Bangkok Day 1: Arrival at BKK and Platinum Mall

One of the main reasons that pushed me to start up this blog was because I really wanted to post about the amazing Bangkok trip that I took with my Sister. This will be the second trip that we took together after our Taipei - KaoShiong trip back in 2009. It was some pretty good bonding time with my sis and really thankful that we were blessed with good weather throughout the trip!

Day 1: 5 December 2013 (Thursday)
After much anticipation and the craaaazy exam period, the highly anticipated trip to Bangkok was finally here! Headed to Changi Airport in the morning feeling all excited!! Boarded our flight and by 3 plus, we finally landed at Suvarnabhumi Airport!

Boarded a cab to our hotel after. Do take note that taxis in Bangkok go by either meter or the drivers will charge a flat fee. Make sure that you insist on getting meter or else the drivers will usually offer a flat fee which will totally scam you! After an approximately 45 minutes journey, we finally arrived at our hotel! The hotel that we have chosen to stay in this time was Berkeley Hotel Pratunam. The location of this hotel was pretty good and the staff there were all friendly and helpful. Room was comfortable as well except for the poor WiFi connection in the room at times :( Situated right outside Berkeley is an entire row of street stalls selling food, clothes, bags, accessories etc. Really convenient and I swiped quite a few things from these stalls in my six days there HAHA.

After settling down in our hotel, WE ARE OFF TO PLATINUM MALL!!! Platinum Mall was really near our hotel just about 5 to 10 minutes walk. Was ultra excited about being there because there were clothes and shoes and bags and accessories everywhere before my eyes! Wanted to conquer the mall immediately but our growling stomachs were clamouring for attention that we had to deal with it first :( Settled our first meal at the food court at Platinum Mall. Food here was really cheap but payment is done via cards. So be sure to change money at the counter in exchange for cards which can then be used to purchase your food!

 Yummy fried noodles for just 45baht!

 Duck noodles for..50baht? Really yummy with quite a generous portion of duck for its price! 

Me and my favourite coconut hehehehe

After we had successfully calmed our raging stomachs, its time to shop!!! The mall was humongous and there were just so many things that we did not know where to begin. As much as we tried to be organized, we still got confused at the end of the day. hahaha. Regardless, by the end of day 1, we had already bought a whole bunch of items. Ultra satisfied and even before we know it, its dinner time. 

Decided to settle dinner at one of the street stalls that BKK was famous for and try their salt-grilled fish. Being really bad with directions, we were both ultra lost and thankfully, we were saved with a phone call back to Singapore where we were directed by my sis bf who wasn't even there with us LOL. 

 The stalls just lined along the streets. Really cool and very authentic!

 Salt grilled tilapia fish! Which is a must try. Their chilli is amazing and made the fish taste extremely special!

 Our MASSIVE bowl of Tom Yum Goong

 Stir fried clams which quite a disappointment :( 

Omelette which was very well fried! Crispy and yummy but does not taste too oily at the same time. 

This was really cheap as well. A whole table of food of generous serving cost less than 30SGD! Really worth it for the spread which included rice and drinks. The Thais there were also really friendly and helpful despite the crazy crowd and things that they had to deal with. This stretch of street stalls can be found on the way to Centreworld shopping centre. It is an entire stretch full of stalls selling the same thing so it should be difficult to miss. 

Following our extremely fulfilling dinner, we decided to head back towards our hotel area for our first massage in Bangkok! 

Beside Berkeley is a shopping centre called Palladium Mall. It is a pretty huge building with the stretch of roadside stalls lining outside it. Walk along Palladium Mall and you will eventually see Tom N Toms Coffee shop and then KFC. When you see KFC, you should most probably be at the end of the stretch of stalls. Just across the small road you will see a 7-11 and the massage parlours are just lined beside 7-11. Tried out the one directly beside 7-11 on the first day and it was just so-so. The one that I will recommend is really the second one beside 7-11 and the staff are usually wearing orange. They are so much better than the first and they are also very friendly! In the massage parlours, there is also free WiFi and a whole range of massage options for you to choose from. 

 street stalls outside Berkeley, along Palladium (if all remains the same, this should be one of the last stalls. The massage stretch is right beside it across the small road)

Friendly shopkeeper who guided us to our massage lane! 

After our massage, decided to head back to hotel! Crashed and it was the end of day 1!! Day 2 post will be up soon. Next up on the list: Pratunam Morning market, Som Tum Nua and Siam!