Maeklong Railway Market - Amazing Bangkok Trip #5

Although the trip was less than a month ago, I'm still feeling nostalgic especially when I'm blogging about it *overreacting*. I feel like I want to leave all worries of finding a job behind and continue to travel.

Of course it was just me fantasising again. There are always useless thoughts as such that swim across my mind. I know clearly the reality is to work hard first and reward yourself later. ; )

Back to the trip, this is my 5th post about Bangkok but I'm only just starting to blog about the various places that we have visited during the trip. I keep reminding myself to blog as detailed as possible to preserve all the fun travel memories whenever I decide to read back. Thus explains my lengthy paragraphs especially when it comes to travel posts.

On our 2nd day in Bangkok, we signed up for a private tour package to Mahachai which is a place at neighbouring provinces of Samut Sakhon and Samut Songkhram. There are famous tourist destinations in Mahachai such as Maeklong railway market and Amphawa floating market. You can sign up for the package with Visit Beyond at Lub d. The price is very reasonable (1800 baht per pax) and the tour guide is friendly enough to make your trip fun and memorable. =)

So this is the itinerary of our one day trip:

• Took the skytrain from Saladaeng to Wongwianyai skytrain station [link available]
• 5 min walk on the skybridge [link available]
• Took the local commuter train from Wongwianyai railway station to Mahachai station [link available]
• Mahachai seafood market (Samut Sakhon province) [link available]
• Lunch at famous riverside seafood restaurant  [link available]
• Took a mini van to Maeklong
• Maeklong Railway Market (Samut Songkhram province)
• Took a Songtel (Thai mini van resembling a larger tuk tuk) to Amphawa [link available]
• Amphawa Floating Market (Samut Songkhram province) [link available]
• Took a mini van back to Victory Monument [link available]

It's easier to let the private tour agency do the planning because obviously these places are out of Bangkok and are not accessible by train alone. You need to take mini vans in between places and it's a bit intimidating for unexperienced tourists like us.

And also you need one whole day for this trip because by the time we reached our hostel, it was already 6 to 7pm. Just in time for our late dinner.

Would like to keep my post short so today I'm just gonna blog about Maeklong Railway Market first =D.

As the name suggest, the market is located on a busy railway track with train coming back and forth every 15 minutes (depending on the train schedule, you can ask the local people just in case the schedule changes).

Our personal tour guide, Apple, told us it was once a small market near the railway but has gradually gained popularity when more and more local people are setting up stalls on the railway track.

The highlight of the place is when the market vendors start pushing their shop back in order to let the train pass. It is a very unique sight for the tourists to experience so the market continues to flourish as a famous tourist destination.

Maeklong market even has a cute nickname called 'Umbrella Pulldown Market' which is named after the scene of market vendors pulling down the umbrella and moving the shop back from the rails whenever the train approaches. Very interesting indeed so whenever you travel to Bangkok, don't forget to visit this market as it is an experience not to be missed (we even recorded a one minute long video which you can watch at the end of this post).

I made a mental note to visit this market ever since I saw an instavideo of tourists taking turns to pose in front of the moving train. So it was very exciting for me to see and experience this myself.

*Important note here: bring enough sunblock with you as you will be exposed to harsh sunlight a lot.

Took this photo by imitating another tourist who was squatting down on the railway track to capture that perfect in-depth photo. The track was cleared within seconds after the loud honk signalling the start of the train journey. You can see some vegetables were left next to the railway track. 

I actually wanted to wait a bit longer for the train to come nearer but some concerned market vendors who worried about my safety kept urging me to stay away from the track at this point.

It's a very old station, older than any existing commuter train statins I have seen in Malaysia. But the train is still a main transportation for the local people to travel between provinces.

When I took this photo I was only inches away from the train itself. This train was nearing towards the last station which is the Maeklong station. So we waited for another 15 minutes to watch another train depart from Maeklong station. 

I would advise to set a timer and find a strategic spot earlier so you can get your camera or recorder ready. The space between stalls is very narrow so you might find yourself rubbing shoulders against other tourists.

Meanwhile, we were strolling along the railway track and even bought ourselves some fresh Thai lychee to eat. They were sweet and yummy.

If you are wondering how they do it, these are the specially made wheels so their shopfront can be pulled back from the track within seconds. If you are not attentive enough, you don't even see it happen because they are quick like that. And in the left upper corner of the photo, you can see small baskets of salted mackerel. Thai people love their salted mackerel and you see it almost everywhere even on some random streets. We didn't know whether we were supposed to eat those on the spot or bring back home for cooking so we didn't even think of buying it. Haha.

Was still very excited and this is us happily posing with the chopped-into-halves coconut.

Fresh coconut to quench our thirst. There was a constant need to replenish ourselves with cold drinks in Bangkok. 

We took group picture with the train! Luckily we have Apple who is skilled enough to take nice pictures of us.

Another one at the back of train! If you walk further from the station, you can see the river separating the two provinces of Samut Songkhram and Samut Sakhon. 

So here are the videos as promised!

The first one was taken when train departed from Maeklong station.

The second one was just us happily waving to Jacqueline's camera and talking weird stuff. Haha.


All videos were recorded by Jacqueline! I edited the videos using iMovie. Using iMovie for the first time and it's awesome! Actually it took quite some time for me to figure out how to rotate and crop the video but managed to do it in the end!

Next I will blogging about the full trip to Mahachai!

by
CSY

Silom Street Food - Amazing Bangkok Trip #4

The most used phrase in Thai during our Bangkok trip was 'aloi mak' which is used to describe delicious food. Thai people are generally very friendly and polite including the street food vendors so we felt generous with our compliments on their food. =D =D =D The compliments are genuine and not merely to impress though. Street food in Thailand is really unique and worth trying!

So during our first day in Silom we didn't have any scheduled activities as we were too worn out by the 2 hours flight and the graduation dinner hours before the flight. After checking in at Lub d, we decided to explore around and get some food to fill our empty tummies.

Here are some photos to give you an idea of how Bangkok streets look like. All taken at Silom Road near our hostel.

It was quite amusing to see their chaotic electrical cables layering on top of each other. We frequently had this question in our mind: how did they manage to fix the cable if something went haywire? 

A passing by tuk tuk honking and gesturing to us to get on.

Bought myself a Meiji chocolate flavour milk to quench my never ending thirst in Bangkok's hot and humid weather. I must give Bangkok 7-eleven stores both thumbs up (or 10 toes up) because they are absolutely awesome! There are so many types of beverages and snacks that you can choose from and most importantly they are cheap! I can buy a vitamin-C drink for only 10 baht and this price is impossible to get in KL (a vitamin-C drink in KL can cost about RM6). They even have various bottled collagen drink and flavoured milk like the one I bought. Visiting different 7-eleven in Bangkok was really an eye-opener because 7-eleven in Malaysia is just meh. It was a revelation, really.

Non-halal alert!

Posing with the friendly street food vendor.

We didn't know the name of this food (Christy had tried asking for the name but failed hahahaha) but apparently it's a bowl of starchy soup with fish maw, pork blood, mushroom and beehun. That's whole load of ingredients filled in this polystyrene bowl for 30 baht. It actually tastes like Taiwanese meesua to a certain extent. Quite delicious and I prefer to add some fish oil for more saltiness.

Various condiments to spice up the flavour. Sour chilli sauce, sugar, chilli flakes, fish oil and chilli oil perhaps? 

I would probably never understand why Thai people love to add sugar into everything they eat. I once saw a Thai man tossing heaping spoonfuls of sugar into his noodle soup nonchalantly and I kept screaming 'diabetes' repeatedly inside my head. I guess Thai people like everything sweet. But strangely Thai people in general especially girls are mass skinny! I can't explain this.

Christy nomming away.

Thai version of Satay. Pork Satay or they call it Moo Satay (Moo means pork in Thai). You see people selling this almost everywhere in Bangkok.

The pork fillet is coated with a thick layer of sweet sauce that tastes like honey. Similarly with the original Malaysian Satay, the skewered meat are grilled on dancing charcoal fire to the extent that the edges are mildly burnt but at the same time preserving the juiciness and tenderness of the meat.

We gave the Moo Satay Aunty thumbs up and 'aloi mak' all the way and she thanked us happily for our compliments. =D

Steamed corn! All of us love steamed corn so we ordered two cups for ourselves. One cup of yellow corn and another cup of purple corn.

Portrait shots of corn in a cup!

Okay, this yellow one was not as tempting as it looks. Its sweetness comes mostly from the condensed milk and not from the corn itself.

We all love the purple corn more! It's so chewy and taste weirdly like sweet potato! Very yummy!

The street where we bought all the food.

That's all! More Bangkok posts to come!

by

CSY

Techy Apple Fan Club

Was discussing with Hubby that we should do more couple blogging instead of writing all by myself. So hubby suggested that we blog about our favourite tech brand, Apple! This post will be blogged by only me as usual but hubby contributes to most of the ideas of this post so I count it as a pass for couple blogging. Haha.

For people outside the world of technology like me, I always thought that Apple gadgets were meant for the rich only because of its higher price obviously. However, as the world changes (people willing to spend more money on gadgets and attractive phone plans offered by telco companies), Apple doesn't seem that distant anymore.

After all, people nowadays can't seem to live without a smartphone in hand and I think that explains why people start investing more on gadgets. In the past a RM300 Nokia phone would be sufficient for phone calls and text messages. Now a phone has to be equipped with high megapixel camera with self-adjusting lighting, video recording function, waterproof function, panorama mode and bla bla bla.

I'm definitely not a techy person so it's technically difficult for me to write an extensive review on the strength and weakness of various smartphones. Actually, I find it impossible. I'm not even knowledgable about these things to start with. So I have no idea what am I writing now. Probably just narrating my experience switching from Nokia to Apple.

I was a non-smartphone user for ages before I got an old iPhone3 from hubby. Unfortunately I lost it at Ikano by leaving it on the table unknowingly. I was back to square one again and had to use back Hubby's old Nokia phone. 

Then my parents rewarded me with an iPhone5S for my graduation. I'm finally given a second chance to use an advanced smartphone. Honestly, I was quite comfortable with the old Nokia phone as I'm not a person who need to constantly text someone. I'm not good at replying messages as well as I tend to read the message, do something else and completely forget to reply *gulps*.

To be even more honest, I don't even like to talk on the phone. I find it tiring to make up what the person on the phone is trying to say. With bad signal, it's even worse. When an insurance agent tries to call me up and goes on blabbering without me understanding a single word, I would end the phone call without hesitation. That's how much I hate the invention of phone. People should just stick back to fax and typewriter.

However.

There's always a new leaf turned over. Haha.

Ever since I started using iPhone5S, I've finally learnt how to fully utilise a smartphone and realised how convenient the functions are.

First and foremost, the best invention would be iMessage which is similar to whatsapp. I can just instantly text my hubby anytime without having to pay a single penny. The only difference is I can even iMessage him using my Macbook as iMessage is available in either Macbook, iPad or iPhone.

Some people might disapprove the iCloud function which basically sync everything in your Macbook, iPad or iPhone. I find it super convenient for lazy people like me who dislike transferring photos.

And did I mention I love the self-adjusting lighting function of the iPhone5S's iSight camera? With the help of it, I'm able to capture a selfie without yellowish skin tone and background with noise. I also made a comparison by taking selfies with my iPhone5S and a Sony Xperia Z2. iPhone has an upper hand here I think. The Sony Xperia is good in capturing minute details but tends to have the yellowish tone in low light environment photos.

Can enlarge to this extent sumore and still look nice. Probably would be better if I use the HDR version but my acne would be too obvious then.

Oh and I love the new square aspect ratio shooting mode of iPhone5S as well. You can take instagram-friendly square photos with it! Good for instant social media sharing! =D

My latest read taken with iPhone5S square mode.

Won myself an Estee Lauder Envy Shine Lipstick thanks to fourfeetnine.com and Nuffnang. Also taken with iPhone5S. Looks like a photo taken with high specs camera right? =D

Nah, not showing off arh but here's a picture of Hubby's precious gadgets. He love his Apple gadgets dearly. And he insisted we must show our undying support for Apple and Mac! Haha.

And mine!

And here's the abrupt ending to this techy post appearing out of nowhere. Haha.

Comment if you are an avid fan of Apple as well and follow my blog updates for more couple blogging in the future! ❤

With love,

CYK & CSY

Lub d @ Silom & Siam Square - Amazing Bangkok Trip #3

Imagine letting a run down, unkempt hotel ruin your entire trip. 

It'd be mass irritating and I'm sure no one would want that to happen because a comfortable stay is basically what makes the entire trip enjoyable.

I remember my friend being bitten by bed bugs during our high school graduation trip in Langkawi. It was a good example of a badly maintained hotel. Bed bugs wouldn't exist if the mattresses are changed and disinfected regularly. Luckily it happened during our last night otherwise she would have to live through discomfort and irritation for the rest of the trip.

So I'm happy to say that we managed to find ourselves the coolest place to stay during our recent Bangkok trip *drumrolls* Lub d ! We were sort of tight on budget and were glad to have chosen to stay at a backpackers hostel so we can reduce expenses and save the money for shopping later. 

Lub d has made quite a name for themselves with their friendly staff, 24 hours front desk, interesting activities and the spicy chilli challenge (which I proudly accepted and completed)!

Lub d was also rated "one of the 17 coolest hangout hostels in the world" by Britain's influential daily, The Observer. The hostel offers a variety of rooms including mixed dormitory, ladies dormitory, railway twin room and also double room for those who prefer to have some privacy.

So now you know where to stay in Bangkok if you don't mind using shared bathroom, which I totally don't mind because Lud d's shared bathroom is sufficiently spacious and well-equipped. It is also very clean and sophisticatedly designed which is awesome. Even the painstaking routine of dressing up is taken care of as hair bands, hair straightener and hair dryer are available in the ladies shared bathroom. If you are running out of cotton pads, you can also find them easily on the dressing table. Double awesomeness.

For the first three nights of our Bangkok trip, we stayed at Lub d in the downtown area of Silom.

As far as I know, Silom is known for its night activities as well as the vast variety of fine restaurants and street food. I call it the Thailand version of Sri Hartamas/Mont Kiara because Silom is also a business district with many corporate high rises and condominiums. It is also one of the places where most working foreigners reside in Bangkok.

Silom can be easily reached using the BTS Skytrain's Silom line. Follow the signs to exit 3 at Chong Nonsi Station to reach Silom Road. Detailed directions to Lub d will be emailed to you once the bookings are confirmed.

So we took the A1 bus from Don Mueang International Airport and took the BTS Skytrain from Mo Chit Station to Chong Nonsi Station. You need to change train lines at Siam station.

Getting excited in this bus. Bus fare is 30 baht per trip.

The bus dropped us near the Chatuchak market but it's not time for shopping yet! We headed straight for Mo Chit station by following the massive crowd. No need to ask for direction or anything Haha.

Queueing up to buy tickets at Mo Chit Station.

Very easy to use ticket machine.

A guy photobombed us! Hahahahaha. Only found out when we were uploading the  photos. Super funny larh. It was all smiley faces behind Christy and Jac.

Ready to go!

If you are taking taxi, this map to Lub d Silom in Thai might come in handy for taxi drivers who can't speak English very well.

Lub d is actually a phrase in Thai language which means sleep well *taught by Apple, our one day tour guide for Mahachai trip*. Couldn't have a better name because all of us definitely slept well through the nights.

The main area where most of the people gather to have breakfast and engage in casual conversation. Free breakfast are given from 7am - 10am. Every morning, we woke up to the smell of toasts and coffee, which is mildly blissful. (^_^)

Our 6-bed ladies dormitory. Each bed has its own reading light, power socket, personal shelf and a locker big enough to store your luggage or just all the important stuff you need to safekeep.

Settling down.

I absolutely love the urban decor concept at Lub d which I totally did not expect from a backpackers hostel. The ladies dormitory is at the 4th floor so climbing stairs is inevitable. The rate is 460 baht per pax for one night at the ladies dormitory.

There is also free wifi here if you wish to have access to Internet. We were checking mails as well as updating ourselves with the latest news in Bangkok (we happened to travel to Bangkok during the military coup).

Selfie of us!

And more selfies so bear with it.

Oh this was taken before our Mahachai trip.

Poking my head out from the backside of an elephant. Taken before leaving Lub D Silom.

And we spent the remaining nights at another Lub d hostel located at Siam Square.

We took the BTS Skytrain from Chong Nonsi station to National Stadium station with tons of our heavy luggage. My Canon EOS600D gave me sore neck as it swung around my neck violently while I was moving my luggage.

Moving from Silom to Siam Square wasn't as tedious as it sounds though as the entire journey was shorter than expected (merely 5 stations apart). We only dreaded the stairs climbing part. Each time we saw an endless flight of stairs to the station platform, we felt like we were doomed. It was good exercise though. I can see my arm muscles swell the next day.

Lub d Siam Square is strategically located right next to National Stadium station itself. It is also within walking distance from various shopping malls such as MBK mall, Siam Centre and Siam Paragon.

This time we had a pink 4-bed ladies deluxe dorm! Similarly with Lub d Silom, the ladies dormitory is in a secure 'ladies-only' section or no man land. The rate is 520 baht per pax for one night.

Selfie at the shared bathroom. Taken before going out to explore the shopping district.

Breakfast at Lub d Siam Square. Another simple yet satisfying meal.

The reception counter which is connected to the mini kitchen where you can find local alcohol beverages and snacks. They are having snack nights on every Thursday here where you can taste famous local street food and specialty wine. During our stay, they were serving local mango (it was a taste of awesomeness), fried crispy chicken skin (no one can resist this), pork innards and local sticky rice wine (a taste that I will never forget).

Christy and I even did our Lub d Spicy Chilli Challenge here (which I will blog about in a separate post). Eventually won the challenge by swallowing 10 green spicy chillies within 1 minute but ended bawling my eyes out.

Computer area.

Theatre room which is located at second floor above the reception counter.

Directions to the airport! Everything is so meticulously taken care of at Lub d. Also feel free to ask the reception counter for travel guides.

And at the end of our trip, it became sentimental for us to leave this incredible place so we decided to leave some touchy feely messages on their traveller's notebook.

Don't judge hahahaha. I don't even know if I had counted the stripes of our Malaysian flag correctly. =_____=

A picture of me taking a picture of Christy.

Added a supposed-to-be Thailand flag next to my poorly drawn Malaysian flag. And also the anime version of the three of us. False impression as Jacqueline is supposed to be the tallest among us.

Taking our last picture at Lub d. Btw the blue van behind us actually transforms into a mini bar at night so it was oasis in desert for people who wish to drink until late night during the curfew.

Will definitely come back to Lub d If I happen to be in Bangkok again. Love Bangkok so much that it will remain as a special place in my heart ♥

Lub d Bangkok

http://www.lubd.com

https://www.facebook.com/LubdHostel

by

CSY