Our second day in Bangkok, we took BTS Skytrain to Mo Chit Station around 9 am, where we walked for another 5 minutes to reach Chatuchak Market- the biggest market in Bangkok, with its full strength of more than 10,000 stalls opened, only on weekends.
Morning at Chatuchak. As you can see, there were not many people there yet. Some of the shop keepers were setting up their store.
The market is really "huge". They are few entrances to the market and we fought hard to memorize the the direction of the entrance that we came in. We failed. Then, we discovered a good way to ease the effort- by open our mouth and ask. "Skytrain, Mo Chit, Mo Chit, where?" Although the folks couldn't understand English well, they still could give us the right direction for us. Well, the way back to the hotel was a long one, as both our hands were full.
Crooked pirate needs a parrot, malnutrition arowana needs vitamin shrimps, or frustrated mom needs unbreakable household utensils, you can get what you need there, in Chatuchak.
A little bit shopping tips for you- try to go to the market early (around 9 am). The folks there were desperate to close the first sale. In their believe, successful first sale will bring good luck to them for the rest of the day. So, we might be offered with extremely attractive price, even without bargaining With that information, we managed to get few good quality clothes with really very low price. Anyway, please bear in mind as well, don't ask for the price for the things that you are not really interested in, which end end up with turning them down, even with "record-breaking-low" offer. You will discourage them and bring them a great disappointment (of course, only if you are their first customer of the day).
Chatuchak was really a place for us to learn how to communicate through language barrier- the simple is the best! We used simple English, just a few key words, plus a lot of body languages to roll through the market, alive and kicking.
Public transports in Bangkok (clockwise from upper left): Taxi, do you ever see a pinky taxi before? Tut-tut- the tricycle taxi, BTS Skytrain, decoration in the taxi. The public transport system in Bangkok is well-organized. We tried taxi (with meter, but still can bargain), tut-tut, Skytrain, MRT, and ferry. The Skytrain, MRT and the ferry systems are well linked. We didn't take any bus as we found some communication problem with the drivers, about the route.
Back to the hotel, put down all the stuffs bought from Chatuchak, we departed again to Siam Square Station. From there, we started another shopping spree- MBK Plaza, Siam Discovery, Siam Centre, and Paragon (again for the 2nd time). The stuffs at MBK were more likely meet our budget. During the spree, we took a short visit to Thailand Art and Culture Centre, a road side concert by unknown Thailand artists, street dancing at an overhead bridge in front of MBK, and contemporary music concert at Siam Square, in front of Paragon.
Photos above show the inside and outside of MBK shopping center (upper row), and the performance on the stage and on the street, just beside MBK.
Siam Square, a place where arts meet the people, gave us much suprises by the creative decoration and performance. The photo above shows fountain ornamenting Siam Paragon far behind. The photo below shows the Banana Festival 2009 held in Siam Square. We were so lucky to catch up the last day's performance of local musical instruments.
Our photos, inside and outside of Siam Paragon.
Besides attractive landmarks and fruitful shopping, there was another attraction of Bangkok- the food! We tried many types of local food, such as pork rice, tomyam, Thai pad (noodle), western food, chinese food, fast food, and coffee. We suggested that you should not miss the pork rice, tomyam and oren-zui (made by freshly squeezed local orange). We can find all this delicacies all around Bangkok. Pork rice and tomyam can be found in food court in major shopping malls as well.
Mixed rice and pork rice, available all around Bangkok. The pork rice taste really good. The pork rice was sold at around 30 to 45 Baht per plate.
Clockwise from upper left: Thai chicken rice, noodle, western food, and tomyam. Thai tomyam is in "must try" category for us.
We like Bangkok very much. It was in fact a peaceful place. Although there was political issue running around the city, all the tourists' hot spots were left untouched. The streets along Thanon Yauwarrat and Thanon Charoen Krung were clean and peaceful. The markets were clean without irritating smells. Well, we will definitely return to Bangkok for second time in the future. For more information about Bangkok, you can visit Thaiway Magazine for good maps, Tripadvisor.com for comments on hotels, and any other webpage that we can get from search engines, such as Bangkok Hot Guides.
Lastly, we would like to express our special gratitude to our friend Alex Leong for his clear instructions and useful advices, as well as all the staffs at Salil Hotel for our wonderful time there.
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Bangkok is a nice place. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteIt makes me wanted to visit Bangkok as well. Thank you.
ReplyDeletehi. can you suggest a hotel near to the temple or shopping district. thanks
ReplyDeleteThere are many hotels with good location in Bangkok. I will suggest Salil Hotel at Sukumvit Soi 8 to you. It is quite conveniently placed by the Nana Skytrain station.
ReplyDeleteThe market is really "huge". They are few entrances to the market and we fought hard to memorize the the direction of the entrance that we came in. We failed. Then, we discovered a good way to ease the effort- by open our mouth and ask. "Skytrain, Mo Chit, Mo Chit, where?" Although the folks couldn't understand English well, they still could give us the right direction for us. Well, the way back to the hotel was a long one, as both our hands were full.
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