Two Nights in Bangkok

Thursday, 8 October 2009

Two Nights in Bangkok

Bangkok. People told me I must be crazy to go there when there are protests on the streets. I thought what the heck. It is no different than Malaysia anyways, so I opted to continue on. I went on a short break during one of the long weekend holidays. Part of the reason was that I found a really good deal with AirAsia Holidays. For just RM1,300 plus, I got to get a return flight and a 2 nights’ stay at Dusit Thani Hotel in the heart of Bangkok.
The flight departed from the new section of the KLIA-LCC Terminal. We arrived early with 3 hours to spare before boarding. The check in is quite chaotic as there was a common check in system but not much room to queue and the queue snaked in and out quite untidily and at times with chaos.
There is no scanner nearby and all checked in luggage had to be scanned at the area nearer the domestic check in. That is quite a good walk. Anyways, the new departure area is quite a walk too. As we left Malaysia, the flight was full.
Survanabhumi International Airport is a sight to behold. The look of raw concrete, steel and glass with pictorials of Thai art and culture adorning the walls made me think as to why KLIA or even the LCCT each are devoid of cultural pride.
There is one thing to also remember. I made the mistake of taking the Airport Limo service. The cheapest was about RM120 after conversion. While the service and vehicle is top class i.e. the vehicle is a Mercedes, we could have taken a public cab on meter for about RM30 for the 1 hour ride to the city.
Of course, you would have to pay the toll and the driver of the public cab will ask that from you when you approach the toll gates. The toll is cheap. About RM4.50. How did I find this out? Simple! We took a public cab from the hotel to the airport on the last day.
Bangkok, despite the bad press is still a beautiful place to go. People are polite and smile a lot. The weather was cloudy with some rain but it did not matter as Dusit Thani Hotel was close to the BTS Skytrain station.
The BTS Skytrain is unique because under the line is an elevated pedestrian walkway. This elevated walkway serves the station and has entries and exits to most parts of the city. You can walk quite easily without the need to walk by the roadside below.
The train stations are well planned with retail shops and tourist maps and guides. Security is tight and there are personnel at most parts of the length of the pedestrian walkway. CCTVs are also in place.
Funny enough, our own Monorail and LRT pales considerably when compared to Bangkok. Perhaps there is a need for our providers to learn from them as well. Singapore is rather different as most lines are underground within the city centre. Bangkok’s system would be a great education.
Ok, let us get back to therapy. Thailand has a Sale which also ends in August. Their Sale is so much better than what we have in Malaysia and Singapore unless you are looking for luxury goods. We went to Central World and spent the whole of our first day there. Central World is a large shopping centre. Their anchor tenant is Zen and the style and mix of their department store is out of this world.
My wife could not help but notice that their lingerie section is so large that they could fit a whole floor of any of our local department stores. The food court is located at the top most floor and has the cheapest shopping centre foodcourt I have ever been in. Food prices range from RM3.50 to RM5.00. That is so much cheaper than our own modern shopping centre foodcourts!
We also stepped into Siam Paragon which is just beside Central World. This is touted as Thailand’s luxurious shopping centre. It has a huge Aquarium. We also went to The Emporium Shopping Centre a few stations away and also to MBK. The Emporium has more Japanese clientele. Perhaps there is a huge foreign population nearby. The products are also skewed more to arts, fragrances, and homewares and luxury goods.
MBK or “Mah Boon Kroong” as they call it, is a haven for “replicas”. You can get good quality “replicas” here. Bargaining is possible but prices are more or less fixed. You can find most peculiar and cool items here. Gifts, knick knacks and even sculptured bolts, steel and nuts fashioned into an “Alien” to little cars, bikes and what nots.
The food in Bangkok is great. Their “Som Tam” (papaya salad) has enough chilies to burn you but the experience is worth it. Not forgetting their Phad Thai (looks and tastes similar to Char Kway Teow) and braised pork rice.
Yet, they do not claim their food is distinctly their own origin. There is an exhibition at Central World where they explained the origin of their food and was quite interesting. Our Tourism people should perhaps learn from this.
A three days and two nights trip to Bangkok for therapy is good. Though we did not have time to check out Chatuchak Market, perhaps we shall leave that for the next time.
We flew back home and took a taxi from the LCCT airport which cost us more than RM30 compared with Thailand for nearly the same distance. But I cannot complain. Welcome to Malaysia. I will start planning for my next well being therapy trip. Where to, I wonder? Perth for a change of view perhaps?