Blog about our impromptu 2018 3D2N trip to Bangkok! Some useful travel tips and simple itinerary which we hope can be useful for you!
It has been 5 years since we last visited Bangkok, unlike many others who travel to this city annually, or almost make it their “second home”. We still love travelling to Japan, hehe.
AirAsia Self-check-in Boarding Pass Verification at “Document Check”
Anyway, for those who are flying to Bangkok with AirAsia, do make sure to have your self-check-in boarding pass verified at the Document Check counter even if you have completed your check-in at the kiosk or at home. Not too sure about other countries, but for Bangkok, we were asked to do so.
The flight took about 2 hours, and we safely landed at Don Mueang International Airport before 8AM. That was quite early, but weather was scorching hot with big, bright hot sun awaited us.
How to Go to Bangkok City Center from Don Mueang Airport
There is no direct train from Don Mueang Airport to the city, hence taxi and bus are ideal transportation options. For taxi, it costs about 400baht – 600baht. We went on the cheaper way – hop on A1 Shuttle Bus, paid 30baht. Yes, you read it right, only 30baht per person!
Where is Bus A1, Where it Stops, How Long the Trip Takes
Bus A1 is the public transportation that can send you to BTS Mo Chit Station/ MRT Chatuchak Park . From there, you can transfer to other BTS Station or MRT station to reach your accommodation.
If you landed at Terminal 1 (*For AirAsia passengers), just follow the “public transport” direction and you can easily see a board indicating where you can wait for bus A1. Bus travels frequently. Waiting time is short, at less than 10minutes.
Ticket price is 30baht/person for 1 trip. So cheap! Bus condition is just alright, you get what you pay for. Doesn’t matter for us, as the journey was just 30 minutes.
The ticket lady will inform you when Chatuchak Market is near. The bus stopped very near to BTS Mo Chit entrance, like 2 minutes away. Save on walking energy.
Bus A1 is Recommended if You Want to Visit Chatuchak Market Once Touched Down
Chatchuchak Market is our first destination this round. Therefore taking Bus A1 makes things easier, as BTS Mochit is also the station for Chatuchak Weekend Market.
Here to Store Luggage Near Chatuchak Market
But the difficult part, where to store our luggage. We didn’t want to lug our luggage around in a stuffy, crowded market. Crawled through many websites using Mr. Google, and finally found one, called LockBox!
This service is introduced last year, a great move as this company has probably realized the lack of lockers in Bangkok. Lock Box is currently available in several BTS and MRT Stations like Silom, Phra Pam9, Sukhumvit, Pahonyothin, etc.. More lockers will be set up in near futures.
Lock Box Chatuchak can be found at Exit 1 and Exit 3 of MRT Chatuchak Park . Right after the staircases exit beside the road, not inside the station.
These luggage storage lockers are classified in Small, Medium and Large. We used the Medium, which is just nice for 1 small size luggage and 1 backpack. 50baht per hour, 1800baht per day. More info here: https://www.lockbox-th.com/size
The payment system doesn’t accept 1000baht. So make sure to have small notes with you.
The epic moments- We put in 500baht and it returned 32 10baht coins for us. Hahaha.
6. Chatuchak Shopping and Eating Began!
Yes, had our luggage stored. Time to explore Chatuchak Market! Our target this round is still dinnerwares, clothes, accessories and food of course!
JJ Coconut Ice Cream – the legendary must try. 60baht for 1, accompanied by 3 toppings of your choice and a mini glass of fresh coconut water.
Some random food stalls in Chatuchak Market. Meat skewers, grilled seafood, deep fried items, roti, iced tea, fried rice, noodles, tom yum, coffee, etc.. Get all your favourite in one place!
Clothes- paradise for fashion shopping geeks. Some are really cheap and good in quality.
Quenched thirst with Thai Iced Tea, Coconut Water and Lemon Soda. Whenever we saw shops selling icy cold drinks we felt like buying.
Yes! Wooden plates! Mission accomplished. Don’t ask which section these pretty wooden table wares are from, we really forgot.
Address:
Chatuchak Weekend Market
587/10 Kamphaeng Phet 2 Rd,
Khwaeng Chatuchak, Khet Chatuchak, Bangkok, Thailand
How to reach Chatuchak: Mo Chit BTS Skytrain, Exit 2
Check-in Prettiest Airbnb Room in Thonglor, Bangkok
We thought of staying longer but the weather was unbearably hot so we left after lunch. Took 14 stations from Mo Chit –> Thonglo to reach our Airbnb! Far but it was all worth it.
The Airbnb is located above a café named Sleep Industry, basically a coffee shop with accommodation service.
Entered through this quaint little café, climbed for 3 or 4 floors (*couldn’t really remember) and JANG~~~
OMG look at this beautiful Airbnb!
So happy to have this studio-style space all to ourselves for 2 nights! Is our favourite modern industrial-like design with metal rustic charm.
Almost everything is provided, from shampoo, shower gel, towel to mineral water, biscuit sticks; TV, work desk, washing machine, microwave and dining wares.
In love with this super huge, comfortable King size bed. Sleep well every night, despite it was quite noisy outside.
If you plan to stay in Thong Lor in your next trip to Bangkok, we highly recommend Sleep Industry Café & Bed! Great room interior, great location near to Thonglo BTS station, ala-carte breakfast & coffee included – All for only RM200++ per night. Very satisfying stay with reasonable price. If we were to mention the cons, the only thing we wanted to say is, it could be quite noisy for light sleepers, because Sleep Industry is directly by roadside with BTS train passing through every few minute till midnight. Other than this, we were quite happy.
Address:
Sleep Industry Bangkok
764/10 Sukhumvit Rd, Khwaeng Khlong Tan,
Khet Khlong Toei, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10110, Thailand.
Cafe Opening Hours: 8AM-8PM daily
Airbnb : 2 Rooms
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sleepindustrybkk/
Public Transport: Thonglo (E6) BTS Skytrain, walk for 5 minutes
First BKK Cafe Hopping – Blue Dye Café, Thong Lor Sukhumvit 36
Bathe, took a short rest and had our café hopping in BKK started with Blue Dye Café, a hidden, lovely café situated in the neighbourhood of Thong Lor, yet not too far from BTS Station. We walked for about 5 minutes to reach.
So cozy with few insta-worthy corners!
A café with a home garden-like al-fresco area, and designed with lots of wooden elements.
This section sells a lot of handcrafted cooking utensils and dinning wares from Cone Number 9. Good quality and reasonably priced too. Buy them home if you love any of them.
Blue Dye Café offers few savouries on their menu, such as Chicken Cornflakes served with Homemade Chilli Ginger Sauce, Ham & Cheese Toast, Carbonara Pasta, Blue Dye Brekkie, Sald, Soup, Aglio-Olio.
Beverage list is more extensive, covering from coffee, coffee using seasonal beans selected by KINTO Coffee bar, Sparkling Cooler, Matcha, Chocolate, Dirty Chai and Blue Dye Café very own signature Salted Caramel & Honeycomb Iced Latte.
Tried Coco Affogato (160baht) too. Not bad, incorporating Thai fresh coconut ice cream to highlight local twist, plus a shot of essential espresso.
Blue Dye Café closes at 6PM so if you want to enjoy the charm of this coffee place and chill longer, do come early.
Address:
Blue Dye Cafe
10110 40/1 Soi Sukhumvit 36,
Khlong Tan, Khlong Toei, Bangkok 10110, Thailand.
Opening Hours: 9AM – 6PM ( closed Monday)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlueDyeCafe/
Public Transport: Thonglo (E6) BTS Skytrain, walk for 5 minutes
Evening View of Bangkok City from a Rooftop Garden, FOC!
Next up, EmQuartier – one of the latest shopping malls in Bangkok that occupies over 600,000 sqr. metres space, an EM District project by The Mall group.
The mall is made up of three zones, namely The Glass Quartier, The Waterfall Quartier and The Helix Quartier. It can be directly accessed from Phrom Phrong BTS Skytrain, easy, convenient…
…The Glass Quartier…
..and get ready to be impressed with the stunning architecture design that incorporated with lots of greens and plants!
It is soooooo pretty!
Look at this garden with amazing view of bustling Thonglo-Phrom Phrong. So pretty and is FOC! We sat there for the whole evening, watched the sunset and do nothing. LOL.
Make EmQuartier your must-visit shopping mall in Bangkok. You’ll not regret.
Went into Helix Quartier for dinner. This zone has more than 50 cafes and restaurants choices, such as Crab & Claw, Escape Bangkok,Tsujiri, Laem Charoen Seafood, You & I, Audrey Cafe, Bonchon, Bulgogi Brothers, Chef Man, D’ARK, Dean & Deluca, EAT at Quartier FoodHall, Emack & Bolio’s, Fuji, Greyhound Cafe, SAVA Dining Room, Pierre Herme Paris, Tajima, White Story, Vanilla Cafeteria and more.
Whether you are craving for seafood, meat, burgers, noodles, steamboat or merely desserts, EmQuartier has them all.
10. Dinner at Award-Winning Nara Thai Restaurant
We had a hard time deciding what to eat in EmQuartier. Choices are plenty from local and Asian delights to Western cuisines. Finally settled down at Nara, an award-winning restaurant serving authentic Thai food, mainly from Southern Thailand.
Wide selections on the menu. If it is too hard for you to choose, just stick to their TOP 12 Recommendation, which summarized their best-sellers you could hardly go wrong with, including:
Thai Appetizer Platter – Fish Cakes, Pork Satays, Pork Wantons, Spring Rolls, Pomelo Salad (390baht)
NorthEastern Spicy Fried Pork Balls (190baht)
Fried River Prawns with Garlic (550baht)
Prawns in Spicy Lemongrass and Lime Soup (430baht)
Crispy Fried Whole Sea Bass with Garlic, Peppercorn and Herbs (500baht)
Nara Fried Rice with River Prawn (260baht)
Hot & Spicy Chicken Wings served with Papaya Salad and Sticky Rice (240baht)
Braised Beef Massaman Curry (310baht)
Stir Fried Crab with Yellow Curry (1250baht)
Nara Thai Coconut Ice Cream with Condiments (145baht)
We ordered Tom Yum Goong 430baht, Tord Man Goong (Crispy Shrimp Cakes) 280baht and Phad Yot Mara (Winter Melon Green) 180baht.
Crispy Shrimp Cakes is highly recommended! Bouncy QQ shrimp fillings, jacketed with crispy deep fried bread crumbs coating.
Tom Yum is not bad too. Packed a punch with sharp sourness, mild spiciness, loaded with herbs & spices aroma.
Total bill came to around ~1400baht including 1 rice, 1 Thai iced tea and 1 Lemongrass drink. Nothing special for the Thai Milk Tea, except it was much more expensive compared to stalls outside, as expected due to the “premium location”. LOL.
Address:
Nara EmQuartier
7th Floor, The Helix,
621 Sukumvit Road, Bangkok, Thailand.
Opening Hours: 10AM – 10PM
Website: https://www.naracuisine.com/
Public Transportation: Phrom Phrong (E5) BTS Skytrain, direct access to EmQuartier Mall
Good Night. Rest Well.
We thought of going to Octave Rooftop Bar at Bangkok Marriott Hotel Sukhumvit for a drink since it is quite near to where we stay, but decided to call it a day because we had been awake since 2AM.
**Octave Rooftop Bar Image source from http://www.marriott.com
Slept early, and looked forward to the breakfast provided by our Airbnb owner tomorrow! First time having breakfast in a café Airbnb! Couldn’t wait! In case you need the address for Octave Bar, here it is:
Address:
Octave Rooftop Bar
Bangkok Marriott Hotel Sukhumvit
57 Sukhumvit Rd, Khwaeng Khlong Tan Nuea,
Khet Watthana, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10110, Thailand
Opening Hours: 5PM – 2AM
