It has been awhile since I did a girls getaway. Yeah, Jess & I are heading to Bangkok today. I know I shouldn't have plastered the first picture as a food picture but this is the THEME of our short trip. Eating & Shopping!
Air Asia kicked start our palette with a red curry rice but it's really meh with a portion for ants.
Although Thailand is our neighbor but I had only been to Thailand when I was in my early twenties. I remembered that trip with my dad, mom & bros...wait did my bros came? We took an overnight train! The journey took eternity (I think it was 18 hours?)
This afternoon, we arrived in Don Muang airport. We collected our Happy Tourist SIM card purchased through Klook. Can't miss this counter as it's just right in front of us when exiting arrival area. Yes, felt so "secure" after we got connected. SIM card is affordable and I've never experience a bad line in Bangkok compared to my home connection.
It was a small airport and we made our way to Door 6 to catch either the A1 or A2 bus the nearest connecting BTS Mo Chit station. Cost: 30 Baht.
Behold the sardines in the bus!
What impressed me was the bus conductor who can squeeze herself to collect the ticket money. There was literally no walking space or even room for me to put my legs.
We stopped at Mo Chit station and the high stairs to the BTS. After climbing up the stairs with our luggage, we saw a tiny lift a distance away. Oh well!
From Mo Chit station, we headed straight to the city center to collect our Rabbit card. Yes, with our luggage as we did not want to lose precious time and we are meeting my bro at 7:30PM at Ratchada night market. Also, please don't be dumb-dumb again. Rabbit card can be purchased at the BTS station. It's necessary to purchase in Klook & collect it at Klook counter unless you are going to the same place after the card collection. Anyhow, we went to Siam Center for the card collection.
RM40 for 200 Baht stored value
Beautiful cafe at the mall
Kpop music was blasting from this shop and there was a long queue. Back home, it was the boba craze and we were so excited for this new drink which has yet to come to our shore. Few days later (yes I was lagging), I realized how expensive this drink was compared to other more popular boba brands. Fire Tiger is Thai homegrown brand and mainly targeting tourists. Taste wise, it was good. It has a mix of brown sugar boba and smaller jelly bites. Perhaps the ecstatic feeling of us holidaying in Bangkok made it taste so good.
We took the train to check in our hotel. Two days before our trip, I found out that each train line use a different card. So getting the Rabbit card alone is not enough to connect you to most popular destinations.
We got the black tokens and reached Ratchaprarop station which is on the airport rail link. On our way back, we decided to just buy another card (Green card below). Thanks to Google satellite, I was able to recognize the pathways to our KC hotel. It was just around the corner of the train station. We hurried to the hotel as it started to drizzle.
KC Hotel
The location is perfect with clean room. The bell boy can help to carry your luggage up the stairs since the lift only starts from level 2. Bathroom ceiling was really low. I am not tall and I kept hitting my hands on the ceiling. Taller person will need to bend to use the toilet. No dental kit provided so get your own. Some noises in the morning with a car park opposite of the hotel. Roaring of tour buses were heard every morning but no big deal. Probably to choose room on the opposite side the next time.
After refreshing up a little, we headed out again to meet my bro at Esplanade Mall before entering Ratchada night market. Salivating thinking (again) about the giant seafood tom yum that Mark Weins recommended. Bro had just moved to Bangkok and it was his first time there too.
Ratchada Train Night Market
Location: Take MRT to Thai Cultural Center. Blue line which requires you to buy yet another train card or just get a single pass. Market is at the back of the Esplanade Mall. If in doubt of direction, just follow the crowd!
Cute mural at the train station
All of us were really hungry as we braved the crowd of tourists - mostly from China. This was just the entrance of the market.
Let the feast begin!
Bro was disappointed the mango lady in the picture was missing tonight
We were searching for the stall that Mark Weins went in this video. There were so many stalls selling similar dish. We were starving and just settled on this stall where the display looked appealing.
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Reality
Greedy faces
Unlike what we saw in Mark Wein's video, we thought the seafood will be cooked inside the Tom Yum soup. However, they came separately and the soup portion was small. We were given plastic gloves and flimsy plastic spoons to drink the soup. Crabs were pretty meatless. We weren't allowed to buy drinks from the stall next door and can only get drinks from this stall itself whom took the drinks from another stall with a hiked up price tag. We were excited but overall it was below our expectation.
Why is this stall so popular?
As we ventured through the night market, a familiar sight came up. This was the stall that Mark Weins went! I recognized the aunty from the video who prepared the food. Ladies & gents, this stall is located almost towards the end of the market. Too bad, some other time then.
On the other side of the night market are the bars. Live music and lively crowd. We only went there to use the toilet :)
Thanks Bro for bringing us around!
💜End of day 1💜
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