Day 2 (10 May 2009)
Was up around 6+ and dressed in preparation for the hot weather – dri-fit top, shorts, cap, hair in a bun. With an empty backpack, we headed to Citi Bistro for our daily breakfast. The spread is the best I’ve seen in a hotel. There was a wide selection of bread, pastries, condiments, cereals, yoghurt, fruits, western, Chinese, Japanese, omelet station, half-boiled eggs, soups etc etc. I loved the miso soup, cold soba and somen, tamago maki, ham in pineapple gravy, crispy bacon, omelet with the ingredients I chose – ham, bacon, mushrooms, cheese etc etc. We had 3 selections of fruit juices everyday, my favourites are the orange and guava juice. Other choices included apple and pineapple.
We filled ourselves up and walked out of the hotel to the nearest BTS station – National Stadium. Usually we can access it through MBK, but as the building wasn’t open so early, we went around. It only costed us 35baht each to ride to Mo Chit station, this included changing trains at Siam station, a very kind Thai guy directed us the right way to go, he was very helpful, even sticking his body halfway out the train door at us to make sure we don’t go the wrong way.
I’d never go on a trip without mopiko, i’m a mozzie-magnet!!! Walking to the station alone earned me round 2 – 3 bites!

Walked about 5 mins from Mo Chit station to Chatuchak. Most shops weren’t open yet but we found the pets section with many adorable puppies, kittens and squirrels. It’s not very advisable to stay too long here, cos they aren’t exactly living in the best conditions, any pet lover would feel upset. My first purchase of the day were doggie caps in different patterns. It was really warm in there, even my fan couldn’t help me much. The best relief we had was when we stepped into a doggie apparels shop about 1+ hrs into our walk. It was air-conditioned, thank goodness. We took our own sweet time to choose, and when we had to leave, you can imagine the difference in temperature the moment we stepped out. Throughout our trip, the temperature forecast was around 35 – 37 deg C!!! It was weird, we couldn’t really find stuff we want to buy. Nothing seemed to catch our eyes at all! What’s happening??


After just 2.5hrs there, we called it a day and popped into a cab to travel to Yaowarat, White Orchid Hotel. This has always been the landmark I choose to get off at, cos that’s where the restaurants are!
*Tip: Always ask if the cab will go by meter BEFORE getting in. Even after he agrees, when you get in, make sure he does turn it on.
The cab fare was 83baht, but he rounded it off to 100baht. We just gave it to him, we were actually prepared to give 120baht as an extra tip, but since he added it himself, then so be it. He didn’t stop us where we wanted anyway, he stopped across the road. Took us a while to cross the junction, we didn’t really understand the lights. We headed to Hai Wai Tian, a place we usually go to for Sharks Fin, first thing to order, a bottle of coke and sprite. The bf finished his drink in record time.
Exhausted and burnt… but a nice cold Coca-Cola sets things right!

We ordered for ourselves a 500baht claypot Braised Sharks Fin each. It was delicious…


He wanted birds nest so I suggested going a few doors down to Nam Sing. It was not bad, quite yummy too. They gave us free ice-cold chrysanthemum tea. We ordered the 300baht bowl. After that, we asked for directions to Sampeng Lane.



Managed to find Sampeng Lane without much problem. It is a narrow lane with shops on both sides selling anything you can think of. There was even this cute Wall-E robot toy which dances to music, but I didn’t get it cos it was priced too high! Sampeng Lane can also be quite crowded and takes a bit of getting used to jumping out and back in from the shops.


Bought some accessories here – necklaces, hairbands, earrings etc etc. When we decided it was enough, we hopped onto a cab back to the hotel. It was only about 56 baht back.
After freshening up, we took the BTS to Siam station (lazy to walk) and headed to Central World, the walkway extends all the way up to there. If only Singapore has a walkway to connect the entire Orchard Road, heehee. There, we saw a company’s event which had this display of many many PINK flowers. Of course we had to pose for pictures there.


After that, it was some shopping around at Zen and Naraya for their affordable pretty bags (I bought 4 bags and spent only 900baht) and we started feeling hungry. At the food level, we saw the place called Pizza Pizza, which serves thin crust woodfired pizzas. We ordered a pizza and some garlic fries to share. It was one of our best meals for the trip.

Garlic fries

Can’t remember what pizza this is, but it was thin and yummilicious!

*Tip: According to a fellow blogger Matt, Zen Japanese food is at Central World. We would have gone there if we knew it was there. We just assumed it closed down as we couldn’t find it at MBK. It supposedly has cheap and good jap food. We went to another place which has sub-standard jap food, more on that in future posts.
Walking around, for some reason, I started feeling very tired and didn’t want to walk back. So we headed to the taxi stand, which till today, we still don’t understand the system. You tell the guy where you’re going and you sit down nearby. Cabs come in, they go down their list of places and beckon the passengers over. It was confusing as people coming after us were going off first. Probably they forgot about us until the guy noticed us sitting there for a while and reconfirmed our destination again.
Now, at such a place, you would probably expect that the cabs they talk to will use the meter. Noooo. We got in and I realized the meter wasn’t on. I told him to go by the meter and he said, “holiday holiday, no meter, 100baht.” I was tired, but I ain’t gonna get ripped off without a fight. I figured, I know it would probably only cost us less than 40baht, but I’ll just offer 60. NO. 60baht, its so near. “Nono, okok, 80baht”. NO, its so near, I know its not so expensive. Finally, he relented to 60. WTH, 100baht, even Yaowarat back to Siam area was only 50+, don’t think of cheating me of my money. Will avoid the taxi stand at Central World from now on.
It was quite late already, so the rest of the evening was spent slacking and watching TV, plus an aromatherapy massage. RELAXING!! (I didn’t manage to find the guts to do Traditional Thai Massage, I’d freak out once they start the ‘cracking’.)





































