Being a short trip, we packed in quite a lot on the second day. We visited the Chatuchak Weekend Market, Platinum Mall, Central World for dessert, snacks shopping at Big C and Neon Night Market (again). It was like a marathon of walking, shopping and eating, and repeat all over again! 🙈🙈😅
Chatuchak Weekend Market
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| Chatuchak Weekend Market |
The first stop of the day was Chatuchak Weekend Market. Since we wanted to save on time, we decided to catch a taxi there. There were very few taxi drivers who were willing to go by the meter and the driver we took quoted us 200 baht. So what supposedly was to be a 80-100 baht ride cost us twice the amount. That’s around S$8, and while it was not cheap it wasn’t that expensive either. After all when you get inside a taxi in Singapore, the starting fare is already about half the price (e.g. S$3.20-3.90). Yes, we could have gotten a taxi that went by the meter, but that would have taken some time, and since we can’t speak Thai except for “Thank You” I don’t think we would get far anyways.
There wasn’t much of a crowd at the market when we arrived at around 9ish in the morning, which was a good thing as the walkways are a little narrow, hot and humid. As it neared noon, the crowded started streaming in. We ate and shopped our way through the market, with map in hand of course. However, the weather and heat were just too much. So once we were satisfied with our shopping lot, we desperately needed to get out of the heat and back to offload our goodies at the hotel before continuing our shopping spree.
[Read about our Chatuchak Experience here]
We spent no more than 3 hours at the market as it was sweltering hot! I have no idea which exit we came out of, but there were taxis all lined up outside preying waiting for customers. It was difficult to flag for a taxi so we decided to try our luck and approached one of the taxis. The first driver seemed like a jovial smiling guy but he was a jerk in reality. He tried to be funny, refused to return back the address slip and even had the gall to quote us 250 baht claiming it was very cheap!
Ignoring him, we gave him the black face and just walked away to find another taxi. We soon found another one quite fast and he too refused to go by meter. Ms.D was too hot and tired to try to get a taxiby meter. Peeved by the earlier experience with the jerk of a taxi driver, she resolutely and successfully negotiated the ride from 200 baht to 150 baht. I was too tired to even think at that point that I forgot we could negotiate. That’s traveling for you, you learn something new every time and each experience is different. Of course, picking up some Thai would have been super useful, but that would be for another time.
[Important Thai Phrases]
I have hardly taken a taxi in Bangkok and this trip is one that this means of transport was chosen to save some time, although the experience overall was not too bad I would say that most if not all taxi drivers are not ‘honest. Otherwise, if we had more time, I would rather take the BTS or just walk to my destination if it were nearby.
[Truth about taxis in Bangkok]
Platinum Fashion Mall
Once back in the hotel, we offloaded our goodies and rested a bit before we made our way to the Platinum Fashion Mall for more shopping! It was a frenzied shopping spree as we walked aisle after aisle and floor after floor, but we only managed to cover 1 zone!
[Read about our preivious Platinum Fashion Mall Experience here]
Nothing much has changed from the previous 2 times I have been to the mall- it is still as huge as every and quite impossible to remember where a stall is, so if you see something you like it might be a good idea to buy it first before you get lost in a shopping labyrinth. It took us about 4-5 hours to cover all shops from basement level to level 6 in zone 1 (I think). By the time we were finished, our feet were aching when we made our way back to offload our shopping goodies at the hotel once again. That’s one of the perks of staying nearby the mall; all shopping goods can be offloaded before heading off for some more shopping!
After You Café , Central World Mall
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| After You Café , Central World Mall |
We initially wanted to have dinner, but decided to have some French toast at After You Café, located at Central World Mall first before making our way to Big C to buy snacks and other goodies home. Both places are within walking distance from Glow Pratunam Hotel, so no more taxi drama.
[Read about our After You Café Experience here]
[Read about our Big C Experience here]
Before the night ended, we made our way to the Neon Night Market one last time for some last minute shopping. We lugged our hands full of snacks from Big C to the night market. And while it might have been a short walk, it was a little arduous with the big bags of snacks we were carrying but we managed somehow. It was a Sunday night, but there seemed to be more stalls opened that night.
[Read about our Neon Night Market Experience here]
And with that, our second and final night in Bangkok concluded with lots of loot and aching feet. Till the next time … for the next shopping spree~~ 😊
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