I’m Going For The Food

After a quick ride down one of Singapore’s gorgeous expressways – it really is a city in garden – I’m back at Changi Airport. In the background of the drop off area for Terminal 3 is Jewel, which I visited in 2019. It is really an incredible space !

Here’s a photo of the interior of Jewel from 2019, which we visited a few weeks after it opened.

Inside, there’s this elaborate setup where passengers could ring wind chimes to see if they rang the lucky ones, to win a million dollars. I didn’t win.

Back through the eGates for departure passport control and I’ve got about an hour here before I have to board my next flight.

So I use The Private Room – Singapore Airlines’ most exclusive lounge. I’m only flying in business class today but I can still gain access to this special lounge by virtue of my previous flight in Suites arriving in Singapore within 24 hours.

The same excellent champagne as was onboard is offered in the lounge as I sit down for a light meal.

I have a delicious salad, Wagyu satay, and poached lobster.

Then some ice cream with a freshly made waffle for dessert.

What a gorgeous lounge.

The only thing that would make it better is some outside views.

There were at most 4 other people in here with me during my stay, and for a time I was the only one, so it really was “The Private Room”.

Here’s the electronic batik wall at the entrance to the lounge complex.

And a conventional one, from down below.

My flight departs from Terminal 2 so I have to take the Skytrain shuttle around the terminal area.

See, told you it really was a city in a garden.

After a painless at-gate security as is this case for all flights from Changi, Veria and I settle down for our short (just over 2 hour) flight up to Bangkok.

The last 2 rows of business class are empty, so we’ve got it all to ourselves.

When you fly in or out of Singapore, you realize just how busy of a shipping hub it is. There’s so many large vessels here, unlike anywhere else in the world!

It gets a bit bumpy over the Malay Peninsula as we head north.

Veria doesn’t mind though, she’s got her drinks to keep her relaxed.

Almost there.

We pass over the coast of Thailand.

And then right down into Bangkok. It’s actually not too hazy / smoggy here this evening!

Although we parked at the furthest possible gate from the exit (over a 1 km walk), passport control doesn’t take too long and I’m descending towards the rail station in less than half an hour after we landed.

Thailand is not cashless like most other countries I’ve visited on this trip, so I exchange a small amount of cash to get some local currency for various things, including the transit service. Pro tip – there is a small cluster of foreign exchange places just beyond the entrance to the rail platforms – which have rates that are AT least 10% better than the ones in the air terminal, and are about as good as anywhere.

After that, down to catch a train into the city.

A quick 25 minute ride elevated above all of the traffic chaos of Bangkok and I disembark.

Here’s looking down below from the station, in central Bangkok.

And here’s looking back up. These parts of Bangkok I find kind of dystopian due to the elevated concrete rail lines which can make the streets dark and somewhat claustrophobic, combined with the screeching and banging of trains along the rails.

I decide against navigating the pedestrian crowds and uneven sidewalks with my luggage, so I hop in a tuk tuk to bring me over to the hotel.

Here I am in my tuk tuk. Wasn’t much quicker than walking but it sure saved a lot of sweating – I’ll need to conserve that sweat for later.

I’m staying at the Anantara Siam Bangkok hotel tonight. I’m invited to handle check in formalities in their very comfortable lounge on the 7th floor instead of at the reception area.

And get a delicous welcome drink of fresh pineapple juice.

Very tastefully decorated in here.

I’ve received a significant upgrade from the cheapest room to a huge and gorgeous suite. Too bad I’ll hardly be here! The room is only for sleeping, and not much at that!

After a quick freshen up it’s time to go out walking. There are several shrines along the street.

A Garuda statue is visible on a modern office tower.

Bangkok’s non stop traffic.

Plenty of stalls selling delicious looking and smelling street food but I’m not going to risk it on this short of a trip.

After navigating a gauntlet of prostitutes in front of a few of the hotels on the main strip, I peel off onto this much quieter side street.

I’m going to have a second dinner at this restaurant – Prai Raya Phuket Cuisine – that was recommended to me by my friend Nik, who travels to Thailand regularly and loves the food.

I have a much needed refreshing cold lemon tea and a crab curry with vermicelli for dinner. It was so good, and definitely worth the trek over here !

Back out on the street, more street food stalls.

And more traffic, of course.

There aren’t as many stray cats here as in the Middle East but there were still a lot around. I guess that means they’re not going into your dinner…j/k

Since I’m just around the corner, I pop into a red light district of sorts.

I had to walk through here continuously without stopping or even looking at any of the entrepreneurs to avoid being accosted.

This guy in front of me was filiming his whole walk through here and a few of the girls made menacing gestures and comments towards him. Can’t blame them.

Yeah, pretty much everything on offer in here. Some of the street stalls for drinks and stuff also had cialis.

Ok, done with that and over to the main intersection where I duck into the underground metro system.

Just as on the elevated train system, the metro system (these are non integrated – a shame) uses these RFID tokens to allow you transport. It sucks, because not only do you have to punch in at the machine (or verbalize at a ticket booth) where you want to go exactly, so you can’t change your mind on the way, you have to pay in cash, and keep the thing with you so that you can exit. I was worried on both journeys that I would lose it as it easily stuck to my phone when I was removing it from my pocket. Thankfully there were signs that they were introducing a contactless card payment scheme at least in the metro system. As a side note, I saw a woman in her 30’s basically teething on one of these while she waited for the train. Gross!

I arrive at the Sanam Chai station which serves the Museum Siam and is beautifully decorated. So gorgeous compared to those utilitarian stations downtown.

So, I came all the way over here to take some photos of Wat Arun, the famous temple across the river. Only I encountered a problem. The main viewing area was taped off and had busted bricks, bags of cement and all sorts of construction material in it as it appeared to be in the midst of some renovation. I found that there should be another area the next alleyway over to get a good view, but when I arrived I discovered that I’d have to cross this extremely sketchy, crumbling concrete beam to get to it. It was totally dark out and I had to illuminate the way with my phone. The first thing I thought of when crossing this was, is my Tetanus shot up to date? I likely wouldn’t have done it were there not already another visitor taking photos right at the edge who assured me that he felt stable on the crossing. Given that he had a full SLR camera on a tripod over there with him I figured it couldn’t be too awful.

The view was worth it. I chatted with the other guy for a bit who was from Benin but living in Singapore now.

Back on solid ground I poke around a few of the alleyways around here. It’s hard to believe that only 20 minutes away was the noise, chaos and congestion of Sukhumvit.

Can’t go in this temple – Wat Phra Chetuphon Wimon Mangkhalaram Rajwaramahawihan – but I can still get a nice view of it from the street.

See, it’s totally dead here ! And we’re still in Bangkok – crazy ! (And no, it’s not even that late, it’s 11 PM on a Thursday night!)

Like many metro systems have these days, the Bangkok metro has double doors in the stations – a fixed door on the platform that only opens when the train doors are opening, to prevent people from ending up at track level. I didn’t realize the hours of operation and I was lucky enough to catch the last train of the evening from this station.

Back at Sukhumvit for the walk back to my hotel. Lots of food around.

And an awesome looking seafood hall, more fresh grilling on charcoal.

And of course, more hookers. I’d been to Bangkok before, but that was when Ellie was two and a half, so we weren’t out late in the evenings at all and I also wasn’t alone. I found the amount of hookers overwhelming, but I also guess I fit their target market exactly. After all that, I’m in a quieter area so pop into the quintessential Thai shop for everything – 7-Eleven – and grab a cold drink.