Bangkok Trip

Thailand is a place where most Malaysian will come to visit as it's located just above Malaysia, it's so near where you can actually go by car or van from Penang to Hatyai took only four hours journey. Bangkok is known as the shopping heaven and food heaven for people all over the world especially Malaysian and Singapore. The things selling there is cheap and famous as compared to here. Not with the poor currency now, I don't know where can I fly though flight ticket is cheap, the amount need to be spent for eating and hotel will be much higher compared to those days. 

Note: It was an overdue post, my trip there was actually last October.

So people will ask where to visit in Bangkok, isn't this a place for shopping, shopping and even more shopping or in another case drinking? As I planned my flight, I didn't really start my research on Bangkok. Almost everyone in Malaysia visited Bangkok at least once in their lifetime so it should be a great place to travel. I was thinking of the cheap clothing they mentioned on the social media, that night market and that delicious food. And being a very cheapskate person, I chose the cheapest flight which is flying on Monday and coming back on Thursday ticket. And only after that we scroll through the internet and found that most of the famous night market or spot/activities are open on Fri to Sun. I even missed out the chance to watch free Muay Thai show, which one on Sunday (Channel 7 Stadium near Chatuchak market) and another on Wednesday (MBK stadium but is closed down for renovation).

Luckily I had my sister with me this time round, she's a great planner and a very detail ones! You will know how detail she is if you ever had the chance to travel with her. She will have a screenshot on google map or shop/street picture; she will have the arrow and detail address on places to visit or hawker stall to munch on; she will list out all the must eat food, must buy things will price labelled so that we won't get cheated as a tourist though we are.

We reached Bangkok, Thailand around 3 pm. We took the airport bus orange in colour from Door 6 to Mo Chit BTS which cost us each 30baht, you then can move on to any station for BTS line. We are staying in Bangkok City hotel which is just 150m from Ratchathewi BTS. The location of this hotel is good, near to those famous malls and accessible to almost everywhere BTS, taxi and tuk-tuk are just outside the hotel, breakfast is delicious, and one last thing is the cheap hotel room cost around RM200 each person for 3 nights (we stay in a 2 person room with one extra bed), the only cons is the wifi wasn't good.

The first spot to visit, Asiatique! You can reach there by free shuttle boat, but if you want a faster way there's a lot paid ones available. The famous sign there is their Ferris wheel, you will see it from far the blue lighting with the word Mekong red on the center. I spent around 30 minutes just to get a good picture of it and of course that include a full shot of me (us), selfie and wefie :P Would love to stay here longer as there's a lot shop to explore, my favourite self-made stuff can be found lots here and the price wasn't the highest anyway, you can buy unique souvenir here. But due to time constraint, I need to rush for the shuttle boat and BTS hence I didn't manage to walk around the whole area.

Apart from the ferris wheel, the store and the design of walkway is artistic in their own way with all the cafe hype.

After a few walk around Saphan Taksin, this ends my first day.

Waking up very early the second day for Pratunam market. We just literally walk there walking distance around 15-20 minutes from our hotel. The crowd wasn't that huge on Tuesday early morning. It's more to like wholesale in the front part with narrow walkway considering all those wholesale people are carrying trolley, very pack and you couldn't really buy much here as there's a minimum buying on the same pattern of clothes. Walk till the end for a wider roadway and somewhere near a plaza or so, there's much little wholesale going on, they sell for 2 or 3 minimum pieces with this price and 1 with a slightly higher price but still consider cheap and the design is much more in trend. You can spend time shopping around there, but guys can feel pretty bored following. There's another alternative anyway to shop in a mall where I will take about it later which is much more comfortable but slightly further from the main town area of Bangkok.

After a bit of shopping, we walk back to the hotel for our breakfast. They provide a slightly different choice of breakfast each day. And definitely delicious enough as a hotel inclusive meal. We then rest awhile and continue our second-day journey.

Our second day is mainly planned to walk around the Chinatown. We went there by taxi and only that we found out that it could be the cheapest public transport in Bangkok if you are going by three people (even BTS ticket is higher). We visit the temples and more temples that day. The photo below is the Wat Traimit. And the next ones we just randomly pass by as we lost our way to the next spot where we previously planned. There are a lot more temples in Chinatown we found on the web such as Wat Mangkon Kamalawat and Wat Kanma Tuyaram which we planned to visit but end up very bored of walking so we went back after a random small walk at Sampeng and Itsaraphap Lane, where that place sell a lot of necklace, ring, accessories and stationery in bulk with cheap price. We walk in the Tesco Lotus supermarket too to look for alcohol but Bangkok actually had time limit on buying alcoholic drinks (do take note on that, it's a regulation that applies in all shop including 7-11). Chinatown is famous for selling gold too, you can see gold shop everywhere. I think their happening hour is around afternoon and night, if you plan to visit here don't come too early okay or else you will somehow end up like me. Not to mention my sister actually planned the whole day here and even list out at least 15 foods to try out here with pictures and all the information so that we don't get to the wrong ones but we end up not trying any one of them because we are still full from the previous breakfast and we end up eating random snack that we see straight.

After some rest, we continue our shopping journey at night to Platinum mall and Big C supermarket. Outside Platinum there's a small night market, things are unique, can have a look, I especially love their headband (my favourite florish pattern), regret buying only one. Platinum mall and Big C is linked by a pedestrian bridge. We went in a shop for quite some time buying all the to-buy-list from our list. Should have buy even more (regret again with the currency now and the price in Malaysia; with my extra luggage space from the previous trip; and with my leftover thai bahtI should have spent all of it before I return). I miss their instant noodles (tomyum and green curry flavour), the pocky (mango, banana, strawberry, chocolate), thai milk tea, seaweed, and Lay's chips. And another thing is that the tuktuk's driver there offer expensive car rate to fetch us back to the hotel and we end up carrying two bags of loads each and walk a good 30 minutes back to the hotel ourselves, definitely tough people we are. Very tiring actually, if you buy really a lot, just try to bargain a little and have a ride back.

The third day, we come to this victory monument place and only found it's in the middle of the roundabout. So we just spent some time taking picture on it from the pedestrian bridge. We later walk to a local boat noodles restaurant for some good boat noodles, not the famous fancy ones though, the taxi driver doesn't drive us to the exact place where we even showed him the address, he's trying to scam us I guess. But it's still great though we can walk and explore a little more of the village.

We then linger around Tops supermarket to wait for the rain to stop then we continue our journey by taxi to Union mall! This is the best mall to shop so far though it's a little far from the city Bangkok around an hour. I did most of my shopping here as I don't have the chance to explore Chatuchak market so this is it selling at cheap price, not retail and good quality with lesser people and good environment with air condition. Small tips here, shop from the bottom up as the few shops down there is cheaper compared to the upper ones for the same item. There's also some few own Bangkok design shop which quality are good with unique design. We did have some snack here before we leave, the food court sells cheap nice food! We limit ourselves on the time to leave as it will be a massive jam if we leave slightly later and the cost of taxi will be double, or else I would like to stay there and shop longer. At night we do allow ourselves to spend a little more by opting to ride tuk-tuk experiencing a little of Thailand to MBK just to have their famous steamboat branch dinner, MK restaurant. That night, we walk a little more around the street back to our hotel.

Here comes our last day in Thailand, we spent some time walking before the sunrise and some shopping opposite Pratunam mall, a little mall/shop opposite it selling cheap stuff where we bought a few stuff in it dad's purse, mum's bag, plain shirts, mum's CNY red shirt, fancy tube bra and panties. And then we purposely pass by Erawan Shrine to have a look on it. Anyway, we just watched it from the pedestrian bridge again, the sun is striking hot, we wanted to prevent ourselves from sweating as we checked out early morning and want to stay comfortable till our flight. We later visit the Siam area for some good lunch and dessert, we walk a little and spend some time doing our last minute shopping around the mall we didn't get to explore but still, Union mall wins! :P

Took the BTS back to the hotel and visit 7-11 for the last time for some snack and off we leave Bangkok. Will come back another time for their inner wear which is very comfortable, do check it out! Regretted buying so little of it. Anyway below is our haul for Bangkok, not very much compared to others. This is a wrap for our first Bangkok trip after we grown up! Will definitely be coming back again with my younger sisters for good stuff and definitely Sat/Sun will be considered and planned into our schedule next time for Chatuchak market where so many people brag about it.

Taipei Food

Here comes the last post of Taiwan, the Taiwan food I ate in Taipei! This is only part of the food list I ate or tried as I started being lazy or too intoxicate into this whole trip enjoying indulging myself.

This is the first food I had in XiMenDing, the Taiwan braised pork rice (lu rou fan)! This is so so good locating beside the hostel I stay called Tian Tian Li. I had friends that actually go back and had another bowl the other day and even take away for the last day together with the Ay-Chung mian xian (flour rice noodle). This is a very small stall but famous ones I think, the queue is long and super squeeze inside. But still, we manage to squeeze in and sit in a row for these! Experiencing different and finally travelling ourselves with no tour guide :P You feel the difference definitely, and it's really up to personal preference on which they like.

Braised pork rice NT25 (S), NT45 (B)

Braised pork rice with egg NT35 (S), NT55 (B)

The food is cheap! Apart from the braised pork rice, we do order some other side dish such as oyster omelette (NT60), deep fried carrot cake (NT50), blanched vegetable (NT35), tofu (NT35) and bamboo shoot (NT25). Reminder, don't order the last ones, it tastes and smells like public toilet super damn smelly. All of us couldn't bear with the smell and after that, throughout the whole journey, we no longer order bamboo shoot. Taiwan favourite anyway, they literally add this into every dish, we could smell the same smell in some other dish or when we pass by a few other stalls.

We continue with the dessert, shaved ice! They are famous with mango and hence, of course, we ordered their signature. And we ordered another bowl with the flavour of green tea shaved ice with red bean which tastes okay (it's good too actually) but because mango tastes too good hence the comparison. We finished the whole bowl in minutes! Not to forget to mention their service is good too! A total of 13 of us ordering only 2 bowls of their shaved ice got invited to the second floor as we wait for them to serve, it's like VIP treatment, big private space. We did put down our name there on their wall. And I told you, it's VIP!

Mango shaved ice NT180

Green tea with red bean snow ice NT180

We continue our food trip with the last bite of some street food which is these famous pan-fried buns, we bought all the three flavours including pork, cabbage and leek, all cost NT12. This is good! Soft and chewy with rich fillings.

The next day, our dinner continue with their famous goose noodles in Ximending. This bowl of noodles only serves a slice of thick goose meat which tastes really nice. Because you know, when you order a half portion of goose it will cost you up to NT1200. So be blessed and enjoy that one slice of it. This bowl though it looks small but it's quite full actually for a small eater. The design of this shop is really nice, very classy. But because it's really famous and full of people though they already had two floors serving hence the pace is really fast here. You order fast, food served fast, eat fast and leave fast. 

Goose noodles (NT60)

Next drinks time! Not beer but this Qing wa xian dan (青蛙下蛋). From google, it's how Taiwanese called their tapioca balls. They have lots of variety for the drinks too, it's good cost from NT35 per cup.

This is the bomb! Till now after half a year from our last trip, we (the coursemates) will still sometimes talk about this particular Monga fried chicken fillet. Missing this really so so much! It's really good and the size is big. The owner of this shop is Nono! But of course, he's not that on our visit. We get to only tried their original flavour chicken pie and chilli flavour chicken pie as others are out of stocks, we are probably too late. 

Original flavour chicken pie (NT65)

We continue our fried chicken crave to this stall (繼光香香雞) recommended by one of my friend who previously travelled to Taiwan. We bought almost all their food from the menu such as fried chicken (large - NT110), fried oyster mushroom (NT55), and fried cuttlefish (small - NT65). It's all good, fried foods won't go too bad for me except if it were too oily. Oh, we actually come upon to this restaurant again in Malaysia! We don't know they actually had one base in Malaysia before hanging around in Sunway Velocity, the new mall near Ampang. And we actually bought it and eat again to reminisce our Taiwan trip (actually they wanted to try out the Tamshui cake locate beside this stall but the queue is way too long and by coincidence we met this) but the taste is slightly different from the one we tasted in Taiwan, still good though.

    

The most expensive meal I had in Taiwan probably is this Din Tai Fung (鼎泰丰). Though is expensive but it's a must try if you anyhow come to Taiwan, so so delicious and their customer service is really good each waiter know how to speak a few language and visitor will be served according to their country languages such as Korea, Japan, English, Thailand and Malaysia Bahasa too! They had lots of branches in Taiwan and we went to the Yongkang street (永康街) ones the headquarter of Din Tai Fung they called it the 总店. The queue is quite long and we need to wait for around 2 hours before we are being seated. But yes, after you got seated, your food are served quite fast because you could placed your order while you got your waiting number.

While waiting, we went to the bookstore (金石堂書店) beside it. This bookstore had a few floors each selling different stuff, and it's a good place to chill and relax with good books and stationery. But if to buy notebook, tape and other cute cheap stationery, I would prefer the one at Shida named 金兴发生活百货. Bought a plain brown notebook for less than NT10, simple yet pretty and it's really rare in Malaysia. A cute tape with printed pattern, I bought one cost NT70 with all Taiwan tourist places printed, not sure what to do with it but I cannot, it's really pretty. They had different stamp pad with colours and also cute stamps for kids. Apart from stationery, they sell also cosmetic, food, snack and daily necessities. Found the blue mountain blend coffee that appears a lot in Taiwan novel, decided to buy one bag though it's really pricey. It tasted different from the usual and I don't know how to explain that.

Before the food is served, here's a groupfie of us once being seated, the fu tai tai.

The must order wine chicken they said. The chicken served not in warm condition but with the wine, it's really good! Guess, they had their own SOP on the chicken temperature and principle behind it like maybe prevent the alcohol from evaporating or so (I don't know, just assumption). The chicken especially with the skin slip into your mouth and dissolve, whoooo~ So so good!

Wine chicken 紹興醉雞 (NT280)

The chicken soup with really soft chicken that melt and soup that wasn't too oily.

Yuan Zhong chicken soup 元盅雞湯 (NT200)

The fried rice grain by grain, not sticky nor too oily. How can such simple dish so expensive and taste so good? The amount of shrimp does not equivalent to the price though.

Prawn fried rice 蝦仁蛋炒飯 (NT210)

This dish, another fried rice dish with the same price by comparing is more worthy though. The pork served is thick and chewy and the fried rice taste a lot the same just that there's no shrimp in it.

Pork chop fried rice 排骨蛋炒飯 NT210

Next up, dessert! The dumplings. We ordered three different types of dumpling, their xiao long bao (traditional), the shrimp dumplings and red bean dumpling. There's a lot more dumplings with different fillings and different price. It can be served in 5 or 10 pieces.

Steamed shrimp dumpling 蝦肉蒸餃 (NT240 - 10 pieces)

The Xiao Long Bao (小籠包), they are famous with is the skin that wraps the meat and the juice that stay in it. It turns out all good, I want to eat more. Make sure you handle with care (the correct way of holding a chopstick not poking the skin and smash the juice or just scoop it with your spoon). Put the whole thing in the mouth and let the juice burst and melt inside. Thumbs up! There's a guideline on the table showing you the right way to eat the dumpling with the sauce and ginger served, you can follow of course. But the original ones is good enough for the mouthfeel, no additional taste needed. 10 pieces are sell for NT200.

  

After both meat dumplings, here comes some sweet savoury, to those who like sweet stuff (not really very sweet though). This red bean dumpling (豆沙小包) are cost at NT160 for 10 pieces. Best to be eaten when it's served hot, the red bean literally melt. And if you realize, I'm lacking of adjective to describe all these good foods!

 

This meal cost me around NT500, a scrumptious but must try ones! They are not only famous with night market. Night market food is really repeating in every different night market, not to mention all those famous food is much of fried food (they literally fried everything include milk) and it can be heaty, some of us started to fall sick and not feeling well on the third day. You can cut down some might market wandering as there's not much to explore except that you want to see other stuff such as clothes and cute accessories, why not invest in some good restaurant or local stall for more different types of Taiwan food.

This is the shaved noodles (刀削麵) from 牛老大刀削麵. Taiwan is famous for their beef so how can I not order another bowl of beef before I leave Taiwan. But still love the beef noodles from Kenting night market (refer here). The noodles here come with big portion and it's really delicious! The size of the noodles not really starchy and it's Q. And the best thing is they served free tea! The environment is comfortable too.

Shaved noodles 牛肉炒麵 NT110

The famous bubble tea in Taiwan, 50 Lan. Coco bubble tea is good too! Bubble tea lover here :) 

That one day that I and my friend decided to settle our dinner in 7-11. I tried a few foods and drinks here, it's all new to me as there's no Family Mart in Malaysia before I actually travelled to Taiwan. Now that Malaysia own a Family Mart that import Taiwan and Japan food, I guess I shall just visit those stall when I miss those food, it's much more convenient now. But onigiri (NT25) is not on my list though, don't really like it as seaweed is not crispy, is more like soft ones and hard to chew on and in addition there's not much filling in it just rice with no sauce, hmph too dry and plain for my liking. Microwave burger is a must try though, cost between NT35-45. The Shih An farm soft boiled egg (NT42) is good too, it's a ready to eat egg. But some of my friends couldn't take it, as it's too weird for them to consume an egg which is still cold. You can too try their oden which they are very famous with, it's a quick snacking of hotpot. They served also microwave soup, milk tea, coffee and beer.

 

Apart from that, I also ate their spring onion biscuit (葱抓饼) which tasted and textured so much like Malaysia roti canai with higher price. They have more variety here I had to admit such as bacon, tuna, meat floss and etc. Taiwanese just love to mix and match everything, like literally everything though some don't really match well such as the small sausage in large sausage (大腸包小腸). Also not to forget Taiwan famous Ay-Chung flour rice noodles (mian xian) cost NT60 per bowl. Along the street, we tried also fried dumpling for supper, not much to brag on. There's so much food in Taiwan I had yet to explore.