Bangkok Day 1 (14/10/2013)

Yes! Off we went to the Land Of Smiles this am! Woke up super early to go to the airport to catch our 8.25am flight. Booked a maxi-cab to take in the 5 of us plus luggage bags. SGD67/- for trip starting before 6am. It was raining rather heavily but surprisingly, the Tiger Airways flight was not delayed. Yay!

Eventful flight and we reached Bangkok airport at 9.45am.  Worried about traveling with old folks and kids, I scrapped the idea of taking the BTS or hailing 2 separate cabs. Instead, I pre-booked an innova taxi to pick the 5 of us up from the Suvarnabhumi Airport. Trustworthy and sincere driver and he waited almost 1.5 hours for us to clear customs and buy our phone cards! Charged 700 baht.  no wonder he has quite a good recommendation on the internet :) Thumbs up!!

PS: Phone cards I strongly recommend to approach DTAC counter.  Anyway they have the longest queue too.  I find that their internet coverage is good and fast and the price is pretty reasonable.

Finally reached the hotel around 11.45am. As the rooms were not ready yet, we left our luggage a with the hotel and went out for lunch.

We stayed at Mecure Siam Bangkok and from all the reviews I've read, they all said that the BTS is just located outside of the hotel..well that's really true! :). Only thing to note, walking out of the hotel, there are 2 possible way to get to the BTS.  Step out of hotel, turn left, you climb and flight of stairs. But if you turn right, then there is an escalator.  guess which we use?!lol!

After checking out the train ride fares, we decided to go for the store value card. It's called the Rabbit Card.  No idea why Rabbit?  200 baht for one card, where 100 baht is the credited value, 50 baht as deposit and another non-refundable 50 baht as admin charge.  Well, this would be more convenient than buying single trip tickets, ESP during peak hours!

Took a one station ride to Siam station and went to Som Nam Tua for lunch. There were so many good reviews about this eating place that we felt that it's a must to try !

Signature Sign Board

 Much raved about cold milk tea ( kind of too sweet for me. As a benchmark, whenever I order Koi, my sugar preference is 25%) )

 Pork Neck Meat - worth ordering ! Soft, tender, hint of smoke, succulent, bite in with juice oozing out..

Glutinous Rice in bamboo basket (to me this is more like selling gimmick.  The rice arrives hard and only lukewarm.  Personally I think one should order only one serving to share around for sampling and the experience.  One for each diner will be excessive, unless you are a diehard fan of glue-y rice!-

 This fried fish is crispy..but kind of too dry...

 Their signature papaya salad...nice !

 Pork Bone Soup -  with chunks of tender pork.  It's not really that spicy..more sour-ish.  It depends if you are a chilli lover, and can let the waitress know to add more or less chilli

 Every table ordered this.  It is fragrant with garlic bits, good texture, but I would not drool just thinking of it.  Have tasted better roadside fried chicken :)

 Surprise ! There was no queue at all !  Probably because lunch time is over..

Total Bill at Som Tam Nua: 985 Baht.  We were charged for one extra dish that never came.  LESSON LEARNT : Even though the itemized bill is in Thai, but do a count to make sure the number of dishes tally.

After we finished lunch at Som Tam Nua, we went over to Mango Tango to try their desserts.  Awesome treat! (directions provided at the end of this post).

Outside of the shop, there is this man taking orders.  He will ask for the number of pax and in our case, since there are 5 of us, he expected minimum 3 orders for dine-in or else we will have to order take-away.

 Lol ! Kids too eager and took a spoonful before I can snap a proper picture ! Here you go, half eaten mango dessert !

 We were there on 14 October and this sign was up..

Just directly next to Mango Tango, there is this shop selling Hokkaido milk.  Must try at least once.  The milk is super smooth and fresh! Banana milk is my fav!

 After milk drinking :), we all headed back to the hotel.  Room should be ready by now?  No...when we arrive back at the hotel at 2pm, the rooms were not ready and to make us more comfortable, we were being ushered to their privilege floor @ 25th floor to rest and chill out while waiting for the room to be ready.  

Free drinks, snacks and internet while waiting ....no complains..

Finally checked into the hotel rooms at about 3plus..

After a warm and comfy bath, old folks and kids zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......dreamland !

For dinner, we went to try out the salt bake fish near Central World.  This was absolutely delicious and we even went back again on our 2nd last day !  Very easy to locate this place.  Directions at the end of the post. Now..feast your visual senses on the fish ! :))

There are 2 kinds of fishes available, Snakehead/ Tilapia.  Snakehead is cheaper, but I also find it tastier, just like cotton candy melting in your mouth, with a smoky flavor and the green chili sauce adds the finale in every bite ! Luv IT !

Salt Baked Fish (snakehead) - 160 Baht

 Grilled Sotong costs 300Baht per plate.  Only one standard serving size..

We ordered roast chicken, salt bake fish, tom yum soup, sotong and a big bottle of coke.  Costs us about close to SGD30/-.  More than enough to feed 5 of us.  

Directions :

SOM TAM NUA

Alight at Siam BTS
Exit at Gate No 4

 

Once you take the stairs down, immediately turn left.  This is only correct if you exit from Exit No 4. Once you turn left, walk about 10metres you will see Soi 5. Look out for the following sign to signal that it is Soi 5. 

See the arrow in the photo? That's right, walk down this lane and in less than 20m you will see Som Tam Nua bright orange signboard.

Initially I was afraid that we got into the wrong lane as it was kind of narrow and the shops looked old-ish.  But just carry on walking and within less than 1 min, you will see the restaurant.

MANGO TANGO

When you step out of Som Tam Nua, turn left and continue walking down the lane.  Less than 30 steps, you will come to a road with rather heavy traffic (from the pic, you would be standing at the zebra crossing on the pink shop side, getting ready to cross the road).  Look opposite the road.  You will see another famous restaurant -Bahn Khun Mae and look slight right, you will see Mango Tango.  Once you spotted the dessert shop, cross the road and...you won't miss it as the sign board is big enough.  However, there is a notice to inform customers that they are shifting to across the road, so please look it for it.

At the other end of the other end of the zebra crossing (behind man with the white shirt), that's where Bahn Khun Mae is located.

SALT BAKE FISH NEAR CENTRAL WORLD (5-6pm onwards)

BTS : Chitlom (follow exit sign to Central World)

You will see a lot of internet directions mentioning that we can enter Central World and exit from Isetan to enjoy the cool air con.  When we first went there, we went into Central World, got lost while trying to find our way to Isetan. That place is huge !

Hence, a very fool-proof way to find this stall would be once you alight at Chitlom., walk along the skywalk. When you come to Central World, you have a choice to go up the escalator to go into Central World or take the stairs (to the left of the escalator) to the ground level.  Take the stairs to the ground level.  Once you reach the last step, turn right. Central World is "Oblong" in shape, so all you need to do is walk along the "length".  When you start to walk, you should see the dept store "ZEN", continue walking...you will see Naraya..walk walk walk ...you will see Isetan right at the end of the building.  Just to be very sure, outside of Istean, there are 2 huge altar/shrines for 2 Buddha where people do go and pray. Walk in front of the altar/shrines, you will see a side road.  Cross it.  And there you are, the whiff of barbeque food and crowds and the noises should lead you there naturally. :))

PS: From the pic, if you are walking on skywalk, you can see this "Central World" sign.  The "length" of the building I am talking about is the lighted part of the building behind.  To walk from one end of the Central World to the other end, it takes about 2-3 mins at least.  Can you imagine if you are new there and trying to snake your way around in the shopping mall trying to find the exit? Can be kind of challenging...well at least to me.  So I am kiasu..don't want aircon but want "sure reach" directions. lol !!

LESSON LEARNT from trying to find my way to this stall : I preloaded the stall's photos into my mini ipad as well as names of places in Thai writing if possible.  Whenever I am lost, I just need to show the locals the pics / thai words and most of the times, they will go "ahhhhhh....there there." I also downloaded a simple Thai translator into my iphone.  Whenever I need to, I will do the translation and show the locals the Thai sentences.  Hope these little tips are useful !