Bangkok continue...dinner in Siam & Khaosan

 

Every single day, after a long walk visiting attraction spots, I really looked forward for a nice and delicious dinner. I didn't mind to indulge so much at night in Bangkok, as I know I will be walking a lot again the next day. A huge varieties of food can be found in the buzzing Siam area.

I had my share of super delicious Tom Yam Kung, Fried water convolvulus and sautéed mushroom in a restaurant at Siam area on the first evening I was in Bangkok. I walked a little bit after the dinner, observing the night life in the city before another indulgence at Mango Tango.

Super delicious Tom Yam Kung

Fried water convolvulus and sautéed mushroom

Life is sweet indeed!!

Modernized Sticky Mango desert at Mango Tango

 Mango Tango is new café (2 outlets in Bangkok and one in Chiang Mai) which introduce the famous Thai's sticky mango in a fresh, different and modern ways. Their café has such a modern setting, interesting concept interior which is trendy especially for young customers. They have all sorts of mango based desert which not only look appetizing but really taste like heaven :) . I had a big plate of the combo.



This one is the branch at Siam Square, always full house

I like the interior design of the café

On the 2nd day, I was in Siam area again to visit Erawan Shrine. I had early dinner at the street market along the walkway in front of the shopping malls in the area. If you are lucky you will encounter these street market among the malls, in the middle of the cities, but if not ,you can always go to the night market areas.

They had a lot of local food choices , but I decided to have fried squid eggs and the traditional version of sticky mango (again!). That was a simple but delicious dinner, and I was glad that I tried the fried squid eggs for the first time. 

sweet dried fruits

 

Fried Quail eggs and fried squid eggs. I bought my dinner here :)

It's only B40 for the smaller pack. That was more
that enough for me though.

Delicious!

Thailand seem to have the best mango araound

 

Sticky rice followed after the squid eggs

Roasted chicken

they used this to roast the chickens

 

Refreshing young coconut juice after the dinner

 

You can easily find Durian everywhere in this city

The fruits looked fresh and good. Fruits are cheap in Thailand.

After I  was done with dinner and observing Erawan Shrine,  I made my way to Chit Lom BTS station and took the skytrain to Asok. I met Kes at the connecting MRT Sukhumvit station, before both of us board the train to Hua Lamphong station. Arrived the station, we straight away looked for tuk tuk to bring us to the backpackers heaven, Khaosan. It took some bargaining to agree on the fare of the tuk tuk. It has to be done before you get on to the vehicle...agreed on the fare price first. We were lucky, on the second try we got the driver who agreed with B100. It took us 20 minutes to get to Khaosan.

There are choices of other transportations too...taxis were queuing up  along the road near the exit of MRT stations. We could see the motorbike taxi guys waiting in a group nearby too. 

Tuk tuk that brought us to Khaosan.
The ride was fast and fun.

Khaosan is a busy area which is lifely at night.
This is where a lot of budget and backpackers hotels located. 

We can see how lifely and busy this place is.
There is night market every night, and the area also has a lot of night clubs and pubs.

A delicious looking crispy pancake filled with mango and jackfruit

There are many lights decoration along the road around  Khaosan

 
We spent about an hour an so walking around observing the crowds and feeling the lifely vibes, before we grab some snacks and coconut juice at the street side. We made our way home to Ratchadaphisek by taxi. It was only B145 for 1.5 hour of journey. Metered taxi fare are considered cheap in Bangkok, you just need to be sure where is your destination.

23,000 steps... Bangkok on foot, Day 2

I left Kes's apartment at 9.30am to avoid morning rush, and the weather was already so warm by then. Kes has briefed me how to go about to reach my main destinations today, Wat Pho, Grand Palace and Erawan Shrine.

I took the MRT from Ratchadaphisek Station to Sukhumvit MRT Station, where I switched to BTS Skytrain at Asok BTS station. Both stations are connected to each other, but we need to exit MRT station and purchase BTS Skytrain ticket before entering the platform. BTS ticket can only be purchased at the vending machines, and the machines mostly only accepting coins. There are counters where we can change for coins, but we can't purchase any tickets from these counters.

Just grab one of this leaflet which available next to the ticket machines,
it has a good directory map for all attractions along Chao Phraya river.

The back portion of the leaflet showing Bangkok's Mass Transit map

I bought this extra single journey ticket (15 Baht)
 as  a souvenir for myself :). There is list of the stations
 printed on the back of the ticket for easy references. 

I had to get off at Siam Station and switched one more time to another BTS line (Silom Line) to reach my destination at Saphan Taksin station, which located very near to the Central boat pier called Sathorn. I then took a boat ride along the Chao Phraya river and stop at the pier near the attractions spot that I wanted to visit.

There are few types of boats that we can choose.
1. Chao Phraya Tourist Boat (Blue flag)
Unlimited boat ride, one day pass cost at 150 Baht (service from 9.30am to 7.30pm) that serve 8 piers, ended at Pha Arthit Pier.  This boat will only stop at any of these 8 piers if there is any request from passengers.

Do not feel pressured to choose this one day pass when you are at the Central pier, of course the staffs will try their best to promote this package to every tourist. The best is to study first which pier your attraction spots are located so you can plan your boat of choice.    

Only go for this option if you really want to stop at every pier and intended to go back to Sathorn Pier by the tourist boat too. Just show the day pass once you board the boat from any pier.

     

      

 2. Chao Phraya Express Boats
Orange flag which operates from 6am to 7pm, everyday and serve  Nonthaburi (N30) - Wat   Rajsingkorn (S3) route. We can get onto this boat from any pier in between and pay on the boat. The fare is 14 Baht per trip, doesn't matter which pier you will get off.
I took this orange flag boat as it is more economical and I did not plan to stop at every stops, so paying 150 baht for one day pass was not my option.

Green flag which operates only from Monday to Friday, and serve Pakkred (N33) - Nonthaburi (N30) - Sathorn (Centre) route. The fare is 10 / 12 / 19 / 31 Baht (Depends on distance)

Yellow flag  which operates only from Monday to Friday, and serve Pakkred (N33)- Sathorn (Centre) route. The fare is 10 / 12 / 19 / 31 Baht (Depends on distance)  

My first stop was at Tha Tien Pier (N8), from where I walked for about 5 minutes to the nearby Wat Pho. The entrance fee is B50. I spent almost 3 hours browsing around the Wat area. It is really huge, with many interesting thing to see and observed, with the reclining Buddha being the main attaraction here.

I just love to see the colorful carvings on the arches and stupas

Reclining Buddha

It was very warm afternoon and by the time I finished my browsing around at Wat Pho, I was so starving. Among many stalls outside the Wat compound, I spotted a Phad Thai Noodle stall just few steps from the Wat exit and had a delicious lunch there.

The ingredients 

Phad Thai noodle in the making

There you go...my lunch!!

I walked back to the pier and hop on into another Blue flag boat and stop at the next pier, Maharaj Pier (N9). Before I made my way to the Grand Palace, I walk around the small square nearby. Many fruits and juice stalls around, and interestingly there are so many people selling durian there.

This guy is the best durian seller here as so many tourist
gather around him to buy the durian

They even sell durian juice. I bought a bottle....it was super sweet!

I walked for about another 10 minutes to reached Grand Palace, but to my surprise there were like thousands of people around and it was so crowded from the main entrance until the ticket office located around 100 meters further in. Too many tourist visiting by that time. After 5 minutes trying to made up my mind, I finally decided to just leave and come back again the next day in the morning. It was so crowded and I would not be able to snap good photos peacefully, plus the super hot weather...so I better move to another spot.
I went back to the pier and hop on into orange flag boat and get off at Sathorn Pier. I took BTS skytrain from Saphan Taksin and this round make a stop at Chit Lom Station, which is a walking distance to the famous Erawan Shrine.



Flowers for the worshippers

This is Erawan shrine where the bombing
 took place in 2015

I took this photo from the skyline bridge. This is the road in front of the shrine.

 

Worshippers accompanied by the dancers 

 

This is at another shrine not far from Erawan

In all, I have walked 23,000 steps during the day, one of the highest count walking around the city attractions. After Erawan shrine, I took BTS to Asok Station then walked to Sukhumvit MRT station to meet Kes before we continue to another destination. I will cover that in my next chapter.... 

Bangkok bound train and MRT, Day 1

Unlike all other traveling that I have done before, my trip to Bangkok was the most unplanned one. I did not do much reading to find out where I shall go, what I must see, what not to miss out and how I should go about. I was ready to just go with the flow...as my idol traveler friend used to say to me. So, I did go with the flow. The fact that I had someone hosting me during my 3 days in Bangkok made me so comfortable with this idea of going with the flow.

I arrived at Don Muang airport in the afternoon. I didn't research enough on how to go to Bang Sue MRT station by bus, and I had to dump the idea of getting a taxi there when the lady at the airport taxi counter proudly told me the taxi would cost me 700 Baht. What??? So my best option was to get on the train.
After 10 minutes went around try to find my way, I spotted the staircase to the overhead bridge that will lead me to the train station. It's located on the left side of waiting hall, not far from the escalator going down that everyone has to take after the immigration check. It is much easier to look for the signage for Amari Don Muang Hotel as you can see below.

Bangkok...the city with so many Wat (temples)

The staircase and the bridge lead to the hotel, Bus stop and also railway station

Just before the hotel entrance one need to go out through the door on the right side.
Just follow the signage.



Once on the bridge, took the first right turn to Bangkok Bound station

The next train arrival is displayed on the digital signage, but be prepared to wait
 for more than an hour as the train always have long delay

5 Baht vs. 700 Baht for airport taxi...I don't mind the heat and the long wait.
 I wasn't rushing!

Classic...the station has no air conditioner,
so just bear the heat. It was 36 degree when I was there.



No aircond on the train too :)

Video of the train ride

 

After 45 minutes, I reached Bang Sue station where I switched to MRT line to Ratchadapishek

I would only suggest train option for those traveling light...more appropriately backpackers, solo  travelers and those who are not rushing or do not need to be at destination at any specific time. The station and train cars has no aircond, so if one has the need to travel comfortably then this might not be the right choice. I would say this is for the rough & tough who don't bother so much but willing to endure everything the real traveling experience has to offer.

At Bang Sue station, I crossed the road and enter the MRT station tunnel. It felt like moving from one era to another as the MRT station is so modern and comfortable, like those station in many metropolitan cities in the world. Travel around with MRT in Bangkok is so convenient as the transit system interlink with another transportation called BTS (monorail in Malaysia) at few prime locations. It also has skywalk connecting Petchaburi station with Airport Rail Link  at Makassan station.  MRT last terminal in the city is Hua Lamphong station, where the railway train make the final stop too.

We can buy the one way token from ticket machines (accepting coins and notes), the machine has English language screen, so purchasing the token from the machine is just so easy. But if you are not sure how to do it the first time, you can purchase it at the ticket counters.

My next destination was Ratchadaphisek, 5th stop from Bang Sue station and cost me 28 Baht.  Ratchadaphisek is the area where my host apartment is located, just short walk from the station. I arrived Ratcha (as I like to call it) just on time to meet Kes, my lovely host for the 3 days I was in this White Elephant country.

This was my meeting point with  my host, Kes.

This station is the 5th stop from Bang Sue
 

To be continued....watch out for my day 2 journey