Sunday, May 27, 2018

His Bangkok Birthday Trip 2018

Yolo! It's me again after tons of flying & training recently. my training just partially ends on two days ago. So I am going to take this weekend to continue sharing and documenting my happiness as usual. 

Most of you know that Bangkok city to me it's like a second home. I travel annually to worship at Erawan Shine. Well, this year I did not really decide when shall I go and since the boyfriend's birthday falls on the month of May. An idea came into my mind to celebrate his birthday at Bangkok, Thailand and it will be our first oversea vacation after since we got together. 

Naughty boy told me that he went to Bangkok ages ago. So I tried not to duplicate places that he visited. We skipped the museums & temples part, except Erawan Shine. After all, it's a birthday trip, I suggested the trip to be free, relaxing and fun. 

As usual, I am the one who plan the itinerary as this is his birthday trip, the birthday boy shall just enjoy the entire journey. So this time I'm not gonna complain. 

I am pleased to share my 4Days 3Nights Bangkok's Itinerary, but I didn't follow exactly: - 

10 May 2018 (Thursday)
17:40 : Boon Lay ----> Changi Airport by MRT.
18:40 : Arrived Changi Airport and collect Wi-fi router at Terminal 4 (Changi Recomended Counter)
20:00 : Boarding
20:40 : Singapore ----> Don Mueng (Duration : 2 Hours 10Mins)
22:40 : Arrived Don Mueng Airport, get a cab to hotel. (20Mins)
23:00 : Checked-in hotel.(Le Tada Parkview Hotel)
00:00 : Hunt for supper or night market nearby.

** Singapore time

11 May 2018 (Friday)
08:00 : Get up & get ready to start the day!
09:30 : Breakfast @ Golden Boat Noodle Victory Monument.(10 minutes walking distance)
10:30 : Erawan Shine to worship.(BTS : Victory Monument - Chit Lom)
10:50 : Shop within Siam and Pratunum 

Terminal 21 - MRT : Sukhumvit, BTS : Asok
Siam Centre - BTS : Siam 
Siam Paragon - BTS Siam
Big C Supercenter - BTS : Chit Lom, opposite Centre World
Siam Square - BTS : Siam

16:00 : Back to hotel for a rest and shower. 
17:00 : Dinner @ The New Rot Fai Market Rathada
19:00 : Massage 
21:00 : Night Life @ Khao San Road.
00:00 : Back to hotel.

12 May 2018 (Saturday)
08:00 : Get up & get ready to start the day!
10:00 : Breakfast @ nearby
11:00 : Chatuchak Weekend Market BTS : Mo Chit
15:00 : Back to hotel for a rest & shower. 
16:00 : Birthday Surprise
20:30 : Massage
22:30 : Back to hotel

13 May 2018 (Sunday)
07:30 : Get up & get ready to check-out hotel. 
09:00 : Arrived Don Mueng Airport and clear custom. 
10:00 : Breakfast @ Airport 
12:30 : Boarding
13:15 : Don Mueng ----> Singapore

Referring to our itinerary, we suppose to take a train to Changi Airport but due to the train condition (the mrt was jerking a few times after an emergency stop when heading to Jurong East station on that day. We decided to stop on the next station after Jurong East if the train able to move again as it keep jamming like no power supply like that.  We stopped at Clemanti station and get a cab to Changi instead.  



Surprisingly there was no jam and we manage to arrive early than I planned. The driver aligned us at Terminal 4 and we went to chill at Starbuck since it's still far more early. 



Still, mango from Thailand is the best of all. Couldn't agree more. 


I booked advance for a simple "Little Star" (A kid's meal larh if you are wonder why it's so cute and small.) for us to share as dinner on the plane and hunt for supper when we landed in Bangkok later. 


We took budget airline for this trip as it was just a short distance away.


What a spectacular view from the top. Didn't know that Singapore night view can be so beautiful. Those lights were like shinny jewelries. *shinning bright like a diamond....*

We landed at Don Mueng Airport, Bangkok about 10:30 pm and there was so crowded at the immigration. It took about 40 minutes for the immigration clearance. We then took a cab to our hotel (Le Tada Parkview Hotel) which is located at Victory Monument area and manage to check-in at 11pm. We leave our baggage and changed to a much comfy attire and head out for late night food hunt. Went to the 7 Eleven nearby, but not much variety of food to choose for as this one was a mini 7E. 


I found a pack of cereal in hello kitty packaging but not buying and I also bought a spicy chicken patty rice burger from 7E. 

Since the 7E has not much food for us, we walked through the quiet city and found a stall selling "Kuey Chap" at one of the alley. We dined there with all the local night owls. 



Although I have been to Bangkok for so many times, but I still didn't brush up my Thai, can't even throw out a proper sentence. * What a shame I know right? Lol * I only able to understand some of the keywords. We couldn't communicate with the person who took our order until he brought us the food menu. So, eventually we just point at the food picture and showed him how many we want. Lol. I miss the "Kuey Chap" and tasty ice black tea badly already!



The next day we leave the room at 9am after finishing his yummy yogurt drink that he bought at 7E last night. Our itinerary for day 2 were really simple, I planned to viait Erawan Shrine, shop around Siam and Pratunam area during the day time.  We had our breakfast at Golden Boat Noodles at Victory Monument. It is about 10 minutes away from our hotel. It was just nearby Victory Monument BTS station. 







I actually wanted to eat a lot but it's rather to save some empty space for other foodies than to slurp in all the noodles in one shop. So we ordered 5 bowls of boat noodles and a bowl of fried pork lard! They came in different gravies. Loving all of them!! *okay, gentle advice, never ever blog with an empty stomach, because I'm starving right now!*


We went to Erawan Shine after our hearty breakfast. Took a BTS train from Victory Monument to Chit Lom. Walk a few minutes and you will see the famous Erawan Shine. Not sure if you notice there is an odd thing in this photo or not. The joint sticks and candles are not lighten up. From March 2018 onward, they banned devotees for lighten up joint sticks and candles due to air pollution. It was my first time paying my worship with unlit joint sticks and candles. Felt kinda odd but I believe there is no affection if you pray with or without lit joint sticks and candles, most important is you pray with sincerity. 




My plan was perfect as day 2 was more on indoor shopping. The sky turned cloudy after we left Erawan Shine, We went to Central World the tenth largest lifestyle shopping complex in Bangkok.  


Did not buy anything from here as most of the branded retail shops can be found in Malaysia and Singapore and prices were average. We went into the kids department and pinned those magnetic alphabets to a message just for my boy *muuackz!* He pinned the "BANGKOK" word for me because most of the alphabets were taken by me. Oh ya, he bought me my favorite cartoon character "Scrump!!" which he named it as "哑巴" 



The next stop was Big C Superstore. it was my first time stepping into this store. It is a biggest supermarket chain in Bangkok. It's at the opposite side of Centre World. We took a trolley and made our his wallet bleeds! I would say that the products here are not consider the cheapest but it would be definitely ease you to hunt for souvenir for your colleagues & family members as they supply snacks in big quantities! It's more likely a wholesale supermarket for me.   

I found this "crispy small crickets" selling like a common snack in this mart which I found it quite interesting as no any mart selling exotic snack. I showed it to my boy and he grabbed 6 packs for his colleagues to share. *Luckily I'm not his colleague, Lol.* We only filled half of the trolley and it's already costed us S$230. I have never know snacks can costed this much until that day! Whoever tasting those snacks from us please slowly chew and enjoy the taste lerh, because every pieces count. *just kidding*. 
The first thing I noticed when I stepped into the mart was like feeling so homey. Why? Because we were surrounded with all the Malaysian & Singaporean. Everyone speaking the same language and everyone throwing Lays, Pocky and seaweeds in their trolley. 





After a long walk in Big C *thanks to my boy for selecting new slippers for so long*, we were starving. We dined at the food court in Pratunam Mall. I would say the food is the best among all and cheap!* I wanna cry....* I know right people went there crazy to shop clothes level by level, we went there took the elevator directly to the highest level for lunch. Lol. Sorry larh, the thai food were so tempting than the clothes for me and I was super exhausting and carrying so much of the snacks there. We found a table and left the snacks there to book the table. Ordered my favourite "Pad thai" and he ordered "Kuey Zap" *Yea, he was addicted with the kuey zap in Bangkok*  and Mango sticky rice & " Thapthim Krop" the traditional Thai dessert. Everything taste heavenly! *Stomack growling AF!* Imagine how hungry was I as I only manage to take photo of our dessert. Wa, I really cannot. I want mango sticky rice like right now!!!! 

We went back to our hotel room for a rest after our lunch. Left all the snacks bought from Big C at the corner and lay down on our comfy bed snacking and taking a short nap. 


We leave the room at 5 or 6pm to train market! Loving this place because everything it's all about food. 


If you read my earlier post, I went there last year with my friends. We had our dinner here. So I let him to pick his dinner spot. He chosen to dine in a local stall. But before that, we already had so much street food when walking to that stall. 

loving this!


Grilled big shrimps with thai sauce *I like the shrimps!*, Tom Yam Gong, Thai Salad and yummilicious coconut shake. My boy was smart, he said let's don't order rice so we still can try up other foods in this night market.  So, no bloaty stomach after this. 


Walk around to digest a little and my nightmare comes when he found ....... 

Have you snacked ?? he says pick one bugs from these 10 trays. Walao... how to pick? He ended up choosing for me the mini bite sized grasshopper. 


I have never in my life treating my mouth and tummy this way. Challenge accepted after a long consideration. *Once in a life time marh, duh.. why am I getting less brave as I grow older?!* You must be curious about the taste right. It's really out of my expectation. Aside of the gross crips feel, it taste like salty "鱿鱼干" (Dried shreded squid). It wasn't that bad but still bad for me. Ended up the boyfriend finished em' all like a pro. * Claps, you got balls (and you really have larh of coz) Rofl. *

cute pancakes! You know how to make my “哑巴” one? Lol. The boyfriend say food that looks good won't be tasting good. So, never try also larh. Hehe!

Okay, done with the street food. We then went back hotel room and walk around to look for massage service! Unfortunately, the area I stay is less touristic. Not much selection. So we when to one of the massage place and pamper ourselves with a 2 hours Thai full body massage. Not bad tho! We wanted to visit the next day also but couldn't find the way there. So we only get to massage once in this trip. *Sad sia*



Here goes the 3rd day! It's someone's big day... I woke up at 7am, and went down to the nearest 24 hours cafe to get a slice of cake. I wanted to be the first who wished him in the morning. My plan was not smooth and very embarrassing indeed! As we only have 1 room access card, I thought of leaving him alone in the room without access card the electricity will be cut off. So, I leave the room with only cash *cash from his wallet as all my Thai Baht was kept in the room security box and I dunno the password >.<* and a phone to call him to open the door when I reach the room. Bought the cake and I have a very hard time to ask the cafe's waiter if they have a birthday candle until the next staff which able to understand a little English approached me and tell me they don't have candle, dafuq. 

I went back to the hotel and to the hotel's dining lounge and ask the staffs if they have candle. They were so helpful, one of the staff went to the kitchen and search around and finally he found a box of candles. So then I asked for 1 candle and a lighter. And now ask me what do you call candle in Thai? It call "Theiyn!!!!" after all the hardship bagging for a candle. Lol. 

I was happily lighting up the candle and unboxed the cake. Next barrier was to ask him to open the door =.=. I voice called him with whatapps, but his phone was on silent!!!!!! Why my life is so miserable?! No choice but to knock the door very hard then only he got up to open the door. The first expression he gave me was a "wtf / dulan face, disturbed him from his beauty nap." So yah, my surprise failed. I'm very bad at surprising people frankly. 


 Look at his soulless face. Lesson learned, never wake a person up for a surprise. Never mind, we still have more years to try harder for a successful surprise. *Aww...* 

We then leave the room at 11am. Skipped breakfast as he just had his "birthday cake". So, we went down to the dining lounge to return the lighter and also to take a quick peek at the gymnasium as it was located at the same floor.





Although the gymnasium is not big, but the boyfriend said the equipment are just great for a full workout. We didn't bring our gym wear this time. So yea... no gym day!! Haha. 

We went to Chatuchak morning market by taking  BTS train from Victory Monument to Mochit. The weather is warm as usual and I think it's perfecto! 


Why I say warm weather is perfect ? Because we have the prefect excuse to stop for a refreshing Thai coconut ice cream!




We just briefly walk around Chatuchak market as both of us not really a fan of shopping. So, basically just window shop at a few alleys and leave Mochit. I heard there is a new Jatujak Vintage Flea - The Camp was newly set up at somewhere nearby Chatuchak area. So I insisted to search for the market. We manage to find where it is but it only open in the evening to night. It's not a big market, and there are mostly selling antique stuffs. 

We took BTS train from Mochit to Siam and wanted to treat the birthday boy a yummy dessert. I have two selection for him which is " Mo & Moshi " and "After You". We went to Mo & Moshi at Siam Center. He was shocked by the portion that I wanted to order.

 


I wanted to order the top one for him but I was stunned too when I saw the size. I googled the image before coming here. I saw the size was acceptable for 2 persons. I knew I was wrong when we arrived Mo & Moshi. We ended up ordered something much ordinary " Mo & Moshi's waffle with chocolate soft serve & cream", their soft serves are all homemade and taste super good!  But Mo & Moshi's signature desserts were all these giant sized desserts displayed on the rack lerh...  but we need a minimum of 5 persons to finish sia.  Haha. 



After that, we walk to Siam Paragon for "After You" which is just opposite of Siam Centre. 

" After You" Cafe is always so crowded with all the sweet-toothed people and it's a Must try dessert hot spot. No worries, there are many branches in Bangkok. 


The Thai boy of the day kha ... He loves the treats! Yay! 

Here comes his actual birthday treat - Movie date in Bangkok. I booked tickets in advance for two of us before we take our flight to Bangkok. We went back to hotel room and changed and take a train back to Siam again. Approximate 10 minutes walk to Embassy Centre where the cinema is located. The birthday boy have no idea where were we heading and what were we going to do at there. He was asking since the way back to our room from Chatuchak. I gave him a hint by telling him that we are going to do the same thing on a date where we normally do as a date in Singapore. He gave me a lot of funny answers, the more funnier he gave, the more secure I felt that he would never able to guess correctly. 

We were in Central Embassy Mall and the Cinema Hall is at the top level. We took a lift up and beside the level 6's button have a tag showing "cinema". Lol. I told you right, I'm a really bad surprise planner. I'm not sure did he notice or not but I was rolling my eyes when I saw the tag and I goes like "yea right, now you know where we are going." 

Embassy Diplomat Screen by AIS is the most luxurious cinema in Asia. I have never experience watching a movie in a World Class cinema before, the max. I went was Gold or Premium Class. So, I wish to try it with my love one on his birthday and hope this would gave him a memorable experience.


 Before heading to the movie hall, we were escorted to a tastefully decorated lounge for some refreshment and snacks.

We were going to watch Avengers : Infinity War. Movie duration is about 3 hours.


 I like seeing you smile, but I love it when I'm the reason.


We were being escorted to our daybed. It was a great experience watching movie on a huge daybed with pillows, blanket and slippers. Each daybed has a private mini bar with soft drinks and beer where you can enjoy during your movie. But I dosed-off a few times during the movie because it was too comfy for a 3 hours sleep. Lol. 


It was nearly 8:30pm after the movie. We were exhausted and return to our hotel room right after the movie. Showered and rest and pack our stuffs as we have to depart early in the morning to catch our noon flight. 

I really cannot understand why these costed us S$230 *head scretching*.

Oh ya, we ended up never go to bed early but still went to the "Kuey Zap" stall nearby our hotel to feed our hungry stomach and also take the last bowl of "Kuey Zap" before return to Singapore. 


Chinese pork rice & "Kuey Zap" for the last night in Bangkok in 2018.

 Okay, that's all for our short gateway to Bangkok in 2018. I'm not sure if the boyfriend still want to come along for the entire life of his with me not. Lol. Maybe he sien already after a few more trips. I normally bring my family or friends who every want to tag along larh because I have went most of the places and what my purpose was to visit Erawan Shrine every year of my life until to the stage I'm not able to travel by myself anymore. 

This trip was purposely scheduled to match my boyfriend's brithday as I think that celebrating his birthday in Bangkok would be quite special for him. A little message for you my dear " I hope you have a great time in Bangkok and hope that you love your birthday treats well. And once again Happy Birthday to you. Love you "