Overseas Assignment 101: Bangkok – Roaming Bangkok

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The question on Friday night was “how to spend the weekend”. Good thing about Bangkok is that the local newspaper has some pointers for us to consider

We were working on Saturday so we had the Sunday free for roaming around town. Chatuchak was already in our itinerary for Sunday but we wanted to see other things too. One suggestion was for us to visit the mall in Siam Paragon (similar to our own KLCC).

Siam Paragon signboard at the BTS station exit

This is my third time to the BTS station, so I knew my way around. The trip from Sale Deng to Siam station cost only 15 Baht (about RM1.50). From the Siam station, the staircase leads directly to Siam Paragon’s main entrance. The majority of the passengers dropping off at the Siam station were walking towards Siam Paragon. So, we took the easy way – we just followed the crowd into Siam Paragon, which is reputed to be the largest shopping complex in South East Asia. The atmosphere looks the same as our KLCC. At the entrance was list of movies being screened at the Cineplex at 5^th floor. Almost everyone was pointing at the screen time for The Da Vinci Code. A look at the crowd at the Cineplex dashed the hopes of watching the movie at the earliest time. It looks like it will be better to watch it at IOI when I return home this week.

The thing that will make my son to enjoy himself – the place for the kiddies to jump and run

Things were too expensive for us to purchase. It was no difference from “shopping” in KLCC. But then there were rows and rows of shops including several shops selling exotic cars (now I know how low a Lamborghini car can be). So, I did what I would do when I am in KLCC – window-shopping. Every floor is divided into various zones – food, electric, household, etc. There were also shops specializing in cooking and antiques. McDonalds looked like 5 star restaurant. Right at the ground floor was the Siam Ocean World – a 2 storey of aquatic exhibition. The entrance fees were about 400 Bath but we did not go down. We did not have the time as it seems like it will take us the whole day to see the exhibitions. Yes, I am exaggerating this but given that it was a 2 storey exhibition area, we would have rushed through if we had gone in to see.

With such big wordings, it is difficult to miss the Siam Ocean World

We walked around and after walking several floors up and down and checking out some of the electrical & camera shops, we were tired – it was time to move on. We had the time though. So, we walked out from Siam Paragon and headed to Ma Bor Krong aka MBK via adjoining pedestrian bridge. The atmosphere in MBK was the opposite of Siam Paragon. It was like the difference between KLCC and Low Yat Plaza. There were plenty of shops selling cheap items. I tried to shop for some clothes for the family but nothing suited my expectation. Fashion has certainly moved a lot since my last trip to Bangkok.

The MBK building as we were walking from Siam Paragon. It is well connected by pedestrian bridges and walkway

Unable to purchase worthwhile anything in MBK and to kill some time, we decided to have an early dinner. There were plenty of fast food restaurants around and an unusual high number of Japanese restaurants. Since we have not tasted the real Tom Yam since we arrived in Bangkok, we opted for a Thai restaurant serving tom yams. The thing about tom yams in Bangkok is that it does not taste like “tom yams” back in Malaysia. So, the next time you are in, don’t forget to try the Thai tom yam.

The tom yam in MBK – hot, spicy and full of seafood variety

It was an exhaustive day – we reached the hotel late, took quick shower and were knocked off

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