Pretttyyyyyy!!
And huloo Suvarnabhumi Airport!
Find these squat small vehicles so cute..
Stopped by the True telco booth to buy the sim card w data. This is a 7 day option, for 299baht. Unlimited data, though after 1.5GB of data usage, the speed will slow down:
Went on ahead to the Airport Link and took the train to Makkasan station. It's connected to Petchaburi MRT station which I was going to since my hotel was nearest Silom MRT station. Here's the linkway:
And the classic Bangkok traffic
Bought the MRT card at the MRT station so that it would be more convenient. Train prices would be slightly cheaper too. 180Baht with 100baht credit.
All $$ can be refunded at the MRT control stations.
Onward to Silom MRT station! As it was still early, I went for breakfast. I had wanted to visit this pad thai stall at Sala Daeng ever since I read about it on Aroimakmak.com!! The pad thai is situated behind Silom Complex which is right beside Sala Daeng BTS, which is a stone's throw away from Silom MRT. Silom Complex is a rather big shopping centre, with quite alot of options. I entered the front of the complex, walked towards the dept store and out from the back exit/entrance. The view from there is...
Walked straight down the path (alot of foodstalls on the left and right, really 吃不完！）until I saw this blue stall with blue tentage(?)
Entered bravely and ordered 1 pad thai with shrimp.. The place was filled with the lunch crowd from the nearby offices
And Jang jang! The Pad Thai! It was a huge huge hugemongous plate of pad thai and I was stunned like veegetable when it was presented to me. Ok it doesn't look that big here but I assure you it's the biggest portion of noodle I've ever seen in Bangkok.
Zoom up! Love the thin noodle.
Those who like their fried noodles dry will like it. I liked the taste and texture of the noodles. If the wok hei was stronger i would love it more! A very satisfying plate of pad thai and I would return to give it another shot in hope for a stronger wok hei. I sneakily observed that diners went straight to the front after eating and paid less than 100baht to the lady in front. So after I could not eat any further, I went up front and was informed the huge plate of pad thai was 50 baht. *wahhh i like.
And off I went towards my hotel, Glow Trinity Silom. Yap, under the same group as Glow Pratunam, every other Singaporean's favourite hotel. There were stalls open along the streets and I noted that most of the people browsing the area were employees from nearby offices, shopping around during lunch time. I thought that was pretty cool, to have such a market to shop at during lunch.
And after walking around and round and round in and out of the streets and street stalls, I finally located the hotel...
Welcome to Glow Trinity! The staff were very majorly polite and welcoming. One of the front desk ladies went and got me a box of tissue cos she noticed the rivers of perspiration flowing freely down my face.
So big that I might could get lost in it lol. The pillows were soo comfy, I was like.. Totally stoning in the room. Stoning is a luxury one can afford when alone. Hur! Hur! Hur!
Eventually I pushed myself out of the room for tea/dinner and took the BTS to Saphan Taksin Station. Sathorn pier is right in front of the station. My plan was to get to Thewej pier and walk to Krua Apsorn at Samsen Road to eat their crab dish! My research informed me that Krua Apsorn is a classic thai resturant which has delicious food, and the royal family loves it too. I liked this post from eatingthaifood.com on Krua Apsorn.
According to Google Maps, it is a 13min walk from Thewej. But of course it would be a 25min walk for me.
There were a few options at Sathorn pier; ferry to Asiatique, ferry to some hotel, the Chao Phraya Express service etc. There is a tourist boat under Chao Phraya Express, however I personally think there is no need to take the tourist boat unless it makes monetary sense to do so.
According to the above route map obtained from the Chao Phraya Express website, the orange flag CP Express (orange line) stops at almost all the stops the tourist boat (blue line) stops at. I also took a screenshot of the pricing of the tickets off the website:
So I waited for the orange flagged CP Express. It was not crowded at the pier since it was a weekday.
And I got on the orange flagged CP Express to get to Thewej. It really looks like a bus lol!
In a short while, the 'boat conductor' came around to collect the boat fare. I hadn't checked the CP Express website for the boat fare so I did not know the amount to give. I saw people giving 20baht and getting change, so I just followed suit. I got 6baht change.
The ride was comfortable and windy, and I sat there till I overshot my 'boat stop': Thewej by one stop. -_- I had to take the orange flagged CP Express towards Sathorn to get back to Thewej. I had thought the fare was distance based, and 1 stop would definitely cost me less than 10 baht. But i was swiftly corrected by the boat conductor's angsty expression when I gave her 10baht. It was a standard boat fare of 14baht for the orange flagged CP Express.... So anyway, I shoke off my embarrassment and took a pic of the bridge:
Finallyyyyy....
Much clearer pic of the bridge from Thewej pier!
And onwards to Krua Apsorn with Google Map as my guide!
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| From Thewej pier to Krua Asporn @ Samsen Road |
Seems like there is a seafood type of market right outside the pier
It looks kind of closed though..
Walking on, I passed by a long row of flower/plant shops. It was nice and green and I enjoyed the view.
Crossed the river at the turn and had to snap a picture while on the bridge:
Stopped by a drink stall, ordered Cha Yen (Milk Tea). I am glad I learnt how to say Cha Yen since 70% of the roadside drink stalls do not recognise 'Milk Tea'. This big cup was yummy! Took the chance to ask the drink stall boss if I was walking in the right direction to Krua Apsorn. It is so well known that I just needed to say 'Krua Apsorn??' hurhurhur.
There is a girls' school in this area. It's a convent school, and I guessed it because two Sisters walked out of it. Ha ha.
And I reached! It was about 4.30pm, and quite empty. The staff were all relaxing at the side and lacked customer service. But it was quite comfortable for me since I was left to my own devices.
I had done intensive research and had decided to order the crab in yellow curry and the omelette before my flight to BKK. But.. Somehow, when I looked at the menu extract... I changed my mind and ordered the stir fried crab with yellow chilli instead of the curry one LOL. Think i was in the mood for something different.
The crab came quickly! Look at the lumps of crabbbbb.
It was good. Like a very very nice stir fry. The crab was BOOms! Sweet and very satisfying to chew on. The omelette with crab meat was sweet, super thick, soft and juicy! The rice expressed my feeling towards both dishes:
I packed the omelette, the crab and rice I couldn't finish away because I refuse to leave them uneaten. I need to visit Krua Apsorn again! Next time I will eat the yellow curry!
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| I love you. XOXO. |
I was supposed to explore the food options around Dinso, Mahanop Road but I was so full that I couldn't imagine eating again. So I decided to just take a walk towards Hua Lamphong MRT to digest my food. Along the way, I could detour slightly to check on some food places I had in my 'To Eat' list. So, following the below route, I started off on the 1 hr walk (LOL)
I thought this shelter was kind of cool!
Cute postbox
Wide roads and traffic on good behaviour
Crossing under the bridge lol
Another river view
These clothes caught my attention as I crossed the road cos they looked so bright against the dull colours of the building
Was slightly apprehensive when I walked into this quiet passageway. A motorbike that appeared behind me surprised me x_x
Surprisingly, the right turn led to an eating place and a pretty looking passageway. I continued on up the stairs..
And across the bridge..
I had detoured towards the Democracy Monument, the round blob of road on top of Krua Apsorn Dinso at the bottom half of the map and started to see flags etc lining the roads and shops
The democracy monument. The four wings of the mounment signify the four branches of the Thai Armed Forces which carried out the coup in 1932 that overthrew absolute monarchy in Thailand. The wings are 24m high to present the date 24 June when the new constituency was signed. A copy of the original constitution is held at the monument.
Honestly, I hadn't known that the monument I passed by was the Democracy monument then. Ha ha ha. I took a pic of it and then researched it later. Nonetheless, it was nice to look back at the route I took and learn something new about it.
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| Intersection along Dinso Road |
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| Unsure what this building is |
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| Thip Samai (Pad Thai Pratu Phi) |
This orange juice is VERY sweet and has chunks of sweet oranges in it. V. Good ^^! I continued down to Yaowarat Road (another detour from google map) and it had to rain -_-
Speedwalked down Yaowarat and finally reached Hua Lamphong MRT. Transported myself to Siam Paragon. I travelled to Siam Paragon to watch a movie at its cinema!!!! I saw that The Legend of Tarzan started showing on 30 Jun in BKK while I was checking for shows on the airport link.
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| The deco looks like jellyfish |
I managed to book at 8.30pm 3D show at Imax for Tarzan (hooray!) and zoomed off to buy Mango Tango dessert at Siam Square cos I love it haha.
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| Mango Tango!! |
Ordered what I ordered the last 2 times, Mango Alohaaaaaaaa
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| Mango Aloha!!! |
I slurped it down very happily. It was very humid and I was sweating buckets while demolishing it at record speed. I should have packed it and brought it into the cinema, guess I'll just have to do it another time. Ha ha ha.
Another pic of Mango Aloha cos I like it so much!
Was given the 3D glasses when I entered the cinema, it was a tad uncomfortable. The seats were comfortable though, and there weren't many people in the theatre. I think I got seats too close to the screen because some of the 3D effects were abit messy.
>>>>>>>>> Fast forward to the end where I review the movie - The Legend of Tarzan. >>>>>> This is a movie that one may not want to spend 400baht (approx $16) on. The plot was quite uninspired, and some of the lines and scenes made me cringe. Other than that, the cool tree swinging, jungle scenery, wildlife, hot bodies (including Tarzan's) and pretty ladies (Only Jane) were pretty entertaining.
It was pretty late by then, so I went off back to my hotel via BTS, got off at Chong Nongsi Station and got ready to zzzzzzz!
Bangkok Solo Trip 30 Jun - 3 Jul 2016 Day 2 - Silom Thai Cooking School/Taste Thonglor Endo Sushi
