Nut and Itchy plus 2 in Koh Chang & Bangkok

Saturday, 26th April

LY, FH, D and I arrived in Bangkok close to 1am on Saturday morning, thanks to a delay in our flight on Friday night. By the time we got to our hotel for the night, it was close to 2am. Sukhumvit Inn wasn't exactly the most comfortable hotel I've lived in, but it was air-conditioned, reasonably clean (sort of) and D & I were lucky enough to get hot water. At RM70 a night, I suppose it wasn't too bad a deal, considering we were checking out in a few hours. Located between the Thong Lor and Ekamai BTS Skytrain, it was a pretty convenient location, and we walked to the Eastern Bus Terminal after breakfast.

The bus ride to the east coast was quite long and uneventful (almost 5 hours). We got on the Super 999 bus, which departed on time at about 9.30am. When we got to Laem Ngop, we hopped onto another bus for a short ride to the pier, and finally a 40 minute ferry ride to Koh Chang Island. Yeah, a whole day of travelling.

On the island we had to wait for the songteaw, and they seemed to cram more people than they should into it. But what the hell, we were already in for the ride. The road leading to our hotel was a long, windy and bumpy one. We passed some shops and probably the more crowded beaches on the island (White Beach). The place looked a little like a cowboy town, making me wonder if this island was such a good idea.

We finally arrived at Siam Bay and the lobby didn't look too bad. Airy and spacious, with heavy wooden tables and chairs at its restaurant. Being the cheapskates bargain hunters that we were (LY and myself), we booked the cheapest room available online. Hey, it looked pretty decent in the pictures. Air-conditioned 'bungalows' facing the sea. What more could you ask for?

Well, a flushing toilet would have been nice. We got a big ceramic water pot filled with water instead. The bathroom had a mouldy smell. The curtains were dirty and stained. And there was hardly enough space to walk around in the room once we set our bags down on the floor. OK. For about RM120 a night, it was a big let down. The 'bungalows' were no better than little wooden chalets.

We decided to pay more and upgrade to the newer bungalows on the other side of the beach, but none were available that day. So we slept that night under the mosquito-netted beds (the little holes in this 'bungalow' easily let in mosquitos) and looked forward to the morning.



Dinner on the 1st night, view from restaurant.


Sunday, 27th April
After breakfast we bummed at the pool and the sea for a bit. The beach was nothing much to shout about (yet another let down), but the sea was clean and inviting. The water was clear and we could wade half way towards a little island off the shore. There were fishes swimming around our feet and I held a live wriggly sea cucumber in my hand for the first time. I even got to swim a little in deeper waters as the sea was calm.


The pool overlooking the sea and sun-worshipping.

At noon, we could check into our new bungalows. Aahh... much better. Nice wooden floors. Concrete walls. A good air-con. A semi-outdoor bathroom. And a lot of glass, so you could actually laze in bed and stare out at the sea. Or in our case, D & I played Boggle.


Our new bungalows and the beach.


View from inside.

Later in the afternoon, we kayaked to the little island. It was quite rocky and we could see corals and fishes below as we glided across the water.

We spent both evenings hanging out at the restaurant, playing Uno and drinking beer after dinner. The dinners were lovely - we ordered very fresh and deliciously grilled humongous prawns, a huge BBQ fish on the first night, a yummy steamed fish in sour and spicy soup on the second, fantastic calamari and grilled pork. All washed down with Singha beer of course. It was quite relaxing as we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves.



Dinner on 2nd night and Uno!

Monday, 28th April

The boys had enough of the sun the day before, but LY and I still wanted our last few hours of sun before we check out and leave the island. So we spent some time in the pool and the sea, without much sunblock. We got sunburnt a little, but this made up for the overcast skies we had in our last beach holiday.


The little island off the beach and random sea creatures.

We left the island at noon, took the long bus ride back to Bangkok and checked into Asia Hotel. Best of all, we dug into a good meal we've been waiting for all year at Siam House next door. We had the deep fried fluffy catfish, green curry, and delicious pork in dry curry paste.



Dinner at Siam House.

Great stuff. And we ended the night with a trip to the tailor at our hotel.

Tuesday, 29th April

Today was 'Makan Day', and we followed the recommendation listed in a website extolling the merits of street food in Bangkok. It took us to Thong Lor, where we tried the Seafood Pad Thai (pretty good), duck and beef noodles (so-so), mango sticky rice (not bad). Then we went took the BTS to Saphan Taksin and the river ferry to the old part of Bangkok, where we tried a few more stalls in the Saochincha area.

We have to say the recommendations by this website were mostly mediocre at best. Though it was nice to see different parts of Thong Lor and Saochincha (LY and I had better meals in this area last year), the food didn't really justify our long journey and the heat we had to endure.

In Thong Lor area:

Chow Le Seafood Pad Thai


Mae Varee: Mango Sticky Rice


The Ponchana Duck beef and duck noodles recommended highly on the website were so-so. It's quite far into the street and is certainly not worth the long walk or cab fare. The noodles we have back home are much nicer.

In Saochincha area:
We first looked for the meatball soup place in front of the City Hall, which was a major disappointment. They had more flour and starch in them than meat. After sharing a bowl we walked around looking for other stalls on the list but we couldn't find them. These little apams, however, were lovely.


Khanom Buang on Phraeng Nara - Sweet (with dried persimmon) and savoury (with dried shrimp) apams.


What I liked about this area were the quaint little streets and old buildings. Nearby is Chotechitr, where you can find authentic home-style Thai cooking. LY and I enjoyed it when we first came here last year, but the lady owner was quite nasty this time round. This despite the fact that we were the only table at her restaurant that afternoon. When a bunch of white tourists walked in much later, she was all smiles. Made me feel sick. Suddenly the Mee Krob wasn't so tasty anymore. We walked around looking for other stalls. Some weren't open while the ones that were open offered mediocre fare. The day got really hot and we finally left the area for Siam Paragon.

To console ourselves, we had a lovely dinner at Chokchai Steakhouse again, at Prasanmit Plaza on Sukhumvit Soi 33. A place we thoroughly enjoyed last year. I ordered the 30 day aged steak this time. Double the price. Twice as fatty. But really delicious.


Wednesday, 30th April

Shopping day today. Spent most of the day in Platinum Mall and Siam Paragon. I didn't buy much but D got an awesome deal on a really nice Samsonite copy suitcase, souvenirs and a couple of Simpsons T-shirts. Strangely I didn't see anything I felt like buying.

Lunch at the food court on the 6th floor was a disappointment as well. The gingery tau fu fa I was looking forward to tasted awful. The syrup tasted burnt, while the beancurd was all but silky smooth. So disappointing I didn't bother taking any pictures. Read last year's post about the lovely tau fu fa.

For tea, D and I found a little chocolate place in Central World Plaza where we had chocolate shots and chocolate cupcakes. The cupcakes were yummy and oozing with chocolate (white, milk and dark) from the inside. The shots were really small though. Not exactly value for money, but because they forgot to serve us toast with the shots like they were supposed to, they didn't charge us for it. SCORE!


Finally, we had a little fitting frenzy at the tailor's before a feeding frenzy at Siam House, our last meal with LY and FH as they were flying home the next day. This was followed by a 2-hr massage next door. I was reduced to a snoring and drooling animal by the end of it. Anyway, back to the dinner at Siam House...


Spicy Pork Salad, Pandan Chicken, Tod Mun Pla (Fish Cakes), Morning Glory

Thursday, 1st May

We had breakfast in the hotel and started to pack a little.
Then it was off to lunch at Tony Romas and more last minute shopping at Siam Paragon. Pork ribs! Totally divine. We ate all the ribs below between D and me. Yes. 2 full slabs. One sampler with all four flavours, and a full slab of the honey basted one. Yummy.



While LY and FH went off to shop some more and left for the airport, D and I saw Ironman at the Imax Theatre in Siam Paragon. Everybody stood up to sing the national anthem before the movie was screened. You could tell how much they loved their King. The song and video accompanying it was quite moving, actually.

After the movie (which was WAY COOL, I heart Robert Downey Jr.), we went to MBK. Dinner was at the 'International' Food Court which was awful and expensive. I had Mieng Kam, but they used kai lan leaves instead of betel leaves. Bleh. D's clear tom yam was so-so, but didn't have the kick to make it tom yam worthy. Don't waste your time here!



We took a crazy tuk-tuk ride back to the hotel after that.
Sometimes going on one is like a deathwish.

Friday, 2nd May

Last morning here and we tried our luck with Chatuchak, hoping it would be at least be partially open so D can experience this happening market. We got to Mo Chit station, walked towards the market around the park, and found, as expected, only a few shops open. There were hardly any people around and it started to rain. The humidity and enclosed space made it quite uncomfortable. But still, it was quite fun bargain hunting what we could. We even found a place that sold fishes and marine life.

Then it was back to the hotel, lunch at Siam House again, a foot massage and then off to the airport. There were more misses than hits this time round in terms of our food adventure. But it was fun all the same.


Last lunch: Clear Tom Yam, Morning Glory and Crab Vermicilli


These are specialty rice from Siam Paragon Gourmet Market. They were pilled up in huge colourful bins of rice. I couldn't resist. Couldn't take pictures inside though. Oh, and look what we were playing in the plane on the way home? Time went by oh-so-quickly.

All photos taken by my camera phone. Not bad huh?

-To Bangkok 2007 (a)
-To Bangkok 2007 (b)
-To Bangkok 2006

Back from Bangkok

It has been an interesting week with D, LY and FH.
No time to blog just yet, but just to leave you with some Bangkok trivia.

It seems Thais will never call their capital city Bangkok unless talking to a foreigner. Some Thais in the more remote provinces may never have even heard of it being called Bangkok. Instead it is known as Krung Thep (pronounced as grung-tep), which roughly translates to 'City of Angels'.

Bangkok (translating as 'village of wild plums') was the original site for the capital city and located west of the Chao Phraya river (present day Thonburi). In 1782, King Rama I decided to move to a more defensible site across the river to found his new capital, Krung Thep.

Strangely, foreigners never caught up with the name change and the old name of Bangkok stuck. Krung Thep is actually an abbreviated version of its ceremonial full name. Its official English Romanisation is certified as the world's longest place name in the Guinness book of records. It's goes something like:

Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit

Quite a mouthful, so it's not hard to see why the full name itself is never actually used. Another version, Krung Thep Mahanakhon, is quite common in official documents, car number plates and such.

Despite its length, many Thais are able to recite the entire name off by heart, like one of the Thai producers I worked with recently. But not many would understand what it means, as most of the words are archaic and no longer used in modern Thai. The full name actually translates to a string of superlatives, which give some idea of how much King Rama I must have loved his new city:

"The city of angels, the great city, the residence of the Emerald Buddha, the impregnable city (of Ayuthaya) of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarn".

City of angels, maybe, but it's definitely a city I love, despite its perpetual madness.

Nut & Itchy in Bangkok (part 2)

Day 3 - Saphan Taksin, Siam Center, Platinum & Sukhumvit 33.

We began the day with a BTS ride to Saphan Taksin again, then a short walk to locate Thip Volcanic Mussels & Oysters. It's along one of the main roads near the river, Charoen Krung 50, before the Bangrak Robinson mall, and is a little shop which also sells fish ball noodles.

We ordered the mussels and oysters of course, and just as we suspected, it really was a lot like 'or chien'. But unlike its Malaysian counterpart, it's not just an oyster omelette. The batter dough is fried separately first, giving it alot of crispy bits, along with bean sprouts, mussels, the eggy omelette bit added to it, then a heap of oysters on top of that. Not bad.


Next stop, Chitlom. We wandered around Central Shopping Plaza but realised it was too schwanky for us plebeians. So was the fancy food court upstairs. It started to rain so we made our way to Siam Center & Siam Paragon nearby. A walkway actually linked the Chitlom BTS station to Siam.

Everything in Siam was expensive though, so we couldn't bring ourselves to buy anything. We went to check out the Siam Center Food For Fun food court, which was recommended on a few websites. It was spacious, modern and comfortable, but the food was only so-so. The food court at Platinum (we ate here the following day), was heaps better in terms of variety and price.

We hopped on a tuk-tuk to Platinum next, located in the Pratunam area on Petchaburi Rd. This new mall is right opposite Amari Watergate hotel. Oh my goodness. We went berserk. And it's probably where we spent the bulk of our cash. Clothes, accessories, shoes and bags, all in wholesale prices and air-conditioned comfort. Only snag was, you had to buy stuff in 3s to qualify for 'wholesale price'. We were here from 1pm - 8pm and walked till our feet could walk no more.

Finally, our starving tummies needed some attention. And we found it at Chokchai Steak House. From Asok BTS, it's quite a long walk. We didn't know this then, so we walked all the way to Sukhumvit 33, then a good 500-600m in, past the red light area of Soi Cowboy. The steakhouse was located at Prasanmit Plaza. It's a really nice place, and the steaks were amazing. And for the quality we were getting, a very good deal too.

The beef was dry aged (you could choose between 15 or 30 days), and came from their own farm, Farm Chokchai. You could even go there for a homestay, and learn how to make your own ice cream from their cow's milk. How cool is that? We didn't know about this earlier though, or we might have gone.

LY and I both ordered the 15-day dry aged prime rib, junior size (a smaller cut)... medium rare, of course. Anything less red and the cow would have died in vain. It came with some brown sauce, a baked potato with sour cream, onion and bacon bits, as well as some steamed veges (carrots, beans and radish). It was SO DAMN good. And at 280 baht, it's a freaking steal. You could also opt for the 30-day dry aged (double the price), and if beef is not your thing, they also have pork (chops, ribs, the works), chicken and even tuna steaks.

We finished off our meal with some coffee and their homemade ice-cream (rum and raisin) from their farm. Lovely lovely. A very satisfying meal indeed.

Day 4 - Platinum, Sukhumvit 34, Thipsamai & Chotechitr (Banglamphu)

Yes. More shopping at Platinum. The day before we covered the Basement floor right up to the 3rd floor and some of the 4th floor. Today we explored the 4th floor and had lunch at their food court on the 5th.

It's a fantastic food court. Great variety, lots of stuff you won't find in the schwankier places in Siam. Like this tau fu fa (soybean curd) in ginger tea. The tau fu fa here is served with crispy bits, something like mini yao char koay (crullers). The ginger tea was warming to the tummy. So comforting. Not to sweet. So delicious. I went back to the stall to try the herbal jelly (like our kwai ling gao) in ginger tea. It was okay. The ginger tea and tau fu fa combo was much nicer. Another interesting dessert was this grilled banana, which they flatten out on a skewer before serving. It was nice on its own. The dip that came with was kinda weird - a savoury tamarind-like sauce.


Tau fu fa with ginger tea, Herbal jelly with ginger tea, Grilled smacked bananas with weird tasting dip.

Oh, of course we had mains. LY tried the beef noodles here while I had the braised duck noodles. They tasted better than the ones at Siam Center's food court. We only had so many stomachs so we couldn't try everything here, but among the other stuff you could eat - braised pork knuckle and fried pork with rice, Thai-style economy rice, different types of noodles (fried/soup/with pork, chicken or seafood), fried oysters and mussles (like or chien), mango and papaya salads, a Halal section, Japanese, more Thai desserts, a stall selling milk products, bread and the list goes on.

After a while, everything in Platinum started to look like a blur to us, so we decided to leave. LY regretted not buying some toys she saw at one of the shops (really cute stuff), but it was a good thing she didn't or she wouldn't know where to pack them in her suitcase.

Next we headed off for some alcoholic ice-cream at Almatery. Taking the BTS to Phrom Phrong station, it was quite a walk down Sukhumvit 34, which reminded me very much of Mont Kiara. Lots of nice apartments with a few boutique retail shops in between. One such retail area is Camp Davis, which had a Starbucks and another recommended place to eat Yum & Tum. But we were here for the ice cream.

If you want to try Amaltery the next time you're in Bangkok, they are moving end of this month to Urban Kitchen in Erawan on Ploenchit Rd. It's very near the Chitlom BTS, in one of the fancy plazas. Oh, back to the ice cream. They had lots of yummy flavours such as Margarita, Long Island Tea, Midori Sour, Blue Vodka, Banana Daiquiri, Chocolate and Cherry Brandy, just to name a few I can remember. We had the Margarita, Long Island Tea, Midori Sour and Banana Daiquiri. Super lovely! Especially after that long walk in!


Hic! Hic! Hic!

It was almost evening by that time, and we wanted to try our luck with Thipsamai. While we're in Banglamphu again, we could also go to Chotechitr, another highly recommended authentic Thai restaurant.

We took the BTS to Saphan Taksin again, and hopped on a river ferry to Chang pier. Along the way, we saw Wat Arun, the famed Temple of Dawn, by the river. When we got to the pier, we walked into the old city, and saw some nice old buildings, a university and huge, gleaming temple complex. It grew dark as we approached Thipsamai, and to our relief, it was OPEN! :D


Thipsamai's blazing woks; Pad Thai cooking.

Thipsamai (yes, they have a website!) is apparently the place to go for Pad Thai, Nam Song (orange juice) and frozen coconut juice. We ordered 2 different types of Pad Thai and the two recommended drinks. The pad thai was yummy, generous with the egg and dried prawns, chives and sprouts (25 or 30 baht depending on type of noodles). You could add prawns or order some different version for 60 baht.


Thipsamai Pad Thai; Nam Song; Frozen Coconut Juice.

We were kinda stuffed by then, but didn't want to come back to this part of Bangkok (Banglamphu is so far away), so we braved our to Chotechitr next, hoping our stomach's digestive system would work fast.


Chotechitr, in a quiet little part of town.

Chotechitr is a small, charming little place in Phraeng Phuton, a little lane off Tanao Road near the Democracy Monument. It's very easy to miss if you just happen to pass by. Famous for their banana flower salad, many a foreign and local journalist have sung praises about it, as evident in the newspaper cut-outs displayed on the wall.


Chotechitr - note the little fella at our table; Banana flower salad.

The salad was quite different, with a smokey chilli and peanuty flavoured sauce. We also ordered a fish tom yam (tom yam pla) and a green curry chicken. The tomyam didn't quite taste like tom yam as we know it. The clear soup was flavourful, but more from the fermented soy beans they used. It was spicy from the chili padi, and sour from lime, but not the tom yam that we're used to. Very different.


Tom Yam Pla; Green Curry Chicken.

The green curry was a little sweet for our taste buds, but the whole meal tasted very home made. We were already stuffed from pad thai earlier, so we ended up taking away the left overs (we had quite a bit) and having it for breakfast the next day.


Two carpets; The sleeping Chotechitr Chihuahua.

Oh, the owner had two mascots of her own. Her very friendly shih tzu. And her little sleeping chihuahua under her table.

And just in case you think the only pictures I took were of food, here are some non-foodie ones. Hehe!


Wat Arun by the Chao Phraya, The old royal theatre in Banglamphu.

Day 5 - Chatuchak & Siam Paragon

We spent the whole day at Chatuchak Market. Doggie treats and chewies were cheap there. And it was quite disturbing to see very young puppies for sale (too young to be away from their mothers). Shopped and walked and shopped some more and we were finally shopped out. So we headed to Siam Paragon to buy edible souvenirs (tamarind candy, instant noodles, chips) to bring home. We had dinner at the food court there, but it was so-so. I guess the more expensive the place, the more so-so the food becomes.

We ended the night with another 2-hour massage, and had beer in our room with chips. Bliss. We were so tired we abandoned the plan to hang out at Sky Bar in Sirocco. It's in Silom and would require us to travel to Saphan Taksin (the other end of the train line) again. We were put off by the travelling time and distance. Next time lah.

Day 6 - Going home

At Burger King in Suvarnabhumi Airport.
OH MY GAWD!!



Don't worry. I didn't have the Triple Whopper.
I had the double cheeseburger with bacon. PORK bacon. Sigh.

It was good fun eh, chaboh?
Now... to recover from post holiday blues :(

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