one would fall out and the monk would tell her what it meant. The monk actually beckoned to me to do the same, but I didn’t because I doubted that he could speak English.

The very narrow stairway that leads to the rooftop. It was so narrow that people would have to climb in single-file.

The beautiful golden tower that gives the Golden Mount its name. When I saw it, I knew that coming this far was worth it.

People could get a great view of the city from the rooftop. The structure in the centre is the rama VIII bridge.

There were postcards on sale at the temple too.

I spent a long time taking pictures at the temple. The golden tower was really beautiful. I managed to ditch the tuk-tuk driver too. But I was in trouble then, because I didn’t know the area and there was no skytrain or subway station nearby. My maps couldn’t do good because they were in English, whereas roadsigns and building names in Thailand were all written in Thai.

Luckily, these two nice Thai ladies who were also at the temple noticed me and offered to drive me to my next destination since it was along their way. People in Thailand are so nice. All I had to do was look lost, and help would come along.

They dropped me off at Democracy Monument. I first saw it on my first day in Bangkok, when the taxi was driving me to my apartment from the airport. It stood out as a very beautiful structure in the middle of the busy Bangkok traffic, but I had no idea what it was then. From the sidenotes on my map, it says the Democracy Monument is the emblem of change in ruling system from absolute monarchy to democracy in 1932. So that’s a bit of Thai history for ya.

Bangkok is a beautiful city. Even the flowers along the road look so pretty!

As the monument was right in the middle of the road junction, and there was no zebra crossing or traffic lights leading to it, I had to brave the busy traffic to get to it. So do appreciate the pictures!

Next, I headed towards the Giant Swing. Had some trouble locating it. But in Bangkok, they have traffic wardens like one every ten metres or something, so I had all the help I needed. Not too sure what exactly the Giant Swing was used for other than to look nice. Apparently, it was used during some ceremony in the past.

It would look much better if the pictures were taken at night. Opposite the Giant Swing, there was this huge building which I think was a police station. In front of it was a huge area where groups of people could be seen exercising or practising some stuff.

Finally, I headed for the Grand Palace. Not a single available cab passed me by, so I had no choice but to flag for a tuk-tuk. I’m pretty sure I was overcharged when he charged me 50 baht because the distance covered wasn’t that far. The Grand Palace looked really, well, grand when seen from the outside. But unfortunately when I went there at 4pm, it was already closed. Which means the stupid tuk-tuk driver from earlier had lied to me when he said it closed at later hours on Sundays. What a son of a bitch.

But it didn’t actually matter since I wasn’t dressed properly for the palace, and wouldn’t be allowed entry anyway. They have extremely strict rules for attire, such as no sleeveless clothes, nothing semi-transparent, no sandals or slippers, no shorts, no jeans, blah blah. So I would have to return there another time.

Out of nowhere, a few people whom I didn’t know requested to have their pictures taken with me on separate occasions. Whoa! Totally didn’t see that one coming. I think they were Thais or something. Extremely friendly people. I don’t think that would ever happen to me in Singapore.

Wanted to go to the Chatuchak Weekend Market again, which was in a totally different part of Bangkok. So I decided to take the riverboat and then walk to the nearest MRT station. As I was running short of time, I hired a tuk-tuk to take me to the riverboat station. The driver said it would be 50 baht. Immediately I knew he was trying to rip me off because I know it wouldn’t be that far. I got a little pissed, and he immediately said 20 baht. I agreed, and as it turned out, it was just a 200-metre drive down the same road. And for that, he had wanted to charge me 50 baht. What an asshole. I really can’t stand some of these tuk-tuk drivers. Why can’t they just make an honest living instead of trying to take advantage of tourists? That’s why today’s the first time during this trip that I had taken the tuk-tuk. Whenever possible, I would either walk, take the skytrain or ride the subway.

So to those people who would be going to Bangkok in future, NEVER ride the tuk-tuk. Maybe just that one time if it’s on your checklist of things to do in Bangkok. But that’s it. It doesn’t matter how fun or cool it looks in that pierce brosnan visa card commercial, because it’s not. It’s extremely unhealthy. During the ride, you would see the tuk-tuk driver putting on the facial mask to protect himself while leaving you to breathe in all the polluted air from the traffic. Take the cab for goodness sake. Don’t be afraid to be rude when approached. Most people try to be polite, and become victimised in the end.

The riverboat ride cost 8 baht for me. I realised it was actually a rather practical form of transport too. At first I thought it’s only for tourists, but there were many Thais using it as well. During each stop, passengers would board or alight from the boat. So at times, the boat could get really crowded. The sights along the river would be a highlight of the boatride.

I alighted at the river city station and tried to make my way to the Lumpinee MRT station. It was a bloody long way but I refused to take the tuk-tuk. Many tuk-tuk drivers called out to me along the way, but I ignored them completely. I shall seriously boycott all tuk-tuks from now. Eventually I passed by Chinatown and decided not to go to Chatuchak anymore.

This is a temple at Chinatown…

It was mostly foodstalls at Chinatown, although not all the food was authentic Chinese food.

Fried fish chunks that looked yummy, but didn’t taste that good.

Fried ice cream! I ordered a couple for myself, and that’s when my camera ran out of battery. I couldn’t understand why since I charged it to the fullest before I came out, and I didn’t even use the flash for the whole day.

Along the way, someone started talking to me and I found out that he was a fellow Singaporean working in Bangkok. He wasn’t very interesting to talk to, or rather I was in my antisocial mood. So eventually, I managed to lose him in the crowd.

Bought 20 pieces of louk-chup at Chinatown, at 1 baht each. Very cute looking pieces of miniature fruit that taste sweet. Would try to bring them back to Singapore.

After Chinatown, I had some time left so I went to the Suan Lum Night Bazaar at another area. It was a smaller, nicer-looking and more expensive version of Chatuchak. And it opens only at night. The only things I got from there were four beaded bracelets at 120 baht each. Tong was right when he told me that Suan Lum was an expensive place that only tourists would visit.

So that’s it for the day. Didn’t accomplish my goal of entering the Grand Palace, thanks to an asshole. Today I shall be heading out of Bangkok. I would be going to the province of Ayutthaya. It’s about 76 kilometres North of Bangkok. Would be taking a train there from Hua Lamphong railway station. I probably won’t be sleeping at all because I hope to catch an early train there.

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Bangkok Solo Trip (Day 4) – Chatuchak Weekend Market & Pratunam

Veron Ang — Sat, 11 Dec 2004 22:07:20 +0000

People always seem surprised when they find out my trip in Bangkok lasts seven days. They tend to think that seven days is too long. But right now, I suspect I may have to extend my trip because there is so much more to do and so little time left. I’m seriously beginning to fall in love with Bangkok.

I went to Chatuchak Weekend Market today. They have all kinds of things there, such as clothes, accessories, food, household stuff, toys, pets, you name it. There are supposedly 20,000 over stalls open on weekends, and it’s really no exaggeration. It’s impossible to visit every stall because there are just too many, and it’s almost like a maze. To avoid getting lost, I took pictures along the way to set up a “picture trail”. So that when it’s time to leave, I could just follow the pictures and backtrack.

For now I would just let the pictures do the talking.

Different brands of caps such as roxy and von dutch were available in several colours and designs.

Those were fake plastic fruits…

Cute doggie wearing an orange striped shirt!

There were many pets for sale too. Too bad I couldn’t bring one back to Singapore. The puppies were about two months old each and some of them were really tiny! Most of them had to sleep.

My favourite, kitties! They weren’t common at all at Chatuchak. I only saw one kitten-seller today as opposed to all the puppy-sellers.

At times, there were also people performing to get money.

This band, in particular, was quite hip. They wore cowboy hats and their tunes were upbeat and catchy. Many people were crowding round them.

Different kinds of food and drinks were available too. The most common ones were the food skewers and coffee stalls.

The cups of green drinks looked really nice and I was quite tempted to get one. But I didn’t know what it was…

So I got a coconut drink instead for 10 baht. Cheap!

Dinner’s two plain waffles.

By 6:30pm, the sky was dark and all the stalls were either closed or closing. I would probably have to go again later to do a little more shopping. But look what I found outside Chatuchak.

In case you didn’t see through the blurred image, those were fried insects and worms. Ya know, before I came to Bangkok, I had in mind to eat such exotic food. But after seeing it right in front of me just now, I couldn’t even fathom the thought of putting the little worm or bug into my mouth. But there were people who were buying and eating it as though it was a regular snack.

So at the end of my trip to Chatuchak, I only bought these…

Bangles! I love bangles! And bought four sets of those for 50 baht each. In Singapore, the crazy people sell it at about ten dollars for a set like that.

Colourful scrungies, 10 baht each. Again, a real steal!

Last but not least, a pair of casual lavender pants.

Found it pretty weird that the cars were in those positions near Chatuchak Weekend Market.

As it was still early for me, I decided to linger for a little while at the Pratunam area near my hotel. I found a handsome looking dog along the way. On second look, I thought it’s the same dog that was sitting on the stone table in front of the creepy bungalow I took a picture of yesterday.

Walking on, I got a little shock when I saw a baby elephant! He was totally adorable though. The guy sold me a packet of banana, I think, for 20 baht and I fed it to the baby elephant. But I had to do it slowly so that the caucasian guy who was helping me take a picture could get a good shot. But the elephant was totally impatient! He kept using his trunk to get the banana out of the plastic bag! At first I was wondering why he was so greedy, until it occurred to me that he’s probably starved or something. The owners probably don’t feed it at all, but sell bananas to tourists to feed it.

Went to Central World plaza (formerly world trade centre). From the exterior, it looked pretty big. It had an isetan department store and a cineplex. Wanted to watch ocean’s twelve there cos the ticket was only 120 baht, but changed my mind.

It’s the English Premier League night and in front of Central World plaza, there was one or a few big screens showing the match between everton and liverpool. The huge area was separated into three or four sections. Each section had several food and beer stalls and people were sitting around watching the match or the live band playing.

Every section had its own live band playing. And they were singing hip English songs such as “i will survive”. Further away along the road, many people were selling their stuff on mats. So even though the shops were already closed by that time, shoppers could still shop to their hearts’ content.

Many of the Thais seem to be very devout Buddhists. I get a lot of them asking me if I was a Buddhist too. Also, shrines for worship could be found very frequently in the city. At Central World plaza alone, there were two shrines, with a guy selling joss sticks nearby.

Across the road was gaysorn plaza, yet another famous shopping mall in Bangkok. I think I must have looked lost, because the security guard came up to me and asked if I was looking for the BTS station. Bangkok is seriously a tourist-friendly country, other than the fact that most of the locals can’t speak English. In Singapore, I doubt anyone would give two hoots if a tourist looked lost.

Outside gaysorn plaza, there was a portrait painting service. I had always wanted to get a portrait of myself done. They charged 300 baht for black and white, and 500 baht for colour. I got a coloured portrait done and boy, was it tiring to sit there for about an hour looking in the same direction. But the artist was considerate and gave me a few one-minute breaks in between. The portrait didn’t turn out very nice, and he must have shared the same sentiment too because he charged me 100 baht less at the end. And I promptly lost the portrait later on.

Decided to go have supper at the satay stall I saw yesterday. Along the way, there were many more roadside stalls selling interesting stuff, such as these very creative 3D pop-up cards.

I also bought three cute mini-books from a bookstall for 100 baht. They were really tiny, measuring only about 8cm by 6cm. There’s a book on angels, another one on Christmas traditions and the third one’s “women’s wit and wisdom”. The Christmas traditions one in particular was my favourite, because every page had pop-up pictures!

I got new clothes too! They were designed by the seller’s sister, and looked pretty unique.

They could be worn either as dresstops…

Or as tube dresses…

Very nice! I like! When I was packing for this trip, I had half the mind to pack only one or two sets of clothes for my week-long trip because I predicted I would be buying clothes here anyway. I was right! I love these Thai-designed clothes because most of them have an ethnic feel to them. In Singapore, clothes imported from Thailand are always sold at much higher prices.

Finally, I reached the satay stall and as it turned out, it was all pork, no chicken. The satay sauce wasn’t peanut gravy, but tasted a little sour. It was very nice still. And the best part was that it was all freaking cheap. 30 baht for 10 sticks, a-third the price in Singapore. The meat was less oily too. Come to think of it, the food in Thailand seemed to be mostly non-oily or have little oil. No wonder I hardly saw any overweight Thais these few days.

All right that’s all. Yet another fun and smooth-sailing day. People were again nothing but wonderful to me. And I am about to run out of money too. Later on I should be heading to Chatuchak again, and hopefully do some sight-seeing.

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