Hello readers! I am here to blog on my recent trip to Bangkok with JY & JJ.
Day 1 itinerary that i initially research and plan was - Arrival at Suvarnabhumi airport - Check in Hotel - Shibuya 19 Mall -Platinum Fashion Mall - Big C supermarket.
But our actual itinerary was - Arrival at Suvarnabhumi airport - Check in Hotel deposit luggage - Platinum Fashion Mall - Return to hotel to collect keys - Big C supermarket- Food Market opp Big C supermarket, in front of Central World -Night market outside Platinum Fashion Mall.
It has become a habit for me to plan an itinerary whenever i am going overseas, however we was pretty cool and flexible even when we don't go according to what i had planned.
It was our first overseas trip together after knowing each other for almost 8 years now!
I booked the tickets in march this year because i was checking out some air fares when i noticed that Jetstar has their usual promotion and it was so cheap especially for Bangkok! We paid for just $137 for 2 way , 25kg baggage each pax including Jetstar insurance which was really cheap! I don't even know if i will get the chance to book the air ticket at this price again! Hahahha, but of course, the cheap fares was mainly due to the long stay in BKK as we was there for 6D5N when majority usually stay for a 4D3N or even 3D2N!
Since none of us visited Bangkok, i thought it was good that we could take things slowly, i started my research early to ensure that our trip is well planned.
We took the morning flight so we arranged to meet at the airport around 530am, le bf send us over in the morning that saves us to cab. Prior to our trip, i did most of the research and planning of the itinerary as both of them were busy with their exams at that time, so by the time they were free, the itinerary were more or less completed. We even had a shared google folder where i would put all the necessary info,itinerary so they can look through when they are free,like the places to go, the things to buy while in BKK, our flight details,accommodation as well as the external travel insurance that we bought. I thought this is useful because the next time i could refer back to the folder for the info on pricing and to do some comparison as well.
I personally think everyone should get the external travel insurance instead of the airline insurance that they charge you at a fee when you booked the air tickets as the external insurance will ensure you are covered throughout the entire of your trip instead of the airline insurance that only covered you during your flight. Life is so unpredictable that you never know what will happens so better be safe than sorry.
I went to check out Citibank travel insurance, it has the necessary coverage and the claimable amount was higher than other travel insurance that i had compared, i bought it during my Taiwan trip and this time to Bangkok. I think it has to do with the distance? Because it cost cheaper for Bangkok at $25.20 only, but only if u are using Citibank credit card to pay.
But it was a good thing when you tried to get out first because there were so many people behind us later and we were glad we was not waiting behind them. We went to collect our luggage first before we went to buy our SIM card! Initially, i was thinking to get one sim card and we can tether the mobile data for sharing, but later on, i decided it was better for each of us to get one individual sim card which was proved to be very useful during our shopping spree because we don't have to stick together most of the time! More time for shopping! (I will explain more during our trip in Chatuchak market.)
When i last did my research, it cost only 299 baht ($11.96) for 7 days unlimited mobile data and 100min call credit. The price is still the same, so when you are walking out after the clearance, you would see several counters selling the sim card, just walk all the way straight first and look for DTAC counter.
I have never tried other telecom service providers, it was through referral and my research that majority use DTAC, beside they actually have a self vending machine that you can purchase your sim card yourself, and the staff will help you to install inside your phone which makes it very convenient!
After that, look out for signs that lead you to take the airport railway link.
Our luggage was not heavy so it was fuss-free for us to pull our luggage to take the railway link instead of taking the cab, it cost only 40 baht which is only ($1.60) per pax to reach Pratunam area as i had booked our hotel there for us to have easy access to shopping malls like Shibuya 19, Platinum fashion mall and pratunam market.
You can go to any of the ticket vending machine to purchase the token to take the airport railway. Depending on the station you would like to alight at, the rate will be different, for us when i google, we was supposed to alight either at ratchapraprop or phaya thai station but we choose to alight at ratchapraprop station.
This is the ticket vending machine.
The airport railway link was not crowded at all, probably because we reached there early? It was about 10.30am when we was waiting for the train. Some photo-taking while waiting for the train to arrived.
Previously, my plan was to book the budget kind of hotel on our first few nights because JY had a budget since she was not working at that time, so being kiasu, i booked some budget hotel first before those rooms get sold out fast! Later on, i saw there was a serviced apartment, which look more worthwhile but it does not allow me to book for our entire stay at bangkok so i thought we could stay 2 night at a budget hotel before moving to the serviced apartment.
However, it was weird because upon booking the serviced apartment for sometime, i received an email that they tried to charge my creditcard but it was not successful, they was not supposed to charge my creditcard until a specific date so i email them but there were no replies so i began to hunt for an alternative hotel when it was nearer to our travel date since JY had a budget now and we could stay in better hotels now! Hahaha. Eventually we stayed at Centrepoint Pratunam Hotel throughout the entire trip.
However, it was weird because upon booking the serviced apartment for sometime, i received an email that they tried to charge my creditcard but it was not successful, they was not supposed to charge my creditcard until a specific date so i email them but there were no replies so i began to hunt for an alternative hotel when it was nearer to our travel date since JY had a budget now and we could stay in better hotels now! Hahaha. Eventually we stayed at Centrepoint Pratunam Hotel throughout the entire trip.
After we alight from Ratchapraprop station, we walked quite a distance because google map estimate its about 10-15min walking distance from BTS to reach our hotel, JJ was using the gps to guide us to the correct way to the hotel. Later on, we found out, Ratchathewi will be the ideal station to alight. However you will need to take to Phaya Thai station before changing line to alight at Ratchathewi. This is because if you walked from Ratchapraprop station, you will need to pass by alot of shops, so there will be alot of people obstructing your way when you are pulling your luggage, but if you alight from Ratchathewi station, you will be walking from the other side that the road is more wider, not much street vendors because all the street vendors are all situated near the Pratunam market external road stretch or at Platinum fashion mall when you start walking from Ratchapraprop station.
To provide a clearer illustration, the photo below that i circled is Centrepoint Pratunam hotel, If you are walking from Ratchapraprop station, you will be coming from the left side of the hotel while from Ratchethewi station will be walking from the right side of the hotel. Both walking distance is about the same, 10-15min but you can definitely avoid less human congestion if you walk from Ratchethewi station. This photo was taken when we was walking back to our hotel from Ratchethewi station, since then, we have been walking to Ratchethewi station when we are going other places. There is also an overhead bridge after about 5min while walking back from the bts station which is why you see us walking at this side instead of crossing over because we would take the overhead bridge after that.
I was doing my research from many other blogs on more info but i couldn't find anything that explain clearly which station to alight, but i think i know why now because there are more than one station that can bring you to Pratunam area but you just need to choose which is the easiest path to walk, and this is why i am so specific over here hoping to benefit any readers that are googling for more info for their trip!
Our trip started off well until the part when we was going to check in to our hotel which makes me super angry that i swore when i came back later, i will blog a negative review on this hotel.
We had some issue during check in, we paid in full for our accommodation through agoda, so i presented the agoda booking voucher to the staff and she asked for our passports. Initially i do understand some hotels may restrict the number of pax per room, but as i mentioned earlier, i did ample research and i know their room definitely could accommodate up to 4 pax and i don't see any issue when there are only 3 of us. It was the first time i had to be so rude while reasoning with the staff like a bitch while JY & JJ looking stunned because i blew my top. I think i was too naive as well to give her all our 3 passport and expect that their hotel policy are the same as Singapore considering they are a 4 star hotel that they should not have any restriction on the number of pax staying in a room. As the front office staff registered us in the system, she told me my voucher indicate max 2 person occupancy and we had 3 person so we had to upgrade to a bigger room or paying for a 3rd person charge, and quoting me its 800 baht per night for the 3rd person charge. We was going to stay for 5 night and it would cost 4000 baht. We paid early through agoda because it was the promotion price, if i had to pay for the additional pax charge, why do i even bother paying full upfront in the first place? It doesn't make sense to me at all.
When she first told me this, my immediate reaction was ' but there is two queen size bed in the room right?' She say yes but continued to explain the max occupancy is for 2 only so we had to pay for the third person charge, and i told her the room can stay up to 4 pax, so why do i need to pay for the 3rd person charge, like this sound ridiculous to me. If i had request for an additional roll away bed for the 3rd pax, i would understand its perfectly normal to charge me for the 3rd pax. But we did not request any additional bed arrangement, nor did we even request for additional towels or amenities, in fact they shortchange us towels when they service our room the next day. But at that time, i don't see the point in paying extra for the 3rd person.
When i first researched other hotels such as Glow Hotel, Amari Watergate hotel, Centara grand hotel before booking Centrepoint Pratunam, their rooms looks nice but their bed was not big, they only had two single bed and both JY & I does not want to let JJ sleep on the roll away bed just because he is the only guy travelling with two of us even though we could just request for extra bed by paying extra but we do not want to shortchange him la. Which is why i make the decision to source for other hotels instead before settling for Centrepoint after i saw other blogger blogging about this hotel room and their room was big because both of their bed looks like 2 queen size bed to me! Both of them do not really know how the room size looks like except me when JJ almost wanted to pay for the extra charge after i make a fuss with the staff but i say NO. Why should we?
We booked the basic standard room which was deluxe executive, you guys may scroll down to the photos to see exactly the size of the room and you would know what i meant.
I booked here because i know JY & I could share one of the bed and JJ could have another bed to himself because its a queen size bed! If the room can accommodate for 4 pax, why will i want to change to another family room when the room size is the same, everything is the same except for the charges?
On my booking, i even indicate requesting for twin bed and early check in, if they are telling me that they have to follow according to what my voucher indicate, why are we not even given early check in? So it doesn't make sense to me that the staff was selectively abiding by the max occupancy of 2 stated in the voucher but not offering what i had indicate in my request for early check in. I pay for the room rate in full already, you can't just decide to charge me extra if we come as 3 or even 4 pax!
I told her when i book the room, there were no option for me to indicate the exact number of pax and this max occupancy was not indicate by me but it was generated by agoda when they send me the booking voucher, and she told me this would be between me and agoda issue as their hotel policy is to charge for the 3rd pax if the max occ is 2. I was infuriated and try to call agoda hotline on the spot. No one was picking up, and i think i was too mad that i only realised after i reflect back that the second number i called was their own hotline. so probably one of their staff picked up and i explained the same issue again but was rejected and that i had to pay for the 3rd pax and i was raging again by then and i threatened to write a negative review on their hotel while scolding them over the phone before i hanged up the phone on them. I was not going to pay for the additional charges AT ALL, no mattar what.
To top up the difference of $160 was not really a big deal to us, i mean if we divide by 3 pax its only $50+ each. But i just buay gan buan. （不爽，不甘愿) . There were no indication for any extra charges on my booking voucher should we exceed any max occupancy so when we turned up at the hotel and was suddenly informed there is additional charges for 3rd pax, i believe anyone would get as mad as me. Don't tell me its the norm that i should automatically assume they will charge me extra for not abiding by the number of occ per room, if that is the case, they should also automatically assume that i was not going to give them an easy time by giving in because its my norm when i stay in 4 star hotel and they do not charge me even if i decided to bring in 3 or 4 friends checking in with me. Unless i had requested for an additional roll away bed. For goddess sake, this hotel is not a budget hotel, i would totally understand if you tell me i have to pay for the 3rd person, because budget hotel main objective is to provide accommodation. They have the right to charge for extra pax, service wise, they may not be as professional as 4 or 5 star service standards so my expectations will be lower compared to my expectations of a 4 star hotel. But this is my first encounter from a 4 star hotel, telling me i had to pay extra for additional person, irritate me so much and not even doing any service recovery. If she is flexible enough to do some service recovery maybe my reaction towards the entire incident will be different.
An example below that i think the front desk staff could do better was to exercise some flexibility. She could do something by explaining 'This was their hotel policy to charge the 3rd pax but considering its our first time stay with them or the agoda booking conditions may not be clear, she will waive off the charges and to apologise for any inconvenience caused instead of telling me the issue is between agoda and me. Now shifting the blame to agoda. Besides i had already fucking paid the hotel fees for it. Everything was paid upfront. There is no loss by allowing extra person to stay unless she want to earn the extra commission when she managed to sell room with additional top up.
For any front desk staff when they managed to upsell you to a bigger room, they do earn commission. So i do not know whether for her case, by having more guests top up, she is earning extra commission too. This is just my assumption but otherwise, i had no other reason to think of when we had already paid everything upfront. I was prepared to find an alternative hotel for JJ than paying the extra $160. Try me.
If you think i would pay for the additional pax charges eventually, you are wrong. Haha, after i hanged up the phone, i was very angry and i went back to the counter and told that front office staff 'In that case, there will only be two person staying instead'. I was already prepared for the possibility of her rebutting me back but to my surprise, she did not rebutt. She simply kept quiet and obliging but telling us that the keys is not ready so we had to come back and collect later.
I can't believe this whole drama ends so abruptly. I mean if that is the case, i would just need to tell her two person is staying instead at the start would solve the whole hassle! Completely wasting our time, maybe she know this is not getting anywhere if she insist to charge me for the extra pax, even though JY did asked me to tell her we want to talk to the manager, but i decided to take a gamble because i was not sure if the manager is as inflexible as their staff, because if he/she do, we will really had to pay for the additional pax so calling the manager out was not a wise choice to me. To get those words coming out from my mouth 'we will have 2 pax staying instead' i was really impressed with myself to react in such a tricky situation. I mean, both JY & JJ definitely do not expect me to say this at the counter, because i really think they do not have the capability to stop us if we insist to stay in as 3 pax.
Even though it was settled as we deposit our luggage before heading to platinum mall for lunch, this has dampen my mood because i was so pissed. But excluding this unpleasant experience with their front desk staff, our stay was overall still quite comfortable. I like that Centrepoint pratunam hotel has the side entrance because i think it would be quite inconvenient if they do not have it because even until we are due to check out, i have not figure out how to walk to their main entrance. Their side entrance is among the stretch which you will pass by Shibuya and Glow hotel if you are walking from Ratchapraprop station, shops, the side entrance is located just beside the 7-11 store so you have to keep a close lookout for the side entrance because it might be easy to miss it if you are not observant enough because JJ was following according to the GPS while i was using 7-11 store as the landmark to locate the hotel due to my research. The locaton of this hotel is comparable with Glow hotel, Amari Watergate hotel if you like to visit the Pratunam market or the platinum fashion mall or even the Pantip Plaza. This hotel is located near Pantip Plaza first and pratunam market follow by platinum fashion mall.
This was the main lobby area which do looks welcoming and comfortable. In my opinion,their lobby looks nicer than their room. They have the concierge counter, doorman to open the main entrance door for the guests, helping you to carry your luggage up etc.
They have two computer at the lobby for their guests to use. As well as a free charging station for you to charge your device if you need to
Beside that, they have a tourist information counter, if i am not wrong, they also provided some guided tours which we did not ask as we was busy heading out every morning.
The hotel also provide complimentary chrysantheum tea and iced water at the lobby for their guests.
But i guess i was more extreme because i was not going to pay for it after making a big fuss,there is nothing much they could do to us. The perk of working in a hotel before, we know how it works.
While i am writing this post after i came back, i went and check out the website again, this info was snip from booking.com, the basic room type was deluxe executive. Look at the room size 47 metre square, look at the deluxe family room that they put 3 adults, the room size is also 47metre square.
Both are the same room size but deluxe exec can only stay 2, deluxe exec can stay for 3. everything looks the same except the price. I find this hotel has some issue as they cannot make up their mind with the number of guests that can sleep in the room properly. Which is why i think i book the deluxe exec initially because there is not much difference as the room size and bed is the same, so who in the right sense of mind will go book the room that is slightly charging more?
And if you take a look at their other bigger room type, deluxe suite courtyard, 60metre square, but can only sleep only 2 person. Its either they think guests are stupid or the person who set their policy need to be replaced. How can a deluxe suite courtyard only have a king size bed. There is no extra bed option for you to add as well!
Even though my mood was affected earlier, I was excited upon entering platinum fashion mall because there were so many levels selling either clothes, accessorie, handicraft item, IT accessories and the food court that we was going to had our lunch as recommended from my friends. I was told to try the tom yum soup inside this mall but there were too many stalls selling about the same so we picked on a random stall. You had to purchase a card to top up the value inside before paying at any stall with the card. We only ordered a few dishes to share first as i was not very hungry especially when we bought the highly raved siam banana earlier at the airport. I had not tried before tokyo banana so i can't compare both, but JY say they taste almost the same, and this was cheaper! I love the chocolate flavour too, its available in 7-11 store but their shelf life is very short so you need to eat it in the next 2 to 3 days after you purchase. This was recommended to me by Sammie.
See? Two queen sized bed.
This was the dressing table. The wardrobe and the elf safe to put your valuables.
You can't cook anything but there is a sink beside the one in the bathroom.
They had plates, fork and spoon for use too, we didnt use it throughout our stay.
The size of the tv is small, it looks like a desktop monitor, the available channels is boring to the max.
But if i were to evaluate the room as a whole if i am an auditor, the room is deemed a 4/10.
The room need to be refurbished because all the cabinets looks old and doesn't look clean enough to use. The other side of the window curtain if you flipped out, is all crumpled and torn that they use tape to tape it together. The curtains is not working well too as it got stucked when you had to manual pull it yourself. The room looks quite outdated including the bathroom, i was suspecting whether there is a hole nearing the bathtub because whenever i finished showering, the floor will be wet, not because i didn't pull the shower curtain properly, but everyday we had to use the floor mat to prevent us from slipping.
The water pressure is also inconsistent, it doesn't goes with the direction of hot or cold water that you turn. This photo was taken on the first day of check in, there were two big bath towels, and four hand towels, but on the 2nd day after the room attendant serviced our room, the towels are replaced for two bath towels but instead of 4 hand towels (which i remember there were two at basin and the other two hanging) i think they only replaced with two hand towels. I noticed it after we came back on our 2nd day after they make up the room but i thought it could be probably they had a shortage of towels and only replenish two instead of the usual 4. But on our 3rd night,4th night they only replaced with two hand towels, which got me quite pissed because the rm attendant could follow the dustbin standard operating procedures of putting it back to the original place everyday when he/she serviced the room because we would place it outside but the person will always put it back, but she did not follow the procedures of replenishing the correct quantity of the towels.
This got me quite irritated because even though there are 3 person staying in this room, but we did not request for any additional bath towels or any additional toiletries at all. We didn't even finish using any of the toilet paper roll! Even when i tried to use the slippers provided, no new slippers was replenished in our next 4 remaining nights. For the safe, i do not know when was the last time someone even clean the safe because there is a mat inside that can be removed, when i flip it open, there were alot of sands, it was so dirty.
The aircon vent is too dirty that i doubt they even conduct painting work.
For the bathtub, they don't do maintenance touchup for the bathtub, usually i would use the bathtub when i stay in hotels, but this look too dirty that i didn't use it. They don't provide rubber mat for the guests when you had to stand inside the bathtub to shower, so for elderly people, i don't really recommend staying in this hotel unless they are very careful to hold the handle at the side else its very easy for them to slip.
I had few occasions when i wear the hotel slippers and i almost slipped a few time while in the bathroom. Heng 我命大. The room had a small balcony whereby you can open the balcony door and stepped out, but you won't want to stand out there for long because its too hot!
It was already evening when we walked back to Platinum mall to pass by central world and Big C supermarket, the platinum mall will be closed by 6pm. But outside the mall, you will see lots of street vendors displaying their goods, they have all sort of stuff, luggage, handicraft accessories, souveniers that allow you to customise with name, passport holder was the norm thing you will see in Bangkok. the market rate is $4 which is 100 baht, free name and logo to choose, its the standard price. Cute t-shirt, or pouch. This stall capture my attention because they are selling cute animals drawn on cushion,hat and even tote bag! Especially the one at the back, it looks so real that it reminds me of my own duffy back home! That was when i was deciding whether i should buy one and customise it for my mum. For bag, it cost 490 baht for the bigger size, and 390 baht for slightly smaller tote bag.
If you would like the painter to draw your own pets on it, it will cost 600 baht.
We start to shop in Big C, everyone was bringing cartons back. but i would like to remind anyone who may be reading my post, not everything is cheap in Big C, thanks to observant JJ for the highlight! Taking this choco banana for example, they show as a bundle at 113 baht. Initially we took a few bundle, but when JJ went to the shelves and saw each packet is only 10 baht, so if you take 10 pack, it should cost only 100 baht and not 113 baht. Thus we do not know if the machine will scan it as 113 baht if we take it in this way and we bought in scattered packs since we had to pack individual when we packed our luggage. They do have the machine for you to scan to check the price, so its better to scan and check first before making your payment.
Prior to our trip, i had a list of the food to try/buy so this durian king was one of the items, apparently Big C is selling at 320 baht per packet, but you can buy in MBK for 180 baht, same size! So JY was like dammm. because its more pricey to buy in Big C. For other foods to try, i didn't do the comparison, so i would suggest you guys to recee and compare the prices because the price can be cheaper if you know where to find. This dried durian is good but it can be very heaty so you will need to drinks tons of water after that.
Each of us took a trolley with me sharing with JJ and JY had one trolley to herself because she was helping some of her friends or colleagues to buy snacks. I hate to help people to buy stuffs when i am on holiday. As i don't request friends to buy stuff for me when they are overseas, i don't expect them to ask me to help them buy too unless they are lucky i am really in a good mood. All it takes is just an air ticket for them to flow over and buy themselves. Of course i will buy some snacks back for my colleagues and family, but i don't entertain requests. Besides i shop alot so i doubt i will have enough space for my own.
We couldn't decide what to eat for our dinner, and we don't really want to eat at those roadside stalls and i remember there was a night market in front of central world when we cross the bridge to Big C, so i suggested to take a look around the night market, we bought this bottle of orange juice that was 20 baht for one!
Roasted chicken which was super salty. Not nice.
We bought fried squids, too oily.
We bought a normal packet of rice with egg and veggies before we found a seat and decided to picnic at the seating area to had our dinner in front of central world. During this entire trip, we either share our food or we ordered like tze char style and spilt accordingly. JY is in charge of all the common expenses that we would top up everyday for food/transport.
All the food are either too oily,salty.dry.
I think we only focus on the night market and should enter inside the central world mall as there were many other restaurants inside the central world which could be a better choice so if the night market is still there, i would not recommend to eat there. waste of my calories.
I had only a few bite of each before i told them i was done.
After our dinner, we went back to shop outside the platinum mall, as i walked pass this stall again, i was tempted to let the person draw my duffy on the bag as i wanted to surprise my mum! So i was willing to pay 600 baht for the bag. In fact i spend more than 600 baht, because i show olm if she want, so she want the pouch instead. I was choosing a photo of duffy before sending to the guy through Line.
And i was excited to see how it looks like!
so i told them, if they want me to help them buy, better go chg yen first or give me sgd money for me to change yen first so i won't curse them. Hahahaha but he continue to imitate me as he say ,when i couldn't fit my stuff in the luggage then i would start cursing them like ' buy what anello huh! buy until my luggage can't fit in' Hahahaha they know me so well. But in the end, i didn't take any money from my mum as i considered it as a gift to her colleagues instead.
Will be blogging day 2 at Bangkok soon!
