Thailand 8D7N Trip: Day 7 & 8 Mall Hopping; Chinatown; Chatuchak Weekend Market

Day 7: Breakfast near Platinum Mall --> Big C --> Siam Paragon --> Siam Square -> MBK Shopping Centre --> Chinatown

Second last day of our 8D7N trip in Thailand. We decided to go mall hopping in the morning and check out Chinatown at night.

First thing to do: Feed our stomach! We went to hunt food at the street opposite Platinum Mall, again. This time, we found a small local stall that sells wan ton noodle soup and chicken/roasted pork/roasted duck rice. 

Platinum Mall (le heaven)

So this is how my breakfast looks like. I ordered a bowl of Wan Ton Noodle with soup and they served with quite a number of Char Siew (pork) (THB40). I find it quite OK.

After that, we started our journey to explore malls that are nearby. We first stopped at Big C Supermarket (Right opposite Central World) as the weather was really hot and all of us were sweating. And we did some shopping there to get junk food. The price at Big C is cheaper than elsewhere. A good place to buy stuff to bring home, especially junk food. Another place to buy cheap junk food would be a stall at 7th floor of Platinum Mall. Their Pocky is relatively cheaper than other places. 

After that, we walked from Centrtal World to Siam Paragon, which was about a 10 minutes walk.Walking under hot sun is really a big challenge. We just did some window shopping at Siam Paragon and went to Siam Square.

Group photo in front of Siam Paragon =D

At Siam Square, I found my beloved kitty cafe! Awww..... Unluckily, I was running out of cash and decided not to try it out. What a waste! I would definitely come back for this as it looks very promising and larger than the one I've visited in Taipei. 

Till we meet again.... >.<

Then, we had lunch at A&W. Fast food restaurant again! 

Bacon Burger + Fries + Rootbeer. 

This is not available in Malaysia though. Something special at least. 

After lunch, we continued to hop to MBK shopping centre as our last stop. We did our shopping along the way. MBK shopping centre isn't that nice to shop. It looks more local and older than other malls. However, I still get to do some shopping. Got my neck pillow here from a Korean Shop. XD

We were all very exhausted walking everywhere under hot weather. So we decided to head back to hotel with cab. NO MORE WALKING, they said. Haha.... However, girls decided not to rest in hotel until dinner time. We went out to the Pratunam market to continue our shopping journey. Pratunam market is huge and there are plenty of stalls! However, it is open air and I find it uncomfortable to shop in there. Ended up, we spare another hour time in Platinum Mall before going to dinner at Chinatown. 

Finally, we are done with shopping and going for dinner! The guys should be relieved that we had done our shopping. XD We headed out to Chinatown for shopping. We wanted to try and find out how to take local bus to Chinatown. The hotel reception thought us how to take bus but due to time limitation, we ended up trying Tuk Tuk instead. 

Bought ourselves a stick of BBQ pork as snack along our way to hunt for a Tuk Tuk. 

THB10 per stick, it's good!

Thailand 8D7N Trip: Day 6 Go Ang Pratunam Chicken Rice, Platinum Mall, Sirocco & Sky Bar Lebua

Day 6: Breakfast @ Go Ang - Pratunam Chicken Rice Shop --> whole day shopping at Platinum Mall --> Sirocco & Sky Bar Lebua Bangkok

It's finally our shopping day! If you are in Bangkok and plan to shop, I would suggest you to allocate a day for shopping. Why not half sight-seeing, half shopping? You might want to go some tourist spots and then continue with shopping, but you can't focus much, especially on comparing prices. 

We woke up later as it was our shopping day. Our target mall is Platinum Mall, which opens daily at 10am. Hence, we decided to go out for breakfast at 9am near Platinum Mall. After Google-ing, we found that opposite Platinum Mall, there are a few famous stalls which serve good breakfast. We randomly found a chicken rice stall, which looks quite promising. It is called Go Ang - Pratunam Chicken Rice Shop, the shop is very pink-ish (I like!).

The waiters/waitresses work at a fairly fast speed. 

I ordered a plate of chicken rice (chicken breast) as breakfast. You get to choose the part that you like here. Mine was THB40 and I find it really worthy. The sauce is the boom! I don't usually eat rice with sauce but in this restaurant, I finished the whole bowl of sauce with the chicken rice. Yumzz.... Apart from that, I bought a cup of iced coffee from a little coffee stall beside the chicken rice shop for THB30. It was surprisingly good (cafe standard) and I was very satisfied with my breakfast. Fully charged for a long shopping day! 

The chicken rice and delicious sauce!

Happy face because my caffeine dose was good!

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Shopped at Platinum Mall 10.30am - 6.30pm

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4 friends were very tired around 4pm and went back to hotel and rest. Left only Tyng and me to continue shopping. Our legs are strong! Hoho... After a long shopping day, we went to McDonald's to rest and also try their Chocolate Pie and Carbonara Pie (THB29 each). It's not found in Malaysia and I personally like the chocolate pie. Carbonara pie does not have much filling other than the sauce. 

Carbonara Pie (left); Chocolate Pie (Right)

Around 7pm, we met up with the others and decided to have a quick dinner at Subway. We wanted to find out what's the difference between Subway in Thailand and Subway in Malaysia. Let me show you the differences =D

#Difference 1: They have carrot slice!

Thailand 8D7N Trip: Day 5 Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, Grand Palace, Central World (Kum Poon & After You Dessert)

Day 5: Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, Grand Palace, Central World (Kum Poon & After You Dessert)

Initially, we planned to do day tours for floating market and grand palace for consecutive 2 days. Then we went to the hotel reception to ask if we could get a huge taxi for 6 persons. We were lucky that we chose to ask the hotel reception instead of walking out to the street to get taxi by ourselves. Why so? The hotel receptionist suggested us to rent a car for a day, which can fix 6 persons (or more), to go to both Damnoen Saduak Floating Market and Grand Palace in a day. It costs us THB2500 in total and we are allowed to decide wherever we want to go. This is such a great deal! We managed to save time and also the price is reasonable too.

We wanted to go Amphawa Floating Market at first, but the driver and hotel receptionist highly recommend us to go to Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. So, we decided to listen to locals. 

Damnoen Saduak Floating Market is the most famous floating market, which is about 100km southwest of Bangkok. This floating market is routinely crowded with hundreds of vendors and purchasers floating in their small rowing boats selling and buying or exchanging their goods. Most people live densely along both sides of the canal from one end of the canal to another. Majority of these people are agriculturists. (Click here to read more)

Upon arrival, the driver dropped us at a counter, where it seems to be a boat company that drive tourists around the floating market. We paid the boat fee and then get on board to start our floating market tour. ^_^ We have one boat for ourselves, which is good as we can stop freely whenever we want. Before we depart, the person in charge reminded us to stop the boat if we found anything that we want to buy. If not, the boat will just drive past.  

Amazing view of the floating market.

Bought a coconut ice cream as breakfast!

 This is so unhealthy but this is the first food stall that we found and all of us were starving that time. >.<

There are many vendors, some are on the boats and some are static ones. 

The boat stopped us at a coconut sugar farm for us to observe how they make coconut sugar.

This is quite similar to the one I've seen in Mekong River Tour, but this one at Damnoen Saduak don't have much things to see. 

This is the most happening part of the floating market, where people can get down for the hawker stalls. But our tour did not allow us to get down of the boat. Well, we aren't keen to get down anyway as the food here are really expensive. 

We ordered a plate of Pad Thai to share and this costs us THB200. Super overpriced. 

Tourist spot, what to expect? Hmmm.... And it is bad. =(

Friends were craving for some mango and we spotted a stall! Got this plate for THB50. Price is still reasonable and it is sweet! 

Sinnah and me enjoying the mango and boat ride. =D

We enjoyed our stay at Damnoen Saduak Floating Market but it gets really hot towards noon time. We quickly ran into the car to get some air cond. XD

Then, we asked the driver to drop us to a place for lunch. We managed to fill up our starved tummy with thai food, which are quite good. Maybe we were too hungry! XD Thanks to the driver. 

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NEXT: GRAND PALACE

We reached Grand Palace around 2pm. The weather was really hot, hot, hot! 

For your information, Grand Palace has very strict dress code. Visitors are required to dress appropriately. Clothes that are strictly not allowed:

• Shorts, mini-skirts, short skirts, tight fitting trousers, and tights
• See-through shirts and blouses, as well as culottes or quarter length trousers
• Sleeveless shirts or vests
• Sandals (without ankle or heel straps)
• Rolled-up-sleeved shirts
• Sweatshirts and sweatpants, wind-cheaters, pajamas and fisherman trousers

I made such mistake and required to rent their shirt and "sarong" for THB200 each, but the money is refundable. So no worries. But it wasted us a lot of time to queue up to rent the clothes. And it was really hot to wear double layer. 

What is so nice about Grand Palace? 

The Grand Palace is where every visitor must pay a visit, at least once in their lifetime. The Grand Palace served as a significant royal residence until 1925 and is now used for ceremonial purposes only. It is divided into 3 main zones: The Outer Court (home to royal offices, public buildings and the Temple of Emerald Buddha); The Middle Court (the most important residential and state buildings) and the Inner Court (exclusively reserved for the king, his queen and his consorts). (Click here for more information)

Tourists are everywhere. So crowded! It is really hard to explore the place in peace. There will be people bumping on you, at any time. 

Yes. I'm covered up for sun protection but it is so HOT!

The buildings inside are really beautiful and well protected. 

We spent about 90 minutes here and decided to run out of this place. One of the reason is that the place is closing soon and we are too hot to stay in there. XD

Our day trip ended because we were all wet and tired. The driver kept asking us, "Are you sure you all want to go back already?" He really wanna make our trip worthy. Such a honest and great driver. =) 

We went back to the hotel and rest. We were a little hungry and tried out the Meiji milk that we bought from 7-11 the night before. They are good and cheap! I love it. =) 

I prefer the original milk rather than the chocolate milk. 

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Dinner time @ Central World

Central World is within walking distance from our hotel, so we decided to walk there. In Bangkok, any place that is within walking distance and if you can walk, please walk! The traffic is really bad in Bangkok and you might spend more time and money to travel if you decided to take a cab. 

Central World entrance is strict where people will check your bags prior entering. 

First wefie in front of Central World.

Thailand 8D7N Trip: Day 4 Nopparat Thara Beach, Asiatique

Day 4: Nopparat Thara Beach, Flight Krabi --> Bangkok, Asiatique

Our flight to Bangkok is in the afternoon and taxi driver suggested us to leave the hotel at 1pm. Hence, we have some time in the morning to explore Krabi for the last chance. Found that there is a slightly more peaceful beach than Ao Nang beach , which is just beside Ao Nang Beach. So, we took a Tuk Tuk in front of ibis style hotel to the beach --> Nopparat Thara Beach. The journey costs us THB90 for return Tuk Tuk trip.

Noppharat Thara is a long beach (~5km), adjacent to Ao Nang and split into two halves by a river. The side closest to Ao Nang is the most developed as it is bordered by the main coastal road; access to the other side is by boat, or by a dirt track from the road to Klong Muang. (click here for more information)

This beach is so quiet and tourist-less. I enjoyed my visit here. Such a peaceful morning walk. 

I miss Krabi a lot. The emerald / blue sea and the soft whitish sand. 

With the long tail boats

Before we leave, we took a photo in front of the hotel. Thanks for such an amazing stay.

The taxi driver came to the hotel early while we were playing pool. He is really nice and waited for us to finish the game. I'm so grateful to meet such kind soul in a new place. Travel always make me believe that there are a lot of kind souls on earth. =)

Reached airport after an hour. We had lunch at the airport lounge.

Yes.... I ordered pineapple fried rice (THB 150) again! =D

It is not as good but reasonable taste. 

Waiting area at Krabi airport. 

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Can't wait to explore Bangkok!

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Can't wait to meet my another 2 friends!

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Upon arrival at Bangkok airport, we went to the taxi area to get a taxi to the hotel. Their taxi system is very systematic and fast. We waited for 80 numbers in less than an hour of waiting. It was fast. But we were forced to squeeze into a taxi with huge bags. Suffocating inside with the bad traffic jam of Bangkok city. Wow. Traffic is worse than KL. 

We reached Pratunam area after about an hour. Then, we immediately checked in to KC place and went out for dinner at Asiatique. 

Asiatique The Riverfront is a large open-air mall, situated in the former docks of the East Asiatic Company, and faces the Chao Phraya River and Charoen Krung Road. Asiatique opening hours is 5pm-12am daily, with 1500 shops and stalls and 40 restaurants. Asiatique opened on 27th April 2012.

We had Thai Food for dinner in a restaurant that we simply chose. Too many choices and we were confused. XD The dinner was quite ok. I didn't really enjoyed as I noticed that my handphone went missing. It is either in the hotel, in the cab or being dropped somewhere. So, I wasn't paying full attention during my visit at Asiatique. However, I do enjoy my ferris wheel ride.

The landmark of Asiatique --> Asiatique Sky operated by Mekhong.

Itinerary: Krabi-Bangkok 8 days 7 nights Trip

Just got back from 8D7N Thailand trip with tanned skin and empty purse! Before I forget, let me type out the itinerary for this trip. This trip covers Krabi -- a province with beautiful islands and Bangkok -- a happening, capital city of Thailand. 

Kuala Lumpur --> Krabi --> Bangkok --> Kuala Lumpur

Day 1: Kuala Lumpur --> Krabi --> Krabi Night Market

We arrived at Krabi airport around 2pm local time. Booked a taxi to our hotel -- Ibis Style Ao Nang with 600 baht (to be shared by 4 persons). We also booked tours for the next 2 days at the airport. After checking in, we went out to explore Ao Nang and also to hunt for some food. 

View from our hotel room's balcony. Beautiful view.

Street view of Ao Nang

Bought my first coconut ice cream from a random food stall by the road. 

It is the best and cheapest among all that I've tried throughout the trip. 

Went to an indian/thai shop for some green curry with chicken. 

And pineapple fried rice.

Booked a night market tour at hotel lobby for 200 baht per person.

I love this night market! There are plenty of food and craft stalls. 

Barbeque stall.

Nutella Banana Pancake

Grilled Red Snapper & Curry Noodle

Centre part of the krabi night market, where there is a dining spot and a performance stage.

Totally enjoyed this weekend market's food and environment.

Day 2: Hot Spring --> Blue Pool --> Emerald Pool --> Tiger Cave Temple --> Elephant Trekking

I booked this tour at the airport for 900baht, which include a buffet lunch. I think it is quite worthy as the view of blue & emerald pool is really amazing!

Enjoying the hot spring with no smelly sulphur. Love this place so much! But too bad the weather is so hot! I sweated so much. 

The beautiful but dangerous blue pool