we went for a short getaway to bangkok during chinese new year weekend. i was quite nervous since this was the first trip that i planned for both of us. planning on what to do and visit, how to travel around bangkok, where to eat halal food, etc etc. memang susah woo! normally dear wifey will be in charge, but she's pretty occupied at work. my last futile effort was back in sheffield when i arranged a trip to belgium, and the whole thing have to be cancelled because of the 9/11 event that occured two days before our departure date. for this trip, i'd give myself a B- (due to some hiccups. nasib baik a pro intervened, hehe). will improve further lah for our next trip...
back to bangkok...
first of all get baht at midvalley, it's cheaper. we got RM10.1 for 100B. at lcct the rate was RM11.3!
we travelled with airasia, the price was a bit steep because of last minute booking. tersilap purchased luggage allowance for the outbound trip, patut beli for return journey je. plus the online pre-purchase meal is cheaper because it includes free tea/coffee. kalau food saje sama je kalau beli onboard.
arrived at suvarnabumi airport on friday morning and quickly used its express train to the city, stopping at makhsan station at a cost of 75B. from there we took taxi to new world hotel. cost us 130B. we booked the hotel via at agoda.com. hebat website ni. this three-star hotel set us back RM103 per night. it is located on the samsen road / khaosan road area and there was no MRT or BTS route close by. so we had to move around with taxi, or tuk tuk or go on foot. for the trip back from hotel to airport, we used hotel transfer sebab awal pagi (4.40am from hotel to catch 7.15am flight back) and beg berat with all the shoppings. cost us 550B for 45 minute drive.
the hotel area was... nice. very bangkok-like. surrounded by old buildings and shops. in daytime the road was boring, but as the sun set, the area became happening, full of mat sallehs lepak2 makan kuehteow and other thai delicacies.. tapi the shops jual barbey, so kitorang tak try lah. the main reason we chose new world was due to availabilty of halal food at its sara restaurant. the most famous being 'phad-thai' lah. so breakfast makan banyak2, then got through the day with thai desserts (pulut mangga, miangkham, fruits, coconut ice cream, etc) jer before coming back at night and belasah room service (around 150B per dish, very affordable lah).
chatuchak market was... awesome!!! over 8,000 shops selling everything on earth. it is located in north area of bangkok and between 100B to 150B taxi ride away from our hotel (depending on taxi driver punya skill and tahap penipuan mereka). went there on friday, then again on saturday because shops banyak close on weekday. the market can also be reached via MRT khampaeng park station. there's leather stuff, thai silk, kitchen stuff, jewelries, souvenirs, animals, foods, furniture, electronics, gardening, children toys, posters, art products, etc. we had a great time over there, though tak habis round semua kedai lah. letih jalan2 and shopping, took breaks with desserts and drinks at plenty stalls in the market. even foot massage is available.
bargain was the order of the day. tak bargain, kena cekik laa jawabnya. first offer must be around 30-50% of quoted price. then pandai2 laa tebal muka mintak diskaun, buat2 nak blah from kedai, or cakap kedai lain offer lagi murah. tapi kadang2 malu laa gak nak mintak diskaun ni. so ada gak laa rasa we've overpaid some items. another tip is beli banyak2, so dapat laa better deal. there was also international delivery service overthere, so boleh laa nak borong all the furniture or pinggan mangkuk dan sebagainya...
floating market was.... over-rated. simply because there were more boats with tourists on board than the locals selling daily produces. it was still a great experience and worth a visit. we just didn't think it was worth paying 150B per head to get sun burnt on the hand-rowed boats. you'd better off strolling on the banks of the canal. we paid 350B per person at the hotel's tourist info desk (i presume other hotels have one too), inclusive of round-trip by van to the jetty (which was 1.5hrs drive from the city) and 'james bond' boat fee from jetty to the floating market. the motorboat took us through the canal before arriving at the market. bila dah sampai market tu boleh laa nak jalan2 or bayar extra untuk naik sampan manual pulak. we spent two hours taking pictures and eating (makan lagi???) before getting back to the hotel.
thai food was... deliciouso! first time here i tried phad-thai and miangkham. tom yum gung rasa ok jer. then there were coconut ice cream, pauh mangga, nasi goreng, pisang bakar. sara restaurant at the new world hotel is one of the famous halal restaurant in bangkok. another one that we went was mak yah muslim restaurant, which was about 3km away from the main shopping area (siam square). it was close to hotel asia. from the main entrance, turn left and walk until a junction which has a fly-over. the shop is located accross the street (go below the fly-over). it's easier to go there by taxi. we kena katok guna tut-tut (200B from siam square? dah la tak jumpa pun restraurant tu, kena walk by foot pulak from hotel asia. hampeh). another halal food joints can also be found at the fifth floor of mcb shopping centre. other than these three restaurants, we buy desserts and fruits from the street vendors laa. for more halal restaurant in bangkok (or other cities for that matter), go to zabihah.com.
wah, this is too long of an entry. dah letih la nak tulis. other activites were window shopping at the complexes around siam square (mcb centre, siam paragorn, little siam, siam discovery as well as hard rock cafe lah.. to get our shot glass collection). we also went to siam niramit show at night (950B per person). it was expensive, but the 1.5hrs show was good and also included entry to thai traditional village which showed thais way of living. siap ada elephant ride lagi (at additional cost laa). taxi from hotel cost 100B. klu budget ciput, boleh skip laa. emmm, apa lagi? biasalah check out one of the many wats they have here in bangkok and also thai massage (balik2 tgk harga kat seremban 2 almost tripple for a same massage). night markets were nice too, but bila dah letih jalan2 siang hari, malam nak keluar pun malas. lainlah mat salleh yang suka ber par-tey...
as a closing, i just have to put up this photo as a sign of respect to the thai electrical engineers and also to remind myself not to ever apply for a job at bangkok's supply authority... scarry!
