Bangkok – Day 1

I have been giddy about going to Bangkok for months!! I’m so blessed to have friends who helped me book a place in the Langsuan area (actually they convinced me to book at Fraser rather than Hotel Ibis in Pratunam – thanks Mabs & Whit!); give tips and suggestions on where to go, what to do and most importantly – where to eat! (Thanks Nena!! Hope Joey had a blast too!! )Here’s a summary (if you can call it that) of my 5 days in Bangkok.

I guess most of you know that our flight was delayed. Great right? I mean sarcastic great – you see, we had most of the 5 days planned. My good friend Mabs set out an itinerary for us to follow – it mainly consisted of shopping (the only activity he knew we’d like) but it was ruined because of the delay. At first I didn’t think that 2 hours would matter – well, it did matter! Because since we got there 2 hours later – traffic was horrendous! I’ve been to Bangkok before, two years ago I think, but that trip was mainly visiting shopping malls. All I remember was going to a mall called Emporium, a department store near where we stayed at – Central, the Patpong night market, Suan Lum night bazaar and of course – the ever famous Chatuchak weekend market (which I will not go to again – if given a chance, once is enough!)

I didn’t know that there was a new airport in Bangkok – it’s called Suvarnabhumi. It was really nice – I mean really really nice. Kind of reminded me of the Hong Kong airport. I think new airports looked quite similiar – but hey – it looked very posh! I don’t know what gate we got off from but man – was it a loooooong walk!! What irked me more was the loooooooooong queues for passport control! My gosh! Would you believe that it took us 45 minutes to get out of passport control? There were that many people falling in line. What’s worse – the airport officials did not even open counters to accommodate the long lines!! Ai-ya! I thought that it was only in the Philippines that had long lines (because of the limited number of counters) but alas – Bangkok also had long lines!

Our baggages were already waiting for us when we got out – so that was fast I guess. Mabs instructed us to get the AOT taxi/limousine service to take us to the serviced apartment. Taking a taxi would mean that our group (of 4) would have to split up – that’s a no no – since the place we’re staying at is quite foreign from us – and it’s not as if we know Bangkok like the back of our hand. Right before going through the customs – we arranged and paid for the AOT Isuzu for BHT850.00 not bad we thought. We were actually offered a bigger car that costs BHT1,100.00 – Nah – too expensive. As we passed through customs – there were AOT people who helped us and showed us where to wait. Unfortunately – the car we hired will be late – and you may guess the reason – traffic. Great! Just great! I think we were told to wait for about 10 minutes – but for me I think it took more like 20 minutes. Time was running out! And on the way to the serviced apartment – wooooooosh… horrendous traffic!! Argh.

What earned my first smile was when we entered the lobby of our serviced apartment, Fraser Place, Langsuan. According to my friend Mabs – a lot of expats live here and the whole area is actually filled with expats. It’s a residentail area of sorts, there were a lot of condominiums and at the back of the place was a townhouse. The lobby was spectacular – for my standards that is and clean! (I just had to say that), and very modern. It was better compared to the hotel I stayed at two years ago. Not that I’m saying that Swiss Lodge was bad – it was a small business hotel, but this one – Fraser Place Langsuan – was far greater in terms of ambiance! We were checked in fast, we were all excited to see the room given us. I was honestly quite nervous (because I was the one who arranged it for everyone) – alas when my Panget opened the door – shrieks and awes were heard. Verdict? We loved our room! If Iwe could just stay in the room the whole time – we would! Hahaha… (I can get tamad even on vacations!) But no, we had to make most of our first trip to Bangkok together.

First things first. After we got settled in – we headed to Central Chitlom to stock up in groceries. Water, chips and other whatever things we needed. Since I am a big big fan of supermarkets – I loved it! There were so many things inside!! I wished to stay longer than we did, but my Panget insisted that since we lived so near – I had a lot of time to do that. Okay! Hahaha..

For our first dinner – we wanted to go to this Pad Thai restaurant recommended by the New York Times called Thip Samai. But unfortunately – the location was quite far and traffic was horrendous (that time) We then settled for a restaurant in the Suan Lum Night Market compound. We picked – Me Hang restaurant firstly because it was the only restaurant that we saw when we were dropped off secondly because we were sooooooo hungry! Me Hang it is!! We ordered Soft Shell Crab in Garlic, Tom Yum Goong with Shrimp, Phad Thai, Spring Rolls, Minced Meat with Basil and Garlic. Everything tasted great, I mean everything! The drinks that we had were Iced Coffee for my Panget and Thai Iced Tea for me and my girls. I was honestly afraid to sample the dish because I’m not used to very spicy dishes. But the verdict? The dishes were all great! Despite the spicy-ness, it was all good!! My Panget was sweating like crazy – meaning- the food was really hot! But what proved to me that the the dishes were spicy like hell? My friend KY had tears coming out of her eyes! I felt for her… but it was a good experience, right KY?

(Clockwise) Minced Meat with Basil and Garlic,
Prawn Pancake, Pad Thai, Soft Shell Crab

After dinner we headed to Suan Lum which was right beside the restaurant. We walked till about 12:30am. We had to head home since we had a tour booked at 7:00am the next day..

Day 2 will consist of a tour of Ayutthaya, river cruise back to Bangkok, early drinks at Sirocco, a delish dinner at Somboon and the best way to end the day – a dose of the famous local Thai massage.

I do ask for your patience, as I am still waiting for pictures (taken by KY’s SLR).