Once we touched down and checked into our hotel - Silom Serene, we freshened up, had dinner and headed opposite to the Patpong night market, where we started peeping into the numerous bars with bikini-clad pole dancers and whatnot. It was really an eye-opener, catching glimpses of dancers in the infamous Patpong stretch. Too bad I was busy looking around to actually snap some pictures.
Silom Serene - a boutique hotel
The view from our room
Our messDay 1 - First visit to the tailor and shopping at Platinum Fashion Mall
The next day, we started our 3 day long shopping craze:
Outside our hotel along Soi Piphat
Walking along Silom Road
Silom Road
The BTS station nearest to our hotel - Sala Daeng
Bangkok's SkytrainFirst stop - Pinky Tailor:
This was a tailor which was recommended to us by Teri and because we desperately needed some pants and shirts, we decided to tailor make some since we were in Bangkok. We went there on the first day to choose our fabric and to take our measurements, and we had to return the next day for fitting and amendments. So I guess about 1/4 of our trip was spent at the tailors!
One of the tailors getting Bunny's measurements for her jacketAfter spending almost 2 hours there, we left the tailors for Platinum Fashion Mall (wholesale paradise!!!):
We spent the whole day shopping for clothes, shoes and lingerie! Cheap wholesale prices really makes one go ga-ga!!! Bikinis for SGD 8, tops for SGD 4.55, shoes for SGD 11 and underwear for SGD 1.45! What more can you ask for?We had to lug our shopping back to the nearest BTS and headed towards Healthland spa. But before that, to appease our empty stomachs we started looking for a place to eat at and chanced upon a seafood restaurant near the spa and till this day, we have not found out the name of that restaurant.
After a heavy seafood dinner with beer, we took a slow stroll towards Healthland, which was situated about 300m from the restaurant. Pity I didn't take any pictures of the place. The spa was HUGE and we each had a 2 hour full-body massage session where I fell asleep when the lady was massaging my limbs. Zzzz. But it was the perfect way to end a tiring day of walking and shopping.
Day 2 - Shopping at malls in Siam
First stop: Pinky tailor again! We were advised to come in for fittings so that any amendments could be made on time.
Please disregard my white 'holiday headscarf'
Poor girl must have been bored out of her wits while waiting for us, fussy VirgosAfter much fuss at the tailors, we proceeded with our shopping spree at the malls in Central Bangkok. The first mall which we decided to conquer was Siam Paragon:
Three of us concluded that the malls in Bangkok were so much bigger and nicer to shop at! Although certain items were sold at the same price in Singapore, the sale items were pretty cheap. Well, even if there wasn't a sale, their stuff are still slightly cheaper than Singapore's. Their department stores were typically nice to shop at, not to mention their local brands. We ended up buying a lot of stuff from their local brands, as opposed to brands we would normally get in Singapore. A few shops we were looking out for were Jaspal and Greyhound. But we ended up buying stuff from their departmental stores, Xtra, CPS (which incidentally is Bunny's initials) and BOOTS!!!
Taking a breather (and a puff) outside Siam Paragon
After shopping at Siam Centre, we proceeded towards Siam Discovery Centre and ended up skipping it, as there wasn't much there. We walked along the road and up the bridge to MBK (Mah Boon Krong), where before Platinum Fashion Mall came about, this was the place to shop for wholesale items:
We didn't do much shopping there as we realised that the items at MBK were of inferior quality when compared to the stuff being sold at Platinum.
After walking around MBK for a mere half an hour or so (I say mere because we spent HOURS in other malls), we took a taxi to Chinatown for seafood dinner with shark's fin and bird's nest!
My colleague recommended this Chinese restaurant called Nan Sing for its shark's fin and bird's nest.
Hungry, tired and grumpy
Cost of bird's nest:
First row - $800 plus
Second row - $1000 plus
Third row - $5000 plus
Shark's fin - Bunny refused to touch it because she said the way sharks are being hunted for their fins is cruel.
Crab, beef and veggies
Bird's nest dessert
After wandering around Central World for awhile, we had to return to the hotel to re-pack our shopping and leave for Singapore.
Suvarnabhumi Airport
I've never felt the thrill of shopping until I started shopping in Bangkok! And this picture just sums it all up:
Three of us concluded that the malls in Bangkok were so much bigger and nicer to shop at! Although certain items were sold at the same price in Singapore, the sale items were pretty cheap. Well, even if there wasn't a sale, their stuff are still slightly cheaper than Singapore's. Their department stores were typically nice to shop at, not to mention their local brands. We ended up buying a lot of stuff from their local brands, as opposed to brands we would normally get in Singapore. A few shops we were looking out for were Jaspal and Greyhound. But we ended up buying stuff from their departmental stores, Xtra, CPS (which incidentally is Bunny's initials) and BOOTS!!!
Taking a breather (and a puff) outside Siam ParagonNext destination - Siam Centre. This place wasn't as glamourous looking as Siam Paragon, but there were quite a number of shops to visit:
After shopping at Siam Centre, we proceeded towards Siam Discovery Centre and ended up skipping it, as there wasn't much there. We walked along the road and up the bridge to MBK (Mah Boon Krong), where before Platinum Fashion Mall came about, this was the place to shop for wholesale items:
We didn't do much shopping there as we realised that the items at MBK were of inferior quality when compared to the stuff being sold at Platinum.After walking around MBK for a mere half an hour or so (I say mere because we spent HOURS in other malls), we took a taxi to Chinatown for seafood dinner with shark's fin and bird's nest!
My colleague recommended this Chinese restaurant called Nan Sing for its shark's fin and bird's nest.
Hungry, tired and grumpy
Cost of bird's nest:First row - $800 plus
Second row - $1000 plus
Third row - $5000 plus
Shark's fin - Bunny refused to touch it because she said the way sharks are being hunted for their fins is cruel.
Crab, beef and veggies
Bird's nest dessertDay 3 - Central World (ex-World Trade Centre)
We went to the same area (Siam Central) as the day before after making our LAST trip to the tailor to finalise our clothes. This time round, we visited Central World, which we had skipped the day before.
One of the highlights of Central World was their department store called Zen:
Posing outside Manga (a designer/music concept store)
After shopping here for a few hours, we lunched at their foodcourt upstairs and were very impressed by how clean and new the place was:
I think Singapore food courts have a lot of catching up to do in terms of cleanliness and hygiene.
First of all, in order to purchase food, you use a card issued by the information counter at the food court. You let the person at the stall swipe your card (in which you would have put credit in already) to pay for your bowl of noodles. This way, there is no handling of money and thus makes it a cleaner system to have.
Second, the floors, tables and chairs are clean, plus there are no food remnants lying around. Third, they even have a small station where you can take napkins, toothpicks and even different sauces. This station is always kept clean and there are no stray toothpicks or napkins lying around, not to mention the sauces! There are no chilli sauce stains or soya sauce drops anywhere! Now this is a rare scene in Singapore food courts. Plus no one bothers to steal napkins or toothpicks to top-up their remaining stock at home.
Even their plates aren't the typical canteen-style plates we use in Singapore
As you can see, we're really enjoying this place because it doesn't stink!
The view from the food court
We went to the same area (Siam Central) as the day before after making our LAST trip to the tailor to finalise our clothes. This time round, we visited Central World, which we had skipped the day before.
One of the highlights of Central World was their department store called Zen:
Posing outside Manga (a designer/music concept store)
I think Singapore food courts have a lot of catching up to do in terms of cleanliness and hygiene.First of all, in order to purchase food, you use a card issued by the information counter at the food court. You let the person at the stall swipe your card (in which you would have put credit in already) to pay for your bowl of noodles. This way, there is no handling of money and thus makes it a cleaner system to have.
Second, the floors, tables and chairs are clean, plus there are no food remnants lying around. Third, they even have a small station where you can take napkins, toothpicks and even different sauces. This station is always kept clean and there are no stray toothpicks or napkins lying around, not to mention the sauces! There are no chilli sauce stains or soya sauce drops anywhere! Now this is a rare scene in Singapore food courts. Plus no one bothers to steal napkins or toothpicks to top-up their remaining stock at home.
Even their plates aren't the typical canteen-style plates we use in Singapore
As you can see, we're really enjoying this place because it doesn't stink!
The view from the food court
Suvarnabhumi Airport
7 comments:
another, another, another, another lovely trip, lulur!!!
Yes, and another and another and another and another...
btw hor... despite shark fin soup n bird nest are my fav right... its quite cruel to eat them...
1.) shark are overly hunt n getting extinct... Elena is actually doing talks on sundays at the zoo to teach conservation to people...
2.) the poor tiny sparrow has to keep spitting n spitting until blood spit out for us to have bird nest... n where is the logic with those seller that bird nest that contains blood is more expensive n in demand... more expensive ok... coz its rare.. coz the poor bird gotta keep spitting till blood come out... on top of that... isnt it a sign of a poor sick bird? n u r eating the spit of a sick bird... hhmmm isnt that unhealthy like eating a sick fish? pooor birdies...
btw also hor... i want to go to SIAM foood courttttttt!!!!!
Yeah. I know it's cruel.
But....
=(
Pinky Tailor is the best, I went there several times already ...seems like all Singaporean knows this place! But just to recomment better get things made from Mr. Pinky instead of his helper because he is a Master Tailor
Hi Anonymous!
Yes, Pinky Tailor is not bad! I think it's been highly recommended on the Internet as well. That's how we got to know about it.
I realised that Pinky (the Northern Indian chap) is the master tailor but it's so difficult to get him to make something for you coz he's always preoccupied!
But yeah, they're not bad. If I were to go again, I think I might try another tailor instead.
Will be heading to Hoi An soon (City of Tailors). Hope to get some stuff tailored there as well.
I LOVE PINKY TAILOR !
Toyota:)
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