For this year’s family holiday, we decided to go to Bangkok. Initially, we planned for Hong Kong but due to the never ending protests, we had to cancel all our bookings.
The trip was for 8 days, from 15th December to 22 December. We stayed at Novotel Ploenchit on Sukhumvit.
Sunday 15 December 2019
Early in the morning, I booked a Vellfire using Grab as I wanted to ensure the kids would be comfortable.
For this trip to Bangkok, I decided to book Thai Airways. I’ve heard so much about the airline, and given that we’re going to Bangkok, it’s definitely a good opportunity to try their national airline.
The Thai Airways flight was really pleasant. We managed to get an entire 3-seater row for Aliaa and the girls, and the in-flight food was good too.
Upon arrival, I saw a number of booths selling prepaid sim cards. They were promoting a tourist package which was way more cheaper than roaming. After looking around I went for TrueMove‘s Tourist sim with a 8-day pass (free social media usage, data up to 24.5GB) for 399 Baht (RM55). For comparison, roaming on my Celcom would cos RM38 per day (and I’m here for 8 days!).
After sorting our phones, I booked a van to take us to the hotel. It was RM200 for 10 people. But since we had a lot luggage, and I needed the space for the kids, I just took it anyway.
We arrived at Novotel Ploenchit, checked in, and after refreshing ourselves and the kids, we went out. The Bangkok Mass Transit System (shorten to BTS) has a station right in front of our hotel. It was really convenient for us to move around.
We took the BTS to Siam Station, which is the center of all the shopping malls. It was a mere 2 stop away from our hotel.
From Siam Station, we walked to Siam Paragon and explored the mall. I was really impressed to see how vibrant and interesting the malls in Bangkok are. There is nothing that comes even close in KL.
After a bit of exploring, we had dinner at the foodcourt in Siam Paragon.
We took the Tuk Tuk back to the hotel. The kids really enjoyed the ride!
Monday 16 December 2019
We had breakfast at the hotel, and then prepared for our sight seeing trip. I booked a half-day tour at the airport yesterday to go see the Grand Palace. My last visit to the place was in 2013, and Aliaa hasn’t been there.
Our tour guide picked us up at 8:30AM in a CRV. It was a 20 min ride to the Grand Palace. It was a nice bright sunny day with a moderate tourist crowd.
We went to MBK Center for lunch. Opened in 1985, MBK has about 2000 shops. It is rather old compared to the other malls in the area, but it is well known among Malaysians due to the halal eateries they have there.
Before we left for Bangkok, my mum suggested that we go try out Yana Restaurant (website), as it was highly recommended from her friends. Much to my surprise, the food was actually just average. Later throughout this trip, we would go to various other local Thai restaurants and those were so much better.
From MBK, we took the skywalk and had a good view of the intersection.
The skywalk is brilliant idea as it allows people to walk above the street safely. It also connects to all major shopping malls in the area, all the way to my hotel.
From the skywalk, we headed to Siam Discovery Mall. Siam Discovery Mall is a modern mall refurbished with the help of Japanese designers and features a lot of sophisticated mall concepts, along with Japanese products. Actually my first impression was that it felt like a mall in Tokyo.
After exploring the many fancy stuff they have in Siam Discovery Mall, we went for teatime at House of Eden on level 2.
We later had dinner at Siam Paragon’s foodcourt before heading back to the hotel. I decided to try the McDonalds as I saw the menu was a bit different from Malaysia. They have a signature angus beef menu where you get to custom make your own burger. It was really cool.
Related posts: Bangkok Holiday part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4
Imran Jaafar 