It has been quite some time since I last posted a blog entry. Work has been taking up most of my time and so it has been difficult to blog. Everyday come home already so tired, just want to wash up and sleep. :(
But yes, now I'm back with a super long post. I decided to put all my Bangkok photos in one entry so for those who like to read long posts, this one's for you!
My Bangkok trip this year was half for work and half for fun (wanted to say entertainment, but sounds wrong ah). My company has yearly conferences in which all employees from all branches will gather in one location to catch up and listen to the bosses talk about the past, present and future. Last year's was held in Berlin and this year in Bangkok! Quite excited for next year's because it will be in Europe again. :D
Day 0: 20 March 2015
The Singapore team was the last one to leave the office because we were the nearest to Bangkok and we had to handle the support and technical issues from UK/US/Copenhagen. So we reached our hotel the latest at around 8+ pm. All of us stayed in Ambassador Hotel. Our rooms are freaking huge. I actually felt really uncomfortable because it was so vast. I only slept for an hour plus the first night because I couldn't get used to the size.
Ambassador Hotel as located in the red light district so it's quite normal to see ladies waiting to be picked up outside the hotel. It's quite an eye-opener actually. Once we reached the hotel, we had our dinner and we went to find our European colleagues at a bar (Hillary 2?) and I was amused by how these ladies communicated with the angmohs on prices, etc. The bar was obviously really noisy so they just used hand gestures. Quite an experience!
Ambassador Hotel
171 Sukhumvit Soi 11, Bangkok 10110 Thailand
Nearest BTS: Nana
Day 1: 21 March 2015
We had our conference early next morning and we were done by 130pm! Excellent work by my bosses hahaha. Last year, our conference ended close to 5pm.
So yes, time for some quick shopping before our dinner at Niche bar.
Of course must go MBK for some dried fruits and dried shrimp and all that good stuff!!
We also went to After You for some tasty toasts. Not into these toasts as much after I have tried On Lok Yun though (read on for this hidden gem!).
We had a group dinner at Niche Bar at Siam Kempinski Hotel. It was a delicious dinner of atas Thai food. I prefer the road side and food court stuff but hey, company paid for all these atas food, so I'm as grateful as can be.
Niche (Siam Kempinski Hotel)
Rama 1 Road 991/9, 10330 Bangkok
Nearest BTS: Siam
And then, the unthinkable happened. I had an intense tummyache and after 45 minutes of trying to keep everything down, I rushed to the toilet (which was incredibly atas wow!) and vomited my dinner. :(
I couldn't continue drinking so I grabbed a taxi and went back to my hotel room. It was an arduous night as I was frequenting the toilet so much. It was a struggle to get up the next morning because I was so tired. But I had to because we were visiting the Grand Palace and having lunch on a cruise!
Day 2: 22 March 2015
I finally took the boat in Bangkok!! :D Such an awesome day because it was my first time on the boat and it was an amazing experience!
Grand Palace was as crowded as ever. Not my favourite place to go to in Bangkok but if you ignore the crowd, it's a really beautiful place.
And then it was cruise time! The food was nothing spectacular, but the view was breathtaking. Everyone was just lepaking. :D
We had our last group dinner at Bo. lan, another super atas restaurant. This was the most atas dinner that I ever had. I think we had 12 courses in total and they were all delicious!
Super pretty tap handle at the Bo. lan toilet!
And here are the photos of all our food at Bolan...
Bo.lan Essentially Thai ร้านโบ.ลาน อาหารไทย
24 Sukhumvit 53 Alley, Khlong Tan Nuea, Watthana, Bangkok 10110, Thailand
Nearest BTS: Thong Lo
Day 3: 23 March 2015
The rest of the SG team went back to Singapore and I made my way to my next hotel! It was my first solo trip and I was extremely looking forward to it.
LemonTea Hotel was a really charming one. Service standard is impeccable and the room is comfortable. Location was on-point too because it was located very very near the Pratunam Market. There's a 7-11 right beside the hotel as well, so it was the perfect location.
The only downside is the incredibly terrible and frustrating wifi connection. It was not good at all. I was planning to work in the mornings but I couldn't because the wifi was so bad. =_= Good also lah right? In the end never work at all. hahahahaha.
Lemontea Hotel
55 Soi Petchburi15 Petchburi Rd., Ratchthevi Bangkok Thailand 10400, Bangkok 10400, Thailand
Nearest BTS: Phaya Thai/Ratchathewi
I headed to Platinum Mall after checking in and I realised how amazing travelling alone was. My own pace, my own plan, my own choices. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO liberating. Okay maybe cannot use the word "liberating" but you get what I mean lah.
Here's my dinner of pork leg rice. NOMS.
Day 4: 24 March 2015
So.. Sabx2 was quite near my hotel, so I decided to have that for breakfast. Long queue but I persevered...
...but it was so bad!!!!!! :(
I left very grumpy and disappointed.
I'm never going back again.
I walked to CentralWorld just to burn that unsatisfying bowl of wanton noodles. And luckily I did because Forever 21 had some crazy sales and there was NO ONE in the store since it was barely 11am. Oh yay!
Also Miss Tiffany's Universe 2015 was having their rehearsal. Very pretty lehhhhhhh.
Since I had such a terrible breakfast, I wanted to eat something that's confirm nice one. On Lok Yun is a traditional toast place so confirm nice right? I took a gamble and went to On Lok Yun via a taxi. It started to pour so heavily!!
It was absolutely delicious. The gamble was all worth it and this should have been my breakfast. Everything I ordered was so good!!!! I suggest you take a taxi because this place really quite ulu. Just show the cab driver the address in Thai and he should know where is it.
On Luk Yun ออน ล๊อก หยุ่น
72 Charoen Krung Road, Phranakorn
72 ข้างโรงภาพยนตร์เฉลิมกรุง ถนนเจริญกรุง แขวงวังบูรพาภิรมย์ กรุงเทพมหานคร 10200, Thailand
(Near Chinatown)
Nearest MRT: Hua Lamphong
Day 5: 25 March 2015
Last day in Bangkok already. HAIS.
One last place to try - GRAM cafe! It was quite difficult to find this cafe because it was located way inside the street. I walked for around 10-15 minutes before finding the cafe.
This plate of mushroom and tofu salad was refreshing. I had so much oily and fatty stuff the past few days so a plate of greens was more than welcome in my tummy.
Gram Cafe
(closed on Monday)
1000-1700
1/F, 49 Terrace, Sukhumvit Soi 49, Bangkok, Thailand
Nearest BTS: Phrom Phong/Thong Lo
I really enjoyed this trip to Bangkok because I experienced so many new things. Ate atas food, travelled using a boat, shopped on my own, etc etc.
It's not that scary to travel on my own. I planned so much more in detail so that I won't be lost and I also had 3G plan for my Thai sim card, so I was never lost lah. More solo trips in the future! :)
