3D2N Bangkok Trip

Bangkok has become a very popular tourists' location over the years due to its stable economic and its charm as a rich cultural and spiritual city with amazing culinary. Traveling to Bangkok has also been much easier and cheaper with the availability of budget airlines throughout nationwide. Now you can travel to Bangkok and spend your time over the weekends without poking a big hole in your pockets. I would like to share on the places I went to for a 3D2N Bangkok trip recently.

Air-ticket was booked from budget airline ie. Tiger Airway from Singapore to Bangkok International Airport (Suvarnabhumi) and journey only took me about 2 hours luckily without delay.

As I was on budget, I decided to use public transport for most of my traveling. Coming out from the airport entrance, I made way to the Airport Rail Link which was at the first floor. It is a smart alternative to express bus and taxis.

FYI the Airport Rail Link (ARL) connects to the MRT (Petchaburi Station) underground at Makkasan City Interchange Station and the BTS Skytrain at Phayathai Station.

From the ARL, I took a transfer to MRT at Petchaburi Station which dropped me at Asok BTS station. From Asok BTS Station, I alighted at the next station at Nana which was a 5-minute walk to my lodging.

After checking into Salil Hotel Sukhumvit Soi 11, I changed into light clothing and prepared to move around the city. My first thought was to find something to eat and decided to drop by at the Siam Paragon Food Mall which is now still a popular eating place due to its centralised location.

Most of the food malls particularly those bigger ones are using cash card for transactions. To avoid insufficient value while purchasing your food, you may choose to top up slightly more than what you required eg. 1000 baht and get it refunded later at the same counter you got your cash card from, however cash refund must be on the same day. I got myself my favourite glass noodle Pad Thai with mung beans.

For drinks, I bought myself an iced lemon grass drink which is popular among the Thai.

After refunding the cash card, I settled down at 'Bake A Wish' and ordered this called 'The Memory Of Macaron' for dessert. It was very refreshing after eating.

After dinner, I decided to go to 'Asiatique The Riverfront' to spend my evening at a modern night bazaar which was the site of an old pier. I took the free shuttle boat from the Sathorn Pier which was just 50m beside the BTS Saphan Thaksin Station.

Apart from the well known night markets like Chatukchak Friday Night Market, Patpong Night Market and Rod Fai Markets etc, Asiatique is the most recent one that has evolved.

This is part of the Factory District where you can find 1000+ of small shops selling fashions, souvenirs and handicrafts etc.

I could see mixture of cultures from the East and the West there. It has stores selling a variety of local delights and restaurants serving western and Asian gourmets. There is a ferris wheel which you may consider to take a ride on it to end the night's tour with beautiful sights of the city's night scenery.

I chose to stay at this Salil Hotel Sukhumvit Soi 11 was mainly due to nearby BTS Nana Station for easy moving around in the city and also due to the nice buffet breakfast they served. I personally like the bacon myself as it was not over done and not too salty.

Morning tour was to visit Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn. Hired a taxi at 200 baht and dropped off at one of the entrance there. That was the entrance to the Wat Arun. Unfortunately it is under maintenance for the next 2 years+ due to the deterioration of the architect.

Wat Arun is named after the Indian God of Dawn, Aruna. As it is located on the west bank of Chao Phraya River away from the tourist center, it has become an iconic architect in Bangkok.

The next place of interest is the Wat Pho which is right across the river diagonal to Wat Arun. I just took a ferry (frequent every 10 minutes from 6am to 8pm daily) to cross the river to the opposite at Tha Thein Pier. Walked out of the pier about 75m and there was the entrance of Wat Pho, the Temple of Reclining Buddha.

The highlight of Wat Pho is of course the Reclining Buddha which stands at 15m tall and 46m wide. Take note that as Wat Pho is a religious site, all visitors must wear appropriate clothing with no exposed shoulders and skin above the knees.

Wat Pho not only has the largest reclining Buddha but it also has the largest collection of Buddha images in Thailand.

Shown here were some of the chapels which consist of several Buddha images.Even though I did not understand the significant of the images, I could appreciate the beautiful artwork.

An easy 10 minutes walk towards North of Wat Arun is the Grand Palace. I would suggest you to come here as early as 8.30am to avoid the crowds. Since 1780s The Grand Palace has been the residence of the Kings of Siam (Old Thailand) until 1925. Currently it is used for official events and royal ceremonies.

The Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha) is located at the North-east corner of the Grand Palace compound. This temple house the world's famous tiny jade statue known as the Emerald Buddha.

I was being told by a Thai guide that this temple compound does not have living quarters for monks to stay but it is full of impressive architect like pagodas, statues and holy buildings.

Admission to the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew has increased again recently to 500 baht. Remember to dress appropriately if you are visiting to the temple. There are trousers and long skirts for rent if needed. Just make a 200 baht deposit first and when you return the clothes, you will get back the deposit. Fantastic isn't it?

Feeling hungry and thristy after too much walking around? Don't worry as there are quite a number of street hawkers that you can find beside the main road outside the entrance of the Grand Palace. There are BBQs, local snacks, sliced fruits, cold drinks etc to keep you refreshed and engergised for the entire day.

I still prefer eating Pad Thai as this is my favourite Thai food. One freshly fried plate costed me 60 baht. Drinks from another stall eg. chrysanthemum or orange drink will cost similarly at 60 baht for small plastic cup and 100 baht for a big one.

While seated at the stall to enjoy my Pad Thai, I saw a man who took out a phython from 1 of the baskets nearby and trying to get some fee from tourists taking photos with it. Thai people at this tourist region have become more business minded than ever. Some may try to con tourists. If you are unsure of directions, try asking the shop owners rather than those tuk tuk or taxi drivers who may offer you a free ride to other shops which they could earn some commissions.

The night was still young after my dinner. So I decided to visit the Patpong Night Bazaar which is a must night shopping destination for avid shoppers. It can be reached by the nearest BTS Sala Daeng Station and exit from the left. Continue to walk through the trail of vendor stalls along the road and within 5 minutes, you will be there.

There are many vendor stalls in Patpong night bazaar which you may find good buy, however this is the place where you will need some skills to bargain to get a good price.

Apart from the night market, Patpong is also well known for its night life. There are several Go Go Bars and regular bars scattered along the stretch among the vendor stalls. Quite a few of the happening ones will have exotic shows performed every hour or so. Beware, do not get scammed when someone offer you to watch a free show, as many tourists have been conned for huge bills. I went to this Bada Bing which is the biggest Go Go Bar to chill out before I end the day going back to the hotel to rest.

Having breakfast on the 3rd day. FYI, fried or scrambbled eggs can be ordered from the waitress. I enjoyed drinking their guava and orange juice to get fresh on a weekend morning.

No trip to Bangkok, Thailand is complete without visiting the Chatukchak weekend market. Chatukchak weekend market is the largest market in Thailand. It is opened on weekends from 0900-1800 and friday from 1800-2400. I alighted at BTS Mo Chit Station and exited from no.1 exit. Walked over the bridge and followed the crowds and I arrived at the small entrance of the market .

Chatukchak market has more than 8000 stalls and it is better to wear something light and casual since it is not air-conditioned like a shopping mall and it could get real hot even in the early morning.

As I am not good with directions, I got a map from one of the fruit stalls at section 6 near to Gate 2 entrance. One advice is try to mark down the stalls' number that interest you as there is a possibility you may want to go back to the stalls at a later time to make purchase if you change your mind.

As there are too many stalls in the market, the stalls are divided into 27 sections with each section selling its own category of goods eg. section 2-6 , 10-26 are clothings and accessories. This was one of the food stalls at section 26 selling nice finger food.

Seeing the street hawkers' food made me feel hungry. Tried a plate of the deep fried prawns at 100 baht and it turned out to be quite tasty and not too oily.

Walking along, I saw some many people crowded over this stall selling coconut ice cream. I joined the queue and managed to get one myself. It costed 35 baht and you can choose 3 toppings eg. corn, glutinous rice, peanuts, nata de coco, atap seed and etc. A small cup of ice water came with it as a complimentary. Refreshing dessert for a hot sunny day.

Browsing at this stall at section 2 selling some interesting kitchenware.With so many variety of items and goods, surely you will find something that you like out from this place. Price may not be the cheapest but it is still consider reasonable for a good deal.

The morning was gone after visiting the Chatukchak weekend market. I jumped over to this famous Thai Wantan Mee stall at Soi Phetchaburi 19 which is near to Pratunam market. It is called Saeb x 2 Wantan Noodles.

I ordered a big bowl but it did not seem a big portion. Noodles was just nice and it tasted just like Singapore's version of wantan mee with Chao Siew pork inside. They claimed to be the best wantan noodles in Bangkok, so I was curious to try it out. Overall, I was quite satisfied with it but the portion was too little. Noticed some girls actually ordered 2 regular bowls for individual serving. That's another smart way of ordering it. Good job in saving budgets.

Taking a look at the Pratunam market was part of my schedule. It is just over the next street behind the Saeb X 2 Wantan Noodles Stall. It is the biggest wholesale garment market of fashions, apparel, belts, watches, accessories, luggages etc.

Though Pratunam market is more of a wholesale seller, the shops are willing to sell tourists at a small quantities. They are also able to sell bigger quantity of the same item at a very competitive price.

Crossing the main road over is the Platinum Fashion Mall. This 7 floor building is actually a wholesale and retailing shopping centre mainly specialise in fashion and accessories .

From the signboard you can see that from basement floor to the 3rd floor are selling women's fashion, accessories and apparel. But there are still shops on the 4th and 5th floor selling men's and children's stuffs. On the 6th floor, it is where all the souvenir and gift shops are located.

Most of these shops do not allow people to try on their clothing. I bought a T-shirt which the size looked ok but later found out it was actually smaller than it looked. A point to take note is that most of the clothing they are selling are catered for ladies' fit and slim build for men mainly for Thais I supposed.

Most of the items in the shops will have 2 price tags with them. Don't be misled that the lower price you see is a discount. It is the wholesale price they offer when you purchase more than 1 or 2 items of the same.

After walking around, I finally reached the 6th floor where there is also a food court. Feeling thirsty, I ordered the Thai Sweet Dessert. It was not too sweet but rather refreshing. Yummy, trust me you will like it too.

Being the all time popular dessert, anyone who goes to Thailand will surely have a mango sticky rice or two. This one at Platinum Fashion Mall was also quite up to standard. After finish eating the dessert, I realised time was not early and decided to do a last minute shopping.

CentralWorld is a mega shopping complex somewhere about 150m behind the Platinum Fashion Mall. It is the largest shopping mall in Thailand and also among the largest in the world. It has almost everything from branded fashion, electronic gadgets, beauty saloons, massage parlors, cinema, supermarket, cafes, restaurants and many others. I could easily spend 3 to 4 hours here.

At CentralWorld, there are about 100 restaurants and cafes. I decided to try the Nara Thai Cuisine which is located at the 7th floor. After trying out their dishes then I understood why they are the Thai's best restaurant since 2007 till 2014. Highly recommend this place to you.

Found a stall selling durians and durian stick rice near the eatery place. Durians are not too popular with the local because of high price and Thai durians are very filling to the stomach due to its thick flesh characteristic.

Time flied fast and I got to catch the mid-night flight back home. There are many other attractions in Bangkok that are worth to visit eg. floating markets, Chinatown, Khao San Road, Jim Thompson's House and others etc. Overall this 3 days, 2 nights trip was just what I planned to do and see for a short stay over the weekend. Hope you guys can share some comments and suggestions when you visit Bangkok.