Bangkok...finally! Day 1

Loved the orchids at the airport

 I know I've been neglecting this blog for,um, ages! I've been busy with the usual stuff that makes up life...but this time, I just had to share this new adventure the DH and I had. We've been dreaming of going to Bangkok for ages, so when he finally gave me the go-signal for an anniversary trip in October, I watched closely for airfare sales, and I booked our flight back in June! We knew we had booked during moonsoon season, but we never would have guessed there would be flooding in Bangkok during our planned trip, so I visited travel forums(virtual tourist, tripadvisor and pinoyexchange) for updates and advice.

And I booked a hotel from a well-known chain so just in case we get flooded in, we would be comfortable. I found All Seasons Siam (formerly Ibis Siam) and when I googled it, this image came up and I was happy to see that it was close to the major shopping malls.

My mistake was not looking the address up and I would have found the hotel was at a different location and away from the city center. So all the while I was researching for the trip,I had the wrong idea of where we would be staying. I discovered my mistake about a week before our trip and I scrambled to find another place for the next 4  nights after the booking I'd previously made at All Seasons Siam. I wanted a place that would be closer to a skytrain station for convenience. And that was when I found Wendy House among the many other hotels and inns clustered around National Stadium. But I picked Wendy House not only for it's rates( and the 5% discount for stays longer than 3 nights,bonus!), but also for its free breakfast, and free wifi. I booked through the internet (they didn't ask for credit card information but would accept cash when we arrived). I remembered to ask for a confirmation email after I saw that someone got bumped off due to a miscommunication. I also asked for a non-smoking room, in the new building and away from the stairs. I also should have asked for a room with a working aircon...since we had to transfer to 3 different rooms before we got 1 with an aircon that actually got cold,lol! But the ladies on duty were so sweet, and anxious to please, it was just a minor kink that was easily ironed out. More about that later.

We took the late night flight out of Manila into Bangkok, but I was afraid of taking a taxi into a strange city in the dark since it was after midnight by the time we cleared customs and got our baggage. So we decided to pass the night away at the airport and just wait for when the Skytrain would resume operations by 6am. We ended up staying till about 8am and we grabbed our first Thai food at the foodcourt before heading out. The DH got a huge bowl of steaming, spicy noodle soup...while I got the local version of the Filipino halo-halo (which is fruits mixed with shaved ice, milk and sugar). I admit it was hardly appropriate for breakfast fare, but I'm usually not in the mood for solid food so early in the morning. Yeah, I'm quirky like that,lol!

On the CityLine Sky Train going to the city proper

We took the Skytrain from the Suvarnabhumi (pronounced Sawarnaboom)Airport into the city proper, but we took the CityLine over the Airport Express Train. Which was not only a cheaper choice, but unlike the Express which just zipped past, we were able to enjoy the sights coming into Bangkok.We got off at Ratchaprorop BTS (Bangkok Mass Transit System). We had planned on getting a  cab from the station but the guy at the taxi stand said our hotel was within walking distance, so we walked few blocks through wide clean, shaded, paved sidewalks to All Seasons Bangkok Siam. Surprisingly, the sweet lady at the reception was able to check us early into our room, although we were prepared to wait for noon to do so. I guess they weren't as fully booked due to the flood-scare and could let us into our rooms ahead. We were on the 7th floor, one of the non-smoking floors at the hotel and our room overlooked a quiet residential lane on the norther side. We liked that it had a fridge, a safe (although its batteries needed to be changed), coffee/tea-making facilities, and a hair-dryer for my frizz-prone hair! We rested a bit and headed out later in the afternoon to go visit Siam Ocean Park, the only oceanarium I know of that was in the basement of a shopping mall!

We had to walk about 10 mins to the nearest BTS to get to Siam Paragon where Ocean Park Siam was at. But before we got to the station, we got caught in a sudden downpour, and we decided to duck into a sidewalk eatery that had a huge vat of steaming noodle soup up front. We didn't know what to order, but luckily another customer ordered soup with an assortment of innards in it, the DH signed for another 1 for himself. The DH said it was one of the best soups he was to sample while we were in Bangkok! My appetite wasn't as active as usual so I got some waffles from a nearby stand, although I did take a few spoonfuls of the DH's noodle soup. I promised myself I was going to try as much spicy food as I could while I was in Bangkok, even if my mouth burst into flame! Gotta do as the Romans, er, the Thais, I say!

Spicy noodle soup with assorted sweet breads

While we were eating at the eatery, we also watched a muay thai fight on the wide screen tv...and by the time we finished, the rain had died down and we walked on to the BTS to catch the train to Siam Paragon. We found the oceanarium without any trouble, where we spent a few happy hours ogling the wonderful creatures of the deep. I thought I had gotten a deal by logging to their website for a coupon code for entrance fee of TB630 instead of TB900. But if we wanted to watch the 4-D movie, we needed to add TB270...and it still came up to TB900 in the end! Later I found that we'd have gotten a bigger discount if we'd taken a card that was available free at our hotel reception, ugh. Still, we enjoyed the shows and the exhibits there. We went back up to the main floor to grab some dinner at the sprawling dining area beside the gourmet market.
We went window-shopping a bit and headed back to the hotel.

At the Siam Ocean World

 My DH is naturally kooky

 We loved the fruit shakes there!

 My Pad Thai

My DH's noodle soup...it was red with all the spices he had added! 

Will post more photos as soon as I can get them processed and uploaded. :)