Monthly Archives: January 2012

Skytrain

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The Skytrain is an elevated rapid transit system in Bangkok, Thailand. It’s part of Bangkok’s metro system that also includes the underground MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) and the Suvarnabhumi Airport Link (SARL) that connects downtown Bangkok to the Suvarnabhumi Airport. This metro system is a great alternative means of transportation when you’re in Bangkok considering the city’s notorious traffic congestion problem.

My cousin Kristi and I used the Skytrain during our stay in Bangkok as part of our Southeast Asia trip in 2010. Our hotel, Bangkok Loft Inn, was located in Taksin region of Thonburi (southwestern side of Bangkok metro), and it was within walking distance to the Wongwian Yai station. We used the train on our way back from dinner in our first night in Bangkok, and then on the second day to get to the river pier to continue on the river ferry, and on the third day to go to the Jim Thompson House near the National Stadium and back. Initially we also considered of taking the train to get to the airport, but our hotel staff graciously offered to take us there on their car.

The photo below was taken at the Surasak station on the Silom line of the Skytrain. This was our first ride on the train system, and we were quite impressed with how orderly, clean, and efficient is the Skytrain system. It’s comparable to some other mass transit systems I’ve used elsewhere (Washington DC’s Metro, New York Subway, Montreal Metro). It was pretty easy to figure out our way around; signs and public announcements were available in both Thai and English.

Skytrain station

Thanying

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Thanying is a restaurant located near Silom Road in Bangkok, Thailand. The restaurant serves Royal Thai Cuisine, which is essentially Thai cooking but specifically derived from recipes of dishes served for the Thai Royal family. So it’s sort of a ‘refined’ version of Thai food.

When you come to Bangkok, you definitely need to try the authentic Thai food. The best Thai food actually is found on the street — the cheap and authentic food that the locals eat. But if you want to have a nice, fine-dining type experience, you may want to check out one of the restaurants that serve the Royal Thai cuisine. They are generally more expensive than their street food equivalents, but you may also enjoy the dining experience better.

I first learned about the Royal Thai Cuisine when watching Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre Food episode on Bangkok. In that episode he went to Bo Lan, a trendy, up-and-coming fine dining restaurant in Bangkok that serves dishes based on age-old recipes. We initially considered going there for our first night in Bangkok, but then decided not to after finding out that the location is quite far away from the hotel where we were staying at, and also considering the price for the tasting menu was really high (especially for Bangkok standard). I found out about Thanying that also serves Royal Thai Cuisine. The restaurant was opened by a Thai Princess who was the head cook at the palace for her sister the Queen. The food seemed to be quite authentic, and it received good reviews from people who had been there.

We had good experience dining at Thanying. Instead of ordering the set menu, we decided to go ala carte and ordered a salad dish, soup, and a couple of select dishes. Everything we ordered was really good. My favorite dish was the salad, yam som o (pomelo — a large citrus fruit like grapefruit — salad with prawn). It was light and refreshing.

The photo below was one of the dishes we ordered, the pad cha (deep fried sea bass with red curry, green pepper corn, galangal, lime leaves, and basil leaves). It was not only a delicious dish, but also quite pretty and colorful to look at, and it’s a good example of a Thai dish with its fresh and varied ingredients.

Pad cha

Bangkok Loft Inn

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Bangkok Loft Inn is a boutique hotel in the southwest part of Bangkok (near Taksin region in Thonburi). The hotel is not part of any chain, and managed and ran by locals. It has received many good reviews from travelers on TripAdvisor, and last year it received the 2011 Traveler’s Choice Award as #5 for bargain hotel in Asia. It is not located near the typical tourist area in Bangkok (Khao San Road or Sukhumvit Road areas), but it is within 5-minute walk from a Bangkok SkyTrain station. So it’s actually pretty nice those who want to stay at a nice hotel at reasonable price and don’t mind taking the public transit to the touristy areas.

When we were looking for hotel to stay in Bangkok during our Southeast Asia trip, my cousin Kristi and I wanted to find one that is nice and clean, with reasonable price, and within public transportation reach to the destinations that we wanted to visit. During her previous visit to Bangkok, Kristi stayed at a western chain hotel (Holiday Inn I think) that was located near the shopping malls area — perfect for her previous trip with her friends that was focused on shopping. While western chain hotels like that have the benefit of likely maintaining a certain quality standards, I thought it would be more interesting to risk it a little bit and look for a local hotel that might be smaller and not as well known, but owned and managed by locals and allowing us opportunity to interact with the local staff.

We found Bangkok Loft Inn on TripAdvisor. It’s ranked pretty high on the list of hotels that include some of the more expensive or bigger ones (the other ones ranked in the top 10 were mostly five star hotels that easily cost 4-5 times per night stay). Photos on both TripAdvisor and the hotel’s websites looked nice, and more importantly, a lot of reviews on TripAdvisor mentioned not only about the nice hotel facility but also the wonderful staff they had there. Booking was quite easy; done online using a site called agoda.com.

We stayed at Bangkok Loft Inn for two nights, and the stay exceeded our expectations. We only interacted with the front desk staff during our check in, whenever we went out or back in as we passed the front desk, and when we check out. But just those short interactions were memorable, and they really served as great ambassadors for their country that reflect Thai hospitality. Upon our arrival, they helped us make reservation at a restaurant and the manager even helped us get a taxi and provided instruction to the driver in Thai to ensure we get to our destination. On the following day, on our way out for our full day to explore Bangkok, the manager stopped us, and surprised my cousin Kristi with a little birthday gift. That day was Kristi’s birthday, and the manager found out about it from looking at the passport when we checked in the night before (about 12 hrs before, already at night). So during that short time she got a little gift nicely wrapped ready to give to Kristi in the morning. She also gave us some warning/advice against scam on visiting the Wat Pho temple that ended up to be part of experience when we got there. And on the last day of our stay, when she found out that we were heading to the airport from the hotel for the next leg of our trip, she offered to have the hotel’s car (I think it’s a family car) take us to the airport at no charge.

The photo below was taken at the hotel lobby after Pat the manager gave Kristi the birthday gift. It’s one of those unexpected moments interacting with the locals that you would remember from the trip, and it’s a reason to always have a digital camera handy for capturing these moments.

Birthday gift from hotel staff

Thai Airways

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Thai Airways is the national carrier of Thailand. It serves the route to Thailand from other countries in Asia, as well as from countries in Europe and North America. It is part of the Star Alliance, so it has codeshare route agreement with many international airlines including United Airlines.

We flew Thai Airways for the first leg of our Southeast Asia trip from Jakarta to Bangkok. A low-cost carrier called Air Asia is a popular choice to travel in the region, but we decided to go on Thai Airways since it had better itinerary and because I could earn United Airlines Mileage Plus points for the trip.

The short 3.5-hour trip was pretty enjoyable. They had pretty good in-flight service; but what left a lasting impression was the small gesture before we landed to the Suvarnabhumi Airport. They gave each passenger a boutonniere with fresh orchid — the national flower of Thailand.

Thai orchid

Bangkok

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The first city that my cousin Kristi and I visited during our Southeast Asia trip last year was Bangkok, Thailand. We decided to go to Bangkok as our first stop of the trip as it is a hub in Southeast Asia that provided us with more flight options for traveling to the next country in our trip, Cambodia.

In the last twenty years or so, Thailand has become a major tourist destination in Southeast Asia. The city of Bangkok itself has its charm with its palaces and temples, as well as the river and canals (that gave it a nickname ‘Venice of the East’). Many westerners (from Europe and America) come to Thailand also to visit its pristine beaches (Phuket, Ko Samui, Pattaya) and mountainous region (Chiang Mai). It is also rich culturally and historically, being the only country in Southeast Asia that was never colonized.

When we were planning our trip, we knew Bangkok was the most convenient gateway city to come into Thailand from Indonesia. We did consider visiting other parts of Thailand (particularly Chiang Mai in the north), but after considering the time that we had available, we decided to visit only Bangkok for this trip and leave the other places in Thailand for future trip when we can spend more time in this country.

Kristi had been to Bangkok before with her friends, but her experience before was limited mostly to accompany her friends shopping. For some, Bangkok is a choice destination for shopping as you can get some goods (garments, electronics) for lower price than elsewhere. In this trip, we decided to focus our time exploring the cultural aspect of the city, so it’s also a new experience for Kristi.

The photo below was taken at the Grand Palace in Bangkok. The stupas, spires, and statues are very distinct and recognizable landmarks in the city.

Grand Palace