The Enabler and I were given a leave pass the other day as our hubby's valiantly agreed to look after The Mini Enablers while we had a girls day out. We decided that the best way to spend the day would be a quick trip to Bangkok!!! Who does that right? Yeah we do! That's just how we roll. It meant that we were up at 3.30am and our heads didn't hit the pillow again until after midnight, so we really made the most of our day. If you follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram you have no doubt seen a little of our shenanigans but right here is where you will get the full picture. Read on for all the details ...
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With only one day in Bangkok, we needed a game plan and a tightly planned run sheet. Before jumping on the plane we (actually I but let's not split hairs!) mapped out exactly what we wanted to do and came up with the following checklist of our must do activities.
So we had a game plan but how did it work out?
Getting There & Back
I booked our Air Asia flights through Webjet before we left Oz for the bargain price of $80 return. Yep you heard right $80. We could have got it a little cheaper if we hadn't chosen to select seats but at that price we were not going to quibble over a few baht! For a budget airline we had no complaints. Both flights were on time and even arrived a little early. Bonus! We did have two hiccups with our transportation. Firstly the taxi I booked off the street the night before to transport us to the airport did not arrive. For a world renowned party town Patong is eerily quiet at 4am. There was not a taxi in sight. With little choice we put our faith in a strange man that turned up on a scooter and promised to take us to a taxi. We jumped on the back (yes both of us!) and he took us a few blocks away to our savior who got us to the airport on time, despite an unexpected stop at the side of the road for him to get an ant out of his shoe that was biting him! He knew he had us over a barrel so we paid 1000 baht instead of around 700. What can you do right? The second was that in the fifteen hours since we left Phuket it bucketed down with rain which meant that our trip back to the hotel from the airport meant crossing a road that more closely resembled a river. We held our breath as we drove through water that was above the base of the door height in quite possibly the oldest taxi on the planet but we made it through. Phew!
Chatuchak Markets (pronounced Jatujak)
Wow! Chatuchak is huge! One of the largest in the world in fact. With 35 Acres, 27 sections, 15,000 stalls and 200,000 visitors every weekend we were never going to be able to cover it all in the few hours I had allocated here. Most websites say operating hours are 9am - 6pm but the official one says opening is 6am. We arrived about 7.45am and while some stalls were open most didn't open until 9am. There isn't much you can't pick up here including food, clothing, handicrafts, ceramics, plants, art, pets, book and antiques.
Luxury Window Shopping
I promise this was only meant to be window shopping but it turned into a little more than that with a very special purchase from Chanel. In my defense I can claim my VAT back to make it slightly cheaper but it still stung a little. What can I say, I love these shoes so much I couldn't leave them there. You understand I'm sure. We visited EmQuartier, Paragon, The Emporium and Siam Centre. Look out for my upcoming post that will provide all the details.
Sample Street Food
I know what your thinking. Street food is not the safest of options but taking a (calculated!) risk every now and then is half the fun of travelling. There were lots of tempting options at Chatuchak but as it was very early in the morning and my taste in breakfast leans more towards toast and vegemite than chicken satay sticks, fried spicy squid and green quails eggs, so we decided to pass in the hopes that we would pick something up later on in the day. Unfortunately it didn't quite pan out as the only other options we saw looked decidedly dodgey. To redeem ourselves we did try some delicious crepes from street vendors when we got back to Phuket. A seriously delicious bargain at 60 baht a pop (AUD 2.40).
Collect Hard Rock Glass
Hark Rock Cafe's are pretty much the same the world over but this was a MUST do on our trip because I am a hurricane glass collector. This is #49 in my collection and I have drunk the cocktail from every single one of them. An alcohol fueled travel map if you like. My last remaining one in Thailand is Pattaya but that is not going to happen this trip!
Cocktails Under The Stars
Bangkok is littered with swanky rooftop bars so I did some research on a few before deciding on Octave. Situated at the very top of the Marriott in Sukhumvit it has mind blowing views. Who knew Bangkok was so flat? Not me! The wind was blowing but the atmosphere more than made up for it. Happy hour on the 48th floor equals two for one cocktails between 5pm - 8pm. The only problem is you can only order food on 45, so it was a choice of cheaper drinks or eat. We chose the cheaper drinks! And they did give us free cashew nuts for sustenance.
Buy A Souvenir
The Enabler collects fridge magnets and I always take pens back from my travels for my work colleagues as my 'signature' gift (get it?). The Mini Enablers also specifically requested 'I Love Bangkok' T-Shirts. We managed to grab them all at Chatuchak early on which left the rest of the day for the serious shopping!
Try A Fish Spa
We searched high and low but couldn't find one. By this I mean we didn't walk past one on our travels but we did find a great little hole in the wall massage place where we got a 1 hour foot massage for 200 baht (AUD$8) which we though was a suitable substitute and a great way to revive our aching feet!
Bag A Bargain
This proved trickier than I thought and I'm not counting the souvenirs above which were cheap as chips. I priced lots of things all which turned out to be more expensive than at home so I couldn't justify the purchase. We told the Mini Enablers that we would buy them something on our adventure and the youngest requested some nail polish. Kids say the darndest thing don't they! We picked up the cutest pink sparkly stuff for just under a dollar, which undoubtedly was the bargain of the day. We also snuck in a sneaky shampoo and blow dry to tame the frizz which at 300 baht (AUD12) is less than half of what we would pay at home!
Ride A Tuk Tuk
The plan was to take a Tuk Tuk from our last shopping spot to our roof top bar but they seemed to be very scarce and the only ones we did see were already taken so we started walking. We did stumble on one about a two minute walk from our destination which seemed rather pointless. We made up for it when we got back to Patong with the whole gang in tow. The Mini Enablers insisted on a pink one!
Conquer The BTS
The BTS or Sky Train is surprising easily to navigate once you get the hang of it. We caught three trains over the course of the day and each one was efficient and simple, if a little crowded in the city centre. After the first time we even used the automated ticket machines!
By my count we managed seven out of ten even though we did tick off two more in Patong. Not a bad effort all considered and we had a fantastic day!
What would you do if you have one day in Bangkok? I'd love to hear about them in the comments below.
