Bangkok Blogger|Tales from Thailand

For my visit to Siam Square I took the Skytrain to the Siam stop and then walked along the elevated walkway.  I thought Siam Square would be an actual square but it is in fact an indoor shopping mall of which there are many at Siam.  If Bangkok had a centre this would probably be it and it is definately the shopping centre of the city.

I arrived at about 9am but soon discovered that none of the malls open until 10am.  Once I had realised this I headed to the nearest Starbucks, of which there are many in this area, for a resbsite from the heat and humidity.  The air con in Starbucks always seems to be turned up to 11 which out here is always nice.  I had a Caramel Frapacino and a Tuna sandwich which cost about the same as back home.  There were a few other farang in the cofffee shop waiting for the malls to open and sheltering from the morning sun.  The Starbucks I was in was part of the same building as the Mah Boon Krong mall or MBK mall as it is more commonly known, and once it past 10am we could exit through the back of Starbucks directly into the mall.

After having a look around MBK I left and used the elevated walk way which connects most of the malls to have a look at the Siam Discovery Centre mall.  This was a much more smaller and modest mall with stalls and smaller shops.  I had a quick look around before heading back out in the morning heat.  Next up was the Siam Centre mall.  This one had lots of shops from western brands like FCUK, Nike, Levis, Boots and many other big names you would find back on the UK highstreets.  This was a much more modern and posher mall than the previous two and there was a good selection of restarunts on the top floor.  After a look around I left and crossed the courtyard that seperates this mall with its neighbour and heading into the massive Siam Paragon mall.  This mall looked like the biggest and grandest so far and according to my guide book is the biggest in South East Asia.  Siam Paragon is much more upmarket and on one of the lower floors has shops from all the major electronics brands like Sony and Samsung selling their top-line products.   There is also a massive department store inside this mall which is a bit like the Oxford Street branch of Selfridges.  There is a great bookshop on one of the upper floors which has lots of English language books and magazine and is where I got my Nancy Chandler maps (which I highly recommend).  Books in Bangkok tend to be the same price or a bit more than they do back in England.  On the other floors there were lots of sports shops selling amongst other things lots of golf clubs and there were also a few car showrooms from Audi, Lamorgini, Aston Martin and Lotus.  There was also a large branch of the California Wow gym chain and like most other malls a multi-screen cinema on the top floor showing films in English and Thai languages.

The food courts in the Siam Paragon mall are on the bottom floor and there are many places to eat down there including McDonalds and KFC.  If you want to eat from the main food hall you must buy credit which is loaded on to a plastic card which you hand the food vendor of which they then deduct the cost of you meal from.  Once you have finished return you card to where you got it and get a refund of any money not spent.  The cards only last for one day so you can’t put a load of credit on them and then reuse them which makes them seem a bit pointless.  The other food vendors in the food court do not take the card.  This means you must first look for what you want, then go and queue up to get a card, go and get your food and then queue up again to get the unspent credit on your card.  The food was pretty cheap coming in at about £2 per main course and the first meal I had was very nice.

After my lunch at Siam Paragon I headed back out into the midday heat and got on the Skytrain home.  There are a few other malls there such as the massive Central World and the Pratunam Centre which I will check out on a future visit.

The malls are definitely worth checking out as they are bigger and better than anything I have seen in the UK although if you are looking for a bargain you won’t find it here with prices the same or higher than in the UK (apart from the food).

Yesterday we went to Lumpini Park which is the biggest park in Bangkok.  It is named after the birth place of Buddah and is a popular place with those looking to get away from the hussle and bussle of the Bangkok streets.  There is a large lake in the centre of the park on which you can hire pedalos and have a float around.  The lake is full of fish and the odd terapin and you can buy fish food to feed them with.  It is definately worth it as its quite a sight to see the fish fighting to get out of the water and get the food – I don’t think the terrapin had much luck though!

Lots of joggers use the park and today was no exception.  There is also cardio equipment such as rowing and stair machines for people to use and there is even a full outdoor gym which is used by the more serious trainers.  Whilst we were there the evening occurance of the national anthem was played during which everyone stops what they are doing and stands still for the duration.  It was a surrealy site to see all the joggers and people playing in the park suddenly stop and stand still for a few minutes.  Then once the anthem had finished they all carried on with what they were doing.

But if I thought that was strange the next sight  was even more surreal.  There were about 500 people doing synchronised aerobics to Euro trance which was being played on loudspeakers.  At the front there were a few people leading the moves but everyone seemed to know all the moves and they changed without stopping from one song and routine to the next.  It looked like good fun but I decided not to join in but I did spot one Western couple who seemed to know all the moves!  This is definiately the strangest thing I have seen in Thailand so far.

I went to our local Tesco Lotus yesterday.  Not a very exciting trip but we needed to pick up a few things for the apartment so off we went.  As we got closer the size of the place became apparent with the large tower with the Tesco Lotus logo looming over us as we made our approach.

The ground floor of the complex had fast food outlets and smaller stalls selling watches and phones.  There was a KFC which had Thai versions of the meals found in English KFCs and a McDonald’s which has the standard English menu minus the Quarter Pounder with cheese but with additional like a Samurai Pork Burger, a double Filet-o-Fish and a double Big Mac.  The double Big Mac burger looked lush and cost 98THB (about £1.75).  I had a double Cheese Burger as a little snack to prepare me for the Tesco Lotus experience and it tasted pretty much the same as the UK version.

We went upstairs to the Tesco which was bigger than any supermarket I had been in in the UK and was split over two floors with electronics and clothes on the upper floor and food on the lower floor.  Unfortunately electronic goods in Thailand are no cheaper than they are in the UK but in most cases they are not more expensive.  Clothes are a bit cheaper with a plain t-shirt costing about £1.20 in Tesco.  We bought lots of house hold goods then went down to the food floor.  It was more like a cash and carry down there which large aisles and even larger boxes of food.  Beer is cheap with 330ml cans costing about 40THB (70p) for the local varieties (Singha, Chang & Leo).  Wine is about £10 for a bottle although I could not vouch for the quality.  Sang Som is the spirit of choice in Thailand and small bottle cost about £1.  I haven’t got around to trying it yet but I’m sure it is delightful.

Produce from Thialand such as oil, rice, eggs and local fruit and vegetables is much cheaper than the UK but anything imported tends to cost a lot more than back home.  Posh mushrooms cost a few pennies whilst a green peper was about £4!

Tesco seem to have the market pretty much sewn up out here already and judging my the crowds inside the locals seem to like it too.

Last night we went to Suam Lum Night Bazaar which is a large outdoor night market next to the Lumpini Stadium.  After a tortuous taxi journey in the notorious Friday night traffic we finally arrived at our destination.  The market has around 3700 stalls selling a mixture of Thai craft goods, fake designer gear, weapons and modern souvenirs.  The vendors seemed happy enough and were open to a bit of haggling but were not pushy at all and didn’t seem to mind if you left their stall without buying anything.  Around the edge of the market stall were lots of restaurants serving a mixture of Thai and Western foods.  We went to a Thai place and I had a lush fried beef with green pepper dish with a side of vegetable rice and a bottle of Chang beer which came to around £5.   By 9pm it was still really hot and after walking around the market for a while we decided to call it a night and find a taxi.  Apparently there is a large beer garden in the middle of the market but we never made it that far.  There are also reports that the market is due to be replaced by a mega mall in the not too distant future.   If you are looking for a hassle-free place to pick up some presents and souvenirs to take back home this place is definitely worth a visit.

As soon as I stepped off the plane into the tunnel linking the plane to the terminal I felt the hot heavy air I would soon discover would be all around me in Bangkok.  I knew I was arriving in the rainy season and I knew it would be humid but it was still a bit of a shock to feel it.  Once we entered the terminal I felt the cool embrace of the air-con and was glad to be inside.  The airport is very modern but I still approached the customs barrier with some trepidation having heard and read so many stories about corrupt Thai officials, failed drug smuggling attempts and the arbitrary immigration laws.  I was called to the desk my the customs official (with obligatory swine flu mask) where I handed him my passport with 12 month multiple entry visa stamp, stub from my one way ticket and immigration card.  After a quick inspection he handed them back to me and I went to pickup my luggage.

Once I left the airport I was welcomed by the heat once again which hit me with the same intensity as before.  My girlfriend had come to meet me and we were quickly in one of the many air conditioned taxi that make up most of the traffic on Bangkok’s busy roads.

My girlfriend had left for Thailand a few days earlier so I made my way to the airport on my own.  I got to Heathrow with plenty of time to spare as although I’d missed planes to Europe before, missing this one was not an option.  Once check in was announced I made my way to the Thai Airways desk and joined the queue.  I looked at the other passengers around me trying to work out why they were heading to the Land of Smiles.  There were the backpackers, the Farang with his Thai wife and kids, a couple of potential sex tourists and the odd Thai family.  I’m not sure which group my fellow travellers would have put me into.  My suitcase just made it under the 20kg baggage allowance and I was handed my boarding pass and made my way to the departures lounge.  I was pretty hungry so went to find a Wetherspoons for a pint and a steak but unfortunately I must have been at an upmarket terminal so had to go to a dinner instead where I had a pint and a burger for £13.  After that I wandered around for a bit, bought a magazine and some water and waited for my flight to be called.

I’d never done a long haul flight before so I was a bit worried about the leg room but even in economy the Thai Airways flight has a good amount of space  and I was able to stretch out.  Unfortunately there were no films on the flight and it was too dark to read so I was left with just my iPod to keep me entertained for the 10 hour journey.

After a couple of meals we eventually arrived.

I was finally in Thailand!