[DIARIES] 20150113 Day 3 Bangkok - Pratunam, Siam, Asok, Thong Lor

13:33 0 Comments

Third day in the morning and decided to venture a bit further towards Siam look for breakfast. Passing by a different route this round and seeing different livelihood of the locals. Street vendors are everywhere, selling mostly food in the morning like the fish satay vendor above. A simple setup will be able earn a living to make ends meet.

While on the way towards Siam, the water canal is on the high tide with busy water traffic.

The morning market near the Big C supermarket is full of food stalls, serving day to day breakfast and snacks to the local working community. Time for our food hunt!

Spotted a stall selling some fried crackers and some sort. Politely asked for a piece for testing but too bad I didn't quite like it.


Bangkok is such a colourful city, even the food vendor wears striking pink polo-tee that attracts our attention. They are selling some simple fried fish cakes.


The lady is quite cool and doesn't smile much in the land of smiles while she packs our fish cakes.


As simple as it looks, the taste is surprisingly good especially with the own made green chilli sour sauce. It has a soft yet chewy texture that is more tofu like than normal fish cakes. The street food here comes at a standard pricing of 20 Baht onwards.


This looks like something of our very own apam balik but with different fillings known as Kanom Bueang or crispy pancake. It comes in sweet or savoury variant with mostly grind coconut flesh.


Another coconut dessert which is known as Kanom Kork or coconut pudding. It's quite addicting with it fragrant coconut milk aroma but can be quite filling as well. Topping includes yam, corn, chives and many more.


A cute little porky statue along the way at a fried pork stall.


Grilled glutinous rice cake served with grilled pork satay? That's a bit too much for a breakfast for me.


We strayed towards to the alley at the side and noticed many locals are buying Thai milk tea or coffee from this old lady. Hence we also get our share from the lady as well. Thai's milk tea are red in colour with a different scent from our common Boh tea that we are so used to.

Read more about the Pratunam Food Street in detail via a separate post:
[FOOD] 20150113 Pratunam Food Street (near Big C) @ Pratunam, Bangkok


After filling up our stomach, we moved on towards central of Siam to explore all the shopping malls around here. Along the way, we saw the last remaining snoopy is being brought down.

SCAM ALERT:

While walking towards Siam Paragon, a fine young man in nice shirt and slacks approaches me with a wide smile and greeted me "Welcome to Bangkok" on the pedestrian streets. I politely returned his greetings and thought it's just a courtesy greeting. He explained to me in perfect English that he is a guard working at the temple next to where I'm standing. 

My "spider senses" are tangling and red flags all over the floor:-
- first, guards don't wear nice fancy shirts and stand outside of the temple
- second, his proficiency in English is too well for a guard post and more like a tour guide
- third, he is being overly friendly

He first asked whether I'm a first timer in Bangkok. I answered him diligently while trying to spot any weapon or some sort he might have in case he is trying to rob me? He then asked where I was heading and I told him I'm going to Siam Paragon. He then say today is Big Buddha birthday, Siam Paragon will only be opened in the afternoon. Everyone is going to temple to pray for Big Buddha and asked me not to miss the festival. 

He then pulled out a map and started drawing routes around Siam area and introduce me to visit Wat Pho and the canals along the way. I told him I will go Wat Pho the next day and declined his offer. He was persistent and keep on persuading me on a tour. Now I knew that he is just trying to con me to take up an overpriced ground tour instead of planning a robbery. So I told him it's ok we will still go to Siam Paragon even though it is "closed" and quickly walked away. He tried to catch up but gave up after he realised his plans failed.

END OF SCAM ALERT


The main reason of visiting Siam Paragon is actually for the dessert in After You cafe. Despite having numerous outlets around Bangkok, the one in Siam Paragon seemed to received the most attention, at least for foreign tourists.

Read more in detail about After You Cafe, Siam Paragon via the separate posts:
[FOOD] 20150113 After You Cafe @ Siam Paragon, Bangkok


This is what everyone is after in this cozy cafe, the Shibuya Honey Toast and mind you, it is a big toast for one portion and it is definitely for sharing, unless you have a big sweet tooth.


Siam Paragon was a very chic mall with many fancy designs and decorations, targeting mainly the younger population. It is the creativity of the Thai that keep this city vibrant and lively.


Other than being creative, the malls in Bangkok pays attention to detail and customer's comfort. Benches, tables, and even working desks are prepared to allow people to mingle or spend time, something which we don't really see in Malaysia's shopping malls.


After hours of shopping (window shopping) at Siam area, it's time for lunch and the lunch place will be just opposite Siam Paragon.


It's a well known restaurant at Siam area which serves a variety of som tam (green papaya salad) along with other Thai dishes. The restaurant is known as Som Tam Nua, located at Soi 5. While it has many other branches, the Siam Square branch is considered to be the more popular choice.



The restaurant is packed with locals and tourists in a weekday afternoon. The menu was rather limited and clearly labelled with pictures for ease of choosing. The som tam here comes in a variety from the common one to more exotic flavours like salted crab (live mini crab crushed) or salted shrimp. However, I don't really like the som tam here.



Overall I did not enjoy the food here as it was mediocre to my expectation. Probably the only one worth mentioning is the fried chicken wings. We left the restaurant with a rather disappointed mood and head to Siam BTS station to Asok.


Terminal 21 is a rather new shopping mall located next to Asok station and themed as an airport terminal with destination to various countries and each floor is decorated according to the theme.


There's more to see than to buy at Terminal 21 as they merchadise are slightly higher scale than the rest with price point also at the higher side. We are here mainly for the themed decorations. I'm amazed by the creativity the Thais put into the shopping malls to attract crowd rather than same old replicate of each other in Malaysia.

The Japanese theme is the most nicely themed in my opinion start from the retail lots to even the toilet! We spent some time to explore from the bottom to top floor and spammed quite a number of pictures but too bad I can't be posting each and everyone of it here.


After the photo taking and window shopping, it's time for massage! We headed to the Health Land centre nearby Terminal 21, which is just 10 minutes walk away. On the way to the centre, I stumbled across this waterway (drain to be exact!) at the side of the road, which reassembles the feel of a Japanese street (probably too much Japanese in Terminal 21 prior to this) and took a picture, you judge.


I was so eager for my massage until I forgotten to take a picture of the Health Land centre, which is a mansion! The 2 hour Thai massage cost us 500 Baht per pax and we were treated like kings and queens and relief from our fatigue.


The sign board of the Health Land centre before we left for our dinner destination. Today we are heading to the next stop after Asok, which is the Thong Lor Food Street.


The food street might look like an average food street to you but mind you that there are two hidden gems within this area! Curious? Read further below to find out more.


While many argued that the food street no longer represents the "locals" due to the influx of foreign tourists, I still find a good trace of locality here with a mixture of locals and visitors. I still see a good number of locals visiting here after work or school. Probably reassembles a bit like our Pudu or Imbi road, or even smaller scale Jalan Alor.


We explored the whole stretch of the food street before settling down at the side alley of the street where the award winning pad thai stall is located. The Pad Thai Fire Look is manned by a very cool chef who don't really smile much. I ordered a plate of pad thai but they do have other Thai seafood menu available.

To read more about Pad Thai Fire Look, please visit my separate post below:
[FOOD] 20150113 Pad Thai Fire Look @ Thong Lo, Bangkok


Right beside the pad thai stall is another famous stall selling mango sticky rice, a very well known Thai dessert around the world. But this stall is no ordinary stall as it is also one of the best around (two good food in one spot). Ning, the owner mixed very well with the people around with her friendly smile.

To read more about Ning Mango Stick Rice, please click my separate post below:
[FOOD] 20150113 Ning Mango Sticky Rice @ Thong Lo, Bangkok


My pad thai is finally served and first thing I observed is the abundant of ingredients with common ingredients like bean sprout, taufu, shrimp and additional premium crab meat. That explains the more expensive price than usual road side stalls. However, the taste is definitely one of the best and I don't mind to come back for a second serving.


The mango sticky rice is really the best I had thus far, even the high class restaurants can't match with the perfectly cooked sticky rice with rich and thick coconut milk topped with fresh and sweet mango that is so good. Most of all, it is very reasonable priced with the big serving as in the picture.


How can I miss out another serving of pork satay right? There was a little drama when I was buying the pork satay as the owner was actually arguing with another tourist claiming that he did not pay for his food while the tourist insisted. The language barrier made it hard for them to communicate and the helpless face of the owner is shown in the picture above.


While we are at it, why not treat ourselves with some fruit juices just next to Ning's stall serving some freshly blended juices at affordable prices from 25 Baht onwards.


After filling our tummy with the awesome dinner, we head back to Siam station via BTS to visit the night market around. The type of stalls ranges from food to merchandise and also souvenirs.


The night was cool so we decided to walk our way back from Siam towards Pratunam area. It was a rather quiet night in the colourful city.


Even the Central World square was quiet that night, perhaps it's already late at night.


I noticed even the stray dogs here are fitted with clothing and generally very clean for a stray dog. Like this cute little one who is peacefully sleeping on the streets, not bothered by the busy human traffic around.


On the way back from Central World towards Pratunam, I saw rows of hawker stall with many people patronising at the road side for a late dinner.


It looks like a good place to try out some very local food here but unfortunately I only left a night in Bangkok and already had other plans. Perhaps next trip will have more impromptu visits at these food joints.


The streets are also very quiet and empty as opposed to the morning traffic filled with colourful cars. Noticed something? The roads are so smooth without a sign of pothole (at least for this road!). The Pratunam night market is located at the right side of the road.

Pratunam night market mainly sells clothing and apparels due to its proximity to Pratunam, which is a wholesale area for Pratunam. However, we are here for mainly one reason, to make a personalized passport cover. While they are many other stalls around Bangkok that does the same thing, this one here is particularly famous due to it's variety of choices and most of all, cheapest among all.


The ladies are busy preparing the orders while chatting. We must first choose a type of cover, then followed by a color faux leather strip for the name embedding and lastly a decorative metal accessory/ornament to be pinned. Any additional pieces are charged separately. After choosing our design and given the text to be embed, we were told to wait for an hour due to the number of orders on hand.


We went around the night market, exploring and also shopping. We are able to find some good bargain at good quality too!


Besides passport cover, custom T-shirt designs are also available and many other things. I guessed this is one of the best spot to shop for personalized souvenirs if you are looking for some.


You can even customised your phone case too if you want to. After an hour of waiting and grabbing a few extra clothings, it's time to head back to our hotel to end another day.


But chup-chup before that, we stopped by the 7-11 right next to our hotel and grab ourselves some late night supper and beer to get fatter. >.<