I went on a 4-day trip to Bangkok last week and though it was my 4th time in Bangkok, I had a lot of firsts – first time to travel overseas with high school friends, first time to use a duffel bag instead of a luggage for an out of the country trip and first time to ride the skytrain.
Sorry though, I have very few photos of the trip.
Sorry though, I have very few photos of the trip.
Anyway, we stayed in a 3-bedroom unit at the Oakwood Residences in the Thonglor area. The place, facilities and service were superb.
We really didn’t really have any itinerary except to eat and shop so the moment we arrived, we ate Tom Yum Soup and Pad Thai noodles. Yum-yum!
We actually asked Pinoys who live there which restaurants serve authentic Thai food and they told us that authentic Thai is too spicy for our taste buds. The Thai food in malls is good enough, they said. And yes, it’s really good that we had Tom Yum and Pad Thai almost every meal. Haha…
We also took advantage of the abundance of fresh fruits –we enjoyed fresh fruit shakes and even fresh bottled juice sold in streets – price ranges from 35 baht to 70 baht (Php50-Php100). Their bottled juice has a slight salty taste - a bit weird but I like it. :)
We also bought fresh fruits like lansones (for me, Thailand has the sweetest lansones in the world!), tamarind, balimbing, mansanitas (not sure if this is a Pampanggo term though). Haha… And also macopa - their macopas are dark pink and they taste so sweet!
Our favorite? Green mangoes! Actually, more than the mango, it’s the bagoong (fish paste) that makes us crave for more.
One night, we also had wine & cheese – artfully prepared by some of my friends. Each of us had a role – some prepared the food during the times we decided to stay in, some were in charge of taking photos and as for my role? I was the navigator! I had to read the map and determine how to get to places. Haha… This is almost always my role when traveling.
To get around Bangkok, you can either ride the Tuktuk (Thailand’s version of the tricycle), cab or skytrain. If you’re traveling alone or as a couple, the best way is to ride the skytrain. If you want to save time too even if you’re a big group, skytrain is the best option because traffic in Bangkok is as bad as in Manila. Fare per head is from 20-40 baht depending on the zone of your destination. There aren’t step-by-step instructions on how to buy a ticket in the station but we were lucky we met a Pinay English teacher who taught us how to do it.
Here’s how to ride the Bangkok skytrain:
1. Once you reach the station, check the map (near the ticket vending machine) on what zone # is your destination.
2. Check the fare cost of that zone.
3. In the ticket vending machine, press the zone# then drop the corresponding coins in the slot and your ticket will be issued. (If you don’t have coins, you can approach the counter near the turnstile so you can have bills changed into coins.)
For convenience and if you’re traveling in a big group, you can take the cab (I don’t recommend tuktuks because of the pollution). The only problem with cab drivers is they can be difficult. Once they know you’re a tourist, they won’t give you a metered option. They’ll give you a contract price jacked up more than 5x the real cost if it were metered. Really crazy. For instance, their standard quote to tourists is 500 baht. Once, when we were able to get a metered taxi from a hotel, the same route costed only 80 baht. So when you’re getting a cab from a mall, try to ask the information center where the metered taxi stand is and never talk to those who try to negotiate. A lot would approach and invite you to go to gem factories, stores or Thai restaurant on the way to your destination – decline if you don’t want to waste time. I learned this from a Thai driver from my past trips. Apparently, when they bring tourists to these places, they get gas vouchers as incentives even if tourists don’t buy anything and if tourists do buy from the stores, the drivers get more gas vouchers.
For shopping, we went to Chatuchak or the weekend market – it’s like Tiendesitas – maybe 20 times bigger! Really huge. There are lots of unique crafts and goods – from clothes, fashion accessories, home accessories, pet stuff, food ….
We also went to MBK (best place to buy Wacoal) and the Platinum Fashion Mall – best place to buy dresses, tops and accessories.
Here are our shopping bags from the tiangges. Haha...
Here are our shopping bags from the tiangges. Haha...
On Sunday, we heard mass at the Holy Redeemer Church (123/19 Ruam Rudi Lane 5, Witthayu Rd., Lumpinee, Pathumwan, Bangkok). English masses are at 7am, 930am and 11am. There were song booklets which reminded us of our song booklets in high school.
At the duty free in Bangkok airport, I saw packs of dried papaya and dried guava. I bought some packs and I loved the dried guava! Addicting! I should have bought more!
One of my friends also bought sticky rice with mango at the airport. It was so good that we spent all our tax refund buying more to eat on the plane. Haha…
As for my duffel bag, it was fully-packed and only weighed a little more than 10 kilos that’s why my friends were super happy to use my unused weight allowance. :)
