Bangkok Blogger|Tales from Thailand

From January 26th to 30th there is a bike show running at the Central World shopping mall in Bangkok.

I was down there yesterday to do some shopping and was suprised to see loads of bikes and biking equipment around the mall. After a closer look it turns out it is the Bangkok Motorbike Festival 2011.

As well as there being loads of cool bikes from the past and the future there were loads of models ‘promoting’ the bikes and even more guys with massive cameras taking photos of them!

There were stands from BMW, Ducati, Harley-Davidson, Pirelli, Suzuki, Triumph, Yamaha, Honda plusloads more. There were also loads of biking gear displays with lots of motorbike helmets that looked a lot safer than the ones you find in Thai shops! If you are looking for a proper motorbike helmet this would be a good place to come. They even had baby’s and children’s motorbike helmets which seem to be in short supply in Bangkok judging by the amount of babies and kids you see on motorbikes without even a hat for protection!

During the day the action takes place inside the mall but after 4pm there are outdoor activities such as live music and a beer garden which runs unitl 11pm. I didn’t hang around to see if there were any races. Seeing all those motorbikes in a Bangkok shopping mall did conjure up images of Jackie Chan’s Police Story film which culminates in a massive car and motorbike chase in a department store.

• Location: Central World department store
• Dates: Wednesday January 26 to Sunday January 30 2011
• Time: 10.00 AM to 10.00 PM (Indoor) 4.00 PM to 11.00 PM (Outdoor)
• Website: www.thailandmotorbikefestival.com

Singapore is only just over two hours flight from Bangkok and is a great place to spend a weekend if you fancy some time away and want to try something other than a weekend at the beach.  (Check flight prices here.)

The city is pretty small and very easy to get around with an underground MRT service and an abundance of taxis but without the traffic problems of Bangkok (mainly thanks to the high road tax and car prices).

There are lots of shopping malls in Singapore.  Although they aren’t as big as Central World (RIP) there are a lot more of them and can nearly all be found on Orchard Road.  Most Western shops can be found here but the prices for clothes tend to be a bit higher than back in England.  You can even see the price in British pounds on the tags which when you convert them should be less than the price in Singapore dollars advertised but I guess shopping here is cheaper than taking a trip back home.

Although it is as hot and humid as Bangkok there isn’t the obvious problem of pollution and the roads and pavements are much wider making Singapore a much more pleasant place to walk around.

There are lots of Western-style pubs, bars and restaurants in Singapore and it definitely feels a lot more like being back in the UK than the expat hangouts of Bangkok.  But the prices here are a lot higher here.  The price of a  local pint of beer (Heineken) in Singapore was about £7 in a run of the mill pub and small cans of beer from 7-11 went for about £3-4.  But if you don’t drink much your wallet could survive without too much of a hammering with prices for eating out not more than in London.

The only problem with visiting Singapore is that it is so nice when you get back to Thailand you realise what a dump Bangkok is!  But don’t worry Bangers, we still love you.

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.