Two Nights in Bangkok

If there is just one word to describe my recent holiday to Bangkok with Joshua and six other friends, that word would be "whirlwind".

Three days/two nights in Bangkok is never enough if one intends to comb through the shopping malls, feast on the variety of good food in the city and end every night with drinks and party, party, party.

Unfortunately, that was the length of time we spent in Bangkok.

Because of the lack of time, our schedule in Bangkok went like the whirlwind. We hardly got to rest our feet at one of the many pretty little cafes or ice-cream parlours in the shopping malls in between frenzied shopping. There was just no time to rest.

We arrived at our hotel - the new VIE Hotel Bangkok - past 2pm Bangkok time, checked-in , dumped our bags and rushed out to MBK for lunch and our first round of shopping.

But before we rushed out to MBK, we found a little time to marvel at the new VIE Hotel Bangkok. It is perfect for young travellers who enjoy visual pleasures... in the form of interior decor, excuse me.



Not only was the lobby area chic, the room was brilliant too.



Hokay, enough of the hotel.

Lunch was had at Fuji Jap restaurant, a favourite of mine and Josh. There, one could feast on good quality sashimi and bentos for half of what one would normally pay in Singapore. The bunch have never been to Fuji and they all ended up pretty pleased with our recommendation. :)



MBK is not my cup of tea when it comes to shopping destinations, but I tagged along because everyone else wanted to raid the place. I discovered that it has changed quite a bit and in a good way since I last visited in 2005.

The place turned out to be a T-shirt heaven for boys. Josh bought nine cool printed Ts for Bht1,000 in all, which means S$4.50 a piece. Whoopla! And mind you, they are of pretty decent quality.

Me? I bought just a printed T, Barbie PJ set and a pair of clip on rabbit ears with pink leopard outer-lining for Bht100. I have no idea when I'll actually use them.

If you think having lunch at almost 4pm means our bio-clock is all messed up for dinner, you are wrong. All that walking at MBK sapped our energy and we were all hungry by 7pm. So we called it quits at MBK, headed back to our lovely hotel for a shower, and converged again for dinner.

We had dinner at Chinatown, where it is sharksfins soup and birds nest galore.



Frankly, all those "save the sharks" campaign is wasted on me. Don't tell me that the chances of getting attacked by a shark is much lower than getting knocked over by a car while crossing the road. I don't care. Being attacked by a shark is far more traumatic than seeing a car hurtling towards me.

And for all those shark-attack victims, I'm helping you take revenge! :)



Here, at Charoenthai Sea Food restaurant, 600gms of sharksfins goes for Bht600 or S$26 - way cheaper than at Thai Village in Singapore. But of course, the latter makes tastier claypot sharksfins soup. Still, for this price, I can't complain much.

For desserts, we adjorned two or three shops away for birds nest soup. Yums!



My birds nest soup with longan cost only Bht300 (S$13), and it came with a generous serving of birds nest. It reminded me the ones mummy made for me when I used to stay with her.



By 10pm, we were all bloated with a mixture of sharksfins soup and birds nest in our tummy. If you think we will now head back and dive into bed for a good rest, you are wrong. The gang returned to my room for a vodka party!

I mean, c'mon, why waste the magnificently spacious and comfortable living room in my suite? Might as well use it to party, party, party!



Alas, we were all truly exhuasted from the morning flight and non-stop (brisk) walking through MBK, and were all yawning away by 1am. So that was that, and we called it a day.

We gathered again the next morning for breakfast at 9.30am. I would have loved to wake up later during a holiday, but there was just no time to laze around. *sigh*



After breakfast we walked over to Siam Centre for a quick look-see, and then split up to make full use of our time - the girls to Platinum mall and the boys to RCA Centre for go-kart racing.

Platinum mall is paradise for cash-strapped shopaholics. You could get your hands on fitted Ts for as low as Bht120, printed tops for as low as Bht150, cotton dresses for as low as Bht180, chic cloth bags with leather under for Bht250 or faux leather sling bags a la stewardess handbags that are all the rage now for just Bht280. Converse ripoffs went for Bht200.

And it gets even cheaper if you buy more than one piece from each shop. Great if you are the sort who likes to wear the same design in all available colours.

The downside - most shops do not stock plus-size clothes. So if you are plus size, you would have better luck appeasing yourself with the endless variety of accessories, shoes and bags. So since yours truly is not exactly bone-skinny and do not fancy flowery prints for clothes, I bought little at Platinum.

After shopping at Platinum we met with our men for a massage at Health Land. How appropriate since we have all walked our feet to stumps by the second day. A two-hour Thai massage at Health Land cost us Bht450 each. And it came with free comedy because the boys kept howling during the massage, which tickled the massage aunties immensely.

After the massage, Edwin brought us to a renowned Thai restaurant near Novotel on Siam Square for dinner. When I got there, it dawned on me that my MD had once brought me there!

Ban Khun Mae is the name of the restaurant and it serves pretty good Tom Kha Gai, steamed snapper with lime and mango sticky rice. :)



The last day in Bangkok came all too fast and I felt like I have not had much reapings from the budget shopping centres. So I went to CentralWorld - my kind of mall! - in the morning to try my luck before I went to the airport. Within an hour, I blew Bht6,000 on clothes, accessories and lingerie!

It never fails to amuse me how branded lingierie in Bangkok is so cheap! I bought a Morgan bra and G-string set for Bht1,100, which is only S$47.80. This price would only buy me a Morgan G-string in Singapore!

I love Bangkok to death. If only I had more time there.

Time to say good bye came too fast, too soon, and we were all sore to leave. Josh's expression on the flight home pretty much summed up everyone's feelings -