Bangkok Chinatown

27 December 2018

The breakfast at Ibis Styles has been an excellent buffet of Western and Thai food.  After stuffing ourselves this morning, we thought we'd head out to Chinatown to explore on foot.

We went back to pier Phra Arthit to take the express boat to pier Rajchawongse.  I forgot this was a bit later in the morning and walked right past the ticket office.  The ticket lady came up to me on the pier and told me off for walking past without buying a ticket. 

Tickets were cheap at 15B per trip.

Again it was a fun boat ride, though a bit crowded later in the morning.

We got off the pier Rajchawongse and walked towards the centre of Chinatown and saw some familiar roads from the bike tour previously.

Being Chinatown, there were all kinds of vendors, food, goods, jewellery, wholesale, wet and dry markets.

We bought some delicious ice desserts and juice from a street vendor for 20B each, and wandered the alleyways lined with shops and stalls on both sides.  Though narrow, these are thorough-fares for motor bikes and cars, the vehicles squeezing between the many pedestrians.

After walking for a couple of hours, the heat got the better of us, and a decision was made to adjourn to the nearest cool mall by tuk-tuk.

I asked google for the nearest mall and was directed to Stadium One.

This time the tuk-tuk driver demanded 150B to take us there.  The tuk-tuk was more attractively adorned, so this must be more of a tourist tuk-tuk.

I was wondering why most locals were paying their tuk-tuk drivers with coins and here we are paying with 100 and 50 bhat notes.  Perhaps they know which ones to take, and also to keep the destinations "local", rather than towards hotels, malls and touristy locales.

Stadium One turned out to be a real stadium with sporting shops around it.  We gave up and decided to go back to the hotel, and for some shopping and dinner around the Khao San area.  After a cooling durian ice cream at a parlour, we were on the street hailing a taxi.  A passing tuk-tuk offered to take us for 200B, and Marcus offered 150B which was accepted.  A bit pricey but at least no curry lunches were hurt in the process.

28 December 2018

WT had booked a private taxi to take us to DMK airport for our flight to Phuket this morning.  It was agreed at 500B, so not much of a premium on our taxi from the airport or so I thought.

There were no tolls to pay on the return trip, so the premium was about 250B.  We arrived early at DMK for our flight.

It was a 1.5 hour flight to Phuket.  Being domestic, the plane took off and arrived on time.

The taxi from Phuket airport to our hotel Lantern Resort at Patong Beach took one hour.  The taxi driver applied the meter but we were also guaranteed the price would not exceed 800B including the airport surcharge of 100B.  It turned out to be 750B.

Once checked in, we went for a walk around the hotel area, and had dinner at Patong Corner restaurant.

After dinner, Marcus booked his boat and snorkeling tour of the Similan Islands tomorrow for 2,400B.  This is a full day trip from 6 am to 7 pm.

29 December 2018

The van was early to pick up Marcus, he got a call at 5.45 am.  I decided to go for a walk on Patong Beach soon after, passing through Bangla Road on the way.  Bangla is the "racy" street where there are bars with girls on poles and massages comes with extras.  I won't bother posting any pictures of this street scenes as there are plenty already on YouTube if people are interested.

The beach itself also looked like it had been partied on.  There were people sweeping the sand and lots of deck chairs stacked up.  There was also a large music stage on the beach.

I noted the nearby Phuket town bus stop with a bus waiting.  It was breakfast time, so I hoofed back to the hotel to see if WT was awake.

We decided to go to the Banzaan Fresh Market for some noodles for breakfast.  The lower floor was a seafood market.  Upstairs was a row of food stalls with menus to cook BYO (sea) food from the fresh market downstairs.  It offers many different ways to cook your seafood etc, and the price is based on per 100gm.  Payment was by a cash card which must be purchased beforehand, and unused money can be refunded (the same day).

The temperature was rising rapidly, so we ducked into the very large Jung Ceylon shopping mall to spend a few hours.  There isn't a lot to do in Patong if you want to stay out of the heat (except for the two kinds of massages).

After a couple of hours at the mall, I was most happy to adjourn to our hotel room to catch some action movies on the large TV with my new supply of Chang beer from Big C supermarket.

This evening's activity was the Simon Cabaret Show.  It was 550B each including transport.  To accommodate Marcus' tour, I booked the 7.30 show.

The van arrived for us at 6.45pm but Marcus was still on his way back from his Similan Islands tour, so we went ahead.  He was dropped off at the hotel, and took a motor-cycle tuk-tuk to the Cabaret for 100B.

The show itself was a troupe of transvestite dancers lip syncing to songs/themes for 90 mins.  These guys have to perform 3 shows a night so they didn't put too much passion into the dancing.  Still, the mainly mainland Chinese audience were appreciative and I am certain "cheesy" wouldn't have crossed their minds.  The "girls" did a photo op after the show.

After the show, we went for a walk along the "racy" Bangla Road at 10 pm in full action, and along Patong Beach before retiring rather late.

30 December 2018

We took the 30B each bus to Phuket town this morning from the previously noted bus stop on Patong Beach. 

It was a warm 45 min ride, and we arrived at lunch time.  After 30 mins of walking, we found a Pad Thai restaurant for lunch.  And then went looking for a mall to get out of the heat.

Prices here were a little cheaper, and some purchases were made from the Robinson's mall.

The trip back to Patong Beach was on one of these smaller van tuk-tuks. 

We were squeezed into 3 rows of seats in the back.

It was instant noodles for dinner and a massage for WT and Marcus at the hotel.













31 December 2018
We leave for KL this evening on the 7 pm flight.  Marcus went for a swim at the beach and WT had one last massage.

We then packed up and went for lunch at the Lucky 13 cafe.  Our taxi driver from Phuket airport had arranged for a taxi friend to drive us to the airport for a discounted price of 650B.

Phuket airport is pretty nice and has lots of food courts.  We had dinner there, and bought some duty free whisky.  We have one day in KL before heading to Ipoh to visit Marcus' maternal grandma.  

Happy 2019!

Xmas in Thailand

21 December 2018 Friday

Marcus arrives from Melbourne early this morning, and took the airport train to KL city.  I picked him up from KL Sentral at 6.30 am and we were home before the work day traffic starts.

We had a roti dosai breakfast with Uncle Walter and Auntie Joann at Kanna Indian Restaurant.  Wang Theng won't be in KL till Sunday, so we were left to our own devices the next couple of days.

I decided we'd lunch at Madras Lane near Petaling Street, but first stop, Central Market for a fish spa. This is where you stick your feet in these ponds full of little black fishes and they eat the dead skin off your feet.

Some kids came by with their parents and asked what kind of fishes they were.  I suggested they might be piranhas and their parents don't need to worry about buying shoes thereafter.

We then walked to Madras Lane for their famous curry mee, which was delish and for Marcus (large bowl with extra noodles) very filling.

On the way to catch the MRT (subway) to NuSentral Mall, we walk past a durian dessert shop and the lady inside beckoned.

So we relented and had a kampung durian ice cream.

Marcus is holding up a fake plastic durian.

Then we took the MRT to Nu Sentral Mall where we decided to see the Aquaman movie starring Steven Adams.  Marcus said he wasn't, the actor was Jason M(something) who was not known to me.

Then it was home for dinner with the family at the Xigong sea food restaurant in Kepong.

22/23 December 2018 Saturday & Sunday

I arranged a day pass for Marcus to join me at my gym in Kepong Village for a couple of hours.  

After the workout, he found time to get a slick haircut.

Wang Theng was back in KL on Sunday with the in-laws.  We went to the Starling Mall area for an Indian curry lunch.

24 December 2018 Monday

We fly out to Bangkok this afternoon on Air Asia, arriving at the Don Mueang airport mid- afternoon.  I tried out my Thai hello (saw war tee krap) and "wai" (prayer palm together) on the immigration officer, who seem to appreciate it.  She said very welcome when I thanked her in Thai (cop koon krap).

While WT and Marcus waited for our one bag, I got some money exchanged.  And a 2nd chance to practise Thai.  I requested smaller notes so that we could give the taxi the exact change.  This will avoid having to make a large tip when the driver claims no change.

Then we went through a seamless customs, and into the arrival hall.  A couple of 8-day tourist sim cards were procured for 300B each.

The airport taxi is well organised, you pull a number from the machine and go up to the counter when your number's up.  They then assign you a driver. There was no one else at the taxi queue, so we got our ride immediately.  The mid-afternoon traffic in Bangkok was pretty light on our route.

We remembered to ask for the meter to be turned on, which turns out cheaper.  The fare to our Ibis Hotel near Khao San Road was 230 bhat, including toll 120 bhat, airport surcharge 50 bhat totalling 400 bhat.  I added a 20 bhat tip because a typical trip was closer to 600.

Our hotel Ibis Styles in Rambuttri Road near Khao San Road is pretty much near all the tourist action.  

After check-in, we were invited to the Xmas Eve party for complimentary cocktails at the pool (and only cocktails, I was denied a complimentary beer).

Marcus had arranged to meet his friend Dean from Brisbane and his parents for dinner.  They were touring South East Asia and happened to be in Bangkok.

But first a recce to the Chao Praya river where I plan to catch the Orange commuter boat tomorrow.

Recce done, and menus were inspected for dining potentials, on the way back to the hotel to meet Dean.

We met up with Dean and parents, and had dinner at the above Yummy Kitchen.   

After which we walked Khao San Road where the boys bought some fried scorpions and durian for a snack.

Khao San is kinda of a fun tourist trap with vendors for clothes, shoes, loud music bars, masseurs, crocodile BBQ and accomodation. 

While most signage has English, these are phonetic translations and are not official English names.  You cannot rely on the English version as they only provide guidance to an approximate Thai pronunciation.  The only accurate address etc are in Thai, even if you have to google translate it.

 

Boats Bikes and Wats

25 December 2018

I'd booked a Bangkok bike tour for today at 8 am.  WT wasn't game to cycle the narrow lanes and heavy Bangkok traffic.   The easiest way to the tour shop was by boat. 

We had a super early 6 am breakfast at the hotel and went to the pier Phra Arthit to catch our orange express boat to pier Si Pha Ya. 

The ticket booth was not open this early so we bought our tickets from the conductor on-board.  

By our happy faces, it was a fun ride.

After a short briefing at the Co Van Kessels bike tour, we were off thru the narrow lanes of Bangkok back-streets.  

Schools.  

Chinatown traffic.  

And hidden from mainstream tourists, temples, which we were allowed to enter.

We met up with WT after the bike tour and took a taxi to Paragon Mall.  This is a huge mall and made bigger by connecting bridges to two other malls in the area.  It was hungry work cycling, so we lunched at Ootoya Japanese restaurant.

After wandering around the Paragon and Central malls for a few hours, we took a taxi home to contemplate dinner in our hotel room.

26 December 2018 

The plan for today was to visit Wat Arun on foot.  WT was peeping into a Wat, when a kind Thai passer-by offered help with directions etc.  After a brief chat, he suggested we do a canal tour from Rachini pier instead of walking all the way to Wat Arun in the heat.

So we hailed a passing tuk-tuk for the 800m ride to the pier.  It was 10B each, 30B all up.  Unfortunately Marcus sat on the driver's curry, which messed up his pants and the driver's lunch.

The sales guy at the pier told us the canal tour will be 800B each and takes an hour.  He said 800B was the special price for ASEAN people.  Europeans have to pay 1,200B wink wink.  

WT and Marcus making sure the boat is sea worthy.  These boats are called long tail boats because of the long shaft driving the props.

The shaft is attached to a whole engine, with radiator and everything.  So the driver steers the whole engine to steer the boat.  

The tour took us around a canal off the river.  This canal is lower than the river so we had to go thru a lock to lower our boat to canal water level.

As we waited in the lock for the water level to equalise,  I noticed that all the Europeans in the other boats had life jackets, and we had a used tyre to share between the three of us.  That explains the 400B discount.

After the lock, the driver pulled us up to an old lady selling stuff in a row boat.  She convinced WT to buy a teak tuk-tuk toy, and me, a beer and one for the driver too.  It was of course a scam because we were charged 500B.  However, I was glad this was the morning trip and it was the driver's first or second beer.  I'd hate to imagine his condition on the last trip of the evening.

There are houses all along the river and we did a 10 min stop to inspect a temple.

It was a fun ride but I am not too sure if it was value for money.  We did have the boat to ourselves though.

 After the tour, the driver dropped us off at a pier near the Grand Palace.  The day was hot and the Palace packed with bus loads of mainly Chinese tourists. 

We decided not to go in.  Our dress code observance for naught.

We instead popped into an archive museum place for toilet, to cool off and for Marcus to strike a pose.  

We did try to take the tuk-tuk but they wanted 100B and google told us we were only 200m from the hotel. 

On the way thru Khao San, we saw the remains of the crocodile from the night before.

After a short rest in the hotel, it was time for lunch.  We decided to try the Poutine at a French Canadian cafe nearby. This is Canadian comfort food comprising fries with cheese.

We decided to take a walk to the Golden Mount temple later in the afternoon.  This temple in on top of a spiral walkway with views over the very flat Bangkok city.

On the way back, we were told to check out Bangkok's most famous pad thai, raved by Bourdain and other chefs.  But the queue was long and we were hungry.

By this time, it was getting dark and the lights on the various temples on the way home created some fine shots.

We settled for burgers at the hotel cafe.