Platinum Mall

Platinum Mall is a new shopping mall that just opened for less than 3 years. Its basically a wholesale centre for apparels and accessories mainly for female. My first impression? Scary.
Its especially scary if among your travelling group you have girls who cannot stop shopping and will not give up until they cover every inch of the building. I am still shivering as I type this. Haa!

My personal opinion is that Platinum Mall is really the best place for girls to get your clothes and accessories at a very good price but like what everyone will tell you, you need to buy 3 pieces and more to enjoy discounted rates. Of course some bargaining skills will help too. I am quite confident to say that you will probably not get better price for similar products elsewhere.

Platinum Mall also have a food court that basically sells the standard dishes most food courts would. There are also fastfood restaurants and a Swensens to let shoppers take a break. Not to forget, there is also a Black Canyon cafe selling very good espresso. Good place for guys to sit down, sip your coffee and take a break while waiting for your female friends to conquer the building.

MBK (MahBoonKrong Center)

The famous MBK shopping mall has been a shopper's favourite since a long time back. Its said that everything you want to buy in Bangkok can be found in there. I must admit its not an exaggeration. Shoppers can find clothes and shoes, electrical appliances, food, furniture and lots more in the 8 level shopping mall. Besides that, it also has a bowling alley and a cinema to provide entertainment to shoppers. Food outlets are in abundance here as well with choices ranging from Japanese, Chinese, Thai and western food. There is also an international food court selling dishes for all nationalities and ethnicities

Though its commonly known as a shopper's must go, I realise in recent years MBK seems to have lost abit of its appeal. At least to me. Friends who have been to Bangkok for 2-3 times at least and have visited MBK everytime, please tell me if you do feel the same. Its true that you still can get anything you want there, but maybe its gotten a little boring because there is not much changes seen for the past few years. The things on sale were really those I saw during my first visit which was at least 6 years ago. However, if you are a first time traveller, or you intend to just settle all your shopping needs at one place, then perhaps MBK would suit your need.

Shopping

Now this is what most people go to Bangkok for. The last friend whom I went with and said he is not so much into shopping, spent 1000SGD. Just imagine if he is little bit more passionate about it. In Bangkok, shopping can be done almost throughout the whole day. In the daytime, you have countless shopping malls at your convenience and come night time, the night markets will form up to allow you to indulge in even more shopping. There are far too many shopping centers in Bangkok to cover totally so I will just do a brief write up on those that I frequent and have an impression of.

Food Courts

Another popular and convenient way of settling your meals would be the food courts in shopping malls. Almost every mall in Bangkok have a food court attached and contrary to popular beliefs, some of the food are actually nice also. I personally prefer the food court at MBK and Siam Paragon because of its wide variety. Personal favourite is the pig trotters rice and the beef ball soup. I will inevitably have these at least 2-3 times everytime I am in Bangkok. People who are very conscious about hygiene will be glad to know the standard of hygiene in these food courts is comparable to Singapore.

Roadside Stalls

If you notice, I do not have many recommendations for restaurants. The reason behind is because I have a firm belief that the best food is always found in the heartland, along the streets and among the crowd. In Bangkok, I am seldom proven wrong.

I can go on and on about the roadside food in Bangkok, like wanton mee, beef noodles, pork intestine soup, pad Thai, oyster omelette, fish maw soup, pig trotters and many many more. Remember to add the seasoning usually available on the tables. The chili powder is a must if you are eating soup items. The chili powder in Thailand really goes well with any soup and sometimes even dry dishes. Amazing

The wonderful thing is all these street food is that they are usually sold at a very cheap price like 20-40 baht. You also do not pay tourist price as the stalls are usually patronised by the locals. Though the portion is usually smaller, but its actually a good thing for me as it allows me to have a variety of food instead of just being full on one dish.

All these roadside stalls can be found easily at places where there are human traffic. I noticed that along Petchburi Road, the stalls available for your choice are in abundance. Another good place to try all these roadside stalls would be Yaowarat Chinatown. You can definitely find every dishes mentioned above along the main street.

I would suggest to friends travelling to Bangkok to be abit more daring and just try all the street food. You will not regret it. Though some people will still be afraid due to hygiene issues but I believe that as long as you go for only food cooked on the spot, it should not be a problem at all. After all, I have survived so many trips so I really do not see any harm trying.

NamSing Restaurant

Nam Sing is one of the most reputable bird nest and sharks fin restaurant in Bangkok. From what I remember, it has outlets in MBK and Yaowarat Chinatown. I tried both and I thought I found the Yaowarat branch to be better.

You can enjoy a huge bowl of sharks fin for just 300 baht and if you feel abit richer, you can always choose a better quality sharks fin for 500 baht. I am someone who cannot really tell the differences between the grade, so usually I will just order the 300 baht bowl and save the money for other dishes.

The other must try is of course the birds nest soup. Once again there are different prices for different quality, the highest grade which is brownish red in colour cost 500 baht per bowl, but you can get normal birds nest for just 100baht a bowl. I tried the 500 baht grade under advice from my friend and once again, I could not tell the difference. Maybe I am better off eating cheap food. :p

If you think that sharks fin will not constitute to a proper meal, then you can probably consider ordering their pineapple fried rice which I find very nice also. Another dish worth a try also would be their steamed scallop with garlic.

Baiyoke Sky Restaurant

During my stay in Baiyoke Sky, we were given a complimentary buffet dinner at their in house restaurant. The spread was very good, quite comparable to some 4-5 star hotel buffets you find in Singapore, though at a much cheaper price. I do not exactly remember how much the exact cost was, but I figure it should be around 35-37SGD. A bargain I suppose for the spread available to you. Latest I heard was guests of the Baiyoke chain hotels enjoy 50% discount off the buffet price.

The restaurant is situated at one of the uppermost level of the hotel, thus you get to enjoy fantastic night sky view of Bangkok while enjoying your dinner. They also have entertainers walking around the restaurant to perform magic tricks, dance and songs to keep the diners entertained. Quite interesting I must say. After the buffet dinner, you can also make your way up to the Observation Deck to enjoy an unsurpassed view of Bangkok from 70 odd storeys down.