Day 2
It is now 8:30am and we just had our first proper meal in almost 24 hours. Some photos of the breakfast spread for your viewing pleasure.
After breakfast, we headed to the ninth floor roof top garden, to see what the city view was like...and we were not disappointed. The Bangkok skyline is very developed yet there are plenty of low rise, open and green spaces. Modern architecture everywhere. Our hotel is ideally located at a crossroad, on one side there is the posh urban commercial district, Sukhumvit with easy access to Metro (underground) & BTS (elevated/sky train) and on the other side the Petchaburi road that connects to the Pratunam wholesale market.
Back in the room, we debated where our next excursion would take us. We decided the first stop, the route we would take and the mode of transport that would get us there. I always try something new particularly when I'm traveling with the family and shukar Alhamdolillah, Allah swt has been very kind and allowed us to experience something new every time.
So…today's first stop would be Pratunam and we would take the boat on the khlong (canal). We walked over to the Asok pier, a short distance from our hotel. The weather today was hot and humid with cloud cover and felt like it would rain.
The boat ride did not disappoint. The smell of the khlong though was just bearable. Have made a small video that I will share. We paid Baht 11 per person and got off at Pratunam pier. Getting on and off the boat is a bit of an effort and one needs to be quick but this was a fun activity. The boat is also equipped with a thin rope when pulled raises a transparent plastic sheet to avoid the spray from the moving boat…this is absolutely necessary as the water is not clean.
Once we got off, we walked up to the Pratunam-Petchburi intersection. Indra hotel a landmark for wholesale shopping was on our right, Central World an upmarket shopping mall on our left while Platinum Mall was across the road. As there was too much traffic, we decided against following the pedestrian traffic flow that crossed the bridge when the signal was red and also of using the zebra crossing at the crossroad signal…rather we saw an elevated walkway to which we walked over. This walkway was linking the Platinum Mall Pratunam on one end of the road and to Central World on the other end and also to Big C supermarket across the road to where we were coming from. It was a short walk to the pedestrian walkway but by the time we got up, the humidity and the heat got to us.
So much for that...Pratunam would have to wait, as we needed to be in cooler environs. Thunday mall ki kia hee baat hai...to hum Central World main daakhil ho gae. Kya department store hai aur kya hi a/c ki thandak. This was a welcome break from the heat. Once inside, wiped the moisture across my forehead and found a place to sit and relax a bit. The ladies did some window-shopping and we then slowly found our way to the exit connecting to the concourse level of the BTS skytrain, another elevated walkway on Sukhumvit road. This elevated walkway would take us to Siam Paragon another landmark premium mall in Bangkok.
I must say, using the elevated walkway is ideal and extremely convenient for pedestrians. It is open daily from 6am to midnight. While walking, I pulled up from google what to expect at Siam Paragon and found that they had a state of the art Multiplex. I was grinning. We arrived at Siam Paragon and headed straight for the Multiplex. IMAX ka maza to lena tha naa...magar Gemini Man lagi hui thi which we had seen in Karachi! So, we decided to watch Midway in 4Dx...what an experience! Paisey wasool hogae! Ticket ka photo leya hai...do balti, Fanta honey lemon aur Fanta strawberry millay, drinks complementary thay aur aik balti mix popcorn khareeda. Popcorn khatam, drinks waisey kay waisey...zabardast!
After the movie, we strolled over to Siam BTS where we bought tickets to Asok and headed to Terminal 21 to catch a bite to eat. Visited three malls in three locations all along one route, possible in Bangkok.
At Terminal 21, we headed to Pier 21 food court on the sixth floor of the mall. The food court at Terminal 21 has many good reviews therefore was on our bucket list. It was past six and we had not had lunch after a full breakfast at the hotel and a bucket of popcorn at the cinema. So we indulged in the perennial local favourites; mango with sticky rice (khaoneo mamuang), papaya salad (som tum) and some stir-fried vegetables with rice. After that snack, we headed back down for a Frappuccino, a latte and a muffin at you know where…correct! Starbucks!
Time flies when you are relaxing and slowly sipping on refreshments while observing fellow shoppers at the mall… and waiting for the kids to return from the shopping spree of trinkets and souvenirs. At around 8:30pm we decided it was enough for the day. Time to head back to the hotel, which was about 15 minutes away on foot. We had done plenty of walking for the day so the additional exercise was going to be challenging...time for another foot massage I say and maybe a taxi or a tuk tuk ride back…the foot massage will have to wait.
Bangkok is dotted with 7Eleven stores and there was one next to our hotel alley…this became our regular go to place for basics, bottled water and whatever halal/vegetarian snacks we could pick up.
Some pictures from today...
