4-Day Trip to Bangkok: A Thai Getaway Part 1

There were three things I had been assured about Bangkok. One: there is no need to plan an itinerary, as the malls are so big, each day would sort itself out. Two: we simply have to visit a tailor at Amari Watergate Hotel. And three: coming to Bangkok without stopping by After You is not an option. 

I didn't quite believe the itinerary part, and bashed out a rough itinerary a few days beforehand. But true enough, plans have a way of going awry. A 4-day vacation isn't enough to cover everything! 

We snagged a great deal at The Athenee Hotel, which was so grand, even the common toilet is stocked with L'Occitane. On our last day here, while we waiting for a taxi, we watched a camera crew set up for filming in the hall. It was close to 2pm by the time we were done checking in. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have skipped breakfast. As soon as we were done, we headed off to Somboon Seafood just a street away from Central Embassy. 

A few years back when I was travelling in Thailand with friends, Somboon Seafood was the highlight of my Bangkok part. I craftily planned Somboon as the first meal of our trip. The Deep Fried Grouper was as crispy as I remembered, and we snacked on the crunchy fins long after we were done with the meal. Somboon is also renowned for the Fried Curry Crab. But because we were lazy, we went for the shell-less Fried Curry Crabmeat. We like the fragrant curry, but felt that it overpowered the loose crabmeat's taste and texture. We didn't like the Roasted Prawns in Glass Noodle, and I think it was left unfinished on the table. There was a bit of a sticker shock at the end of the meal, but it really shouldn't have come as a surprise: there were fresh fish, prawns and crab! (And someone had taken the time to de-shell the crab.)

We aren't nearly in the right socioeconomic status to be shopping at Central Embassy, but luckily there's a shuttle bus service running between several malls, which was how we made our way to the tailor at Amari Watergate Hotel. There are several in-house tailors, and at a firm that my brother-in-law had worked at, it was put to me that half of the male staff were dressed by Paul's Fashion, and the other half by Alex's Fashion. But honestly, with four in-house tailors facing stiff competition from one another side-by-side, I don't think that you could go wrong with any of them. 

It's a stressful time when a tailor measures your waist and let you know exactly how much you've gained over the last year, but post-measurement, there's nothing better than stuffing yourself silly in the name of food therapy to make yourself feel better. We popped by the nearby Platinum Mall for some terrific Mango Sticky Rice (on the 6th floor food court), and browsed around until dinner-time. Here, I've began to appreciate what my travel-mates meant about not needing an itinerary; despite several hours spent wandering around the mall, we barely scratched the surface. 

After the wallet-busting meal at Somboon, we were angling for a simple dinner, and we got what we wanted at Inter. It serves simple hearty local food of Pad Thai, fried rice and stir-fry Minced Pork with Thai basil. 

The dessert chain After You is just across the street, and as an assurance of its quality, I've never seen an After You store without a queue, despite it being around for years. The main dishes are thickly cut toast and Kakigori (shaved ice) and often a riff from local flavours such as the Mango Sticky Rice Kakigori and Thai Tea Kakigori. 

You can't see it, but under the shaved ice, there's a mountain of mango cubes and balls of sticky rice 

The Strawberry Cheesecake had bits of cheesecake mixed in. It was excellent. The Shibuya Honey Toast was overflowing with salted melted butter. Is there any other way to eat toast now that we've tried this? I spent the night hobbling around Ratchada Train Night Market nursing a distended tummy, but obesity's a small price to pay for nice food and good company. And as a result of our sojourn in the night market, I am now the proud owner of a enamelled vintage tiffin carrier as well as several patterned wooden knicknacks. 

That store was helmed by perhaps the most grumpy man in Thailand, possibly because all his stuff were so cute, people couldn't resist rummaging through his wares and playing with them. I didn't haggle (he looked really really grumpy), but in spite of his bad mood, he knocked 20 baht off my bill. Yay? 

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Our breakfast destination the next day was Jeib Roddeedet, a local beef noodle shop selling small portions of beef noodles. The thin spicy broth was sharp enough for an early morning perk-me-up. 

We visited two coffee shops in the area, but both - including the Gallery Drip Coffee - were closed when we arrived (hmmphh), but I finally managed to get my grubby hands on some caffeine at Pacamara. One of their ginormous cup of latte later, and I feel like a normal human being again.

Most of us had the classic latte, but we soon learnt that in the hot Bangkok weather, iced drinks are your best bet. One of us got their Snow Cold Brew. The bottom is a jelly made from espresso, which was then covered with a mountain of shaved milk ice. And then you get to add a espresso shot to the concoction. 

A cheap gimmick, or pure inspiration? A question for the ages.

After several unfruitful attempts to take a picture of a shot being poured into the shaved iced, we pretty much gave up and started stirring everything together. 

Filled with boat noodles and jacked up on caffeine, we thought we could conquer the behemoth that is Chatuchak Market. It's the largest market in Asia with over 15000 individual stalls, and we ... lasted less than a dozen lanes. Some lanes were even air-conditioned. But in the few hours that we were there, it was some of the most productive shopping of the trip. Miss XS bought 8 pairs of shoes, while I've near-revamped my wardrobe. There's a foreigner surcharge in effect, I'm sure, but even so, the clothes were at reasonable prices after some bargaining, and rather well-made too. This ain't them night markets selling junk clothes.  

And look what I found! Okay, I made that, but I bought most of the decorations from Chatuchak market. Many months ago, I went to a terrarium making class. On my way home from the workshop, my car took a turn and my terrarium ... tipped over. It's been a few months, but I still hadn't quite gotten over it yet. I've snagged these sand and stones from a booth and upgraded my Totoro's accommodation, and gave him some new Moomin friends to boot, souvenirs from my Finland trip. 

My herb garden has so far showed no signs of either herbs or spices, but I also bought some varieties of chili seeds to try my luck yet again. 27th time's the charm! 

Alternating between sipping a blended pineapple (try it!) , some freshly opened coconuts and coconut ice cream, we made our way to Union Mall for some much-needed AC, and ... went back to shopping again. We had a break at Kin-Tiew-Kan, which sells snack-sized bowls of boat noodles. stack up the small bowls sushi-buffet style. It's a nice concept, and my favourite side dish was the generously-filled fried wontons.

Dinner was officially Our Best Meal In Bangkok. Sri Trat doesn't have a strong internet reviews on the English-speaking side of the pond, but it was one of the two places recommended by Pak's local friend, and I was eager to get to it. It was charmingly housed in Bangkok's underbelly, in the Red Light District. (OK the charm was totally felt only in hindsight. When we were walking along the darkened streets in search of Sri Trat, we were actually mildly terrified.)

When we finally located the front of the restaurant (whew!) the walk from the seedy streets into the classy interior was a sharp contrast.

Three out of five people do not recommend going to Sri Trat in your Chatuchak Market attire. 

Just as soon as we got seated, we were welcomed with a glass of sweetened butterfly pea tea, and they left us to browse the menu. We actually had no idea what to order, given the paucity of English reviews online, but the waitress was kind enough to make several recommendations. 

Spicy and Sour Relish with Crab Roe and Crab Meat was the clear centrepiece of the dinner. It's a curry with a predominant coconut taste,and we've never tasted anything quite like it in Thai cuisine. I believe we were meant to dip the vegetables into the curry as an accompaniment, and after several unsuccessful attempts by the waitress at miming, she finally had to dipped one of the root vegetables into the curry for me before we got what she meant. But were we meant to dip even the raw brinjals in too? Hmmm. Spoiler: we wussed out. 

I also love their Stir-Fried Glass Noodles with Minced Pork and Cha-Om (Climbing Wattle), which was so fragrant, I could have finished an entire plate by myself. I almost did too,  along with most of the delectable Deep-fried Boneless Sillago Fish. Honestly, I have no idea what the rest of my tablemates were so occupied with. Probably still marveling at the blue pea tea. 

We ordered the Massaman Curry with Chicken and Unripened Durian, just to see what unriped durians taste like, which ... drum rolls ... add a couple more seconds to build suspense ... then a few more beats, dum dum dum ... like tapioca. Hmm. Who would have thunk. It's nice but not outstanding the way the other dishes were, and sadly got a little sidelined. 

We couldn't resist ordering desserts. Who could, after such great mains? The Mango Sticky Rice is great as always (and really, does any bad mango sticky rice exist?). My favourite-est was the glutinous rice balls floating around in a sweet coconut broth. It's filled with shredded coconut and gula melaka, and I'm a little awe-struck by how they got the glutinous rice balls so blue. We also like the Durian Sticky Rice, though the coconut broth that it came submerged in was on the sweeter side, even for desserts.