Well if you didn’t know, I was away to my first ever trip with my friends for a 3D2N Bangkok trip from the 1st – 3rd of March 2013! I remember being really excited that day – after all, it was also going to be my sourcing trip and I was going to fulfill one of my New Year 2013 resolutions!

Now here’s what happened in Day 1 of my BKK Trip
PHOTO INTENSIVE POST

3D2N Bangkok Trip in 2013

Here I am queuing at the airport to check in. CRAZYYYY long queue!

Here we are on the plane – me, the bf and Crystal (while her mom was seated in front of us). Got a little bored so we started selca-ing during the 2 hour or so flight!(:

We flew via AirAsia btw as we booked a AirAsia flight & Hotel Accommodation via AirAsiaGo(: It was my first time taking a budget airline from Singapore to anywhere and I have to say that the check in procedure is horrible and slow (as pictured in the 1st photo)! It made us consider not to book AirAsia in the future.

Yeah, if you were wondering, they are 3 seats per rows, and this reminds me of another sucky thing about Asia Budget Airlines is that you can’t change your assigned seats unless you pay. It’s very different from the budget airline (Southwest Airlines) I took in the States, but well!

And we were off! BYE Singapore for now!

Within approximately 2 hours or so, we landed in Suvarnabhumi Airport (the older airport) and made our way to the cab area. Before the trip, we did some research about taking the cabs / taxis in Thailand. So just remember that you should always take or request for a metered cab (if possible).

At the airport, there isn’t an issue because all the cabs HAVE to go by meter. So you just queue up, tell the guy where you’re going and then he will inform the cab driver. Remember to bring the address in case it’s not a place they recognize! Lol, I forgot to write the address, but luckily my hotel at Pratunam is pretty major so it wasn’t much of an issue.

Do note that you have pay a couple of tolls (payable by you) on the way to Pratunam

Two different toll tickets for 1 trip.

Ah and we brought our own luggage bags there. They were HUGE! Also, I noticed that cabs in Thailand tend to have a gas cylinder(?) at the car boot, so there really isn’t much space for a 2nd large bag. Hence, what happened to our bag is this:

Yeah, so while our luggage bag had the LUXURY of the entire car seat, the FOUR of us were squashed at the back like sardines for the 30-40 minute or so ride. Luckily traffic wasn’t as bad as I expected so it was all good. Can’t remember how much we paid, but it was via meter and shared amongst four of us. Cheap if I recall.

We reached our hotel – Grand Diamond Suites and had a smooth check in without issues.

Well, the first thing we did after checking out our hotel room really quickly – was to have a LATE lunch! We didn’t get to eat anything since our slice of toast each in the morning. And by the time we had reached our hotel, it was about 2pm?

Being super lazy, we just went to the nearest food court to eat which was located at Grand Diamond Suites Hotel itself. And yes, you also need to get the card and top it up. The stall owners do not accept any form of cash(:

Here’s what we had (no prices unfortunately, but know that it’s cheap!)

1. Crystal & I had Phad Thai – VERY GOOD. It’s DELICIOUS and the person is SUPER generous with the prawns! Love love love! It was my first time eating Phad Thai btw ~_~

2. Bf had the fried rice – very different from our Singapore fried rice. It’s wetter? But it’s not bad!(:

3. Crystal’s mom had two dishes – 1 which failed so bad that she had to order these noodles as well, but she didn’t really enjoy it. Wouldn’t recommend.

4. Drinks – Crystal had bottled mineral water, also called Crystal. I had orange while the bf had green tea. But he hated it, because there was wheat added into it? He said he would never order it again!

Overall if I remember right, we paid only S$12 for everything!

After the late lunch, we went our separate ways. Crystal and her mom went to the famous temple to pray while the bf and I decided to head to Platinum Mall for some light shopping/scouting and getting our souvenirs before our major full day shopping trip the next day.

Unfortunately, this is the only photo I took at Platinum Mall – the famous signboard depicting the levels and zones.

Oh and this too, lol

Suffice to say, Platinum is a CRAZY shopping paradise filled with levels and levels of wonderful goodies! The souvenir section is at the food court level, but there aren’t really alot of stores to browse around. Hence, we just grabbed some random souvenirs before heading down to do some light shopping.

OR SO I THOUGHT -.-

Well, we shopped for about 2 or 3 hours before heading back to the hotel to meet up with Crystal and her mom for dinner. And here’s some shots of the loot!

Apparels

After that, we took a cab down to MBK Shopping Centre. This time, it was unmetered, as the cab driver refused to go by meter. Luckily we were able to nego till a respectable rate so it was alright.Well, no matter it was very cheap for 4 of us!

We headed to Thailand MK Suki Restaurant – commonly known as MK Restaurant (one of Thailand’s largest and most popular food chains) for dinner as recommended by Crystal’s mom. And like her, after eating I too would recommend you eating here as well!

Why?

Well, let’s have the pictures below do the talking here!

Condiment/sauce provided

Food for steamboat

The Cooked Food. But, the MAIN highlight is DEFINITELY the DUCK!

So good we ordered a second plate! Oh juicy tender duck

We ordered as if it was free flow of food, but that’s because it’s REALLY cheap!

In total for this entire meal inclusive of over 10-13+ plates of steamboat food, 2 LARGE plates of meat (duck, roast meat), other cooked food and drinks – S$70 for FOUR people. That’s roughly S$17.50 per person!

Think about it..in Singapore, for a portion of duck (1 plate of duck meat) it will most likely cost about $15? A whole duck costs around $18.

So yeah, GREAT meal, DELICIOUS duck, awesome company. I had a great time and was TOTALLY stuffed!(: Totally would recommend you eating here!

MK Restaurant
A9-a10 7th Floor, MBK Center, BTS National Stadium, Rama 1 Road, Pathum Wan, Central Bangkok (CBD), Bangkok, 10330

Oh and just to share something random we spotted at MK Restaurant:

Lol, can you get the joke?

Well, if you can’t…then uh. Lol.

Moving on, the last place we stopped at was…NARAYA, which is a very very popular store in Asia (especially Singapore and Thailand?) that sells fabric bags and accessories.

I’ve always thought that Naraya was an expensive brand because it is relatively expensive in Singapore. And then I stepped into Naraya at Bangkok.

CHEAPPP CHEAPPPP CHEAPPPP!!!!!
That’s what my brain screamed!

Can’t take photos of the interior, but they never said I could take photos of the exterior right?grins So here are some of the pretty and cute bags they have available!

Suffice to say, I got myself a nice bag and a couple of souvenirs there as well. Regretted not getting more but I was worried that I wouldn’t have space in my luggage bag… 🙁

Ah well!

That’s the end of Day 1 of my mitsueki Travels: Bangkok Fruitful Day 1!