Bangkok Day 3: Chatuchak Weekend Market, Wat Pho, Foods, and Farewell

Gosh I miss blogging! So it's my second week of internship, I'm currently in my new place right now in Kemang, South Jakarta, and the internet in my new place in effin' crappy! Maybe this is the reason why I should be more thankful for my internet at home in Tangerang, which I also consider crappy, but to be honest, not as crappy as here in Kemang. Anyway, I still have one more day from my last trip in Bangkok to tell you all here, so let's get to the point! I hope you'll enjoy reading this as I enjoyed writing this!

It was weekend in my third day in Bangkok and we decided to go to Chatuchak Market, a market in Bangkok that is known for opening every weekend. I searched it up on the internet to found out that Chatuchak is a really big market! It has a lot of sections from clothing, accessories, souvenirs, to street foods. We took the taxi to the market after the breakfast.

We explored the market, and found lots of interesting stuffs. We found a shop dedicated for dogs (yes, they sell apparels for dogs, or maybe, cats), and interestingly amazing shop that sells envelopes, and other various kinds of papers (I'm currently so into pen-palling. So I need loads of stationery. Note that pen-palling goods were a DEAD business in Indonesia so I couldn't find any of things sold in here in Bangkok in Indonesia).

Yes. This is the shop that sells dogs clothing.

In a nutshell, if you're looking for a cheap, affordable souvenirs, clothing, or something to be given to your relatives, this is a right place to shop. You can also bargain here (if you're into bargaining and really good at it).

We haven't taste any Bangkok street foods since our arrival, so this is the right time to do so. First, I bought sliced mangoes for some quick bites while walking around the market. The sliced mangoes were sweet and smells so good! It's totally addicting since mango is one of my favourite foods. In the other hand, my mom and my grandma were enjoying some fresh durians. How can I describe it? It smells bad and I'm sure it tastes so (I'm sorry, durian lovers!). 

Oh, please consider yourself when it comes with buying some juices on the street. I ordered mango juice and yes, it tasted perfect! But the next morning, I got sore throat and it caused me to catch some cold after I went home from Bangkok. I guess don't let your body switch from feeling the heat to cold. The transition just surprised my body and resulted to me being so sick.

For the food, I bought a portion of fried chicken and it was huge. It consists of chicken fillets and you'll get Bangkok sweet chilli sauce when you order it. The reason why I ordered this is because this is the only halal food that we can enjoy. There are plenty of others but it was majorly seafood, which I don't really fancy.

The gigantic grilled shrimp. I ordered one (not in Chatuchak) but it tasted horrible. Yes, it's just me who were not really into seafood. Double sigh.

The fried chicken. Enough for the 3 of us.

Grandma enjoying her durian. :(

Yes! This is my favourite sliced mangoes that I've told you before!

We bought like 3 big bags of stuffs from Chatuchak weekend market and proceeded to the hotel to put our shopping bags so we shouldn't carry them around while in other places. Then, we're going to Siam Museum, which I found interesting while browsing some tourist attractions in Bangkok. We took another taxi, and prepare for my long rant below:

I found it annoying that taxi drivers in Bangkok are always try to scam tourists by turning off their taxi meter. They also pretend to don't understand what we're saying when it comes to turning on their taxi meters, they even try to talk about another topic so we will forget about the taxi meter. This is totally annoying. If they happened to succeeded, they will ask us a really great amount of money in order to get there (we paid 600 Baht, equals to IDR 280 K to get us to Siam Museum which is not that far! GRRR!) . My mom and grandma appeared to don't understand about this scam and totally okay to pay in larger price. I asked them to get out the taxi because the taxi driver won't turn on the taxi meter, but they refused, saying that "it's okay dear, it's just the same price as in our home country." But still, it's such a big loss for us as the distance to get there is just so close!

Plus, I heard somewhere in the internet that taxi drivers are also trying to scam tourists by taking them to jewellery stores or fake restaurants, but thankfully that didn't happen to me! So, be careful when it comes to taxis in Bangkok! So much scam happening here in Bangkok! Learn before visiting a country, and you'll be perfectly safe! (I promise myself I won't fall into any scam when solo travelling. Mom and grandma just don't understand. I'm still constantly annoyed when I remember that moment. Ugh!)

Anyway, we're here at Siam Museum.... But it was closed due to renovation (I SWEAR TO GOD MUSEUMS ALWAYS CLOSED DUE TO RENOVATION WHEN I COME TO VISIT THEM!). Thankfully, there's an exhibition near the main building about the neighbouring country Myanmar. It was an amazing museum experience. Yes, I would love to visit Myanmar in the future!

The exhibition name which I couldn't really understand. Hey, Myanmar glyphs are totally cool!

Then, we walked to the nearest temple nearby which is Wat Pho, or, The Temple of Reclining Buddha. What makes this temple so special is the giant reclining Buddha statue which is located inside of the temple building. The building is also decorated with religious themed murals which I found really beautiful.

One of many altars of the temple.

Prepare yourself for the gigantic reclining Buddha.

Me and the buddy.

Went outside for another shots, and I found that the outside view of the temple is just perfect! Yes, it's always hot outside, but luckily we can redeem our ticket of the temple entry for a fresh cold mineral water! Yippee!

The view #1. Please don't mind that stupid water hose.

View #2.

View #3. Wat's rooftop is my new obsession.

View #4.

View #5. Plus the author.

After quite a long time strolling around the temple, we call it a day. We got out from the temple ground, and searched a ride to the hotel. There were no taxi around the temple streets, but there's plenty tuk-tuks. So, let's do some tuk-tuk ride. I've been begging my mom to ride a tuk-tuk, and I guess that was the perfect time to do so. So, as the story goes, we rode tuk-tuk back to the hotel. Yesh! Tuk-tuks are obviously cheaper than taxis, and we can feel much air riding it, and oh, did I mention it before that we got lots space for our leg to linger?

Tuk-tuk ride, aye! I took this picture when traffic jam goes on.

We rested for some short period before decided to take another walk across the shopping malls in Bangkok, which were located near to the hotel and we could walk easily to the places. Not much documented here, but we sure enjoying our last night in Bangkok a lot! Finally managed to eat Bangkok noodle soups, and the famous mango sticky rice!!!

Pictured above: noodle soup.

We took Mith, our lovely guide while in Bangkok to the airport for a simple farewell. It's been a really nice opportunity to travel to Bangkok with you! He's such a humble and funny person! He also speaks Bahasa Indonesia perfectly! I can't wait for another time in Bangkok (or maybe many other places in Thailand?) with you!

Our last photo before leaving Bangkok!

So yes, that's a wrap for the Bangkok trip journal! It's been a great time writing my experiences in this blog! Overall, the places here are so incredible. Bangkok is culture, history, shopping, and food, all in a city! There are plenty places that I haven't seen or visit, but I WILL totally visit them in my second visit there! Ahhh... It's really nice to plan another trip.

Beautiful last view in Bangkok.

Bangkok Travel Journal

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3