My travel story on Bangkok part 1 can be read here.
DAY 3 PRATUNAM MARKET - CHATUCHAK WEEKEND MARKET - PLATINUM FASHION MALL - SIAM NIGHT MARKET - RATCHAPRASONG SEAFOOD
PRATUNAM MARKET
Address: Ratchaprapop and Petchburi Road @Ratchathewi District
For me, Pratunam market is the heart and soul of Bangkok. Its what make the city live and fun. Yes, the place somehow is messy but it is so fun to walk around. By messy I don't mean in a dirty kind of way, the market is pretty clean. It's messy in the terms of crowded and loud. Pratunam market and area is the place where you can really see local people's activities. The morning market starts at 5am for the local sellers to buy things here as it's a wholesale market and the cheap price will make your jaw drops.
It also is the place where you can find lots and lots of good and cheap local food. I strongly recommend a visit to Pratunam market for a fun local experience. What can be found in the market besides food? They sell almost anything about fashion, I hardly seen any antiques or tableware. The price here is as cheap as 80 Bath for the clothes. Will you find something good? You won't at first glance, and if you don't really know the area, you might find nothing good interest you at first round. Though I personally almost never buy clothes here (I prefer Platinum or Chatutak for that), but I can confidently say that some of the sellers in Chatutak and Platinum get their stuffs from here. No joke. When I was still on buying trips for my online shop, I saw the same boutique owner at Platinum purchased from Pratunam market. Like I said, if you pay close attention, there are some hidden gems in the market. The busiest and most crowded one is in the alley of the one straight to Baiyoke Hotel. Remember to ask for wholesale price, most of them allow two pieces (can mix models) to get wholesale price.
Now, the FOOD part!
This lady sells a very good porridge. We've been a fan for many trips. The porridge has pork, shrimp, century eggs, fish and intestines if you're up for it. All for only 65 Bath per bowl. Heartwarming and seriously good, I assure you.
Thai Tea life everyday! THB 20 - 25.
The thing is, Pratunam is just heaven for local good and cheap food. Everything here won't hurt your wallet nor your palate. From the street light snacks or heavier meal, everything just so good. My tips would be go there early like 7 - 8am if you want to have the street food, not because it sold out fast, but personally for me, it's more hygiene as not many cars passing by around that time.
If you're up for pork intenstine, you've got to try this one with chilli and lime dressing. So so good! Only available on noon time start from 3pm at Petchburi Soi 19, the same alley as SabX2 wonton noodle.
CHATUCHAK WEEKEND MARKET
Address: 587/10 Khampaeng Phet Rd 2, Chatuchak
Opening hours: 10am - 6pm
BTS: Mo Chit
Besides Pratunam Market, Chatuchak weekend market is easily my favorite place to go in Bangkok. As the name applies, the market only available on weekend, thus everytime I go to Bangkok, I will make sure it falls on weekend. I love the place so much that I even went twice. The market is so huge that you won't be able to finish them in a day. I usually only spent around 3 - 4 hours max each day, more than that, my legs will be all fucked up. Like I said, the market is so huge that you probably won't bumped into the same shop on your next visit, unless you memorize the soi and section. I never did, though, so what I did is just making different entrance for each day to make sure we cover different area. The first day, we came with BTS, and the second day we came by taxi and he dropped us at different entrance of which BTS wouldn't.
I regretted that I took too many snapchats here that I forgot to take more pictures with camera for blog entries. The bottom line is you must go to Chatuchak. It will be such a shame if not. Unlike Pratunam, you can find literally anything here, anything. From clothes, accessories, bags, shoes, tableware, aromatherapy, chinaware, wooden appliances, mugs, casing cover, rugs, souvenir, anything. And the things sold here are so unique! Some are cheap, some aren't so cheap, but still worth money spent.
The particular alley I would really recommend you to visit is SOI 3. The section is filled with vintage unique stuffs and clothes, higher price, yes, but better quality too. And remember on the part 1 post where I told you I've found the best mango sticky rice I've had in Bangkok? It was here at Soi 3 No. 119-120. I know that most of the sticky rice in Bangkok is good, even the one you find on street stalls, but this one is particularly moist and so good. 1 cup is 60 Bath. They also serve various mango desserts aside from sticky rice.
For food itself, we never really have a proper sitting down meal at Chatuchak. Why? Because we always are so tempted with all the street light snacks, that we simply too full to have the heavy meal. They have bunches of light snacks, from the super good squid, coconut ice cream, ruby cold dessert (this one is good. I snapchat it, but forgot to take a picture with camera), until the one that you die die must try (of course if you can eat non halal food), is the uber yum crispy pork belly located at section 19, but sigh I'm so stupid that again, I snapchat them, but I didn't take one with camera. It also just came to me that I didn't take note on the Soi address. So, at Chatuchak basically all shops are sectioned by soi (alley) and section. And silly me forgot to take note on which Soi is the pork belly one. I hope you'll find them, it's located near the shops that sold ceramics, vase and wooden stuff.
MONT NOM SOD
Address: MBK Center Level 2
MBK is not my place to go in Bangkok. I've been there once during my previous trips and I don't really find anything nice about the place to revisit. The place is like our ITC Mangga Dua. Anyway, this time we visited MBK again because we have some kind of connection problem with our local sim card and they have an office at MBK. While we're there, we make a stop at the classic milk and toast cafe, Mont. The place has been around since 1964 selling the good old classic toast with options various spread options. We chose to have their original coconut custard (kaya) and pandan custard (THB 65), and they were oh so good! As a kaya lover, I absolutely love the thick sweet kaya on top of the soft fluffy bread. If I stay at Bangkok for good, I can see my self taking home their kaya jam in bottles. Another one you need to try is their white steamed bread (THB 75), so classic, so simple, so fluffy and soft, comes with dipping of chocolate or kaya. So good that I saw so many people bought several bags of these breads. I was planning to go to On Lok Yun, another calssic breakfast place in Bangkok serving these kind of good old toast, but since the location is quite far, like 30-40 minutes from where we stayed, I'm good with substituting them to Mont.
My favorite shopping place in Bangkok. The largest wholesale shopping with more than 2500 shops. The only place where I don't feel tired nor hungry. I literally can spent hours here. I never shop with boys. I'm not the kind of woman who like to shop with her boyfriend or husband, or being accompanied by them to saloon. My shopping time, my saloon time is my me time. I never want Hubs to accompany me there, so I always prefer to stay at Amari, where it just located across Platinum, so when Hubs is having his nap time (yes, he does that during travel), I will pamper my self with hours at Platinum.
If you are here, the most recommended floor is the first floor. Second and third floor is also good. Skip 4th and 5th floor if you're not up for men and children clothes. You can buy 1 piece, but of course wholesale will get you cheaper price. Most of the stores are fixed price, but some of them are up for bargain.
When you're tired, the food court at 6th floor provide plenty of good food.
SIAM NIGHT MARKET
Address: Across Siam Paragon
BTS: Siam
Again, another one that I took snapchat but forgot to take picture with camera. Bangkok is filled with morning and night market. It is one of the must seen in Bangkok. Everything is cheap, unique and time to time, you'll find many good stuffs. If shopping is not your thing, you can always go for the food only. My favorite night market is Siam's. It's easy to reach with its location right below BTS Siam, across Siam Paragon and next to Siam Square. The market starts open around 6pm until late night.
RATCHAPRASONG SEAFOOD
Address: Street food beside Central World Plaza
Opening hours: 6pm - 12midnight
We always prefer to eat their local food, rather than cafes food. Even though the local food is not exactly instagenic, but personally for me, our palate satisfaction is more important than a good instagram photo. So, another street food stall that we love aside from our favorite one at Petchburi Soi 12 is this one right beside Central World Plaza. They have several stalls here, go for the one closest to Central World, the first stall. They sell grilled snake head fish and local Thai food, and they were all so good. Price here is not really cheap for street food. We spent around 700 Bath for three dishes, still cheap compare to Jakarta's but not that cheap for street food in Bangkok.
Story on my fourth and last day in Bangkok will be posted on next post. Thank you for reading! =)
Based on trip 19 - 23 May 2016
I regretted that I took too many snapchats here that I forgot to take more pictures with camera for blog entries. The bottom line is you must go to Chatuchak. It will be such a shame if not. Unlike Pratunam, you can find literally anything here, anything. From clothes, accessories, bags, shoes, tableware, aromatherapy, chinaware, wooden appliances, mugs, casing cover, rugs, souvenir, anything. And the things sold here are so unique! Some are cheap, some aren't so cheap, but still worth money spent.
The particular alley I would really recommend you to visit is SOI 3. The section is filled with vintage unique stuffs and clothes, higher price, yes, but better quality too. And remember on the part 1 post where I told you I've found the best mango sticky rice I've had in Bangkok? It was here at Soi 3 No. 119-120. I know that most of the sticky rice in Bangkok is good, even the one you find on street stalls, but this one is particularly moist and so good. 1 cup is 60 Bath. They also serve various mango desserts aside from sticky rice.
For food itself, we never really have a proper sitting down meal at Chatuchak. Why? Because we always are so tempted with all the street light snacks, that we simply too full to have the heavy meal. They have bunches of light snacks, from the super good squid, coconut ice cream, ruby cold dessert (this one is good. I snapchat it, but forgot to take a picture with camera), until the one that you die die must try (of course if you can eat non halal food), is the uber yum crispy pork belly located at section 19, but sigh I'm so stupid that again, I snapchat them, but I didn't take one with camera. It also just came to me that I didn't take note on the Soi address. So, at Chatuchak basically all shops are sectioned by soi (alley) and section. And silly me forgot to take note on which Soi is the pork belly one. I hope you'll find them, it's located near the shops that sold ceramics, vase and wooden stuff.
Follow me on Snapchat: IVYS_LIFE
MONT NOM SOD
Address: MBK Center Level 2
MBK is not my place to go in Bangkok. I've been there once during my previous trips and I don't really find anything nice about the place to revisit. The place is like our ITC Mangga Dua. Anyway, this time we visited MBK again because we have some kind of connection problem with our local sim card and they have an office at MBK. While we're there, we make a stop at the classic milk and toast cafe, Mont. The place has been around since 1964 selling the good old classic toast with options various spread options. We chose to have their original coconut custard (kaya) and pandan custard (THB 65), and they were oh so good! As a kaya lover, I absolutely love the thick sweet kaya on top of the soft fluffy bread. If I stay at Bangkok for good, I can see my self taking home their kaya jam in bottles. Another one you need to try is their white steamed bread (THB 75), so classic, so simple, so fluffy and soft, comes with dipping of chocolate or kaya. So good that I saw so many people bought several bags of these breads. I was planning to go to On Lok Yun, another calssic breakfast place in Bangkok serving these kind of good old toast, but since the location is quite far, like 30-40 minutes from where we stayed, I'm good with substituting them to Mont.
PLATINUM FASHION MALL
Address: 222 Petchburi Road (Across Amari Watergate and Pratunam Market)
Opening hours: 9am - 7pm
My favorite shopping place in Bangkok. The largest wholesale shopping with more than 2500 shops. The only place where I don't feel tired nor hungry. I literally can spent hours here. I never shop with boys. I'm not the kind of woman who like to shop with her boyfriend or husband, or being accompanied by them to saloon. My shopping time, my saloon time is my me time. I never want Hubs to accompany me there, so I always prefer to stay at Amari, where it just located across Platinum, so when Hubs is having his nap time (yes, he does that during travel), I will pamper my self with hours at Platinum.
If you are here, the most recommended floor is the first floor. Second and third floor is also good. Skip 4th and 5th floor if you're not up for men and children clothes. You can buy 1 piece, but of course wholesale will get you cheaper price. Most of the stores are fixed price, but some of them are up for bargain.
When you're tired, the food court at 6th floor provide plenty of good food.
SIAM NIGHT MARKET
Address: Across Siam Paragon
BTS: Siam
Again, another one that I took snapchat but forgot to take picture with camera. Bangkok is filled with morning and night market. It is one of the must seen in Bangkok. Everything is cheap, unique and time to time, you'll find many good stuffs. If shopping is not your thing, you can always go for the food only. My favorite night market is Siam's. It's easy to reach with its location right below BTS Siam, across Siam Paragon and next to Siam Square. The market starts open around 6pm until late night.
RATCHAPRASONG SEAFOOD
Address: Street food beside Central World Plaza
Opening hours: 6pm - 12midnight
We always prefer to eat their local food, rather than cafes food. Even though the local food is not exactly instagenic, but personally for me, our palate satisfaction is more important than a good instagram photo. So, another street food stall that we love aside from our favorite one at Petchburi Soi 12 is this one right beside Central World Plaza. They have several stalls here, go for the one closest to Central World, the first stall. They sell grilled snake head fish and local Thai food, and they were all so good. Price here is not really cheap for street food. We spent around 700 Bath for three dishes, still cheap compare to Jakarta's but not that cheap for street food in Bangkok.
Based on trip 19 - 23 May 2016
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