For breakfast we thought of eating again at the Vietnamese restaurant since they have a wide choice of fried rice meals. Unfortunately, they were not open yet. We chanced by another Vietnamese noodle house called Pho 35 beside the bakery and food store and decided to try it. It was a good choice although the menu was limited. We ordered Pho Ga (chicken noodles) since the beef was not available (we later learned it was only available on certain days of the week, which is Wednesday if i'm not mistaken). I also wanted to try the spring roll but it was also not available then. Prices are cheap and the noodles are indeed THB35 each. We have eaten noodles in Pho Hoa here in the Philippines and they taste good, but the one in Pho 35 seemed simpler in preparation but still tasty.
We booked the Ayutthaya tour at the travel agency the day before for Saturday as they are closed today and tomorrow due to being national holidays. We were not aware of the significance of these dates. I later found out these were Buddhist holidays, specifically Asakha Bucha and Khao Pansa. For these reasons, alcohol was not available to buy in stores.
After Rene's training which finished early today, we decided to go to downtown Bangkok together with his officemates. We took some pictures at the gate of AIT on our way out as well as at the bus stop.
We rode the non-aircon bus 39 which cost us a flat rate of THB8.50! Talagang sulit namin coz the university was ~40km from Bangkok. We incidentally chanced by some fellow Filipinos onboard the bus who heard us talking in Tagalog. There we met Mae and Orfa, who are actually working at AIT. They were on their way to Future Park which is the closest mall to AIT. We exchanged contact details so that we could all later hang out.
While onboard, I took some interesting pictures along the way.
Someone offering at a Buddhist altar(?) and a glimpse of Thai street food
We alighted at the Mochit/Chatuchak Park BTS Skytrain station so we could take the MRT to Siam station and stroll around the malls.
We did not actually shop around and just realized that Siam Paragon is a high-end Mall with high-end stores somewhat like Shangri-La in the Philippines. So we just took wacky pictures around the place before going to MBK which is another mall across the street.
We ate dinner at Mcdonald's which is inside a department store. Their fries and drink are larger than the regular size in the Philippines.
After dinner, we decided to go to Suan Lum Night Bazaar. Taxi drivers in front of the MBK charge a high fee and does not want to use meter. The starting price one quoted was THB200 which he reduced to 150 but we still found it expensive. We saw some of the drivers on a drinking spree. We also asked a tuktuk driver for his rate but he was asking for THB100. Fortunately we saw a taxi stand at the side of the mall and we got a taxi meter. Our ride from MBK to Suan Lum only took around THB50 plus added a tip. We were able to buy a lot of native items and souvenirs there. The area is huge so we were not able to actually see the whole place.
The items are very affordable and you can easily haggle the price. We bought 3 for 100 spicy tamarind, THB10 spice packs (such as tom yam paste, yellow and red curry), 10 for THB100 keychains and coin purses, THB99 shirts, and THB250 photo album (for 72 4x6 pics) which is half the price of a similar one I bought 2 yrs ago in Malacca, Malaysia.
We took a taxi back to AIT which cost us THB250 from the meter plus tip. The trip was fast as there is rarely traffic along the highway. You have the option to use the skyway but you have to pay the toll which is expensive.
We booked the Ayutthaya tour at the travel agency the day before for Saturday as they are closed today and tomorrow due to being national holidays. We were not aware of the significance of these dates. I later found out these were Buddhist holidays, specifically Asakha Bucha and Khao Pansa. For these reasons, alcohol was not available to buy in stores.
After Rene's training which finished early today, we decided to go to downtown Bangkok together with his officemates. We took some pictures at the gate of AIT on our way out as well as at the bus stop.
We rode the non-aircon bus 39 which cost us a flat rate of THB8.50! Talagang sulit namin coz the university was ~40km from Bangkok. We incidentally chanced by some fellow Filipinos onboard the bus who heard us talking in Tagalog. There we met Mae and Orfa, who are actually working at AIT. They were on their way to Future Park which is the closest mall to AIT. We exchanged contact details so that we could all later hang out.
While onboard, I took some interesting pictures along the way.
Someone offering at a Buddhist altar(?) and a glimpse of Thai street food
We alighted at the Mochit/Chatuchak Park BTS Skytrain station so we could take the MRT to Siam station and stroll around the malls.
We ate dinner at Mcdonald's which is inside a department store. Their fries and drink are larger than the regular size in the Philippines.
After dinner, we decided to go to Suan Lum Night Bazaar. Taxi drivers in front of the MBK charge a high fee and does not want to use meter. The starting price one quoted was THB200 which he reduced to 150 but we still found it expensive. We saw some of the drivers on a drinking spree. We also asked a tuktuk driver for his rate but he was asking for THB100. Fortunately we saw a taxi stand at the side of the mall and we got a taxi meter. Our ride from MBK to Suan Lum only took around THB50 plus added a tip. We were able to buy a lot of native items and souvenirs there. The area is huge so we were not able to actually see the whole place.
The items are very affordable and you can easily haggle the price. We bought 3 for 100 spicy tamarind, THB10 spice packs (such as tom yam paste, yellow and red curry), 10 for THB100 keychains and coin purses, THB99 shirts, and THB250 photo album (for 72 4x6 pics) which is half the price of a similar one I bought 2 yrs ago in Malacca, Malaysia.
We took a taxi back to AIT which cost us THB250 from the meter plus tip. The trip was fast as there is rarely traffic along the highway. You have the option to use the skyway but you have to pay the toll which is expensive.
Related Entries:
Welcome to Bangkok! (7/15/2008)
Day 2 in Thailand (7/16/2008)
Day 3 in Thailand: Shopping galore! (7/17/2008)
Day 4 in Thailand: Grand Palace (7/18/2008, part 1 of 2)
Day 4 in Thailand: Dinner River Cruise (7/18/2008, part 2 of 2)
Day 5 Ayutthaya Day Tour: Bang Pa-In Palace (7/19/2008, part 1 of 2)
Day 5 Ayutthaya Day Tour: Wat Mahathat (7/19/2008, part 2 of 2)
Day 6 in Thailand: Inside the Grand Palace (7/20/2008)
Day 7 in Thailand: Future park, Patpong and Suan Lum in one night (7/21/2008)
Day 8 in Thailand: University Life (7/22/2008)
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