CHINA TOWN
Best Food: Having missed breakfast, we ate a very hearty lunch at a Chinese restaurant, less than 30 strides away from the Watson’s shop anchoring the China Town road. We paid about 700 baht for very scrumptious food normally good for four people. 
Best Buys: Tekken, Ben Tai etc. play cards at wholesale (80 baht for a dozen) at the China town inner streets, great for pasalubong. Pokey Boxes at wholesale (100 baht for a dozen). Pasalubong (Cookies with cashew on top, mini crispy crepe which looked like small tacos, salted fish crisp chips and pandan candies) at this Chinese deli shop with a Big Pig signage visible by the street. Had to pay only around 300 baht for pasalubong to share with family, officemates and friends. Gold jewelry is also abundant here.
The bummer part: We’ve already been having no luck in finding successful conversations with Thais on our first day at the city. But at least, plain instructions or questions were understood. But in Chinatown, it was Thai, Chinese or hand signal. Luckily, the store where be bought our pasalubong had a very fluent English speaker store owner.
KAO SAN ROAD
Best Hang-out Place: Starbucks set at an old mansion.
Best Convenience Store: 711 with wooden frames as interiors, warm but bright lighting and a section for fresh bread to choose from (ala Bread Talk).
Best Buys: Summer dresses at 150 baht. Fitted shirts and Thailand shirts at 80-100 baht. Havaianas at 150 baht/pair. Funky earrings at 50 baht for three pairs.
THE CHAO PHRAYA DINNER CRUISE THRU RIVER CITY PORT
The traffic from Kao San to our hotel was very bad. According to the taxi driver, traffic is worst at Bangkok during Friday nights. Anyway, we left Kao San at around 4pm. We arrived at around 6pm with our pick-up service (which will bring us to the River City pier) already waiting for us at the hotel lobby.
After another “No air” one and a half hour ride, with Indians (I have a very nice high school friend who was Indian. He’s really kind. I’m stating reality we experienced) and Arabs (My mom, dad and lolo had fostered lots of great friendships with these people working at Riyadh before. We have nothing against them. It’s just a nose-sensitivity reality.) inside the coaster transporting us to the pier, we finally reached the best part of our Bangkok trip.
For only 1,200 baht per person (about Php 1,400) our prepaid cruise was booked through the internet through Oriental Escape. This was inclusive of a two-way transportation from our hotel and the River City Pier, a two-hour cruise with live jazz and country music (local popular songs native to each country like Spain, Saudi Arabia, etc.), complimentary welcome drinks, a scrumptious buffet dinner and a cruise at the famous Chao Phraya River. Indeed, it’s Thailand for a night because we’ve seen most temples and the best hotels and Bangkok structures fully and beautifully-lit during that evening of perfect weather at the deck of the cruise yacht.
Best Experience: The night of dancing to folk tunes (even if I’m not familiar with them) of other countries at the upper deck of the yacht as our cruise was about to end… plus, the fireworks to cap the night off.
Worst Experience: The coaster ride on the way to the River City.
Best Food: The very big oysters and the baked mussels. The “Thai ginataan” (which looked like green seaweeds cooked in coconut milk) was unforgettable.
Worst food: The colorful cake. It’s the worst cake/pastry I’ve ever tasted in my entire life. Our small village bakery offers better cake.
The pleasant surprise: A picture with a Thai transvestite placed in a nice picture frame (with Adobe graphics of famous Bangkok structures) sold to me at 200 baht towards the end of the cruise. The spectacular fireworks.
Indeed, the three destinations encapsulated Thailand in a nutshell.
The traffic from Kao San to our hotel was very bad. According to the taxi driver, traffic is worst at Bangkok during Friday nights. Anyway, we left Kao San at around 4pm. We arrived at around 6pm with our pick-up service (which will bring us to the River City pier) already waiting for us at the hotel lobby.
After another “No air” one and a half hour ride, with Indians (I have a very nice high school friend who was Indian. He’s really kind. I’m stating reality we experienced) and Arabs (My mom, dad and lolo had fostered lots of great friendships with these people working at Riyadh before. We have nothing against them. It’s just a nose-sensitivity reality.) inside the coaster transporting us to the pier, we finally reached the best part of our Bangkok trip.
For only 1,200 baht per person (about Php 1,400) our prepaid cruise was booked through the internet through Oriental Escape. This was inclusive of a two-way transportation from our hotel and the River City Pier, a two-hour cruise with live jazz and country music (local popular songs native to each country like Spain, Saudi Arabia, etc.), complimentary welcome drinks, a scrumptious buffet dinner and a cruise at the famous Chao Phraya River. Indeed, it’s Thailand for a night because we’ve seen most temples and the best hotels and Bangkok structures fully and beautifully-lit during that evening of perfect weather at the deck of the cruise yacht.
Best Experience: The night of dancing to folk tunes (even if I’m not familiar with them) of other countries at the upper deck of the yacht as our cruise was about to end… plus, the fireworks to cap the night off.
Worst Experience: The coaster ride on the way to the River City.
Best Food: The very big oysters and the baked mussels. The “Thai ginataan” (which looked like green seaweeds cooked in coconut milk) was unforgettable.
Worst food: The colorful cake. It’s the worst cake/pastry I’ve ever tasted in my entire life. Our small village bakery offers better cake.
The pleasant surprise: A picture with a Thai transvestite placed in a nice picture frame (with Adobe graphics of famous Bangkok structures) sold to me at 200 baht towards the end of the cruise. The spectacular fireworks.
Indeed, the three destinations encapsulated Thailand in a nutshell.
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