Bangkok: Shopaholiday in Thailand - Day 3

Already into the 3rd day in Bangkok, after spending Day 1 doing some light shopping and Day 2 at Jatujak, we thought of visiting the temples (wat). We still did not manage to buy ourselves proper attire to enter Grand Palace and Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha). So we asked ourselves if we needed to spend another shopping at Jatujak weekend market again? We looked at the things that we scored from JJ, and still with plenty of spare cash.
Heck! Why not!

Bangkok: Shopaholiday in Thailand
Day 3 (1st June 2008)
Jatujak again & Chinatown
We took the BTS skytrain to Jatujak on Day 2, but decided to go by taxi directly. We hired a taxi from the main road and requested for the meter to be turned on. By the time we arrive at JJ, it costs us the same price as taking the BTS. We saved more effort via taxi, since we would have to board the BTS at Siam Center, which was around 20 minutes walk from my hotel. So why had I decided to return to JJ again? Hadn't I gotten enough on Saturday? Nope! I wanted more of some items and more clothes!

I always loved to admire Buddhism artefacts, as they give a sense of calmness and recreates a zen ambience to places.
This stall sells very cool stuff with hand-drawn cats on all items. According to the sales person, the person behind these drawings is a famous artist who will be visiting Singapore for some exhibition. Nevertheless, these I would consider cult-culture designer stuff comes with a bigger price tag.
If you thought voodoo dolls are the 'in' thing, "E-Big Mouth" dolls are also very popular. As with the name, these dolls came in different styles and design, but all featuring a distinctive big hot lips! I believe they are going to be the next big thing after the hype of voodoo dolls die down.
With so many stalls selling 'Graniph-ish' t-shirts, I just had to splurge on t-shirts that cost less than S$10 each!
There you have it, voodoo dolls haven! There were so many designs to choose from and even giant-sized version of "Neo" from "The Matrix".

After hours of shopping and getting all of what we have wanted and could get, we decided to sit down and chill with an ice coffee and ice chocolate, along with a DJ spinning cool tracks. I remember Shaun Ow recommended a cafe, which I believe to be the one I visited, "illy Cafe". We then messed around with some cam-whoring and voodoo elf joined in as well! BTW, voodoo elf is going to be my gift to you, Shaun! The shopping for today was not as tiring as the Saturday's, because we adopted a systematic way of shopping at Jatujak.


After getting really contended with our shopping at JJ, we still had plenty of time to spare in the late afternoon around 4p.m., hence we decided to catch at taxi down to Chinatown. At that time, the traffic was already starting to build up, though we paid according to meter, we paid an additional THB40 toll for taking the highway to avoid the traffic. We alighted at the start of Yaowarat Road to visit Wat Traimit (Temple of the Golden Buddha).
We made a huge blunder! The actual huge golden Buddha is located at the 2nd floor and requires an admission fee of THB20. We actually did not know about it and thought that what we saw at the ground floor was the one. Disappointed! It is fate, I guess!


We began at the Chinatown Gate walked down Yaowarat Road. There were quite a lot of goldsmiths, food souvenier shops and restaurants. Recommendations from people are to buy the pork floss sticks from the food souvenier shops and to have bird's nest and shark's fin in any of the Chinese restaurants. We were not really fans of shark's fin, hence we skipped the delicacies despite its really cheap price! So we only bought prok floss sticks, chillied dried cuttlefish and pork floss prawn crackers. We occassionally strayed off into the perpendicular lanes and food ourselves closer to the hearts of the local Chinese, where we witnessed the local Chinese's wet market.
Barbequed poultry sold at a typical food souvenier shop.
I could not help wondering if the locals consume these seafood raw, since they looked like they were preserved or marinated.
I was so tempted to try out the chicken rice which was recommended by online foodies. I was also tempted to try out their local 'kway chap'. Fio was not too supportive of the idea, fearing the hygiene of these food stalls.
There were numerous very mobile stalls peddling something interesting to eat. Chinese does love to eat, irregardless of nationality.
In the wet market, there were cooked food stalls selling ready-to-eat food. Stewed duck wings are usually not very much appreciated in Singapore, due to its lack of meat.
More shops and stalls selling cooked food and dried food.
A gound pepper making machine and some very common spices.
I felt so close to home, seeing all these yummy Chinese food!


From Chinatown, we hired a taxi back and visited MahBoonKrong Center (MBK Center). Though we agreed with the driver to charge by meter, he claimed that his meter had 'accident' and charged us by flat rate. We had no choice but to settle for THB150 after he started driving, which was obviously overpriced but nothing to complain when it is only around S$6!
Many people would recommend MBK Center for shopping, but I agree with most comments that the items available at MBK Center are similar to those available at JJ, but at a higher price. If you are as hardcore shopper as me at JJ, you can skip MBK Center. Nevertheless, we wanted to just see MBK Center for ourselves and to have "been-there-done-that".

We settled our dinner at "Hongmin" restaurant in MBK Center. Fio craved for Wanton soup, while we had Stir-Fried Roasted Duck in Thai Herbal Chilli, and Crab Paste Fried Rice with Stir-Fried River Prawn in Chilli Paste & Crispy Basil. The prawns were very fresh and sweet. As expected, the chilli paste were very potent and not to mention that they added fried green pepper-corns.
Left is the Stir-Fried River Prawn in Chilli Paste; Right is Stir-Fried Roasted Duck in Thai Herbal Chilli.

The crab paste fried rice was indeed a fantastic new taste!

We got to walk around in MBK Center and met up with Ronald. He stood up from his bench and greeted us "Sawatika" (which means "Hello").

You never know what you might find! Along the way to Big C, at one of the small malls around Siam Square, Fio scored a nice pair of shoes for THB199 (S$8). It brightened up her day, since she had not 'hoot' as much as I did on Day 3. We then arrived at Big C to stock up on more Lays and other souveniers to bring back home.

This marks the end of Day 3 of our Shopaholiday in Bangkok. We will be flying back to Singapore in the next day evening.
You can check out the back-post of Day 1 here!
You can check out the back-post of Day 2 here!

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Comments

Simonne said…
Nice photos posted!
That Ronald Mc donald I took the same picture too! the same ronald at MBK (hahaha)
Oh wanna ask, did you get any skin care product from your trip eg Boots, DHC?

sukkimi@hotmail.com
From my experience of Bangkok trip. I think that looking for accommodation around Sukhumvit are is the good idea because Sukhunvit is in the heart of the shopping district, both in terms of large department stores and the various stalls lining both sides of the road. The various side-streets provide a proliferation of nightlife venues. For the renowned and well-known spots, you will need to walk onwards past the Asok crossroads to Sukhumvit Soi 21 or Soi Cowboy. This area also offers a wide selection of cuisine to choose from, both in terms of air-conditioned high-end restaurants and open air restaurants offering quite reasonable prices.