Thailand - Day 3: Bangkok (2 Nov 2014)

While everyone's crazy over the Soi 19 wanton noodles, we settled for another one found along the streets near our hotel.

No, not Soi 19.

After breakfast, we went to Taling Chan Floating Market. I fell in love at first sight with the floating market culture, and I just had to bring MJ here since it's her first trip to BKK. Upon arriving at BTS: Saphan Taksin, you can either purchase the tickets at the counter located at the BTS station, or at the pier. There may sometimes be package tour when it would include visits to the Grand Palace and Wat Pho. You just need to check your schedule and work the sums to decide.

  

  

  

    

We saw the sweet thai crepes (aka Khanom Buang) and they looked so cute. Decided to buy some to try and they were damn good! 林真香 also sells that in boxes, but definitely not as fresh. Mango sticky rice is also a must eat when you are in Thailand! (My favourite in fact. :D) And sadly, the green bean paste dessert (3rd pic below) used to be available in Singapore. The exterior has various designs like fruits and vegetables, but taste all the same just like ang ku kueh with a thin layer of gelatine jelly.

  

We then headed to the Grand Palace. Just by looking at the below pictures, you could see how crowded it was on a Sunday afternoon! See my previous BKK post for more pictures about Taling Chan Floating Market and Grand Palace.

 

We had a late lunch at Hachiban Ramen at Central World. You wouldn't have guessed the cost. This bowl of tom yam noodles with roast pork cost me only THB 88 (less than SGD 3.50)! It tasted good too!

In this trip, we have taken almost all modes of transport, except for railway trains and motorbikes. We decided to go to Talad Rot Fai at night. There is no BTS station nearby and we had to take their local song-theaw from behind Big C (BTS: On Nut). It was pretty scary walking on the dark and foreign streets, looking for the place to hop on the song-theaw. At one point, we walked into a dark alley and there was a group of men sitting around. I also realised that a man was kinda following us from the main road into the alley. Luckily we approached the security guard for directions and made our way back to the main road. We asked a few other locals and finally hopped on to the correct song-theaw. The lady sitting beside us could speak English and conversed with us throughout the trip. She even told us where to hop off (based on her limited knowledge of Talad Rot Fai). A very helpful lady!

One of the other main modes of transport in BKK - Song-theaw.

Talad Rot Fai is an authentic open-air bazaar vintage collectibles, antique furniture, and hippy fashion. It is located just next to the train tracks, with 3 different sections: Market Zone, Warehouse Zone, and Rod's Antiques. There is one stall that specialises in merchandise customisations. Many Singaporeans like us would customise their passport holders, pouches, keychains etc here.

At the carpark entrance of Talad Rot Fai.

 

There are stalls selling cute puppies too.

 

Numerous tentages of stalls. There was a food corner and we settled our dinner there (Ft. Moo yang, BBQ blue river prawns, som tam aka papaya salad, and squid egg).

 

Vintage cars in front of the warehouses.

Taling Chan Floating Market

Operating Hours: 0700 to 1600 (Sat/Sun)

Getting Here: Take BTS to Saphan Taksin and use Exit 2 to reach the pier for the long tail boat.

Grand Palace & The Emerald Buddha

Operating Hours: 0830 to 1530

Getting Here: Take the Chao Phraya Express Boat to Ta Chang Pier (No. 9). A 5 to 10 mins walk will bring you to the entrance gate of Grand Palace.

Entrance Fee: THB 500/pax

Talad Rot Fai Night Market
Operating Hours: 1700 to Midnight
Getting Here: Take BTS to On Nut. Head towards Big C Extra and take song-theaw behind Big C (I would recommend that you ask the locals for directions and which song-theaw to go to Talad Rot Fai). The journey is about 15 to 20 mins and cost only 8 Baht per pax. Alternatively, you can take taxi from On Nut (it should cost about 60 to 70 Baht).

[Pictures taken using Samsung Galaxy S5]

More on Bangkok:
Day 1 (31 Oct 2014)
Day 2 (1 Nov 2014)
Day 4 (3 Nov 2014)