Day 1 // 6 July, Wednesday | Thank goodness I took yesterday off to pack my things etc, so this morning wasn't a frightening time trying to check I got everything I needed for the trip!
I found it really strange to be pushing my luggage around in the MRT la (is it because it has been so long since I last traveled??)
And also what do people wear to the airport these days ah?
We planned to meet at 10 am but yesterday SL damn sus, she commented 10 am is so early and we knew she will be arriving much later.
Suz and I met first and of course, I cannot resist not capturing airport vibes!
We went to Yakun to grab our breakfast and I was just wow-ing over Suz's lifted lashes 😍
I added this picture to add perspective to the size of my luggage (compared to friends)! Will the size of my luggage be a problem later on the trip? Yesterday, my luggage was already quite full but I guess if I can expand it, I should be good??
SL updated her eta to be another 10 minutes but then very long liao leh, she still hasn't shown up when she left her house at 9 am (why SG so small but we take so long to travel around?)
10.44 am: SL arrives!
We went to check in our luggage since our e-check-in was done ahead! I think the automated gantries are not so efficient hor, took some time to clear our passport scanning, etc. It is also not covid safe to take off our masks at every face ID check!
We went in earlier and just shop around. As we approached gate A14, Suz and I were super amazed by SL's camera function - SHE CAN REMOVE UNWANTED PEOPLE FROM PHOTOS?!!!! (It's Google Pixel btw)
On our way to the boarding gate, we saw the iconic wings thingy (what is this called? like the legit term, IDK). We both took pictures/videos for SL and here is her graceful 仙女下凡 moment:
.
.
.
(SL was trying to reply to an important email on her mentorship, while Suz and I were busy judging people's outfits on IG)
Our flight is scheduled to leave at 1250 hours, but there was some delay and if I recalled correctly, we took off at 1315 hours!
Our airplane meal was decided way before we boarded the plane because Suz checked and told us what are the two options: Beef or chicken! The truth is we had already decided 好 and I pretended to consider what I want to have when the air stewardess asked me heh
During the 2 ish hours on the plane, I watched the Korean variety show (Great Escape) with no subtitles, listened to some music, and also took a nap, here we are in BKK!!!!!!!
I was way behind because I wanted to take pictures of their arrival custom and saw another lane that looks faster, so queued separately from friends! It was a bad move, they cleared immigration checks while my lane barely moved. It was a technical problem and I was waiting for more than 20 minutes for the custom lady to clear 1 person...
SL met her friend at this point (we will see her again later), then SL and Suz decided to go get our luggage first. When I cleared and was out, we were all set to leave the airport.
We got our one-time transport pass (or coin) at 40 baht each and went to wait for our train to get to Ratcha-prarop! When we were queuing, someone came up from behind and asked SL something in Thai and SL explained she don't understand (bc she's not thai??!)
HAHAHA is it because she is more tan-looking so she can pass off as a local bringing her two foreign friends to tour BKK?
Also, the coin looks so cute leh, we got red, yellow and black ones!
.
.
.
BAIYOKE SKY HOTEL
We got to their building lobby and some bellboy (uncle actually) kept offering to help us take our luggage. He took SL's luggage and then we were thinking 1) do we need to tip him? 2) does he even work here? since the hotel lobby transfer is at Level 18.
3 knocks and open the door to Room 6110!
(no ghost if you are wondering why 3 people are in the picture and Rachel is taking photos - one of them is a staff adding another bed for us)
I would say I have seen better places but this place is worth its price, about $150 per person for 6 nights! There is a "walk-in" wardrobe and sometimes SL and I just get changed there since our luggage is there!
I love the extremely spacious room, we have all the space to put things, and also later on the trip, we sat on the carpet and had our dinner!
SL paid for our hotel stay in cash as she got 9k baht from Mr Cheong! She was rich for a few hours and now she is no longer the 富婆, she took out 14.5k baht?!?! (+ 3k deposit)
After my friends got changed, we went to their lobby cafe (?? what is this called) for our welcome drinks! It's basically fruit punch, but of course, we are excited about it hehe
They even have a golf course here!!!!!! We not playing but I'm already feeling so relaxed being on a vacation!
Suz booked us a Grab to Ichiba Station because this is one of the recommended places in BKK! IT'S LIKE A MINI JAPAN IN BANGKOK! The cost of the ride got more expensive by the minute, it's now 331 baht.
We then headed over to Level 1 and waited for our Grab ride! I thought it's gonna be 15 minutes and so I took the change and held onto it already LOL
The sky was still bright but the traffic was so bad, I think the situation is worse than what I have seen in Malaysia haha. It also started raining on our way to Ichiba Station...
A 40 minutes drive became a 2 hours ride on the road... The meter also says 451 baht, so not worth it for the driver to pick us up horrrr
We enjoyed our 2 hours ride talking about jobs, colleagues (weird people), and so on! We took a selfie during the ride and who knew there was gonna be a flash??!?!
(maybe SL knew haha)
We were much more prepared in attempt #2!!!!!❤️
.
.
.
(Passing sweaty notes and coins to the rider and hoping his day gets better)
ICHIBA STATION
There were barely any other tourists or locals here. It seemed like we have this place to ourselves.
This feels like an IG-worthy place! but SL didn't really like the pictures
Not sure if it was because it was raining, most stalls here were closed and this place looked like a ghost town?!?! (creepy much)
Suz wanted to go toilet so we walked to one of the toilets here, it was so dark but okay lah, after she paid 3 baht and can turn on the lights, it wasn't so bad.
We went to walk through all the stalls to see what we wanna have on our first evening in BKK in 2022 - IN THE RAIN!!!!!!! At this point, SL was talking about her Kydra shoes that are waterproof but mine not leh (also I need new running shoes).
We went into this spacious stall and I am loving its interior!
TOM YAM GOONG & FISH PORRIDGE
IT'S SO GOOD?!??!?!!
(or were we just hungry)
The porridge is beyond words, how can something so simple taste so good!
.
.
.
SL wanted to use the toilet so we went over to the nearer toilet. After putting in the coins and turning on the lights, SL went in and in a quick breeze, she came out and asked me to hold her things while she buckled her shorts.
Me: (HUH) 你zuomo come out then wear your shorts??
SL: I didn't even close the door to pee, the toilet is damn creepy
Me: *shivers*
Then we quickly left!
.
.
.
Suz booked us a ride from Ichiba Station to Jeh O Chula (Round 2 of eating heh) and while waiting for our ride here:
Seriously I always love car rides with these two❤️
(it just hits different)
Suz told me about her horrible ex-colleague, Angie (to protect her identity) likes to bring her around and say "我带你去XXXXX", she is the kind that 吃掉 her husband (in other words, good man 被她骗)
JEH O CHULA
Our queue number was 111 but we don't know what would 111 sound like in Thai? Luckily the person reads the number in English too heh
We got their coconut shake while waiting for our turn!
photo caption: 美女 and coconut shake!
Honestly, I don't really like the smell of drainage or the idea of eating next to 垄沟 (what if I kenna food poisoning...) but hope for the best.
THE FOOD IS INDEED THE BEST!?!?!
We choose the pork one instead of seafood or prawns since earlier we learned that Ms Cheong doesn't really eat prawns. We also learned that we can never marry a Muslim and don't eat pork for the rest of our lives HAHAHA
The flavours mixed so well and the tangy taste from the limes made us grab another and another bite when we were already feeling full!!!!!
We were chatting about the silly things we did when we were younger and I have to put this funny story of Suz's down:
She wrote in her Chinese class assignment that being in prison very 可怜因为他只能吃三餐. (How many meals does Suz hope a person eats in a day?)
HAHAHA so funny la
"你一天要吃五餐(午餐)啊?"
.
.
.
When we were on the Grab ride home, I realised my hair smells... like kbbq smoke?! (Oh no)
Day 2 // 7 July, Thursday | First stop today is PLATINUM FASHION MALL!!!!!!
We went in an orderly fashion to ensure we see and don't miss any shop, but this whole place looked the same to me, I don't know which way we came from. I can't even recognise one of the first shops we saw, where Suz got a corndog...HELPS
Kuzisongle planned to get new clothes from BKK, found a denim stall managed by a ahma at Platinum, and got 2 pairs of shorts! I like this old lady, she sounds v friendly and even speaks our dialect, we felt at home (truth is I understood v little, but okay can).
We got our matching mask lanyards here at Platinum!!
(will feature it later)
.
.
.
Suz saw reviews of a good coffee place so here we are at Mikka!!!!! (right outside Platinum)
(Suz looks all satisfied getting her caffeine fix)
Of course, Rachel is getting hers - Iced Amber! I am a huge fan of lattes, sometimes I drink americanos too - depends on my mood)
.
.
.
Train station inserts
.
.
.
The reason why we didn't eat anything this morning, is because we want to try this breakfast place - ON LOK YUN 😍
I recalled the walk here was pretty long, but it's worth it!
The interior gives me the vibes of Melaka + HK! Featuring my vacay happy but xiao hungry friends in matching mask lanyards 💋
CHEAP AND GOOD FOOD!!!! (comes with Tea)
I like western breakfast meals liddis (left) with a little twist of Chinese sausages when I don't even eat breakfast.
What is the orange thingy you say? It's their popular and famous egg custard (Kaya) and soft bread! Picky eater SL thinks the food is okay okay only, I think the kaya dish was okay, given I don't really eat kaya.
I would love to come here again for the cheap and good food!!!
.
.
.
We where got eat so little?!
JAY FAI - MICHELIN STAR GIANT CRAB OMELETTE 🦀🥚
We put our name down on their waiting list, Suz wrote: "Susan" because she thinks "Suzanne" will be a bit difficult for them to pronounce. Then later, we overheard some other group called "Susan" too!
One of the aunties at the stall is quite rude to customers who were holding drinks (not from their stall). The thing is, these customers haven't even sat down, why cannot drink their own drinks ah?
Suz isn't feeling very well, she left to look for a toilet, while SL and I decided to take the longer route to the 7-11 shop across the road! THE WEATHER WAS TOO HOT!!!!! We didn't get anything, it's just nice to be in the aircon!
The queuing never ends! We waited for more than 2 hours to be seated. During this time, we kinda just moved around, looking for something to eat or do and Suz decided to try this dessert:
Next to this shop, they were selling some really nice food but we wanted to try their famous Orange Juice which is 99 Baht a bottle. WORTH IT SIA, tastes like mandarin orange juice with a lot of pulp!
I recalled feeling unwell, my tummy was cramping but nothing comes out (Is it later eat the prunes I brought in my luggage). I went to the toilet in a hostel (toilet recommendation by Suz) and then later got locked in the hostel (maybe they realised we stole their toilet service for hostel guests), I quickly unlocked the bottom lock and bolted!
After we got seated, our food took more than 30 minutes to come, during this waiting time, we were watching this other group of Asian tourists, with the waiting list name 'Susan' too, and an angmoh couple was super pissed off with the wait.
The long-awaited CRAB OMELETTE:
This cost 1.2k baht which is about 40++SGD. It tastes good la, but I think of the long wait and the price of the omelette, we wouldn't be back for this!
We also ordered Tom Yum Soup with rice to go with it, and we love getting coke to share!
(it is about 4 pm at this point)
.
.
.
Train station Inserts (part2)
My feet hurt, so I ownself go sit down while my friends stood their way through 🙃
.
.
.
Our next stop is JODD FAIRS!!!!!!
We went to look around and decided to settle for their skewers!
The lady asked us for our spiciness level, normal? We said okay. Then we went to find seats and got drinks while waiting for our skewers to be ready.
When the skewers were ready, I already went off to find something else and got this V CHIO honey Ice Cream 😍
Even with Iced Thai Milk Tea and Mango Smoothie, the SKEWERS were way too spicy!!!!! Our mouths looked like the picture of the mouth on fire, on their skewer stall banner. I tried a few and gave up...
We regretted the spiciness level choice 🔥🔥🔥
(lesson learned: normal spicy level in Thailand is not for us!)
Later, Suz asked for Coconut water, and this is her with an XL coconut drink!
Then we went to see all the stalls, and all of us got super cute T-shirts (loving my astronaut tops). My friends also got bags and SL even met her friend here, again!
Grilled Cheese Scallops 😋
We think the cheese sauce is the thing that makes any cheese-related dish work, haha now SL wants to buy their cheese squeeze home!
Mini Souffle 😍
We chose maple and chocolate flavours! We imagined it will taste better but okay la, the texture is not bad for souffle!
On our way back, SL was telling us a story about how her mother and her friend's mother were talking about recommending partners. To establish the true relationship/closeness with this friend, SL termed the friend as "kindergarten-mate" but Suz thought she meant MAID in Kindergarten,"WHY YOU SO BAD ONE"
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA😂
I told them a story about how when I was in Secondary School, juniors will come to my class and touch my classmate's stationeries (he was our council president) and smell his textbook and all the da bian.
"Da bian" is one of my favourite words to use as a nonsense filler. Stuff = da bian.
But this time SL didn't hear properly and thought the juniors went to smell his (my classmate also the council president) da bian.
HAHAHAHAHAHAAH DED
.
.
.
After we showered, is this the end of eating? NO
Featuring SL's favourite chicken drum snack in the background 🍗🍗🍗
Day 3 // 8 July, Friday | Good morning from Lundly!
(all of us looking relieved)
Before this, Suz was doing her written test with intense focus, for an exciting job she applied for before this trip! The typing noise in the morning gave me a minor panic attack. I will never be able to wing it on a vacation, plus I don't have any decent answer for the question...
Suz wrote her response using "5 stages of Team Development" and I have to say this is the first time I heard of this model/theory (idek) in the 26.6 years of my life.
The most important thing is, we all think she will get the job even before the test or the interview, AND SHE DID!
(of course, she did, c'mon! CONGRATS to Suz!!!!!!!)
.
.
.
First Stop:
KHA MU KRONG SUNG | THAI BRAISED PORK LEG/TROTTER
I remembered on the walk here, I got bitten by mosquitoes! I hope the food is really worth the bites...
Feels like I am in Malaysia? The kettle of brown liquid is their herbal tea!
When we were ordering, SL suddenly asked if we want 猪肠. Suz and I said okay, since SL asked, we don't mind trying it out. SL even clarified with the boss of the shop, their 猪肠 is a mix of both 大和小肠.
To our horror, SL actually doesn't eat 肠 at all. She asked us if we want, because she thought we like it and asked for us, but Suz and I both don't eat 肠!
(Okay so now we do)
I LOVE 😋😋😋😋
.
.
.
(you know where if you have been to BKK)
Insert drink break pictures from Bangkok's Street Food:
SL couldn't finish her Thai milk tea because it was way too sweet. She brought it back to the hotel, then this (tea) will appear throughout our trip haha.
Suz is loving her 一整粒 Coconut!!
(it looks cute too)
.
.
.
Central wOrld!!!!
Loving the aesthetics of this^
I am obsessed with such things, but made a failed attempt for Starbucks tho:
Not sure what vibes this is, but I like it!
We went shopping around the malls today and my friends got pretty clothes!!!!
(The clothes will be featured later on our trip 😌)
After shopping, of course, we need a delicious break! AFTER YOUUUUUU
I have never been to 'After You' before, I saw the reviews - it is a must try!!!!
We got their Signature Shibuya Honey toast😋
IT'S SO GOOD!?!?!?!
We also ordered their Milo Volcano Kakigori!
And what's tea break without a nice cup of coffee?
Oh, as the icon of misfortune, Rachel's 1GB data for 30 days in Asia under Singtel stopped working today... I reset my phone so many times... it was not my phone problem, I think?
.
.
.
I like how all the malls are connected by a long sheltered walkway, we walked past their Skytrain, and there is an advertisement in the back of Lisa promoting for AIS.
(BTS SKYTRAIN! BTS??)
I got fat fat a BTS lanyard, it looks so cute in purple~
We came to their food court for the famous Pad Thai! The food court looks a bit like the ones in Singapore. SL went to grab fried chicken skin too, with mala seasoning!!!
PAD THAI (it wasn't really what we expected)
There are a lot of stalls outside, we went out for the second round of food:
Suz and her love for pork skewers!
.
.
.
We moved outdoors, and there seemed to be some idol or Thai celebrity around here, we could hear people screaming and cheering!!!
We had no idea who it was leh, maybe Jackson Wang?
Then, we made our way here and saw this mini carnival!!! We went looking around, but then it started raining!!!!! We ended up at a foot massage place nearby.
A foot massage sounds great, especially after a whole day of walking!
(I started having leg pain and backache)
I wore the top the other way, the buttons should be at the back so that the masseuse can unbutton the top and work on my back. I quickly tried to change it after returning from the toilet, so paiseh.
IT WAS SO GOOD, WE DECIDED WE WILL BE BACK AGAIN!!!!!
I managed to chat with SingTel support staff via WhatsApp ((on Suz's hotspot BC I burden), but there were many confusions...
After 2 hours of resting at the food massage place, we were all feeling hungry again haha, it was 9-ish pm, and our attempt to return and buy the nice food we tried earlier was unsuccessful as most stalls had closed...
SO WE SHALL GRAB MCDONALDS!
SL has been talking about their Spicy Fried Chicken (I think it's called McFried Chicken), so SL and I ordered this! While Suz is team pork burger when McDonald's has it! I remembered we tried Pork burger in Taiwan too.
It was still drizzling while we made our way back from the mall to McDonald's and back to our hotel. The streets were really dark too, I don't think I will ever try this, without SL and Suz!
Some road dirt got on SL's white shorts, it was on her legs too (is it because of her slippers?).
Once we got back, SL went to the toilet to clean up while Suz and I moved the table and made a makeshift dining area, then took out the food:
(love our dining on carpet floor life)
Late-night dining means we are also gonna wake up late tomorrow morning hahaha
Day 4 // 9 July, Saturday | We woke up later than usual today and left our hotel at 10.30 am!
We needed the caffeine fix so back to Mikka coffee:
Featuring Suz's new clothes😘
And then this is me, wearing an old top:
.
.
.
We took the BTS to Mo Chit Station and made our way to CHA TUK CHAK!!!!
Although it was cloudy, the weather was hot and my face was red most of the time from the heat. I also had tummyache a lot here, not the day for this la, toilets are hard to find...
Endless shopping~
买东西，吃东西
Now it is the time to 吃东西! We found a shop along the way, that served their local delicacies. It was really hot here, despite the many fans installed (wait, are they even turned on???)
The lady kept telling us they only got big-size prawns, is it a tourist trap ah? SUS
Yummy but spicy!!!!
Then we 吃吃吃 again!
The Inner Alley
I saw a shop selling jewelry, got sucked in, and picked out a bracelet for myself (probably the most expensive thing I bought in BKK)! It's made of silver, the shop owner gave me a discount, without me even asking hehe
Other inner alley things:
We ordered a drink here, it was not bad!
It started pouring!!!!!! We are not done with Cha Tuk Chak yet leh
GOT IDOLS!!!! (but I don't know who, nugu??)
We went to grab free coke here too, haha
We spent the rest of the day at Cha Tuk Chak until 5/6 PM. On the way back, we went to the mall nearby and we saw many DOGS!!!!!!!