I know I said I'd stop blogging about my Bangkok trips, but..... hahaha I haven't updated properly for a long time & I still get questions on BKK so.... here I am.
Went to BKK from 20-24th Dec, Sat to Wed. This trip was a little different (& totally unplanned) cuz I went with my entire family. At first, my parents were actually planning to go during CNY (I don't celebrate CNY so we basically stay home doing nothing for those few days) but tickets are already exorbitantly priced so I randomly searched for tickets during the Christmas period, & it was about $300+. Still ex, but much more affordable than the crazy $500+ during CNY! But by the time we got around to booking, we actually paid about $450 per person. Oh well cuz we seldom get to travel as a family & we never ever make plans in advance so.. hahaha
Travelled by Jetstar, which I feel is one of the better budget airlines available. My favourite would still be Scoot, because of the comfortable seats in their bigger planes, but recently, they've directed their BKK flights to Don Muang Airport, which I personally do not like. Suvarnabhumi is the main international airport. Also, they only have one flight from SG to BKK a day at 5PM or so, which is way too late. So I guess I won't be Scooting anytime soon.
As usual, I made arrangements to stay at Urbana Langsuan. To those thinking of trying this place out, please do note that the #1 main reason why I always stay there is cuz of convenience. I've stayed there more than 10 times in the past 2 years, & everytime I'm there I feel like I'm at home cuz I'm so familiar with the roads near the hotel, & the neighbourhood & the facilities available nearby e.g. massage parlours, convenience stores etc.
However, it was my parents' first time there & they had more than one "complaints" about the place. I regard myself as a quite fussy person esp. when it comes to hotels' cleanliness & toilets, & Urbana Langsuan is ok with me, but I guess my parents are even more particular. Haha. I'm not going to exaggerate & say that this hotel is fantastic just because my BFF is the manager of the place, plus I don't even get discounted rates when I book, but it's really more than good enough for me. However, I'm most definitely going to stay somewhere else the next time I head there, finally. Going to try out Urbana Sathorn, which is managed by the same people but slightly newer/"high-class" looking. Staying at Urbana is also more convenient for me when I want to meet my Thai friends after they knock off from work. Well, we'll see!
Day 1:
We took the 1120AM flight, & arrived there at around 1PM BKK time. Pai (my friend who's also the manager of Urbana) arranged for pick-up for us from the Suvarnabhumi Airport, & we proceeded to check-in & unpack before heading down to all six to twelve for a light lunch/tea.
Most people will shun away from eating at the hotel they're staying at but I love the food at all six to twelve! It's also a very popular cafe/bar/chill out place amongst the young, hipster crowd in BKK so expect to see the place full at night esp. on the weekends.
We ordered a few dishes to share, since by the time we went down to eat it was already 4PM or so.
We ordered the baked nachos, fried calamari, black ink pasta with scallops, curried crab meat & king prawns with rice, & wheat noodles with green curry (not in the picture). I've forgotten the exact names for each dish. All were very good, except the calamari which was limp & uncrispy & pretty bland, accompanied with a freaking weird-tasting sauce. (I've actually ordered it & hated it before but idk why I chose to order it again lolol)
The nachos were my favourite as usual, the chips don't taste like the typical nacho chip. I don't really know how to describe it... haha. Requested for the pasta to not be spicy cuz I tried the original, spicy version once & nearly died. But if you're a fan of spicy food, you should definitely order the spicy version! My parents liked the wheat noodles with green curry, the curry was very spicy & there was a generous amount of crab meat inside.
After eating, we took a cab to Amari Watergate hotel cuz my dad & bro wanted to tailor-make some shirts/suits. I always get the taxi to stop at Platinum & then cross over via the overhead bridge cuz the traffic there is always so crazy. Took almost 45 mins to get there even tho we stay a mere 5 mins away via cab on good days when there's no traffic jam. Brought them to Paul's Fashion, where most of my friends make their suits/pants/shirts etc. but somehow, my dad didn't really like the service there so we wandered into another shop instead. I forgot the shop's name but it's the first one on the right when you turn into the corner with all the tailor shops there.
They found the prices really affordable - a shirt cost about SGD$40, & I think the total bill for a suit (blazer & pants), & 4 shirts cost about SGD$400! They were quite pleased with the overall workmanship, service etc. The tailors got our stuff delivered to our hotel as well.
After that, we went back to the hotel to unpack, chill & wait for Pai to come over. He brought his PlayStation4 over to our room ..... -.- don't know what to say. BOYS. Haha. Sunny came along too & we cabbed over to the Train Market, at Srinakarin Soi 51, next to Seacon Square. The journey was so much faster compared to the previous time I went (we took 1.5 hours!?!), it was about a 20 min ride this time cuz we took the highway. I would much rather pay 50-100 baht more for the cab driver to take the highway & pay the toll rather than get stuck in the crazy jam which can stretch for hours...zzzz....
Sunny, Kel, my sister & I reached first & while waiting for the rest, we bought snacks from a roadside stall next to the entrance of Rod Fai.
Pardon my lousy-quality photos. I was too lazy to edit them & had a hard time snapping these pics as there were too many people walking past. So these are mini crepe/pancake-like snacks, filled with either quail eggs, sausage or cream. I personally liked the egg crepes the best!! The sausage one was quite repulsive cuz the sausages tasted strange, like mystery meat?? The cream ones were alright but I prefer salty food so yeap. We ordered SO MANY.... I think 30 altogether?? D:
We then wandered into Rod Fai & settled at this restaurant which served Esaan food. I don't know the name of the place, but the food was not bad. Actually, most of the places I eat at at BKK aren't bad at all. Hahaha. No pics of the food cuz we were too hungry & the place was too dark. But the total bill was about 2,900THB for 8 of us. We ordered huge prawns, tom yum goong, yum woon sen (vermicelli salad), roast chicken, pork, fish, & I really can't remember what else. So by SG standards, the meal was pretty cheap!
My parents with their 6 kids hahahha~
Anw, I have no other pics at Rod Fai becuz it's just too dark there. I've been there before so was only just following my family around, walking wherever they wanted to go. Haha. There are so many stalls & the whole place is so huge. Even tho it's my second time there, we still didn't manage to complete the place. AGAIN. But I highly doubt I'd go back there anytime soon. There are so many vintage/old items there but I was reluctant to buy cuz (1) I'm scared after my dad told me stories about buying old stuff.... go figure... lol (2) I really don't need all these items. Like power ranger statues, old McDonald toys that came with happy meals, jukeboxes etc. They'll just collect dust in my room. Haha. I prefer the previous train market when it was located near Chatuchak though.
After that, we went back to the hotel to rest for the night & Pai stayed over in our room. The guys stayed up till damn late playing FIFA & after that HTHT-ed until 4AM..... was so sleepy omgosh.
