Fourth day in Bangkok: Bangkok shopping is love (Part II)

We spent our last day in Bangkok SHOPPING!

By 8-9am, we were already on our way to the shopping malls. It was really convenient that we booked our accommodation in the Pratunam area since it is a shopping area in itself and it’s quite near from the other malls. We've done a bit of shopping in between our tours but on our last day, we wanted to shop to the max until our feet can still walk and our pockets can still afford it.

It's dress day for the girls..passing by the colorful tiger faces (they're actally huge recycle bins!)

Our first stop is MBK (Mahboonkrong) in National Stadium Station. MBK boasts as the most visited shopping center in Bangkok with eight floors and more than 2,500 shops and stalls. The mall has various stalls similar to Greenhills/St. Francis Square and they have their own department store and supermarket, Tokyu.

I bought lots of stuff in MBK as usual. I chanced upon really nice office bags sold at factory prices. I bought a gray bag which I often get compliments from co-workers. It’s just a really simple and no-frills office bag yet classy. Haha if they only knew how much was it. And I can vouch for the quality as well. I also bought a mustard-colored bag for my mom and she liked it too. 

MBK, here we are!

I love shoes especially flats so I didn’t hesitate to buy a pair of gray flats which suits most of my office clothes. Erick, on the other hand, bought a BodyGlove polo shirt. I didn’t know that it was a branded shirt until he told me. hehe

Another thing that I wanted to buy in Bangkok was meds – supplements to make my skin clearer and whiter. A pack is sold here in Manila at Php 600 was only THB 220 (Php 330) in Watsons in MBK. So I bought enough to last for the next six months. True enough, as my friend told me medicines are a lot cheaper in Bangkok.

We transferred to the nearby malls – Siam Center and Siam Paragon via the elevated walkway. Both malls are on the high-end scale selling branded stuffs.

Strolling around Siam Center

In Siam Paragon now

At Siam Paragon, Converse sneakers are sold equivalent to Php 1500+. Whoa. Even other branded stuff are sold cheaper here. Thank goodness, the Wacoal underthings I bought in Platinum are same-priced in Siam Paragon or else I’d feel really bad.

Chucks!

To sum it all up. Shopping in Bangkok is something you must be prepared of. From walking, haggling, and looking for the best deals. You will never run out of things to buy in Bangkok but surely your cash will disappear in less than an hour.

Shop til' you drop!

Third day in Bangkok: Patpong Night and the Pingpong Show

I thought I would get a good night’s sleep after our shopping spree at Platinum. But Tata insisted we go to Patpong, which is the red light district of BKK, to watch the pingpong show. I’ve heard of the pingpong show before. It’s a popular sex show in Bangkok where the women use their pelvic muscles to hold, eject, blow objects from there ****. And I’ve heard as well of pingpong show scams where tourists are ripped off when watching these kind of shows.

I hesitated going to Patpong because I was really tired and we didn't know where exactly it is. I honestly don’t feel safe going out at night in Bangkok and what more if we are going to Patpong. But Tata really wanted and I was getting more curious. What the heck, we are not going back to Bangkok anytime soon. And so we went.

Patpong, near the night bazaar

Abby opted to stay at the hotel, so it was just me, Erick, and Tata. We were supposed to take the BTS to the nearest station in Patpong. But as soon as we went out from our soi, a tuktuk driver seemed to read our minds hehe. Yep, he drove us to a dark alley where a pingpong show is running. We agreed that we would only watch the show if its THB 250-300, otherwise forget it.

We were greeted by an old man with cigar; he priced the show at THB 400. No way, we haggled to THB 300 and insisted that it was our last night and we had no money left. He rudely said in Thai accent “No, it’s THB 400 already cheap for tourists like you, caucasians we charge THB 800”. We declined and walked away. But another man supposedly his son agreed to give it to us at THB 350 (Php 490). And we’re in!

It was really dark inside and it looked that this establishment is hiding something illegal. So anyways, there was a small stage and a pole on the stage itself. The chairs are circled around the stage. The show already started. If we were only allowed to take pictures, I would happily post them here to save me from describing what I saw. Really something unbelievable. 

There were 7-10 girls with their own solo act/exhibition.

A girl inserted a blade connected by a string to her **** . Ouch! And then pulled the string out..

Another girl opened a bottle of coke using her ****. You can actually hear the sound of the bottle opening. She even let the audience mostly the guys touch the bottle cap to check if it’s really closed before inserting it. She passed the bottle to Erick and I hissed to him “Don’t touch it or else you’re dead”. So being an obedient boyfriend, he didn’t.

A plump girl inserted pingpong balls in her **** and sort of ejected them and let them bounced to shoot in the bowl. WTH. How she did it, I am not sure! And if the ball didn’t shoot in the bowl, the ball is returned to her so she could try once more. Poor girl!

Okay here’s another one, an old lady.. yes she’s tad old to be your nanny..She drew and wrote using her ****. She wrote "Welcome to Thailand". The pencil was inserted in between hers. Sure, that was a warm welcome!

And as if there’s a birthday celebration, a girl blew candles using you know..haha. Happy birthday to me btw.

One more, ever wondered if the **** can smoke? Yes it can! I saw it puffed smoke as the cigarette was tucked inside. It was really crazy.

For the show’s finale, this is IT. It was a live show between a real woman and man. Imagine the act without the guy’s member not being removed from the girl’s after they’ve tried so many different positions. Our guess? 100 unique positions.

These are just some of the things that my virgin eyes saw.. hehe. They’ve done several other tricks which I choose to forget. The show lasted for an hour and then it would start again with same set of tricks and exhibitions. And yes, same performers.

This is probably the grossest post I’ve ever written. Sorry dear readers, I just wanted to share my Patpong experience so you will be prepared when you decide to see the show.

Awkward moment for us but for the heck of it

If you want to watch it, go in groups. Haggle the price, if they offer it at  THB400-500 haggle until they give you 50-60% price off.

One last note, if the tuktuk driver offered you to bring to the pingpong show don’t expect that he will wait for you after the show though he tells you that he will. They get commissions by bringing guests to the show so if they got their commission..bye bye to you. Make sure you can still manage to get out of Patpong safe and sound.

Third day in Bangkok: Bangkok shopping is love (Part 1)

Bangkok is a paradise when it comes to shopping.

We devoted the rest of our afternoon to shopping after we had our elephant zoo tour. We asked the driver to drop us off at Platinum Mall in Pratunam.

Welcome to Platinum Mall!

From there, my girlfriends and I decided to shop separately and agreed we would just meet at the main entrance of the mall. 

Platinum mall floor map

Armed with my desire to find the best bargains, Erick and I started scouring the fourth floor of  Platinum Mall. When shopping in Bangkok, start with the topmost floors first because they sell cheaper than those in the ground floor.

My first buys are the Wacoal underthings for moi and my mom. I was really planning on buying Wacoal in Bangkok because it’s a lot cheaper. Good thing that we instantly spotted the Wacoal store because I wanted to purchase them first before I spend my money on clothes and bag.

Wacoal is cheaper in Bangkok

I got really excited because they were really less expensive in Bangkok than in Manila. I bought five all in all; two for my mom and three for me. It all amounted to THB 2800 and for every five items or more bought, I got at 10% discount. So make it THB 2520. If you convert that to peso that’s Php3600 (Php1 = THB1.43). Yey. One Wacoal bra here in Manila costs around Php1000 –up. What a huge savings!

To sum it up, I bought the following: 3 long necklaces and 1 pair of dangling heart earrings – perfect accessories for office and night-outs, 2 high-waisted shorts, 2 sheer blouses,1 red-striped blazer, 2 belts, and 1 floral dress. What else? And yeah 5 Wacoal bras. That’s about it. More shopping the next day for sure!

Caught in the act shopping

We spent around four hours in the mall until closing. Malls in Bangkok close a bit early around 7pm, at least Platinum. 

We were kinda broke so we decided to just buy streetfood for dinner and then watched a movie later that night.

Third day in Bangkok: Samphran Elephant Zoo

It’s a day with the elephants!

We were fetched by the van around 9am. We traveled for less than an hour to Samphran Elephant Zoo. The zoo is located at the west of Bangkok in Nakhon Pathom Province.

Immediately after we arrived, our guide claimed our tickets. We paid around THB 450 for the ticket and transfers.

Samphran Elephant Zoo

Every opportunity that we get to buy Thai iced tea, we never missed it. But the Thai iced tea in Chatuchak was still the best. 

Thai iced tea again!

The elephant show started in an hour so we toured around the zoo first and had some photo ops with the elephants. I was surprised to know that they actually have thick black hair which you can only notice if you look at them closely.

Sweet elephant

Hairy elephant

The show finally started with a magic show. Then, the elephants paraded one by one. They re-enacted the history of Thailand. There was also a scene called Yutha Hathi which is a great royal battle where the actors fought each other while riding the elephants. 

Elephants perform

Yutha Hathi

The most fun part of the show was when they played football and danced.

And yes it's a goal

We had the chance to feed them and take pictures with them.

Love 'em, feed 'em

We didn’t watch anymore the wrestling show anymore because the people were crowding the area. The wrestling show featured a crocodile and a catcher performing many different stunts.

See the crowd

 Around 1pm, we headed back to Bangkok for our next activity. Shopping!

Second day in Bangkok: Chao Phraya Dinner Cruise

And here comes my favorite part…the highlight of our second day – buffet dinner cruise aboard Chao Phraya Princess.

It was also my birthday so I was looking forward to dining out with Erick and my girlfriends. Earlier that day, we had a last-minute booking at Seven Stars Travel Agency for the cruise. The dinner cruise was THB 1000. It was cheaper  than booking it online or by reserving thru phone. Prices range from THB 1200-1600. Probably, the travel agency gets bulk discount.

As soon as we arrived from our Chatuchak shopping, we claimed our boarding tickets at the travel agency. At 5pm, a van would pick us up and bring us to the boarding area for the dinner cruise.

We only had two hours to spare and I am dead tired from walking in Chatuchak. When I finally managed to take a shower and get dressed, it was almost 5pm.  I was really excited because for the first time we aren’t running after the time. We don’t need to worry about the directions and all sorts. Hassle-free for the birthday girl :)

All prep

The van fetched us a little more than 5pm and we arrived in the docking area quarter to 6 just enough to have our pictures taken in our nice dresses :) 

Roses and thorn

We boarded Chao Phraya Princess IV at exactly 6pm and was seated at the top roof deck. I liked the location of our table. Besides the fact that its location is very strategic to the buffet table, we also had an unobstructed view of the Chao Phraya River stretch. Yihee. 

Chao Phraya Princess IV

There was a wide array of food selection..Chinese, Thai, Japanese, and Western cuisine. They all have it there. Just by looking at all the dishes made me full. I don’t really have a big appetite. I focused more on the dessert table. I love desserts! Pastries, chocolates, cakes, fruits, sweet salad..weee love it.

Buffet food

Dessert comes first :)

I finished eating in less than an hour and went to the open deck solo since Erick is still enjoying the buffet. I took some pictures of the temples we passed by – Wat Arun which we missed on our first day and all the other temples. Little did I know that my friends were cooking up something for me.

views aboard Chao Phraya Princess

The whole dinner cruise lasted two hours. We spent the rest of our time chatting, taking pictures, and just enjoying each other’s company. At the end of our dinner cruise, the singer/host suddenly asked everyone to sing a happy birthday for meee.. Whattt?????????????? I'm really not into surprises that involved everyone’s attention. What a surprise from Erick and my friends!! So the host went to our table and told me to blow the candle on a cake as they sang HBD for me.. Thank you dear friends!

What can i say? But thank you :)

After our dinner cruise, we were dropped off in our hotel. I promised my friends that I would treat them to a relaxing foot massage at the hotel spa. We’ve been walking non-stop for 2 days already and our feet need some lovin' too.

Foot massage for the ladies

And that ends our day :)

Second day in Bangkok: Chatuchak Weekend Market

Since it was my birthday, we decided to spend the day more relaxed and within our pace. Too much walking from the Grand Palace and temple tour was really exhausting. 

It was shopping day for us. It was Saturday. so we went to Chatuchak (Jatujak) Weekend Market.  We left My Hotel around 9am. This time, we learned that Rajchathewi BTS Station is a short walk from our hotel and we no longer need to pass by the railroad. Via Rajchathewi, we travelled until we reached the last station – Mo Chit. While we were nearing Mo Chit Station, we finally saw from the train the infamous Chatuchak Market. Oh boy, we didn’t know that it was really huge as in HUGE. It’s that huge that we even lost Abby and Tata while shopping. It runs from one BTS station to another. Imagine that.

Chatuchak is the world’s largest weekend market. The market is home to more than 15,000 shops and stalls. You name it they have it.

I love shopping!!!

Yes, I bought the dresses.

Going through each of the stall is crazy. There will never be enough time to check all the stores. So I suggest before raiding Chatuchak study the map first. Select which areas you want to go like ladies clothes, bags, shoes, etc. The stalls are grouped according to the products. Here!

Jatujak maps

I bought dresses, shirts, Bangkok souvenirs, and skirts. I even got myself a portrait of a pink beetle car with the Grand Palace and the temples as a background. Really cool and perfect for my new room.

In Chatuchak, we also tasted the best Thai iced tea on our whole stay in Bangkok. If only, we could buy some more.

We agreed to meet at Mo Chit Station around 2pm because the van will pick us up for the Chao Praya dinner cruise at around 5pm. 

Four hours of shopping ain’t enough! 

Tired but happy :) or should I say broke but happy

Beware of Tuktuks in Bangkok

Let me share my tuktuk experience in Bangkok. A tuktuk is an auto rickshaw or three-wheeler tricycle very commonly used as a mode of transportation in Bangkok. Because of its relatively small size, they can enter "soi" or side streets branching from the main road. And more often than not, tuktuks are associated with gem factory scams which what happened to us.

To ride the tuktuk or not

As we were walking towards Wat Pho, a “tourist police” stopped us and informed us that the temple is closed for an hour for prayer time. He suggested that we go to other attractions such as the gem factory. And before we know it, he hailed a tuktuk for us and told him to bring us to the gem factory where his wife just bought jewelry on sale. As soon as we rode the tuktuk I realized right there and then that we fell into a tourist trap. But we really had no choice, we were in the middle of I-don’t-know-where and the rain just started to pour.

The tuktuk driver brought us into a jewelry shop but we didn’t dare to buy anything. It was darn expensive and they don’t accept MasterCard. Maybe the tuktuk driver thought he didn’t get any commission from us so he brought us to another gem factory. And this is where we spent three friggin’ hours.

Being a girl, I wouldn’t deny that I was tempted to buy the ruby ring the sales attendant offered me. She kept on telling me that ruby signifies love. She must have thought that I was with my boyfriend. It looks simple but elegant with small diamonds around it. Plus it fits me perfectly! Well....I didn’t buy because it wasn’t on my budget. I was looking forward to Bangkok clothes and shoes shopping. For a second, I wanted to pull my credit card from my wallet thinking that the ring would my birthday gift to myself. But who am I kidding?! The whole trip minus the shopping is a gift to myself already. When the attendant noticed that I wouldn’t buy it, she tried persuading Erick in a subtle way to buy it for me. Haha but he didn’t buy it. Poor attendant, she didn’t get anything from us.

To avoid an impulsive buy, Erick and I checked the souvenir shop instead which sold all sorts of stuff from ref magnets, soaps, bags, and t-shirts. We waited for the girlfriends as they were having a fancy time fitting all the rings ;) Whew, after almost 2 hours, they emerged from the store all giddy. Abby bought an opal earrings and Tata had a sapphire ring. At least the girlfriends were happy. After three hours, we are finally back on track. But we only have an hour left to visit  Wat Pho. Ayayay.

The whole tuktuk experience was a misadventure for me but my friends were happy with their purchase. If you aren’t really keen on going to gem factories, be wary of tuktuk drivers or poser tourist police telling you that there’s a gem factory blah-blah-blah. Just simply say no and walk away.

First day in Bangkok: Grand Palace and temple tour

We woke up early at 7am, never mind that we tucked in the sheets a little past 2am. I find it easier to wake up early on vacations than on workdays (because I’m hyped). It was a gloomy day outside as we had our buffet breakfast at our hotel. But we were still hoping the sun to shine since we will be mostly on a walking tour to Grand Palace and the temples.

We decided to take the BTS skytrain from Phaya Thai Station which is nearest our hotel via passing by the slums in the railroad (yes you read it right). We walked in the railroad and it felt like we were in Pinas. From Phaya Thai, we changed trains and finally alighted at Saphan Taksin station. From Central (Sathorn - Taksin), we boarded the water taxi going to Tha Chang (Grand Palace) station.

Water taxi route

We exited the boat station and followed the tourist crowd. If you are unsure where to go, simply follow the tourist crowd because most of the time they are going to the same destination as yours. As we entered the main entrance of the Grand Palace the guards checked our bags and our attire. Shorts, minis, tank tops, sleeveless shirts, and slippers are improper attire and you will not be permitted to enter unless you put a cover-up. I had no problems whatsoever though I was wearing a low neckline plaid top.

the Grand Invitation

We paid the admission ticket at 250THB which included free admission at the Vimanmek Mansion which was valid for 5 days. As I was about to step in the entrance of the Grand Palace complex, I was apprehended by the lady guard because I wasn’t properly dressed. I had to rent a blouse at the main entrance for cover-up. Oh well…

The Grand Palace is a complex of buildings which served as the official residence of the King of Thailand. The palace was constantly expanded to add new buildings and other structures. By the time we visited, there was a rehabilitation going on.

Grand Palace facade

Temple of the Emerald Buddha

Outside the  temple, cameras not allowed inside

Phra Si Rattana Chedi

Monks in the Grand Palace

Chakri Mahaprasat Hall

One of the subsidiary buildings

In the Galleries

With the statuesque Thai Royal Guard 

It was almost noon when we finished touring the whole Grand Palace complex. Luckily, we found a Thai resto nearby. The food was superb for its price.  After our sumptuous lunch, we dropped at the tourist stand and asked for the direction of Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha).

Something happened on our way to Wat Pho which will be detailed in another blog post. To cut the story short, we were diverted to a gem factory by a tourist police and a tuktuk driver. We spent the whole afternoon in the gem factory and was only able to continue with the tour around 5pm. It was just enough time to see the Reclining Buddha.

We entered the temple and took as much pictures as we can before the temple closes at 6PM.

Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha)

Sadly, we missed Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn) because it was already dark and the temple was surely closed. Erick and I said that we could just come back probably while the girlfriends do some shopping the next day. But of course, we didn’t come back. The moment we entered the mall, I knew that Wat Arun will have to wait on my next visit to BKK.

We hurriedly walked to the boat station to catch the water taxi going back the Central Station. To our dismay, there were no more trips in the station. We learned that we have to go the next boat station to catch the last trip of the boat taxi. We walked to the station feeling hungry, tired, and wet from the downpour. I wished we could just take a cab from the station to our hotel but the taxi driver would surely rip us off.

It was a respite arriving in our hotel and showering and changing into clean clothes. We didn’t have much energy to eat outside our hotel and explore Pratunam. We settled with hotel food which wasn’t bad after all. It was an early night for all for us because tomorrow was another day and new story to be told.