Bangkok in 6D5N - Day 2

The buffet breakfast at GLOW Pratunam starts at 6am, and closes at 10.30am. We went down for breakfast around 8.30am, and thankfully managed to get a seat. It was rather crowded, but that was also possibly due in part to the dining area being rather small. Didn't take many photos of the buffet spread, but it wasn't anything impressive, and I kinda regretted paying more for the breakfast option..

The staple cereal corner (only 2-3 types of cereals though) was present, with fresh milk provided. There was also a juice corner, but they always only had 2 types of juices throughout our stay there (orange juice + apple/pineapple/guava juice). Other than that they had a small bakery station, with small croissants, some jam pastries, and white bread. There was a toaster as well, and some jams available. The staples that didn't change throughout were the sausages, bacon and sunny-side up egg, and you could always order an omelette or scrambled eggs with the staff on duty. There were cut fruits provided as well, such as watermelons, papayas, bananas and pineapples. An asian option and western option is usually provided as well (rice & pasta), and on a particular day they even had a steamed bun corner (custard buns & baos!).

A table spread of pastries and fruits.

Cooked sunny side up eggs, and various Asian dishes (noodles, steamed/boiled vegetables, etc)

My first helping consisted of orange juice, cereal with milk, pasta, ham, sausage, and a strawberry jam pastry.

My second helping consisted of guava juice, coco crunch with milk, noodles with broccoli, scrambled eggs, sausage, and another jam pastry.

We went to enquire about day tours with a tour agency that had a counter at the hotel lobby after our breakfast. One of the main reasons we decided to spend 6 days here instead of having a shorter trip was because we wanted to see more than the city of Bangkok. We booked a tour that would take us to the floating market (Damnoen Saduak), Elephant Village, Tiger Temple, and River Kwai. The tour agent quoted us 3,000baht per person, but we managed to bargain it down slightly to 2,700baht per person! If we were travelling in a bigger group, it would definitely have been possible to get a greater discount! Oh well, too bad this time. Watch this space as I post about our day tour in my next post!

It was around 10.15am by then, and we left the hotel as we had made a reservation for 11am at Roast Coffee & Eatery, a supposed must-try for coffee lovers in Bangkok. A tuktuk from the hotel to the cafe, which is situated at SeenSpace Thonglor 13, set us back by 150baht (S$6.20). I reckon that you could probably bargain further, but as we were in a rush, we settled for 150baht (50baht down from the starting price of 200baht quoted to us).

We arrived at SeenSpace Thonglor in about 25min, and realised that the place actually houses many bars and cafe-restaurants, although most were closed at that time. I'm guessing that this place gets livelier as the sky turns darker.. Anyway, we headed to the second level, which was were Roast Coffee & Eatery was located. The menu was presented in the form of a newspaper; really cool stuff!

I ordered a cafe latte, and loved every sip of it. The latte art was spot on, and the coffee aroma hit the right notes. It tasted positively amazing even without adding any sugar, and you could really taste the caffeine mm. 

Sadly though I didn't enjoy their chicken caesar salad as much as I did their coffee, as I felt that the chicken was rather dry and the bacon tough to chew. The salad itself was not bad though, although it would be difficult to really serve crappy salad. The poached egg wasn't really great either, and would have benefitted from some hollandaise sauce in my opinion.

I can't remember exactly what my gf had but I think it was some french toast with cereal, ice cream and cranberry/strawberry sauce. It was a sweet rather than savoury option, and she liked it more than I did with my salad. The iced matcha latte was rather poor though, with a very weak matcha taste, a big no-no for me. Even my gf felt that the matcha taste was too weak, and she's not as picky about the strength of matcha taste as I am haha. The total cost of our meal was around 790baht (S$32.50), which we felt was rather reasonable in comparison to back home in Singapore, where 2 mains & 2 drinks at a café would cost closer to S$40 instead, and could even be way more than that.

We headed over to Mr Jones' Orphanage which was nearby, and luckily for us they had a 1-1 promotion on Wednesdays! We ended up spending only 160baht on 1 cake, getting the other one free!

We had read many great reviews prior to coming here, so we were left rather disappointed with the quality of the cakes. The meringue itself was great, but the pound cake was very dry and definitely not tasty. The red velvet cake was bland and failed to impress us with its taste; we have tasted better ones in Singapore. Perhaps we chose the wrong cakes, but I guess the cute decor and pretty cakes made up for it. Do note that the top floor is very small and cramped (as it has a low ceiling), so do be careful if you want to sit upstairs. My gf also commented that the air up there felt musty and dusty despite the air-conditioning.

We walked out to the main street to catch motorcycles to the nearest BTS (Thong Lo). Yes, you heard that right, MOTORCYCLES! We had actually wanted to try them out since seeing them the day before. Many such motorcycle 'pit stops' could be found all over Bangkok, and we had seen many locals using the service, piquing our interest. It was a 15-20min walk from the main street to Thong Lo BTS, but on the motorcycle (20baht only!), it took us only 5min as we blazed through traffic! 

We hopped on the BTS from Thong Lo to Siam. The train routes were quite easy to figure out, and we did not have too much trouble using the BTS over the next few days either.

We alighted at Siam station, which was connected to MBK (this huge mall), Siam Center, and Siam Paragon (this super upscale mall with many luxury brands). We walked around the malls but didn't really find anything worth buying. In general, these malls aren't exactly very cheap, although it is possible to find a bargain if you look hard enough.

My gf loves ice skating, and has been taking figure skating classes back home, and I'm super proud of her being able to land jumps and spins. Thus, it has become sort of a thing for us to ice skate whenever we are overseas, and we have now added Bangkok to the list of cities (currently: Taipei, Munich, Paris, & Bangkok!) that we have ice skated in.

The decor was super cute, with all the fairy lights and 'snow-covered' trees. However do note that the rental skates are all hockey skates. This was a problem for my gf as she wasn't able to really jump or spin there since there was no toe-pick on hockey skates. As for me well, I personally prefer skiing more, but I don't mind zipping round and round the rink on skates so it was ok.

We couldn't leave Bangkok without making some tailored clothing, so we headed to Amari Watergate hotel after skating. Paul's Fashion is located at Amari Watergate hotel, which is near our hotel and opposite Platinum Mall. I tailored 3 shirts there for 1,100baht per shirt (S$45), while my gf tailored a beautiful dress at Newman Exclusive (another tailor located in the same hotel) for 2,200baht (S$90). They usually require a day or two to get the clothes tailored, and if you require a fitting and subsequent modification, do note that they might need more days.

We had planned to see the sunset at Asiatique, and left Pratunam area at around 5.30pm. We took a tuktuk from outside our hotel to Saphan Taksin BTS, costing us 170baht (S$7). From there, we took a free shuttle boat service run by Asiatique. There are ample signs from the BTS on how to get to the pier, so just keep a lookout for those signs. The queue for the free shuttle service is on the left, so just keep left! 

We snapped more pics at the Pier when we arrived at Asiatique as it was really pretty with the sun setting in the backdrop. Afterwhich, we went to walk around Asiatique, taking more pics along the way. Most of the restaurants facing the pier are not cheap, but if you walk further inside you can find cheaper food! We didn't ride the pretty ferris wheel though, because we felt that it was a tad expensive (300 or 400 baht per person, can't remember the exact price).

After dinner, we headed to Ice Manias for dessert. If you've not heard of Ice Manias before this, well it's high time you did haha. They make your ice cream right in front of you after you place your order ooh ain't that cool? We ordered a banana & oreo vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce (a mouthful I know). It tasted great and cost only 89baht (S$3.60), which was pretty reasonable when split between two people.

We continued strolling around Asiatique after dessert, and my gf managed to buy some cute elephant earrings from a small shop there. There are actually many shops selling clothing items as well as accessories, although they are usually pricier than what you can find on the streets. To be fair though, they generally stock trendier items compared to those you find on the streets. However if you're looking for elephant pants or singlets, don't bother buying them here or even at Platinum Mall, you can get them way cheaper on the streets!

We took the free shuttle boat back to Saphan Taksin, and took a BTS down to Siam as we made our way back to the hotel. It is actually better to walk sometimes, as you may stumble upon something interesting that you would otherwise miss if you were taking a tuktuk/taxi. There was a flea market going on outside Central World as we passed by on foot, and we saw many interesting stalls, selling various knick-knacks and even food.

Summary of Day 2:

- Brunch at Roast Coffee & Eatery

- Cakes at Mr Jones' Orphanage

- Siam Paragon, Siam Center & MBK

- Skating at Central World ice rink

- Tailored shirts at Paul's Fashion (Amari Watergate hotel)

- Asiatique (Dinner at Yum Saap + Dessert at Ice Manias)