Bangkok 2013 Day 1!! :D

Finally blogging about our Bangkok trip! We went for the much-awaited trip in January, and it was superb. 

 Bought our tickets from Tigerairways around September I think, when they were having a promotion, the air tickets and accommodation came up to almost $300 for a 5D4N trip, which is more worth it than those deals you get off Groupon and the like I think.

 Took the airport rail link city line, can't really remember, but I think it was about 40baht per person. So much cheaper than taking a taxi. We took the city line back to the airport as well and it was just as convenient.

 Many other tourists (Singaporeans too?) taking the city line with their huge-ass luggages. Ours really paled in comparison because we didn't actually bring a luggage.

 

 Our hotel! We stayed at KC Place Hotel, and I must say I really enjoyed my stay there.

KC Place Hotel is conveniently located beside Baiyoke Sky Hotel, so you'll have no issues finding the place no matter where you are in the area, all you've got to do is look up and identify the tallest building.

It's also just beside the Airport Rail Link and you can actually see it once you get off at Ratchaprarop Station, and the best part is it's only about like, 3 minutes walk away?

The only downside to KC Place is that you've got to pay a 1000baht (~SGD40) deposit when you check in, but you can also pay it by credit card. And there's only one access card per room so it may be inconvenient for some.

The security is really good though, you've got to tap your access card before you can access the rooms area. Ours were located on the second floor, I would have preferred a room located on a higher floor, but seeing how we weren't actually spending much time in the hotel, it wasn't really an issue.

The uncle can speak English, Chinese and Cantonese because he was born in Hong Kong or something. I was quite prepared for ill-service from some of the Agoda reviews but everything went fine, the receptionists were quite nice in fact. Just that every time we asked for something e.g. more access cards, whether we can get a room on a higher floor, the uncle told us to upgrade the room. -.-

I really loved the location of the hotel though. You can take a short cut through the Baiyoke Sky Hotel carpark (on the left after exiting the hotel lobby), and you're right in the Pratunam area. It's really vibrant at night too, though much lesser shops are open at that time la.

 

The rooms were quite spacious in fact, and very much similar to the pictures on Agoda, for once the pictures didn't lie. The hard mattresses were a bonus because I prefer my beds this way. ^^

The bathroom was quite small though.

We had the famous wanton mee for lunch, the place was quite easy to find with so much guided directions from the internet.

From Amari Watergate Hotel, just walk in the direction against the traffic until you reach McDonald's, and then turn right into the side lane.

The waitresses there can speak Chinese one lor. Damn pro. The noodles were really good but the serving was too small :( . And at 50baht I wouldn't really say it's cheap since you can find nice wanton mee with a decent serving at SGD2.50.

Went to Amari Watergate Hotel to tailor K's shirts. It's so much more worth it tailoring it there since it's only like SGD50 per shirt, you can never get that price in Singapore la. K abandoned his usual shop for this new one because it's slightly cheaper (I think, or maybe they had a wider selection? Or maybe the boss was nicer? Hahaha.)

Fellow Singaporean (also from NUS) tailoring their shirts there as well. They were also there on the day we went back for the fitting so we talked a bit.

Then we proceeded to Platinum Mall!! YAY!! :D I feel happy just thinking about it. Hahaha.

 Feel like this time round most of the nice clothes were concentrated on the first and third floor. Didn't really managed to get much from the other floors. Lucky K was there since he stopped me from making a lot of impulse buys.

Went to the roadside stalls in front of Central World for dinner.

 You MUST try their salt-crusted grilled fish when you're there, possibly one of the best fish I've had in my life. So succulent the meat just melts in your mouth.

I can't seem to find this in Singapore, I found the ones cooked using find salt but it just doesn't taste the same.

 Look at the crowd.

 And the heart-stopping prata as our dessert. So much heart-stopping condensed milk and oil involved but it's heart-stoppingly good.

 We tried to walk to Siam Paragon after dinner but we got lost along the way. It's actually really simple, just go around Central World (walk straight from the roadside stall until you get to the cross junction and turn right, then walk all the way straight).

 Siam Paragon was so luxurious and impressive, like a thousand times grander than ION. It was really an eye-opener. The cinema was located on the top floor, and I was telling K how Singapore will never let so much space go to 'waste' just providing lush sitting areas and all.

 The weird thing is that they don't show their 4D showtimes on the internet. And you'll only know what movie is showing on that day itself, so you've got to go down and check out the timings, or call up their staff. By the way they had really good service. I'm thoroughly impressed.

We decided to save the 4D show for another day, so we went to the night market opposite Siam Paragon. By the way, don't buy anything from the first few stalls because they're insanely expensive, you can probably find the same stuff at a fraction of the price deeper in.

That's the end of day 1!