✈ Bangkok 2011

Oct 20-23, 2011

Things I learned, saw, experienced and wanted to share from Bangkok (the City of Smile) :

1. Before going to Bangkok, I did a little research about tips and travel advice and it paid off. For instance, there were so many queues for taxis of different colors and variations. Good thing we knew exactly what to look for: a Meter Taxi. At the ground level of the airport, where all the telecom booths are located, look outside and go to the taxi queue where there are counters in front with airport staffs writing on slips of paper. There a nice lady asked us where we are going and gave us a stub and a cab driver approached to assist us with our luggages. I think this ensures that they don’t overprice. We got the hot pink cabs by the way.

2. Tip # 2 get some small bills for the toll fees. When we exchanged money in SG, we were given 1000 Baht bills. We went ahead and bought a pack of chocolate at the duty free shop to change our money. The driver took the skyway (traffic free) route and asked us for toll fee twice. The toll fee was 75 baht in total. It was a good thing that we had change because the driver asked for toll payment 100 meters before the gates and we were caught by surprise – and to think we knew it’s coming. Taxi fare was 300 baht from airport to hotel with 50baht surcharge.

3. We decided to try Singtel’s Unlimited Bridge Roaming plan. It costs sgd 52 for a 4 day trip. This gave us the freedom to be online while roaming the streets of Bangkok. Because of the flooding alert that the city is facing right now, it is important to keep in touch and to have useful timely information at hand in case the situation worsen. Updates regarding the water level at certain areas are crucial at this point. Habs and I have 2 phones but we opted to activate data roaming for only one. One handy iphone functionality is that they can serve as personal hot spots as well. So I get to tweet and update fb using my phone with his roaming data plan too at no extra cost.

4. Imessage is a traveller’s friend. We could chat and send messages to our friends in sg for free as long as we are connected to the internet.

5. Our hotel turned out to be pretty good. We checked in at Holiday Inn Silom and it is in good vicinity of a grocery store, good restaurants around the block and most importantly – a BTS (Bangkok Transport System)station, Surasak. This made navigating through the city fairly easy.

6. On our first day we checked out the establishments near the hotel and picked a nice looking restaurant serving local dishes. The food was good and we did not have to pay a hefty price for it. Plus it was authentic thai which is always love.

7. Learning about the flood warnings even before flying here, we decided to practice extra caution, we changed our itenerary completely to revolve around the hotel and maybe some malls and nearby parks. We wanted to stay inside. We crossed out all the popular tourist attractions : Grand Palace, Ayuthaya (flooded), Floating Market (flooded). We were afraid that most of these sites are at the outskirts and might be prone to floods and we did not want to take any chances. We are just going to relax without the pressure of an itenerary and possibly shop a little and have the famous thai massage on the side.

8. I met my high school friend, Shirley and a couple of her friends at MBK (Mahboon Krung) – the largest shopping mall in bangkok. She’s now working here, but sadly their office was submerged by water and they had to evacuate to a hotel in the city because their village is on the verge of floods as well. They took us to the Fifth Avenue at the 5th floor of MBK for dinner where there are all kinds of food to please the hungry souls. We ordered a seafood platter and some barbeques and mango salad and dinner was absolutely delish!

9. Shirley and her friends offered to go to Grand Palace with us the next day… They do not have to report for work at the moment because they were affected by the flood. Since they had worked here for a long time already, they are familiar with the territory and to know if its safe. They said it is and these people are monitoring the situation closely since the village that they reside at is on high alert. So that puts the Grand Palace tour right back in the list for the next day.

10. To go Grand Palace, Wat Pho and Wat Arun, we took a ferry from the BTS Saphan Taksin station. These are huge ferry boats carrying passengers around the Chao Praya River. Think vaporetto Thai version. One way ticket to Than Tai costs 30 baht. When we boarded, a tour guide was speaking and explaining the areas along the river as we pass by in both English and Thai. It was a good short ride (around 30 mins total) and the view was worthwhile. At this time, the water current seemed rapid but we did not see any floods. We did see a lot of sandbags though- a sure sign that the locals are preparing for the worst.

11. We travelled by foot to the entrance of Grand Palace. On the way there, we grabbed brunch in a little restaurant shop we passed by. This little hole in the wall served delicious local food without burning a hole in your pocket. Even my cappucino tasted awesome!

12. At the Grand Palace we were warned by our friends beforehand that the guards are very strict about the visitors’s attires. No shorts, no slippers, no sleeveless top, no short skirts. We thought we had considered every loopholes but as it turned out, I was wearing leggings and the guards wouldn’t let me in. I had to turn around and ask my group to wait for me while I buy a pair of acceptable pants. It turned out that there were no stalls selling one inside the Grand Palace premise. I went all the way out of the gates and there, I saw stall after stall specializing for tourist’s needs and selling things such as skirts, malongs, scarfs and kamiso pants. I got a nice pair of white pants with beautiful embroidery for 180baht. The lady was asking for 200 but shirley told me to always bargain. Another good tip.

13. The entrance ticket to the Grand Palace cost 400 baht. It includes tickets to a few museums and attraction. We went to the royal coin museum and the royal weapons museum.

14. I love the temples! They are so magnificent, artistic and classy. The details of the structure, every little fragments that build up the tall majestic buddhist temples are breath taking. The sun was so hot but I didn’t mind at all… I could imagine the people from hundreds of years ago who designed and worked on these monuments…the highlight of the area is the Emerald Buddha where we sat down and meditated for a while. I gave thanks especially to the people of Thailand for preserving these relics and giving us a chance to witness this kind of beauty. Each temple and monuments speaks of their rich culture, tradition, artistry and religion.

15. My favorite part of this day was the Reclining Buddha at the Wat Pho. At the entrance, there was a guy who told us that the temple was closed and that we could only go for massage… Which was wierd as we see a lot of tourist wandering around inside. We ignored the man and walked tothe ticket booth which had a label that a ticket cost 25 Baht. We ignored the booth too and just went inside, there seem to be no ticket gate anyway.. True enough, we walked right into the Wat Pho temple, housing the 3rd largest buddha in a reclining position, without any problem. It was beautiful!

16. I had goosebumps looking at this Buddha. At first, I was wondering where it was because the immediate area around the temple was under construction. Then I realized that I was staring at it’s huge golden thigh. I did not expect that the Buddha is this big in reality! It covers the whole length of the temple from end to end. Near the foot is a spot slightly open for photo op.

17. At the end of the statue, you will see the Satang Coin pots – these are 108 small pots made of brass. Look for the desk where you could pay 20 baht in exchange for a can of small prayer coins. People place a coin in each pot for blessings to be bestowed upon them. The tinkling sound the dropping coins make is almost musical. This is one unforgettable experience that will leave it’s mark for me and one that should not be missed.

18. We went for lunch at The Deck in Arun Residences. The good thing about having friends who are residents of this country with you is that they know where the good restaurant are. And The Deck did not disappoint – good view, good food, excellent service.

19. On the way back, we got a feel of the Bangkok flood at it’s true form. The ferry station where we took the ride back is submerged into waste deep water. There were wooden planks set up for the ferry passengers to be able to pass. We need to pass around 3 inches of water above the ledge In order to make it to the other end. Needless to say, our shoes and socks needed to get wet with flood water. We crossed the first part of the platform and towards the middle there is a group of aunties selling big plastic wrappers (big enough to cover our shoes and socks until the ankles) with rubber bands to make it hold for 1 baht a pair. Since there were more waters ahead and my shoes are now wet and soaked, I bought a pair. The lady I got it from was so nice she even helped me to get them on properly, it was hard to maintain balance with all the water around and the possibility of falling off was scary. It was really bad… From where we stand, we can see the ground floor of their houses and it did not look good. It looks scary.

20. The ferry back cost half the price going there(15 baht)… One noticeable difference is that there was no tour guide on the way back. I wonder if that was the price diff… This time we did not buy the ticket at the ticket booth but just hopped on and paid the conductor who made rounds on board.

21. One thing I noticed at the streets of Bangkok was that there are street food everywhere: fried sausages, fish balls, fruits, big yellow corn, pickled vegies, noodles, frogs! This made me miss home. Everything looks and smell good. Habsi wants to try them all but to me, the choosy one, they do not look that appealing to actually eat (and certainly they do not look clean).

22. Tuktuks ply around everywhere. We rode one and all five of us (3 guys, 2 girls) fit together although things got squeezed and tight. Cost: 100 baht from Grand Palace exit going to Wat Pho entrance.

23. There is another kind of bigger tuktuk.. The songthaew. These are like our jeepneys only they are made of pick up trucks customized with two opposite benches. They ply fixed route for set fares. We were not able to try and ride one but saw a lot of them around the area day and night. It caught our attention because it looks like tuktuks older brothers, and our jeeps cousins.

24. Its true, the thais are always smiling even from afar. Isn’t that one of the most wonderful thing in the world to see?

25. As planned, we went to the malls in order to stay indoors and on higher grounds. The brands are all the familiar big names especially in the Siam Center and the Siam Paragon. The MBK is one of the largest malls in the city and the things that you see and could buy here are endless. The price is cheaper too compared to Singapore. But one rule i have when travelling is to not buy anything which are readily available back home – so I did not end up spending a lot.

26. There was Krispy Kreme and we eagerly bought a box of 6 for breakfast the next day. We checked out McDo (as part of a habit). One unique meal: the spinach pie. The Ronald McDonald in all branches is different, they are posed in a wat like bow. Pretty cool! We also saw that they have free wifi. I tried to register but the system wont accept my passport ID. I guess this is designed for locals and the IDs accept only certain character format.

27. Speaking of wifi, too bad our hotel does not offer free wifi – not even in the lobby! Good thing we have unlimited roaming … It certainly makes a lot of difference. Around the city, some establishments do have free wifi which in these days is always 2 thumbs up.

28. The King of Thailand (Rama IX) is the most popular figure around. Well him and buddha. Every house and buildings that I saw has a small buddhist altar outside. Similarly, there’s a lot of bill boards and backdrops everywhere with the picture of the king. After a while, he became a familiar figure that I could recognize his pictures from afar and without having to read the labels.

29. Thai food was glorious! It was so good to finally experience the real thing here. To be able to try authentic mango salad, sticky rice with mango and coconut, phad thai, stif fry seafood noodles from the very people who conceptualized them. Dishes which i had always loved turned out to be super duper good in the land of their origin.

30. I especially enjoyed experiencing different kinds of dining adventures and we were successful in this regard as well. We ate at a hole in the wall eatery near the grand palace with the best green curry rice i ever tasted. We had seafood bbq at a food hub, lunch at a riverside restaurant with a wonderful view of the closely watched nowadays Chao Praya river (the deck), had a very classy very elegant dinner at a royal thai restaurant (blue elephant) and we had lunch at MBK’s food court.

31. If there’s one thing that is a must at bangkok, it’s probably having a thai massage! Oh my goodness, I could not even begin to describe the experience: expert masseurs soothing the nerves at all the right spots with just the right pressure, soft music playing in the background and the masseurs talking to each other (i wanna bet gossiping) in that sweet thai voice! We frequently visit saunas and have massages in Manila but the authentic thai massage experience is a far cry from those ones at home. And at 800 baht for a 90 min massage ( we opt for the one at the hotel’s basement ) … It’s money well spent.

32. We went for souvenir shopping at Chatuchak market. This area is so big (and so hot!) that you could probably spend a good half day just walking aimlessly around. The goods being sold are numerous and you could find everything there. What we did not find is a place for breakfast – while habs was willing to try the stalls at the market side I was hesitant because they all look too weird for my picky eyes. So we walked a little more ahead and ended up in the JJMall. This mall is another specialty shop with hundreds of stalls selling all kinds of stuffs. Its a close version of chatuchak in a mall with a nice airconditioning and much cleaner. We walked around and looked for all sorts of things on display.. We bought some souvenirs and headed back to the BTS station to continue our shopping back in the Siam Center area.

33. We went back to MBK and bought some pasalubongs : spicy sweet tamarind, candies and elephant magnets. We strolled a little more going around Siam Center and Siam Paragon and completed our shopping lists. One thing noticeable in the malls: there’s a lot of sales going on everywhere. And I mean a lot!

34. We had lunch at the MBK food court. I had Chinese food while my more adventurous husband got some braised pork and intestines. It was difficult to understand the food attendants, I did not understand how one was supposed to pay for their food. The staffs do not speak English and no matter how i ask, they just smiled and pointed me to the entrance! It turned out that you have to exchange money for coupons at a cashier in front then hand over the coupons at the food counters.

35. Going around is not difficult in Bangkok, the road signs and bill boards mostly have English translation. The locals understand a little English but most of them seem not comfortable speaking the language. There are some notices and bill board ads though which are all in Thai. There are also numerous alert signs about the floods (We know because of the pictures in them) which I would have liked to understand. Pictures abound about flood victims, what not to do during floods, monks getting wasted, emergency procedures, donation drives all over the streets but none of them are in English. Too bad… I was quiet impressed about their disaster handling actually.. I could not help but compare and be sad – these things does not manifest in Manila on, before, during or after typhoon season. It would have been nice to learn to be prepared and help each other out as well.

36. The washrooms in malls usually come with payment. The ones in mbk cost 2 baht while the ones in JJMall was 5baht. You’ll be able to see if you need to pay if an attendant is acting guard outside with a drop box stating how much it takes to use the toilet. Make sure to always have loose coins at hand.

37. We see sand bags everywhere. People here are listening when their govt tell them to brace for incoming water. The grocery stores are almost running out of stock.. I guess deliveries are impacted. The hardest thing to find towards the end of our stay: bottled water. We had to get sparkling because we did not have any other choice.

38. Surprisingly, Coke is not the IN thing here… Pepsi is. Even in ads, we only hear about fanta and sprite (no coke!) this is I think the first place id been to where Pepsi is the ruler of the beverage battle.

All in all, this is a trip I would never forget. I learned so much from this experience … I know I’ll be coming back to Bangkok… It’s charms had captured my heart and I would certainly like to explore more of Thailand. In the meantime, I will be praying for Bangkok and it’s people, if it was scary for a tourist like me who was only in town for four days, imagine the people who work and live there. We were lucky to return to home base with all the happy memories of this trip, they on the other hand will have to continue to wait and endure the flood scare and aftermath for weeks until the water totally subsides in the affected areas. Although we left the city sunny and dry, any more rain would cause flooding. May Mother Nature be good and may God bless this city — so that people here would never run out of reasons to continue smiling.