Day 4 - Train ride fom Bangkok to Ayuttaya

We made an attempt to venture to Ayuttaya, out of Bangkok City on the fourth day. A day tour package booked with the hotel will cost around 1700 baht. I decided to take a train to Ayuttaya on our own instead and guess how much it cost us altogether?  Only 20 baht per person for a 3rd class cabin.  We didn't mind as the journey was only an hour plus and we could enjoy the scenery and the natural breeze along the journey.  A number of passengers from the 2nd class cabin came over to the 3rd class cabin to take photos as the windows at our cabin can be opened. 

Check this website for the schedule of the train before you go to the train station:  http://www.railway.co.th/home/Default.asp?lenguage=Eng

  Note that there are different types of train such as Express, Super Express etc which will bring you to your destination in a shorter time.  This will help you to decide what time you should reach the train station.

We reached the train station just 10 minutes before the departure of our train.  Hubby quickly grabbed a box of Dunkin Donuts for our breakfast on the train.

Just need to buy the tickets before the train departs and hop on!  Normally, it is not very crowded as you can see there are so many empty seats.

Reached Ayuttaya!

Will blog about Ayuttaya in my next post!

Bangkok Day 3 - King Power Complex, MK Steamboat & Platinum Fashion Mall

We started day 3 with a simple breakfast at Gateux House, G floor of MBK.  It is a bakery chain and there were seats for us to enjoy our breakfast in this bakery shop.  I picked a sausage bun and I was really "WOWed" by the excellent service.  After paying for our items, we were told to take a seat first as our bread will be served to use shortly.  Guess what, the staff heated my sausage bun and served it on a plate with fork and knife!  A simple sausage bun had never tasted so good before!  Haha....

After breakfast at MBK, we took a train to Victory Monument Station as I wanted to do some duty-free shopping at King Power Complex.  Upon reaching the complex, you have to do a registration at the counter.  Bring along your passport and you also need to know your flight number and departure details as they will send the items that you purchase to the airport.  You can only "claim" it on the day of your departure at the airport. We were given some discount coupons upon registration. 

King Power Complex

Address: 8 Rangnam Road, Ratchathewi, Bangkok 10400

It has a dome as part of its exterior structure.

Inside the "Dome", we did our registration at the counters here.

I bought 2 longchamp bags from here, one for work and one for casual. :)

MK Steamboat Restaurant

 After that, we went to the nearby mall (Century Plaza) for our lunch.  We had steamboat at their famous MK restaurant!  Hubby and I love steamboat and seriously we don't mind having our meals at MK restaurant (many franchise around Bangkok) every day!  The food was good and affordable. 

 Table Setting

 Condiments and sauces

We ordered one of their steamboat set.

 Roasted Duck

We took the BTS again to Ratchathewi station.  From there, we took a 10-15 minutes walk to Platinum Mall.

Platinum Fashion Mall

Our last shopping stop for the day:  Platinum Fashion Mall, a popular mall as you can get clothings at wholesale price.

 I bought a few T-shirts and many earrings here.  Surprising, hubby bought more tops than me from the mall.

Note that there are 2 pricing.  When you shop in any shop at Platinum Mall, each item will always come with 2 pricing.  One is the "wholesale" price and the other is the normal retail price.  For the earrings, if you buy more than 5 pairs, each pair will be quoted the "wholesale" (cheaper) price.  For the other shops that sell clothing, normally once you buy at least 2 pieces, you will be given the wholesale price.  As I bought quite a number of item from this shop, other than enjoying wholesale price for all the items, they gave me a further 15% discount and also threw in 2 set of necklace and earrings for me (top left).

I like most of their design of earrings from this shop (not too "bling", they do have "bling bling" ones if you like) and the quality is quite good too.  It is located right at the top level of Platinum Mall.  After all the shopping, we went back to our hotel for a rest before our dinner at "Cabbages and Condoms" Restuarant.

Bangkok Day 3 - Dinner at Cabbages & Condoms Restaurant

We took the train and alighted at Nana station. From there, we tried to find our way to the restaurant. It was located in one of the small streets, Sukhumvit Soi 12. We made a wrong turn at first, from the station, the first street that we turned in was actually Soi 8. Thus, we went back to the main street and continued to walk, passing Soi 10 and then 6 Soi 12.  I was delighted when I finally spotted this big white signage of Cabbages & Condoms.

Cabbages & Condoms was established by the Population and Community Development Association (PDA), a private and non-profit organization.  PDA was founded to promote family planning.

The entrance was rather quiet and I was filled with anticipation how the place was going to be like.

Life-size figure made of.... Condoms!!

I thought this educational banner was quite hilarious.

Stated on the cover of the menu - "Our Food is guaranteed not to cause pregnancy".  Haha...

We were seated at the second level of the restaurant, overlooking those who are having their dinners al-fresco.

Crackers for appetizers were served to us.

We ordered beer.  :P

Cheers!!

The menu was rather thick and it was really difficult for us to decide what we should order.

Finally.... Our food......

Mango Sticky Rice again!!  Yay!!

You will see this heart-shaped leave after you finish your plate of mango sticky rice.  This certainly put a smile on my face.

Guess what?  They gave us 3 packets of condoms after we foot our bill.  Wahahahaha.......

Some interesting decors in the restaurants:

Do try out dining at this condom-themed restaurant if you haven't tried.  You will get a totally different dining experience in this restaurants where you will find condoms everywhere!