Bangkok Blasts near Erawan Shrine 17 Aug 2015

This is awful!  We have walked this street many times, when visiting Bangkok.  Very sad.  Pray for the victims and hope the Police find the culprits!

Video of the blast showing the exact moment of blast.  Scary!


Brief picture compilation of the blast and its aftermath.

Central World, Bangkok Thailand

We prefer to stay in a hotel that is a short walk away from Central World, Bangkok, Thailand.  For this trip, we enjoyed the Courtyard by Marriott.  For future trips, we may try other nearby hotels, e.g. Intercontinental.

Here are some random pictures near and around Central World, Bangkok, Thailand.

The skywalk is easy to use, and safe.  We have kids, best to keep away from the sometimes heavy traffic.

The very famous junction.  Just a short while ago, Bangkok protestors had closed off this junction.  The grenade attack that killed two children also occurred somewhere near here.  Peace be with their souls.

Looking down from the skywalk.

Traffic.  Erawan Bangkok - a rather posh shopping centre.   The famous restaurant Thai High-tea restaurant is located inside Erawan.

This is what you see when you enter Central World from the skywalk.

Didn't buy any of these, from the shopping center on the 7th floor.  Vacuum Freeze-Dried Jackfruits, Mangosteen and Rambutans!

Din Tai Fung is a famous restaurant.  There was an outlet in Central World.  We didn't dine there though.

There is the Din Tai Fung.  Famous for Xiao Long Pao. (Dumplings).  We walked past this restaurant often because MK and Fuji was just around the corner.

Many restaurants and eateries located on this level of Central World.

This was on another day.  Welcome to Ratchaprasong District!

This time, we decided to take a closer look.  You can see tourists.

At the street level now.  The green car is a taxi.  Most Bangkok taxis are locally assembled Japanese makes, e.g. Toyota Corolla.

A large number of worshippers.

Thao Maha Brahma.

Another picture of the shrine.

Many stores selling flower garlands and other offerings for the shrine, for worshippers to purchase.

On this day, we were headed to the Big C, which was opposite Central World.

As there was no skywalk there, we had to go by the road.   Notice the street hawker pushing her cart of coconuts.  Street hawkers are prevalent in Bangkok.   We dare not patronize street hawkers though.

Here we are at the Big C.  Our reason for coming here was to do some shopping, for everyday clothes and stuff. Just a short walk from the junction. (Check Google Maps)

I got some underwear.

And some t-shirts for everyday wear.  At the counter, I found out that it was 99THB per piece.

The Big C also sold sold donuts - only 5 THB per piece.

When in Bangkok, my kids consume many donuts. Our favourite donut store would be Mister Donut.

Here is the Mister Donut in the Big C building.

This is back at the Central World.  We decided to try this store out for the Mango Sticky Rice.  Many mangos on display.  Looked rather alluring.

This store was called Mrs Amra Dessert Store.

Wife and I shared one of this.  Mango sticky rice.

I saw this machine, selling fresh orange juice.

Some night shots of the very famous junction.  All peace and calm now.

Still a good number of worshippers at the shrine.

Cars turning.

The road looked rather empty from this angle.  Central World is on the left.

Usually, the street is very busy.

Inside Central World. There is a lot to explore.  Many different parts.  Also rather easy to get lost.

Jim Thompson sells very high-end Thai goods.  Very expensive.  We didn't buy anything from here.

We even found an ice-rink which was rather big!  Many kids were enjoying.

Quite a number of kids were very good!

A very large ice-rink indeed.  It was located at a corner that we don't usually walk through.

That's all the pictures!

Another interesting area is Isetan.  Isetan is one of the anchor tenants of Central World.  On the 6th floor, they have 5-6 very interesting Japanese restaurants.  At the basement, they also have a Japanese food hall that we found very interesting.

Safe travels!

Back to our Bangkok Landing Page

MK Restaurant, Bangkok Thailand

MK Restaurant

While at Asiatique, we decided to dine at MK Restaurant.  The full name is Thailand MK Suki Restaurant.  We always look forward to dining at MK when we go to Bangkok.  The entire family likes it.

Our appetites aren't big, so we do not order very much.  This is the plate of veges that we usually order, not the large size but the normal size.  We also order a portion of chicken, you can see in the red container.

The Thai MK Restaurants serve complimentary ice water which is lightly mixed with some type of fragrant tea.  I find this drink very refreshing in the Bangkok weather.  Unfortunately, the MK Restuarants in Singapore do not have complimentary drinks.   We are bringing the water to a boil before putting in the raw food.  A very fast process.

While the food at MK is cooked bland, the Thai restaurant provides sauces and chillies.  Here you see the famous MK sauce, as well as some garlic and green chillis.

There's our pot of soup, with the vegetables cooking.

MK is also very famous for its roast duck, roast chicken as well as 'char siew' or roasted pork. Today, we got the roasted chicken plus roasted pork combo.  The plate of meat looked dry, but don't worry, there is a bowl of sauce, served separately.

We also ordered some Dim Sum - paus and shrimp siew mai.  They tasted good!

They could extend the table to the left.  I found this extension very useful.  We had run out of space on the main table.   Together with the food you see here, we ordered 3 bowls of white rice to go along with the food.

Another hearty meal from MK.    The total bill came up to less than 500THB or less than $20SGD.  This is the shopfront at Asiatique. 

Happy Travels!

Back to my Bangkok, Thailand page.

Asiatique The Riverfront, Bangkok, Thailand

Asiatique - The Riverfront

We decided to pay a visit to this new and trendy landmark but the river.  This pier was built because of the need to do more trade with European powers.  The original company was called East Asiatic Company, a business dedicated to the export of teak wood, and the company was owned by a Dutch national.

Today, it has been turned into a night market plus restaurants.

To get there, we took the BTS to Saphan Taksin.  Then, follow the signs to the riverfront, where there many piers for many boats and ferries, including the ferries serving the luxury riverfront hotel properties.   Get in line for the complimentary ferry that brings you to Asiatique. This link shows you how to get to
http://www.thaiasiatique.com/index.php/en/view/page/getting-here

Here was the line for Asiatique.

The shuttle boat operated every 15 minutes.

I noticed these other boats pulling in.  Later, I realised that these were complimentary shuttles provided by some of the luxury hotels along the riverfront.

Getting in line for the Asiatique shuttle boat.  There was already a long line.  Time was about 4:30pm.  The shuttle service started at 4pm.

Passengers boarding the shuttle boat.  This would be my first time on the famous Chao Praya river!

Boarding was a smooth and orderly process.  The bridge you see there is the Taksin bridge.

On the board.  It was standing room only.

And we set off.

Some kind of military boat or barge perhaps.  I could find any weapons though.

Passengers enjoying the ride, though it was rather sunny.

Those 3 blocks - a luxury hotel property along the river.

We approach Asiatique.  Yes, it had a Ferris Wheel.

Looking back at where we came from.

Getting closer to the pier.

We got off.  This was a Directory of the place.  It looked big, but it wasn't that big.

There were many shops, however, we didn't shop very much.

At least it wasn't too hot in the shade.

We walked to the main entrance, facing the road.

There was a large theatre.  Muay Thai Live!  We didn't stay to watch it though.

This was the Ferris Wheel.  We didn't go up.

We didn't see anybody going up.  Perhaps it was too early.

Shops.

My kids liked this very much.

We had dinner at the MK Restaurant (located near the main entrance) before doing some shopping at Naraya.  Thereafter, we headed back to Courtyard by Marriott by public taxi.

Be careful though.  The taxi service there charges an exorbitant price.  They quoted us 500 baht for the fare back to our hotel.  We said no way, and 200 baht was our counter offer.  They didn't want to budge until we decided to walk away.  Later on, we figured that you could probably walk out to the main road (which was very near) to flag down a public taxi.

Happy travels!