Bangkok: Part 3

It was such a whirlwind trip and I really wished we had loads more time to do more stuff together as a family. I was frantically trying to balance, work, family time and shopping (poor Hubs had to do a lot of the babysitting, although as he shrugs, that's nothing new).

We did manage to sample some eats. I'm surprised at how affordable food in Bangkok is compared to Penang. A whole, fresh coconut is 19 Thai Baht (about RM2). We managed to have a pretty decent meal that comprised of mains, desserts and more desserts at Siam Paragon. I'm still kicking myself for not being able to try all of the coconut ice cream, it was so hard to find vendors. The one at iberry (ground floor of Siam Paragon) was really good, dotted with tiny chunks of frozen coconut.

Dinner was at Nuer Koo (pronounced as 'Nua Kooh' and not "Nuclear" as I was calling it) is located at the 4th floor of Siam Paragon. Famous for their prize cuts of beef used in soups and noodles, they often have long wait lists so it's best to go before peak times. Hubs accused me of picking this place based on the pretty collection of  blue and white crockery displayed on the wall ;)

The beef shoulder served with white rice was very hearty and rustic. It had a home cooked vibe and the accompanying chilli sauce served with it was fantastic.

Traditional noodles with beef balls and other various "jelly bits".

So many people have told me that After You dessert cafe is a must try in Bangkok so we headed down again to the ground floor. I was warned in advance about the long queue but thought it was a myth ... until we really were confronted with a queue of about 6 ahead of us.

 

Pancakes and shibuya toast.They were fluffy, not too cloyingly sweet but very filling. On hindsight, we should probably just have stopped at one.

Anantara Sathorn kindly gave us 2 free drinks at the Zoom sky bar which is the rooftop on the 40th. The view was superb and given that it was our last night in Bangkok, the weather miraculously cleared up enough for us to enjoy a spot of people watching there.

It was one of the best nights we've had. We relaxed, sipped at our fresh coconuts and the service was out of the world fantastic even though the staff knew that we were using the free coupons and didn't add on any other extras.They even giggled and patted Bub's cheek when he did the traditional Thai wai and said "kapunkap" (thank you).

No one even blinked when Bubs broke out into his dance moves along to the funky music ;) Yes, I know, we are either the world's worst or coolest parents to bring a 4 year old to a rooftop bar. Rest assured, not a single person was smoking, wish I could say the same about Penang kopitiams.

I felt sooo scruffy in a grey tee and jeans. Note to myself, no more tees on trips!

We headed home the next day with a baggage filled with goodies and hearts full of happy memories. Bangkok, parting is such sweet sorrow, til our next meet again! ;)

Bangkok: Part 2

The conference I was at was held at the same hotel we were staying at so that made commuting a whole lot easier.

We had a lavish breakfast spread at the hotel every morning. I sneaked All Bran into Bub's Koko Crunch while I tried the most amazing pairing since peanut butter and chocolate: crispy bacon drizzled with maple syrup and fluffy pancakes. Oh mannnnnn ...

The views at the conference room were stunning, just take a look at the wash area.

While I was hard at work, Hubs took Bubs to the aquarium at Siam Paragon. He took the late savers discount package (be sure to pay online 24 hours in advance) which was a pretty good deal so you could just have dinner directly after the aquarium.

Bubs freaked out when he saw this gigantic shark heading towards them. Hubs had to explain the concept of glass and aquariums to him.

 

He freaked out again when he had to step onto the glass walkway with sea creatures swimming below. Hubs coaxed Bubs onto it with an ice cream bribe.

There was a glass-bottomed boat ride which Hubs declined once he heard that there were sharks. Lily livered, both of them ;) 

We had a work dinner at the Tawandang German Brewery which was a massive beer hall filled with a mixture of locals and tourists. The German-Thai fusion food was really good. That was one of the best pork knuckles I've ever had. I may or may not have had several generous helpings of the crackling *shifty eyes*

The place has live performances throughout dinner, from Thai dances to American love songs. The performance of the night was a live musical of the romantic horror Nang Nak. All of the girls at our table had shivers down our spines and mumbled something about sleeping with the lights on that night!

Bangkok has heaps of street food on all street corners. What surprised me was that all of the vendors used charcoal to cook which is a dying art in Penang. I also love how bottled water and soft drinks were sold in glass bottles.

There were fresh flowers sold everywhere. 

We even managed a tuk tuk ride on a small side road that didn't have much traffic. I gripped tightly on to Bubs, my bag and the handrail - all in that order.

It was fun going shopping for snacks. We filled our cart with lots of Thai Lays in exotic flavours while Bubs couldn't resist taking a closer peek at roasted pork belly on display.

And a quick roundup of our loot included:

Thai Lays which comes in a variety of Asian flavours: chilli squid, spicy lobster. Tear inducing tom yum instant noodles.

And this cute, 50s style pansy print skirt for myself :)

Bangkok: Part I

I'd to go to Bangkok for a work trip so figured that I could sneak in Hubs and Bubs into my luggage for a couple of nights ;) Even though we were there for 4 days, I'd meetings for half the time so we didn't get a lot of time to really go around for sight seeing so whenever we had little pockets of time, these were mainly spent at malls.  

We stayed at the Anantara Sathorn and it was such a relaxing stay right in the middle of the bustling city. 

 

Bubs was more than fascinated with the huge TV that played the Cartoon Network 24x7 right in front of the king sized bed and happily plonked himself there for most of our stay.

We'd a full day before work started so we tried to cram everything we wanted to do on that day. We took the BTS to most of the places to avoid taking taxis - we almost always ended up with unscrupulous drivers that refused to use the meter (I guess the fatigued looks while lugging Bubs around gave away the fact that we were desperate). 

First up was dessert at Mr Jones' Orphanage at Siam Central. The name conjures up images of oppressed children dressed in black moping around. The truth couldn't be any further ...

 

It was like having afternoon tea in a whimsical toyshop. Stuffed bears were perched across beams,  giant cogs and a train track stretched across the cafe; we couldn't stop staring in wonder. Be warned though that the wooden booths are slightly cramped and daddy long legs Hubs had to sit at an awkward angle. 

The cakes were reminiscent of the ones at China House and displayed so invitingly, Bubs found it impossible to pick just one. 

We narrowed down our choices to a Cookie Monster cupcake (who could say no to such a cutie?) and a wedge of sinful chocolate cake covered with M&Ms and Kit Kats. 

To ensure that all of us finished these on a sugar high, we topped it off with a chocolate peanut butter milkshake.

We walked around in a daze, onward to our next destination: Terminal 21. Each floor has a different country's theme. The food court had a San Francisco vibe going on.

One of our goals for Bangkok was to eat as many coconut ice creams as we could. Unfortunately, they were out of coconut flavoured ice cream so this was plain ol' vanilla :(

Hubs was elated he managed to find decent short sleeved shirts at 2 for 700 Thai Baht at the British floor.

He rejected my help to pick more shirts for him ;)

Dinner was at Mix (Terminal 21, 5th floor right at the opposite end of the food court) , a Thai fusion restaurant that Suyin highly recommended. It was a little pricey and portions are smaller but at this point, we were bone tired so we wanted a nice and quiet place to just relax for a while.

The squid ink pasta with fresh scallops was served with a yummy dollop of tomato based sauce and fresh basil sprig.

We ended our day by meeting our 2nd goal: mango sticky rice daily *slurps* The ones in Bangkok have a sprinkling of crunchy lentils that we just can't get enough of.