Breakfast was a latte brewed by expert hands at Roast (EmQuartier). And owing to our past experience in Pacamara, more of us opted for the iced coffee. It's a cup of frozen coffee cubes and topped with a dollop of milk foam, to which you pour cold milk in. Watch the coffee cubes mingle with the milk and make friends and get to know each other. It's very dramatic indeed.
We had a ramen stop at Ra-Men Bankara. That ramen's not bad at all, and quite good actually, even for me who’s not planning to eat ramen in Thailand. I can see why the restaurant's a local favourite, and despite the signature dish being the Bankara broth, we kinda preferred the thicker and richer tonkatsu broth.
We split up into two groups - some of us wanted to check out Mega Plaza, the biggest toy mall in Thailand. But I wanted to tour the Grand Palace and Wat Arun, and maybe sneak in some massage time at Wat Pho's massage school.
I bought jeans to tour the Grand Palace, but I just couldn't bear to put them on in the sweltering heat. Instead, we bought elephant pants at a street side store across the Grand Palace for 100 baht. It's nice and comfortable, and feels just as cool and airy as if I'd been wearing shorts. The Grand Palace has some pretty remarkable structures, and compared to our last palace experience at Korea's Gyeongbokgung, was definitely more opulent. The entrance fee of 500 baht was pretty steep, so try to check Klook for discounts prior to your trip.
Walking around the estate took more time than I thought (and in fact someone half-jokingly said "If it costs 500 baht, we're stay here until closing time.") But mostly, there was just so much to see, and afterwards, we didn't have enough time to cross the river to Wat Arun. (Something that I was low-key grateful; all the heat was making me a little spazed.) We sought out the comfort of dinner at Som Tum Nua, a casual eatery serving Thai street food (at restaurant-level cleanliness!). The fried chicken was so good, we ordered another round. Their Grilled pork neck was plenty delicious too. But despite claims telling us the Som Tum (green papaya salad) was toned down for foreigners, we still thought it really spicy and couldn't finish despite our best efforts.
Our after dinner stroll also brought us to Terminal 21, an airport-theme shopping centre with each level corresponding to a particular country. It was pretty cool, especially when some stores of each floor correspond to the type of country they're from.
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Go-Ang Pratunam Chicken Rice is a Michelin Bib Gourmand awardee, but the best part of our breakfast was the mango sticky rice from the street-side stall in front of the chicken rice shop. We had two servings! (The server seems resigned to their customers having mango sticky rice for desserts.)
We had a grand old time shopping for souvenirs in the form of snacks at Big C (do you sense a recurring theme to our travels yet?), and even snuck in another round of massage at Healthland afterwards (Klook is pretty great for this as well!) The last day is always a bit of a rush, and after an early dinner, we caught our flight to Singapore.
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Bangkok has been a blast, with good food and great shopping. My biggest regret was not being able to visit Methavalai Sorndaeng in Chinatown, the other Thai restaurant recommended to us by Pak's local friend, or to check out other fancy restaurants like Blue Elephant. Or even be able to revisit old haunts like Taling Pling. And y'know, not eating more mango sticky rice - we didn't even need to go Kor Panich, I think I'll be pretty happy even with the ones in the food courts or over at Suvarnabhumi Airport. (which actually I've heard is pretty good). It's common to spend the rest of your baht loading up on mango sticky rice at the airport, which was what I wanted to do, but when we reached the airport, we were too busy sprinting for the gates. Darn those notorious weekday Bangkok peak-period jam!
While boarding, we were advised by other travelers to take public transport during peak hours, which makes sense in hindsight as our Grab ride remained stationary for 45 minutes. (Also, in such instances, don't trust the Grab driver when he promises the world and tells you there'll be no problem getting you to your flight in time - his only concern is you cancelling the ride.) But otherwise, Grab has been super lovely and is a lot less hassle than having to deal marked-up quotations from taxi drivers. If nothing else, it is good to check on Grab to get an estimate of a fair market rate before haggling with taxis.
If you're wary of getting food poisoning, restaurants and food courts would have higher standards of hygiene. Food sold on the streets might be less safe, not only of possible improper food preparation, but also because under hot sun may spoil faster and usually has more flies (and who knows where the flies’ legs have been.)
All in all, we'd an amazing 4-day holiday. It's been a grand trip, Bangkok. We'll see you soon.
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