Travel: Trip to Bangkok, 21-24 Oct 2015 (Day 3)

We did quite a lot of walking on Day 2, so for Day 3, we decided to just go around Platinum mall & the Chatuchak Friday evening market (after some discussion with our friend, Alex), who recommended us to go to Chatuchak on a Friday night instead of Saturday morning, where throngs of people will visit that market.

Initial plan for Day 3
Pratunam/Siam area
Chatuchak market at night

Summary of Actual Day 3
Pratunam early morning market
Platinum shopping mall
Chatuchak Friday evening market
Pratunam night market

I was quite determined to find out what's available at the Pratunam morning market, which starts from 4:00a.m. - 9:00a.m. I'm certainly not an early bird, but my determination & excitement woke me up around 7:00a.m. on the Friday morning to check out the market right behind my hotel.

At 7:30a.m., the whole skyline was already very bright & you'll find a sea of bargain hunters with their trolley bags walking around the Pratunam morning market. The difference between the morning & night markets is that the morning markets are more for wholesale purchases, but things will more likely be cheaper at wholesale prices than at retail prices!

I actually managed to buy some clothings at good prices, as low as THB50/piece, but I've to buy 3 pieces from the same stall, which I was okay with since those are the items that I was planning to buy :) I'm not a heavy shopper, so I only spent like THB660 for 9 pieces of clothing. That's like an average of THB73/piece, which is still below RM9.00/piece! Woohoo!!

By the time the rest of them woke up for breakfast, it's already mid morning :P Traffic was building up & people were moving into shopping malls for good bargains.

Various companies of taxis

Thai ice tea & Thai ice green tea (THB35/large cup) from the stall right at the junction of Soi Petchaburi 22, between Pantip Mall & Grand Diamond Suites Hotel

We were walking around like nomads & had to figure out what to have for brunch, when I saw a "piggy" sign on my right & went "Pork! Let's check it out!"

Thai stewed pork rice (THB60/plate, comes with a hard-boiled duck egg)

The stall is right at the Soi Petchaburi 22, opposite Shibuya 19 Shopping Mall

Photo credit: James OJE

It may not look very appealing nor classy, but YOU HAVE TO TRY IT! It was TRULY SCRUMPTIOUS!

We didn't know what & how to order, so we just pointed to the lady that we wanted what our neighbours were eating...hahaha. As we didn't know how the stewed pork tastes, we didn't dare order a lot, so we started off with just 2 plates for 4 persons.

Thai stewed pork rice with hard-boiled duck egg

The stewed pork was SO tender that it melts in your mouth, the gravy was flavorful with herbs & spices, yet not over-powering & the duck eggs were just a great add-on (I love eggs!). The rice was fluffy & fragrant as well! The entire dish was so humble yet 'fit for the king'.

The stewed pork was too yummy that we had to order another plate, but this time, with stewed pig's intestines.

Thai stewed pig's intestines

This was the bomb! The intestines didn't have any horrible smell (properly cleaned), there's no residue in the intestines, each piece of intestine was soft yet still slightly chewy that it also melts in your mouth & it was oh-so-flavorful! I think it's been stewed for hours or overnight! High-cholesterol or not, I could finish the whole plate by myself & go for seconds!

We were totally satisfied after the simple meal. We all agreed that it was the best meal that we've eaten thus far! We were energized to start our day at Platinum Shopping Mall after the meal, where we walked around for a few hours before coming together for lunch at the same stretch of street stalls outside the mall.

More snacks - James' favorites

More fried pork

Our favorite fried chicken

Right in front of Pantip Mall is our favorite fried chicken stall. You'll get a whole chicken leg for around THB40, I think, which we happily bought just 1 piece & shared it among the 4 of us (there were more snacks to share anyway). Crunch, crunch, crunch! Even those fried chicken back in PJ/KL can't be compared to the Thai fried chicken...hahaha.

Thai laksa (THB35-40, I think)

Right outside Pantip Mall, there's this stall that sells somewhat fragrant Thai laksa. I just followed my eyes & nose to the stalls...hahaha. The lady was very doubtful that I wanted to buy her bowl of laksa as she's afraid that I can't take the spiciness level. She actually gave me the mild spicy soup to try first before I actually bought a bowl of her noodles. It was quite spicy, I've to say, but it was also quite tasty. Somehow, it's not like the Thai laksa that we have in PJ/KL.

Chatuchak Friday night market was the last on our itinerary for the day after heading back to the hotel to rest for a while. We went there around 6:00p.m., kinda early for the usual crowd, but we just wanted to get there before the crowd builds up. We managed to get a taxi there for about THB250/way.

With the amount that we're eating per meal, you would have guessed that the guys got hungry rather quickly. So the 1st thing that we did at the Chatuchak market wasn't to shop, but to look for food! We stopped at this stall that sells chicken rice & mango stick rice.

Mango Sticky Rice (THB50/serving)

Still not fantastic, but oh well, the mangoes were sweeter than our 1st try.

Thai bbq pork rice (THB50/plate, if I'm not mistaken)

Quite different from our Malaysian version of bbq pork rice. I actually prefer our Malaysian version as I'm probably used to eating it in that style. The food in Bangkok are generally sweeter/sugar added, so I'm not a big fan of most of their dishes.

Thai coconut ice-cream

When you're in Bangkok, having their coconut ice-cream is like a must. It'll be quite a waste to not try it at least once throughout your trip. Back in Malaysia, the Sangkaya brand of coconut ice-cream is way too costly, so we had to eat 'til we're satisfied while we're in Bangkok :P

We added atapche & sweet potatoes to go with our coconut ice-cream

Well, this didn't excite me as much as the stewed pork rice earlier in the day, but it was a nice dessert on a humid evening.

Aunty, so dark d, still wanna wear sunglasses ar?

We walked around from dusk 'til around 8:30p.m., where we decided to sit down & have some food again. Not all stalls were opened on Friday, but even those stalls opened didn't appeal to me. AP & I actually walked out of Chatuchak empty handed!! Can you believe it? There was nothing VERY cheap nor VERY pretty nor was there anything that we really wanted anyway...

Stir-fried pork with basil + fried egg + rice

It was okay. Slightly spicy, but I wasn't thrilled to have this.

Dessert: Ice lollies (THB10-20/stick, I think)

It's something fanciful to me, but truthfully, it's not as fanciful in taste :( More coloring than cola.

No idea what's the blue one, but it looks 'different', so I ordered it *bleagh* Not nice...hahaha.

Child labor? :D

As if Chatuchak wasn't enough, we were like Pratunam night market addicts! Back there again yo!

This time, only for snacks & drinks: Deep-fried baby crabs (THB30/100g)!

Needed some vitamin C, so we ordered a fresh orange + carrot smoothie (THB30/cup)

Very refreshing :)

That concluded our Day 3 in Bangkok. I felt more accomplished today than the days before...hahaha. The stewed pork rice was still the best discovery for the day ;)


Missing THAT particular Thai stewed pork rice,