Hello Everyone! It is great to be posting for the first time in Year 2020! I am excited to be wrapping up my Thailand travel posts with this final post about Bangkok.
After spending a relaxing time in Krabi, I booked my next flight to Bangkok with Bangkok Airways. This flight took about 1.5 hours, and to my surprise, an in flight meal was provided. Compared to my previous domestic Thailand flights up to this point, the cost of this one way ticket was the most expensive. The ticket cost was ~$120, but Bangkok Airways did provided great service. After the flight, I found my bags (I was all about checking in all my bags, at this point) and found a taxi to my last hotel. I stayed at the 12th Avenue Hotel, and it was a nice place. The location was a 3-5 minute alley walk to Korea Town and the main street. The hotel provided a shuttle service to the main road every 30 minutes, but most of the time, if the tuk tuk shuttle was not ready to go, I walked.
There are so many things to do in Bangkok, and it is easy to find tourist packages to different sites such as temples, markets, and etc. Most of the time, these tourist packages take care of transport for the whole scheduled activity, and the payment is made up front. However, I did not participate in any of these packages, and opted to explore Bangkok in a relaxing manner. I am personally not a city girl, and it did take me a day or two to get used to the smells, noise, and number of people. I did miss the calm and coolness of Chiang Mai, as well as the relaxed vibe of Krabi, but Bangkok did provide everything I needed to have a good time.
After two weeks in Thailand, I needed some Korean comfort food, so my first stop was obviously Korea Town. I had Korean BBQ the first night I arrived, and in the following days, continued to eat Korean food periodically. No matter where you go in the world, there will always be a Korea Town somewhere.
On one of my last nights in Bangkok, I was eating at a Korean restaurant called Myeong Ga, and a youtube crew arrived. I saw the owner dressed in a traditional Korean Hanbok talking about her restaurant. I ate in silence, while watching the interview from the side, as I was the only customer there (there was no sign saying that the business was closed for youtube filming). After the interview, the crew left and the owner seemed relieved. I spoke with her in Korean for a bit, and she asked if I would like more helpings of Korean BBQ. At this point, I was so full, I genuinely meant it when I said no. However, for those of you that know, it is difficult to decline offerings, especially food, from a Korean Ahjumma (older married woman in this context). She then asked, “What about Yuk Hoe?” This is a more expensive raw steak tartare with a raw egg and served with sweet asian pear on the side.
I felt the burden of the expensive freebie, as well as being absolutely too full to eat, let alone finish, the dish. However, she did not take no for an answer and ordered up a Yuk Hoe for me. It was so delicious, and I did not get food poisoning (raw beef and raw egg)! I did have that concern regarding the Yuk Hoe because I did not want to get GI illness while traveling. However, I honestly would have ate and finished the dish, even if was not good, because I felt bound by Korean mannerisms. Thankfully it was yummy, and I had just enough room to shove it all down.
I am a fan of small bar food dishes with a nice drink. With that said, my favorite dish in Korea Town was roasted capelin (fish) with a nice cold beer.
You also cannot leave out Korean fried chicken when visiting a country with refreshing and affordable beer!
I visited two large shopping malls in Bangkok, called Terminal 21 and MBK Center. Terminal 21 was about a 10 minute walk from my hotel. This mall is designed like an airport terminal with multiple floors that have a world famous city as the floor’s concept. There are common brand name stores such as H&M, Bath & Body, and etc., as well as individual sellers depending on the floor. MBK center is a large mall with 8 floors. There are so many stores and items being sold at this mall, you could spend multiple days here and be entertained. I wanted to visit MBK because there was an arcade, and I ended up playing a good amount of arcade basketball and a sniper shooting range game. My favorite floor to shop was a floor that consisted of individual sellers that were selling touristy items and knock off brand name items (I am most proud of my $10 oversized Adidas sweatshirt) . When visiting Thailand, I recommend buying souvenirs at MBK. Multiple sellers are selling the same items, and it is much easier to haggle. I recommend responding back with half the price they are requesting and pretending to be disinterested if they do not seem willing. It works.
The next place I will talk about is Artbox. Artbox is a trendy outdoor market where you can find handmade items, souvenirs, food, and drinks. The hours are 4PM to 12AM, but if you arrive at 4PM, most of the venders will still be setting up shop. The whole market is covered in lights, and it is beautiful. I additionally liked that it was smaller and less crowded. There was also axe throwing, which is harder than it sounds. I was however able to hit a few bullseye’s!
This blog post is getting long. Like I said, there are always things to do and see in Bangkok. I will post below some pictures with captions of randoms I did not talk about in this post.
I took so many photos and ate too much in Bangkok. I was not able to post everything, but I hope this post gives you an idea of how stimulating Bangkok can be. After all the fun, I left Thailand as a happier person. Word of caution: Never get in a vehicle in Bangkok from 7:30-9:30PM because you are not going to move an inch!
I leave you with a pregnant Bangkok cat!
SOPHROSYNE 