Sawadee Ka!

Just came back from Bangkok over the weekend. Luckily we did not encounter any protests or inconvenience from the demonstrations currently ongoing in Bangkok. Before I went, everyone kept telling me to be careful lah... if there's any riot, run in the other direction etc.. But, the atmostphere there at the major shopping areas were still normal, like before. There was no feeling of riot or street protest at where I was staying. However, there were noticably less Singaporean tourists around. Foreigners were still plentiful though.

On my 1st day at Bangkok, we arrived and reached our hotel in the late afternoon. We left out baggage and proceeded straight to Erawan Shrine to pray to the Four-faced Buddha. Hmm… I found that it's better to go to the Shrine in the late afternoon as it's less crowded. The last time I came around noon and it's was super crowded with both locals and tourists. Next it was dinner at Coca Steamboat! One of my favourite :) the Tom Yum Soup was nice… different from our Singapore version.

The next few days were spent at shopping complexes, MBK, Siam Square, Siam Paragon & CentralWorld. Bought pasmina shawls, local snacks, lingerie, toiletries, t-shirts and Naraya products! Also when to get made-to-measure shirts at MBK. Quite cheap and efficient. 800+ baht for an egyptian cotton shirt which the tailor says is like Raoul. That's about $30+ SGD which is not too bad and they were able to deliver the completed shirts to our Hotel the very next day :) He originally quoted us 1200 baht but my fren managed to slash it down to just over 800baht.. Hehe...

Also tried this Health Land Spa and Massage Centre (www.healthlandspa.com) which was recommended by many tourist guides and online comments. Tried their Traditional Thai Massage at 450baht for 2 hours (~SGD$21) and it's pretty good. But think they spend too much time massaging my legs… wish they could do more for my back and shoulders instead. But the head and neck massage was pretty comfy. I wasn't too confident in locating the place myself so we took a taxi from the hotel. It's supposedly easy to get there via BTS but I find the surrounding not very touristy… Better to make advance booking with the Centre too! I asked the hotel to help me call in the morning for an afternoon massage. They have many staff there so I think it shouldn't be a problem to make an appointment on the day itself.

After the massage, we went to search for a local seafood restaurant (Lek Seafood) under Chong Nonsi BTS station. Found this restaurant on the internet and the review was quite good. The place was really quite run-down and probably wouldn't appeal to me at all of not for the review on the internet. We only ate the BBQ Jumbo Prawns and Steamed lime sauce Catfish. Yum Yum… l love to eat seafood in Thailand.. hee.. 200baht for 4 jumbo prawns (1/2 kg). That's abt $8.40 SGD. I think that's cheap too! But can't remember the price for the fish though.. hee.

Overall, I think the trip was a good one. SQ flight, hotel stay and experience there were all good. I shall be back again :)