On this day, I went to the famous market in Bangkok that was only available on the weekend. I am sure if you have gone to Bangkok, there's no way you don't know this market hahaha. Yep, it was Chatuchak Market!



The famous Chatuchak Weekend Market was quite crowded that day. Finally, I understand why so many people come to this market. The prices are ridiculously cheap, there are lots of good stuff from clothes, accessories, shawl, souvenirs, to household goods. I even couldn't hold myself to see a lot of cute pants and clothes! Hahaha

But my main purpose was to find pants from Bangkok (which has the specific pattern: elephant, or any ornament that shows the authenticity of Thailand's culture), a tote bag, and bracelets! I found some and they were great. One thing that was obligatory for me to try: THAI TEA!!!




Two bracelets in the middle that I got from Chatucak. Love them! (Note: the right one is already gone... *brb crying*)

Anyway, after strolling around Chatuchak Market and getting all stuffs that I wanted, I went to my next destination: Bangkok Art and Culture Center. It's very close to MBK Center, Siam Discovery, and BTS Station so it's easy to reach.







This place is huge; they have 9 floors, and the main exhibitions were held on 5th until 9th floor. I saw a lot of art installments that day, including paintings and photographs of the late Thailand King, Bhumibol Adulyadej or King Rama IX. When I was in Bangkok, it was still in the mourning period, and I found many memorials of him everywhere.

After exploring Chatuchak Weekend Market and Bangkok Art and Culture Center, I went to the MBK Center to find some souvenirs for my family and boss. It's quite easy to find them, and I also got great deals! I am still amazed by how cheap it is in Bangkok to buy foods/souvenirs/clothes compared to my own city.

To end the day, I went again to SoulBar; drinking beers while enjoying the musics played by the DJ. Like I said before, the DJ played 70s and 80s disco funk songs, so it felt like he played my playlists, hahaha. I found out a song, "Midas Touch" by Midnight Star here; this was one of songs that I re-played over and over during 2017.


Time to go home!

Well, it sucks when you gotta end your vacation and go back to your daily routine (if I don't work, from where I suppose to save money to travel in another time??! LOL), but overall I felt more energized and more relaxed! I was so happy to visit Bangkok and I got a lot of new experiences from there.

My flight to Jakarta was on the different airport. On the beginning, I arrived at Don Mueang Airport. For my return, I went from Suvarnabhumi Airport; which is much bigger than Don Mueang. I spent almost 45 minutes only to walk from the security check to the departure gate! Gosh, it was so far. It reminded me about the Terminal 3 of Soekarno-Hatta Airport, which has 26 departure gate but they are so freaking far.


As usual, I chose the cheapest flight that had connecting flight; Bangkok-Singapore-Jakarta. This one was actually on purpose because I still had some Dollar Singapore and I wanted to spend them while I was there, hahaha. As you know, Changi Airport is one of the best airports in the world; the facilities are amazing.
 

I also didn't forget to buy my favorite popcorn from Garrett; butter-flavored!!


If I have another chance to go to Bangkok, I would definitely go! It was one of amazing cities that I ever visited.

Thank you for reading my blogpost, and I am going to write more stories about my trip soon! Adiós!

Here we go, day 2 in Bangkok! I was so excited because I had the entire day to explore places in Bangkok as much as I could. To get better experience, I always choose to use local transportation; this time I wanted to take bus to go to the city center.


When I was on my way to the city center, the bus passed the Chinatown. It had a vibrant vibe, looking at those signs and crowds. The traffic that day was quite heavy, so I gotta be patient until I arrived to my destination.

Anyway, It's kinda cloudy that day, even it was 1 pm when I arrived. I didn't expect it would be wet around Wat Pho and Grand Palace since in Chinatown wasn't raining at all.


So I got into Wat Pho. It was... pretty crowded. No wonder it's huddled because it was Saturday and obviously many tourists visited Wat Pho that day. To enter Wat Pho, I had to pay entrance fee for 100 Baht. Then I strolled around the area until I found the main temple. Another perspective of the reclining Buddha. The length itself is 46 meters. On this spot many tourists tried to take pictures of themselves with the statue as background, or, like what I did, captured the Buddha only.


What I really like from this place is, each temples has amazing details! Everything looks majestic and beautiful. Each gates also has vibrant color and beautiful details.

After strolling around Wat Pho, I went to the next place: Wat Arun. It's pretty close from where I was, but I should across the river first by taking public boat! It's cheap because it only costs you 4 Baht per person. Since it's not really far, I only spent like 5 minutes to reach the other side of Chao Praya River.



The famous hanging small bells at Wat Arun!Visitors can buy the tiny bell for 20 Baht, there's no attendant around so you only need to put the money into a box. After that you can write your name on it using provided marker pens. Finish with that, you can hang your bell on the 'bell tree'. I forget which one to do first, you pray or wish then hang the bell, or do the otherwise.


A lot of bells and hopes are hanging here. Mine is also there, the silver bell! My name is on the other side so you might don't see that 😁



Finally, Wat Arun! As you can see, this temple is currently under renovation, possibly it's repainting job but thankfully visitor are still able to enter Wat Arun area. If you want to visit Wat Arun, don't forget to buy entrance ticket for 50 Baht right in front of the gate.





Wat Arun is one of my favorite places in Bangkok. I did enjoy my visit here since I could relax more and get to see some fascinating temples. This site was not really crowded compared to Wat Pho. I also could understand why this temple has title "Temple of the Dawn".

I saw few people around Wat Arun that time. Some were taking photos, sitting on the stairs, or chatting with their friends. I also noticed some students wearing their graduation robes had some fun by having group photos.

Then I sat on one of the stairs and looked around. The wind blew so soft but it's still able to strike the bells around the temples. The bells gently rang, creating serene sound. While everybody started to leave the temple, I stayed and had my private moment to relax and contemplate.

In my opinion, the perfect time to visit Wat Arun is from noon till dawn. This place is a perfect spot to watch sunset. You can sit or chill outside the temple area and Chao Praya River will be on your side while enjoying the sunset.




So after I wandered around Wat Pho, Wat Arun, and Grand Palace, I wanted to go to Khaosan Road. The problem was, I couldn't find the right shuttle bus around Wat Pho. I didn't realize that day was the coronation day at Grand Palace so there was temporary traffic change and I definitely couldn't take any bus from there.

I walked and walked until I said, "Okay enough, I should take tuk-tuk." I was totally lost! Then I saw a tuk-tuk driver and started to bargain the price. At first I was hesitant to take tuk-tuk since I heard so many rumor about the expensive price. First he offered me 100 Baht (what?!) then I asked for 60 Baht (I really just wanted to sit and go to Khaosan Road a.s.a.p).


My impression about tuk-tuk? Damn it was so faaast! I sat alone on the passenger seat and the driver drove it in high speed. I even couldn't stay still during the ride OMG! 😂

When I arrived at Khaosan Road, it wasn't too crowded. Perhaps it's still early since I got there at 7 pm. And yeah, it's a very touristic street. I could see lots of thing at Khaosan Road: from clothing shops, food and beverage stalls, massage booths, bars, until ID sellers (I can't understand this one haha).



I didn't spend much time here but I got the chance to try pad thai. It cost me 80 Baht (quite expensive compared to the others because I just realized there's cheaper stall after I finished) but it had huge portion.

Still curious about food, I found a blood cockles seller that was near to River City Bangkok and my hostel. It was quite cheap! If I am not mistaken, it was 100 Baht per portion. The green sauce was amazing, by the way!


The night was long! After I took a rest a bit, I continued to go to a bar that was extremely close to my hostel; less than 2 minutes by walking! I found out this bar when I checked Google Maps about which bar or café was recommended to visit. SoulBar is known for the great ambiance and music; I am a huge fan of 70s and 80s funk/disco/jazz/soul musics, so I was interested to come.


Since I came on Saturday night, it's full of people, plus there's live music so I didn't get a seat. I stood up, asking the bartender for the menu. I gotta say it has unique theme! Every drinks are named based on song titles. So I ordered "Heard It Through the Grapevine" (vodka, grapefruit juice, lime, brown sugar), drank it while enjoying the live music.



Overall, second day in Bangkok was extremely amazing!

I gotta say, this is incredibly late to post this story about my trip in Bangkok, but since I already made a promise, here is the blogpost! I went to Bangkok on the beginning of May 2017. Actually it was a very sudden plan since I needed vacation after months of working on a long project for work.

This was possibly the most unplanned and spontaneous overseas trip I've ever done. I usually arrange my itinerary way before the day comes, but because of my work (and it just finished one day before my departure) I couldn't make it. I only had few places in mind to visit but there's no further plan for them.

My next destination: Bangkok, Thailand!

It kinda made me nervous since I planned to visit Bangkok, Thailand as first timer. I was also pretty sure the language barrier would be my main issue there. So everything's done spontaneously when I arrived.

I took morning flight, which I went to airport at 5.00 am. After had quick breakfast, I went straight to the check in counter then waited for my flight. I chose connecting flight since it was cheaper than the others, but I still got high price for May 5th and 8th. From Jakarta to Bangkok, I chose Malindo Air with 1 transit in Kuala Lumpur.

I was surprised when I got drink and snack during my flight, like "Is this for real??", because when I went to Singapore I didn't get any beverage for free. CGK-KUL is also close. I got orange juice, pizza, and brownie! Wow!


KUL Terminal 2 is huge. It's clean and looking so good. I waited 3 hours for my flight to Bangkok, and it was totally worth it. The waiting room at first was very quiet, it was like having my private room, haha.


Again, during my flight to Bangkok, I got snack and free flow drink! Seriously, I was amazed. It's the similar snack but I didn't mind. Anyway thanks to free snack, I was able to have lunch on KUL since I didn't have any Ringgit Malaysia on my pocket.

I arrived at Don Mueang Airport, Bangkok. When I was on the immigration gate, dude, it was so freaking crowded.

Before I left the airport, I bought local SIM card first. I chose to use local SIM card because it's much cheaper. The conversion from IDR to THB wasn't too far, I'd say it's almost the same. I went to AIS SIM Card counter then buy the traveler SIM card only for 399 THB, it's for 4GB data and 14 days of active days. I needed more internet data since I knew I would use Google Maps very often.

By the way, I recommend AIS if you are planning to go to Bangkok, the internet is fast. Don't forget to prepare your passport, because you need to show passport then the attendant copies it to get the SIM card.

After that I went outside from the arrival terminal, then.... "Oh damn."


I was confused which bus I should take to go to Chinatown since my hostel was there. The language, oh man... I wasn't ready for it. Possibly seeing me as a confused tourist, thankfully an airport staff helped me to explain which bus I needed to take and after that I continued to reach Chinatown by MRT.

The MRT is great. Since I didn't have any MRT pass I needed to buy one ticket to go from Chatucak to the closest MRT station to Chinatown, Hua Lamphong. It cost me 42 THB. Actually I didn't get a ticket, it was more like round token.


My first impression about Bangkok? It really reminded me of Jakarta, hahaha. The traffic was pretty similar but in a better way, I guess. But if talking about the surroundings, this city is quite comparable to Bandung, which I love it!

Talking about public transportation, I am so surprised how cheap it is. The shuttle bus from Don Mueang Airport to nearest MRT station (in this case, Chatuchak Park) only cost me 30 Baht; it's around IDR 11K or USD 1. This rate is applied wherever your stop is. What I really like, the system is so simple yet organized: bus only makes stop on signed bus shuttle.

I walked for 10 minutes from Hua Lamphong Station to my hostel at Chinatown. It's called "Bunny Burrow Hostel". I found it on booking.com and I was quite curious about the hostel. Actually I reserved another hostel before, but after checked more about the transportation around it, it was too far. Thankfully I could cancel without any fee and I could choose my current hostel.

It's a new hostel, I could see from all the furniture and facilities. Mostly were brand new. I also liked the concept, it was like a capsule and I'd like to have privacy while resting.


Even though I was tired as hell after quite long flight of Jakarta-Kuala Lumpur-Bangkok (I never thought having connecting flight actually drained so much energy), I decided to take a walk and visit a place. Done with unpacking, I searched the best route to reach Asiatique Riverfront. Then I took a bus to get there. Bus stops were very close from my hostel so it was easier for me to go somewhere. It was kinda funny because I took the right bus but I chose the wrong route so I gotta pay double.

Why Asiatique Riverfront? It's the closest public attraction which opened until midnight and I was curious about the ferris-wheel, hahaha. Actually I wanted to see the skyline of Bangkok at night.


I gotta say, it was quite hard to take pictures of the skyline since the ferris-wheel kept moving fast. Also, my body trembled because I had great fear of heights. I freaked out, screamed, and panicked as the ferris-wheel went higher and higher. At this point I really wish I weren't alone because I couldn't handle my fear. But slowly I could relax, tried to enjoy Bangkok skyline and the view of Chao Praya River.



Okay, things were getting more interesting after I left Asiatique Riverfront. Since it was around 10 pm, I couldn't find any bus to go back to my hostel. I just kept walking and walking... Until I saw a food stall. It served seafood and I was curious to try. I looked at the menu then showed the cook which food I wanted to order. I couldn't speak English to her since she didn't understand, so body language was the best option that time.


I waited for my food, then when it came... The shrimps were raw. Completely raw. I dazed for a moment. Apparently I ordered food that was actually a salad. I really made a dumb decision. So I approached the cook, then her friend tried to help me. I used Google Translate to tell what I meant, but he also didn't understand Thai because he's Cambodian.

The next thing I knew, he took my food then came back in a minute. The shrimps were finally boiled! 😂😂 In the end I could eat something that night; I haven't eaten anything that day!

After having late dinner, I continued walking to my hostel. In the end, I walked 3,7 km in the middle of night in Bangkok where the streets were very quiet. Many stores were already closed. I was worried something awful could happen since I didn't know the place very well. Fortunately I could hit my hostel and nothing bad happened.

Day 1 in Bangkok was tiring but surprisingly fun!