Day 3: "Last day" in Bangkok.

Well, it is sort of the last day in Bangkok for us, because our flight was early next morning, which means there's really nothing much to do. To me, it is the last day, because it's the very last day we can buy things! Being experienced with bargaining from the day before, we decided to go to Pratunum market in the morning at 10am. We didn't want to waste any time! We had our breakfast in the hotel, and left early in the morning. & since we brought practically empty luggages, we had to wear the clothes that we've bought from yesterday already!

Our parents decided to go to a temple in Bangkok to pray and give donations to the poor, but we decided to just run off shopping. :P Well, I heard from my mum that they bought them sacks of rice and gave same cash donation. & one more thing, they bought them a coffin. Yes, the same thing that came into my head, "What? A coffin?" Apparently my mum told us that when the poor people dies, they have no money to have a proper burial and buy themselves a coffin. Therefore they decided to give one as a donation. I guess it is a good, but weird thought.

In the cab, on the way to Pratunum market! New clothes!

Pratunum market! Well, yeah it is just many many small stalls in between small lanes and walk ways. It isn't really a mall. It is not a mall, for the matter of fact. Haha.

We randomly walked the market, because it seems as though there were no proper and organized way of walking the streets. We entered random malls that we had no clue about. & there was this mall that practically every shop in there sells jeans, or denim material clothings. Piles and piles of clothes all lying around, going for really cheap prices! But sadly, denim isn't what we favour, so we did not get anything.

Yes, this is one pile. Can you imagine that there are many many more piles like these inside?

Many shops in Pratunum wasn't open just yet, because it was like 10am in the morning, and apparently that is too early for shopping. We saw small vendors selling food that we've never seen before. It looks like white carrot cake, but it smells like cuttlefish. I think there is cuttlefish, flour and egg inside. Smells good, but disappointingly, it taste tasteless. :(

This is the cuttlefish, flour and egg thing. Honestly, it really looks like carrot cake.

We bought their local pancakes. It has coconut in them, and it comes in the original and chocolate flavour. I personally like the original flavour, because the chocolate spoils the coconut taste.

Our parents were done with their praying at the temple, and we decided to meet up with them at Platinum Mall. It is one of the wholesale retail markets in Bangkok that most blogshops owners go and get their clothes there, or get suppliers. Yes, we've seen many with big-ass-china-looking-plastic-bags in their hands while buying massive loads of clothes.

We walked around not long and bought a few stuffs for my brother. We were suppose to eat lunch, but I guess we were all too full from all the nonsense tidbits we were snacking along the way while we shop. My parents and brother wanted to go for a massage, but I was super reluctant to, even though I love massages, especially Thai massage. But I was just simply unhappy about the amount of things we've bought, and it won't be meaningful. So I dragged daffy and dulcy to shop with me at Platinum Mall. There was like four levels that we could walk. & it is more organized, so we combed the whole area without missing a shop. :)

I have to tell you, that there are a lot of transexuals in Bangkok. & I am super afraid of them, honestly. There's this one shop that was being tended by a transexual. None of us dared to ask the price of the dress that caught our eyes. Well, I had to pluck my courage up and asked him/her/whoever.

"How much is this dress?", carrying the dress.
"350baht.", and looked at his/her/whoever's nails, after taking a look at the dress.

I didn't dare to bargain, plus he/she/whoever wasn't interested in entertaining me from his/her/whoever's body language. So we decided to give a pass on that dress and continued walking. We finally combed finished that area, and we arrived at the same shop again that has that dress. I really wanted the dress, so I went to ask again.

"How much is this dress?", carrying the same dress again.
His/Her/Whoever's eyes scanned my body starting from down to up, and said,
"300baht."
I was like thinking to my mind, "What?" Then I turned to dulcy, "Then now?" dulcy told me to go ask for 200baht, if not let's just go.
"200baht can?" I asked.
"NO."

That big "NO." with that stern face looking at me, I immediately placed the dress back down into the rack and walked away, dragging daffy and dulcy with me. It is freaking scary! Oh well, that was one heck of an incident. I will never offend a transexual ever.

Nevertheless, our legs were killing us. & we really wanted a good foot massage right now. But I insisted to daffy and dulcy that we haven't shopped enough! So we just decided to take a break, at Platinum Mall's basement to sit somewhere and grab a bite.

We decided to get crepes! :D

With the satisfaction and knowledge that we combed Platinum Mall finish, we decided to go back to Platunum market to shop again, because by then, all the shops should be open already. Again, walking through small lanes and there were a lot of people. Unfortunately, by 5pm, many of the stalls were packing up and closing already. I don't get it. It's a Sunday, and they are closing so early!

Our brother called us, notifying us that they are done with their massage, and told us to meet up with them. Well, meanwhile we walking in that direction to meet up, we did shopping too! No time wasting. :P & we ate roadside food vendors again.

We kept buying these meatball sticks. It was like 4 sticks for  like 30baht.  It was really really yummy!

This we didn't try, but the aunty is cooking quall eggs like normal eggs. Pretty cute.

We met up with my brother along the way, and he was suppose to bring us to meet up with our parents. But of course again, we are big eaters and shopaholics. :P We stopped at stalls and food vendors to buy clothes and food. Where ever, whenever. :D

These are how the stalls look like along the road!

My parents are pretty much against this, but we still did anyway. We decided to eat their local roadside food store! The last Bangkok trip that my family did together, the five of us were hungry during the night, and decided to walk out to some roadside food store to get noodles. The next morning, all of us were puking and vomiting everywhere. This is why my mum is pretty against it. Haha! But we wanted to try, it looks pretty good!

Fishball noodles stall!

Looks like "zhi3 cha4", meaning you choose your own food!

We decided to just share one ball of fishball noodles and spicy tomyam.

We didn't want to eat so much, because we were suppose to meet up with my parents at some Indian restaurant that they were at, and eat their naans that my mum said it was superb. Plus dinner was coming soon. :P I honestly think our family are huge ass eaters.

Garlic naan with mutton curry. Very good!

We all went back to the hotel to rest for a while, before having to head out for dinner with one of my dad's friend living in Bangkok. We had dinner at Japanese restaurant called Fuji. Amazingly, we still can eat so much food that the bill added up to like 4000baht, I think?

After dinner, we wanted to head down to a place called Si Lom, recommended by my dad's friend's wife. Apparently Si Lom is known for their night market. Yes, we have not got enough of shopping yet. :) The lady was very nice and wrote down in Thai words on a piece of tissue the place, so that we can show it to the taxi driver.

We got up a cab, and showed the paper to the uncle, and all of us boarded the taxi and off we went! The taxi uncle was speaking in Thai, and we couldn't really understand what he was talking about. We managed to decipher what he was saying and he meant that Si Lom is closed on Sundays! Damn it, we wasted like 50baht on that pointless cab ride. Luckily, we saw a tent that has many stores in it, and it said, "Clearance Sales". We alighted and went on shopping!

It was getting pretty late already, and everything was closing, including the roadside stores. So we decided to head back, and found our parents singing in the karaoke room that our hotel has. We grabbed some stuffs at 7-11 that was walking distance from our place before heading back to the hotel to take a rest. The "some stuffs" I meant, was food and drinks. I don't understand why we never got tired of or full from eating. :P

So end of day 3! :) Pretty exhausting!

Bangkok: Day two

Booyah! It's like my new favourite starter. Anyhow, day two is just loads of shopping and eating. That's what Bangkok is all about, at least to me it is. FYI, I'm going to post a really long one compared to, probably, the rest of them. Ops!

So we headed off to Mah Boon Krong, as known as the famous MBK. Honestly, I think it's over rated. The only reason we went there because there was air con and my dad hates the glaring sun. But usually air conditioned places clothings are generally more expensive due to rent and etc. And, if you think by setting out early to grap all the good things, you're wrong. I think Thai people are lazy, they open their shops pretty late! Around 10plus 11am! I guess that's normal business time actually, but still! I was really exciting and was looking forward to fill up my empty luggages!

Here are tips for shopping in Bangkok:

1. Bring only 1 extra set of clothings. You get more incentive to shop, because you must buy clothes to survive the day few days
2. Always put at least 1 empty luggage in another empty luggage and check in. You never know how much clothes and stuffs you're going to buy!
3. Portable fan. Bangkok is Asia, so you know the weather. It can be crazy.
4. Always ask them for the best price first. Try asking more than twice, they always tend to lie. Then from that price, bargain. :)
5. When you want to bargain, make sure you're the only customer there, they will go lower.
6. Bring a big bag so you can junk all the clothes in it to refrain from carrying so many plastic bags.

So back to topic. MBK, it is. The morning was pretty disappointing as most of the shops were just starting to open. So we got hungry and we ate..

Look Choup! They are like yellow beans made into little fruit-like shapes and even coloured!  I swear they are so yummy. Although I don't really like the taste of yellow beans, but if they are really fresh and good look choup, they taste really good. It's a must eat in Thailand. We use to buy boxes and boxes of it back to Singapore. 

Look! So cute right. Even though I can't really make up some of fruit or vegetables. Maybe they are like Thailand-made fruits or vegetables. Kidding! I sound like a total bimbo..

Waffles! Their waffles are really sticky though, so didn't quite like it. Don't try the durian stuffing one. It's like fake durian, tasted really gross. :(

We had to exchange cash for coupons to buy food from the hawker. How weird right? And the coupons were in 5s, 10s, 20s and 30s. And there were prices like 17baht for a medium size drink. I don't really understand how it work, but decided to avoid the system and bought a 25baht large size drink instead.

The really cheap abalone rice as compared to the Chinatown's one. There were cheap shark's fin soup and fish maw soup too, but it was gone really quickly before the camera was whipped out. It tasted horrible as compared to the first night's dinner. But it was like a 50-60baht soup, so what can we expect! 

Oh tom yum soup. Thailand's speciality too. Everywhere have a different taste, but all tasted very good. It's a must eat food in Thailand! :)

The really huge chicken drumstick my brother bought. He said it was really delicious because it wasn't dry, but unfortunately, it was pretty cold. :(

Another must eat in Thailand. Mango sticky rice! Omg, they are the best thing ever. The mangos are so sweet and the rice just taste so good with coconut and some random crunchy things on top.

A pretty weird, but cheaper than mango sticky rice, DURIAN STICKY RICE. First time trying it, it taste not too bad, but the durian taste wasn't that strong. 

So back to shopping again! Every shop is opened now and the place is just packed with people. 

The very first thing we bough after lunch was this 4 pretty bracelets. They were originally 200baht each, which is about SGD$8. Not very cheap. We asked the lady for the best price and she said 600baht in total. Then we tried to go for 500baht, but ended up with a final conclusion of 550baht instead. So when I was taking out a 500baht note, I was asking the rest whether they had a 50 or 100 note because I'm out of cash! Initially Desiree was saying we don't have a 50baht note, so she was intending to give a 100baht, but at the last minute she found a 50baht note! The owner thought we gave her a 100baht note because she was listening to our conversation, and returned us a 50baht note. So if you actually do the mathematics, we got 4 bracelets for only 500baht! The price we wanted. We were so thrilled and decided to RUN! Before she actually realizes. I know we are not very nice people, but well, they earn a lot from us too! :) Consequences of eavesdropping one's conversation. 

My parents were busy indulging in bird's nest, something that we can't appreciate, while we were shopping. So I guess everyone was having a good time! :) 

So we shopped till the sun is going down, and we decided to get to Siam Paragon! My boyfriend's mum said there were very good durian cakes at the basement, plus the basement is filled with food. Food, the best thing in the world. My family is a pretty big eater. 

Look at the huge cuttlefish or squid! Omg, we didn't even dare to try it. It looks pretty scary. :( 

Here is where lived the best durian cake, as said by my boyfriend's mum. But honestly, there weren't that fanstatic. It was average. I think Singapore's angie choice durian cakes are slightly better. But nevertheless, durian! :) Yums. 

We bought many little snacks back such as the dried skin pork thing and some pounded green chilli (which by the chilli eaters said it tasted like heaven) and many many random stuffs. If you love food, you must go down to the basement of Siam Paragon. :) And if you're rich enough, shop there. 

Then it is dinner time! Now my brother's girlfriend said at Grand Hyatt Hotel, there is this famous Thai cuisine there. So we decided to walk from Siam Paragon to there, because honestly, with the massive traffic jam, you wouldn't want to talk the taxi and I rather not take the trains there. Plus it wasn't that far and it was slightly early for dinner. So we walked this overhead bridge, where there is more accessories shopping! They were so cheap, you can't just not buy them. Plus you can still bargain for lesser! :) 

This is the four faced Buddha where all the tourist go there and pray and etc. Not really a Buddhist, but the amount of people there is a lot. One of Bangkok's famous tourist location. So if you haven't been the Bangkok, go learn about their culture! :)

Our dinner place! It's called Nara. Remember it's in Grand Hyatt. I'm pretty sure there are more outlets, so find them yourself! It have like many certificates like these at the entrance. Not only for 2011. I think it started way back around 2006, if I'm not wrong. But the food is simply good! So it's a must try. Pricing-wise, it isn't that bad. Pretty average for a sumptuous meal! So it's a must-try restaurant! The waiting time for the food is almost zero!

I hope the following photos do not make you drool and get a rumbling tummy! :) The photos do not do justice to the taste of it, trust me.

Appetizers. They are dried fish skin which really is very delicious that my parents bought 3 packets of it back to Singapore to eat it for dinner every night. I'm pretty sure all the 3 packets are finished by now.

Raw prawns with the sauce. I didn't really dare to eat raw food, but this prawn tasted fabulous. It's very sweet. And FYI the sauce is really spicy, so do not dip so much if you're a non-chilli eater.

A must eat food! Thai fish cakes! They taste so awesome. :) 

Thailand's most famous food! PAD THAI! The pad thai here was simply amazing that we double ordered it! You must try it, it's really very very good. The photo really do not do justice to it. 

Tom yum kung! You can never get sick of this in Thailand. :D 

Green curry chicken. Tasted okay. Heard their red curry one was their speciality after we got back to Singapore. :( 

Sweet chicken. :)

Otahs! :) They are really different from the ones in Singapore. Much much much softer, that's for sure, and the flavours of the otah really surpass the best kinds of otah in Singapore. 

So that's for dinner! They also have this speciality soft shell crab thing, which we did order, but didn't come. :( Neither of us realize till after dinner. We wanted to check if they did charge us for it, but the receipt was in Thai, so oh well. :( You must try and tell us how it taste like! I'll be so jealous of you. :(

The night was still young and we decided to do more shopping! You must find night markets by the road side, the stuffs there are extremely cheap! And we did found one nearby! Being excited and all, we continue shopping, until.. IT STARTED RAINING. But guess what?

No stopping for Yen's family! We decided to get drenched instead and continue shopping. It was pretty sad, because soon enough, all the stores started to close shop because of the rain. The water was getting into their merchandise, and we were forced to get indoors. Don't really know which mall we were in but we just waited and waited for the rain to stop. 

Staying indoors doing nothing.

and camwhore! :)

Desi's best buy of the day. Her cowboy necklace. :D She's so happy.

Decided to check the weather outside and still raining. :( Look at all the pouty faces. My mum is just too cute. :) 

Raining weather really sucks. Because it forced our shopping trip to cut short and return to the hotel really early. :( It was really a bad timing to go there with the monsoon period..