Travelogue: Bangkok Bound (Day 3) (13th March)
In case you have missed out all my previous posts (:
So elated to announce that I am at Day 3 and going to end my Bangkok Travelogue posts soon. I think I am getting older day by day because I can't really remember what I did on Day 3 and simply have the memories that I visited the Thai temple but im glad that I have taken some random photos to recall my activities.
Good morning rise and shine on a Friday! OH YA, on the third day of our trip, we checked in into another hotel which was what I mistaken on the first day. But fret not, the second hotel was located just 3 mins walk from Glow Pratunam hotel. Our second stay was at Centre point hotel and to my impression of that accommodation wasn't a pleasant one ( sorry I didn't take any photos of the room). I had an uncomfortable 2 days night stay over there.
The room was dull when night falls, and the toilet that we were given were dirty! The drainage was clogged with I-dont-know-what and I don't wish to know and therefore the water couldn't drain through. Not only that, it has a foul smell that was so unbearable. The bed they provide was as hard as a rock and I have insomnia for the 2 nights. The plus point was they have a bath-tub to bath and a small little dining table for you to eat. Other than that, the whole stay make me feel so suffocated!
Not gonna make this stay ruin my day! After checking in, we proceed on to have our breakfast and to the most famous wonton mee in Pratunam. Don't underestimate this small plate of wonton mee, when we reached at 9am, it has already started a long queue. This SabX2 Wanton Noodle is located beside our previous hotel, Glow Pratunam, at Phetchburi Soi 19. It was fairly easy to locate and to our walking distance, we reached there in 3 mins time.
We were escorted in soon after a 15 mins wait and we were asked to share our table with another two ladies who came from Singapore. Since its from our homeland, we engaged some conversation with them. They ordered two bowls of noodles each ( one regular and another special) and shared with us that the portion of the wonton noodles is small so 1 bowl is definitely not enough for them. As im much more a smaller eater, I ordered the regular and Boyfriend had his Special. The only difference for regular and special was the amount of ingredients they gave. Regular costs 60 baht while special was 100 baht.
Boyfriend was drooling over the pig trotters while we were queuing so he requested a plate of pork trotter with no intestines nor pig skin. He just want the fatty pork meat and some braised eggs and tofu but in the end, the staff gave him everything! HAHA.
Both Boyfriend and I don’t find anything spectacular about the wanton noodles,and I find it so oily and unhealthy especially when they threw in pork lard into the noodles. They were really generous with the pork lard and I guess this is probably why people like about this wonton mee.
SabX2 Pratunam Wanton Noodles
4/32-33 Soi Petchburi 19, Pratunam, Bangkok
Opening Hours: 9 am – 4 pm daily.
After our breakfast, its time for our excursion and we took BTS down to Saphan Taksin to catch a boat over to Wat Arun. As this was the first time that both boyfriend and I experience the boat ride on our own, we were actually not well prepared and were kinda lost on how to get there but lucky, there is an information counter that we can rely on.
From Saphan Taksin ferry terminal, we have to purchase a ticket to travel over. From Saphan Taksin boat pier you can take a river boat that stops at pier 8. From here a small shuttle boat takes you from one side of the river to the other for only 40 baht. Entry to the temple is 50 baht. The temple is open daily from 08:30 to 17:30.
It took us 30 mins to reach Wat Arun terminal and when I looked up, I was disappointed! The whole temple was under renovation! But of course, you are still able to access in and tour around. The only con is you can't get to climb on the central prang (the long steep steps that lead to the high peak). i heard from boyfriend that you can state down your wishes on the brick of wall too! Such a waste that I couldn't jot down my wishes ):
We would recommend spending at least an hour visiting the temple. Although it is known as the Temple of the Dawn, it's absolutely stunning at sunset, particularly when lit up at night. The quietest time to visit, however, is early morning, before the crowds.
Unbelievably, there are over 31200 Buddhist temples spread around Thailand. Wat Arun is one of the most striking riverside landmarks of Thailand. Despite the name, the most spectacular view of the glittering monument can be seen from the east side of the river at sunset, when the spires of Wat Arun make an impressive silhouette against the skyline.
Tips for visiting:
Wear clothing to the knees and shirts that cover your shoulders. Wat Pho didn't enforce this but I was caught because of the length of my shorts and therefore I was asked to rent a (Doi Suthep) either a long piece of cloth to cover your leg or a pajamas pants. You have to deposit 150 baht and at the end of the day, they will return the money back to you.
Wat Arun
Opening Hours: 08:00 -17:30
Location: Located on the west side of Chao Praya River (opposite Tha Thien Pier)
Price Range: 50 Baht
We donated and the monk began to recite his pledge and chant on us. We were there kneeling and waited for him to finish his prayer and next, we have to offer the monk a whole basket of food supplement as a representing of 'THANKS GIVING!'' Afterwhich, he handed us over two red strings which I believed it will bring us goodluck, and to get rid of evil.
Finally drafted out this Day 3 post. I will share the another part of Day 3 tomorrow.
Shall continued from this post for Day 3:
Thanks to Boyfriend who treats me coconut ice cream while we were on the way to Wat Pho. Sadly, we didn't enter the temple as we have to pay another 100 baht for entrance fees and I was so properly dressed up so we decided to U turn back to catch our ferry to Terminal 21.
Terminal 21 is a mixed-use complex on Sukhumvit Road. The retail area – having a total of 9 storey and is a one floor one theme shopping mall. The concept is market streets of the world. It is decorated based on well-known streets in cities such as Rome, Paris, Tokyo, London, Istanbul.
Along the way to find a place for lunch and we past by many cakes and pastries shop and one of it was Mr. Jones' Orphanage which I had their pastries on my first trip that was located at Thonglor.
Too drooling and eye catching to glare at their cakes! As they do not sell any main dishes, we decided to give this sweet treats a missed and walked over to Fuji restaurant for our lunch!
Poor boy, he was so drained off after shopping for the whole morning at temple tour and claimed that he needs to find a place to sit. We were not hungry (i guess its because of the long walk we had that lead us to no appetite) but decided to just sit in at Fuji Japanese restaurant.
Food at Fuji Japanese was not fantastic mainly because I don't appreciate Japanese food. Since it was a restaurant, the price that they stated was expensive. We ordered a bowl of chicken karage rice and a side of fried salmon with 2 drinks and this costs us $15 sgd each, Well well, given that we have to pay for their tax and service. * HEART PAIN*
Did some shopping at Terminal 21 and Boyfriend bought stuffs again. There were many male apparel here compared to Platinum so guys should consider shopping here. Chanced upon this shop which has the same birthday date as mine. Fated or not? LOL, anyway they are having sales on their long sleeves shirt! I got one for my brother too!
It was past 4.50pm when we were done with Terminal 21 and decided to head back to our hotel for a rest. My next plan was to visit the Chocolate ville but had to hold on and saved it for the next trip as we were not dressed up formally. In the end, we went Platinum mall to shop. As it closes at 8pm, we only have 1 hour to walk around and therefore we didn't really buy anything.
Approached the taxi driver to bring us to Talad Lot Fai but he insisted that it will take him 2 hours to reach and refused to drive us there. Poor us, left with no other activity so we decided to end our night at a Thai cafe for dinner and a massage therapy.
This Thai restaurant sells real authentic food. They have our milky red Tom Yum soup and also my Phad Thai!!! The only wrong choice was to order this 3 mixtures of sauce fried fish which was apparently taste weird. But nevertheless, the food here was cheap and reasonable!
Our massage was found near our hotel and I decided to go for some died skin therapy. This massacre was attentively plucking out my leg died skins for me. Ir was thoroughly clean after the whole therapy.
Till the end of Day 3.
