Golden Mount Wat Saket Temple Fair Loy Krathong

Posted on January 28, 2014 by koomatzu

What is Loy Krathong?

Loy Krathong is a festival in Thailand celebrated every year during the full moon in November. It’s one of the most popular and famous celebrations in Thailand along with Songkhran; People from all over the country journey to their nearest river, lake or pond, to float their own individual ‘krathongs’ to pay respect to the water spirits. The Loy Krathong celebrations symbolize letting go of one’s hatred, anger and sins. You’ll find krathong floats for sale everywhere during the evening on Loy Krathong day from just 10 baht per float.

Golden Mount Temple Fair

During the day in Bangkok, a good place to witness some of the Loy Krathong celebrations before taking to the waterways, is the Golden Mount, also know as Wat Saket. At the Golden Mount grounds, the locals hold a lively temple fair with numerous bustling stalls, children’s fairground rides, and offerings to the Buddha in the temple.

The temple fair at Golden Mount is great for sampling all the Thai food and snacks; shopping at the clothes stalls and knick knack stalls; or winning prizes on the various shooting games and darts games – There’s even a ferris wheel too. Some of the stalls have some pretty weird food for sale at the temple fair if you’re feeling brave: fried insects and frogs on sticks – quite unusual snacks even for Thailand.

Offerings to the Buddha at Golden Mount

Golden Mount gets really busy during the Loy Krathong festivities, so it’s best to be prepared for some big crowds during your climb up the temple stairs. Before you enter, you need to make a 20 baht donation at the stall at the bottom of the stairs. In exchange for this, you’ll be given a flower and some incense to offer at the temple. The stairs up to the Golden Mount are long and winding – and freakin’ hot – but they offer some amazing views over the Old City of Bangkok.

Watching the local Thais serenely ringing the huge bells during the walk to the top of the temple makes for an interesting journey. Once you get to the first room, you need to make your offering of the flower and incense to the Buddha statues whilst kneeling and praying. There’s a small piece of paper which has been tied to the flower – you need to keep hold of this and take it to one of the next rooms. Here, you can open it up, peel away a tiny little gold sticker, and stick it on the golden covered buddha.

For such a holy day, Wat Saket Temple doesn’t come across as particularly spiritual. Inside the temple, Temple goers seem herded through the connecting rooms which, by the way, have way too many souvenir shops. I know right, wtf? Souvenir shops inside a temple?

I suppose it’s not uncommon for a Bangkok temple, but the atmosphere is a little too commercial and busy for my liking – if you’re expecting a spiritual and peaceful experience, you may be disappointed. It’s not all bad though, at the very top of the temple there is a beautiful golden Chedi draped with red cloth and windswept flags. Even with the hordes of people queueing to snap photos, it’s a beautiful sight and there are breathtaking views over the city which are worth seeing.

How to get to Wat Saket Golden Mount

If you happen to be staying near Khaosan road or the Banglamphu area of Bangkok then Wat Saket Golden Mount can be easily reached on foot. Alternatively, you can take a taxi or canal boat – perhaps the canal boat might provide a more scenic route. If taking the canal boat, look out for the stop called ‘Phan Faa’ and get off there. If taking a taxi, most drivers should know it if you mention ‘Wat Saket’.

Mansion 7 Haunted Mansion Bangkok

Posted on January 9, 2014 by koomatzu

A more extreme take on the traditional haunted house experience, Mansion 7 in Bangkok has created it’s own badass version ghost house especially for adults. This is not for the feint hearted…

What is Mansion 7?

There seems to be a wee bit of confusion as to what exactly Mansion 7 in Bangkok is. I’ve seen descriptions of it as a spooky themed mall and other descriptions of it as a nightlife centre full of bars and pubs. Well… it’s not either of those. Mansion 7’s main feature is it’s haunted mansion experience; Other than this, it has one gift shop, a small cocktail bar, a snack bar and a few pool tables, air hockey tables and table football.

Mansion 7 is pretty derelict and devoid of customers – I guess this just makes it all the creepier but I don’t know if it will be able to stay open much longer! It’s unpopularity in Bangkok isn’t that surprising though to be honest. The outside lobby area of the actual haunted mansion is rather disappointing.

The large Mansion 7 lobby, or ‘playground’ area, has an open snack bar with cool background tunes and plenty of table games. This includes some very cool, peculiar-shaped pool tables, however many of these sadly seem to be out of order. Then there’s the cocktail bar, perhaps the most expensive bar I’ve come across in Bangkok yet (other than the famous Sky Bar): A small bottle of Heineken beer costs 280 baht (about $9 or £6) and a bottle of soda water costs 80 baht – so be warned.

The Haunted Mansion Experience

The main centre piece of Mansion 7, the haunted mansion has three background stories for you to choose from. You can read about the different stories just outside the entrance to the haunted mansion and pick your scenario for the ‘ghost house’ experience. We picked one about a deranged, brain damaged prisoner – joy!

If you’re wearing flip flops, you’ll be asked to change into a pair of shoes at the entrance (so that you can run safely for your life) and leave your camera, phone, bag etc in a locker outside. The staff then give you a set of rules to read through (i.e. don’t freak out and punch the actors) and then a rope for you to both hold onto so you don’t get separated (scary!).

I’ve got to admit, I never really thought of myself as a screamer before, but I proved myself wrong at Mansion 7! The haunted mansion is pretty damn scary: pitch black dark rooms, doors slamming behind you and all sorts of horrible surprises. And I bloody HATE the dark too! Opening doors into the next room was one of the hardest and creepiest feelings. Oh, and being chased by crazy, psycho mentalist prisoners. Seriously, not for nervous people!!

The haunted house at Mansion 7 costs 320 baht each – quite expensive by Bangkok’s standards but good fun nonetheless. For this price, the haunted mansion was also over rather quickly, probably all of about 10 minutes long. But… I was pretty glad it was over to be honest, I think I would have had a heart attack if it had lasted any longer.

You can also buy ‘hilarious’ photos of your traumatic experience from the gift shop afterwards for 135 baht per picture. Probably the first and last photo I’ll ever post of myself on Can I Live In Thailand, here’s a photo of me and my boyfriend completely shitting ourselves:

Mansion 7 Bangkok – Worth a visit?

As the haunted mansion experience is so short, and because there’s not really much else to do at Mansion 7, I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to visit it on it’s own in Bangkok. There’s not much else to do in the surrounding area, but you could maybe tag it on to some other day trip along the same route. For example, make a detour there after shopping at Terminal 21 or Chatuchak weekend market, or hit some of the nearby (ish) nightlife on Sukhumvit or Nana Soi 11 afterwards.

How to get to Mansion 7 Bangkok

Bangkok’s Mansion 7 is open from 6pm until midnight (not in the daytime as it says on some other websites). To get there, catch the MRT to Huai Khwang station and then take exit 1 outside. Turn right outside of the station and follow the main road for a couple of minutes walk. Mansion 7 will be just on your right hand side.

Ethos Vegetarian Restaurant Bangkok

Posted on January 2, 2014 by koomatzu

Good vegetarian restaurants are hard to come by in the meat loving city of Bangkok, however Khaosan Road is one of the best areas of Bangkok to get your fix of vegetarian and vegan cuisine.

Ethos Vegetarian and Vegan Restaurant

Tucked down a hidden away Bangkok backstreet just off Khaosan Road, Ethos is a modest little vegetarian eatery with a cozy and inviting interior. You’ll need to take your shoes off at the door – something that makes me personally feel all the more comfortable and at home in Thai restaurants – and then take a seat in the small Bangkok restaurant.

Half of the tables inside Ethos Vegetarian Restaurant are standard table-and-chair, while the other half of the seating is on the floor, on comfortable cushions with low tables. The layout of low tables, ambient warm lighting, and bohemian decor give a kind of Moroccan edge to the vegetarian restaurant. The laid back atmophere makes for a relaxing break away from the hectic Khaosan Road. It even has it’s own little travel library to keep you entertained.

With it’s English menus and backpacker location, Ethos definitely seems to aim it’s vegetarian food mainly at foreign tourists and expats. However despite it’s primarily foreign clientele, many of the staff don’t speak very good English (or Thai for that matter), so be aware that service might be a little difficult if you have special dietary requirements or are particularly fussy. It’s not really a problem though – you’re already in Thailand after all so you should probably have learnt to deal with the language barrier by now anyway!

The menu at Ethos

Ethos Vegetarian Restaurant has a rather large menu with a great range of both Thai and international vegan and vegetarian dishes. As well as savoury dishes though, they also have a vast menu of different healthy smoothies, teas and health tonics. You could easily just sit down and enjoy the drinks at Ethos without having to order a main meal.

The smoothies are particularly delicious and cost around 85 baht. In all honesty, they are possibly the best smoothies I’ve had in Bangkok. The blueberry and coconut shake in particular is great – not too sweet at all. As for the food on the Ethos menu – vegetarian Thai dishes cost between 85 and 205 baht and cover pretty much everything from stir fry basil with tofu and vegetables (Pad Ka Praw), Som Tam (spicy soup), stir fries and curries. They also have a side option of brown rice for 25 baht.

However, the Thai food at Ethos isn’t quite as tasty and tempting as the food on it’s international vegetarian menu. The menu has a decent selection of international, healthy vegetarian dishes such as veggie burger, falafel with home made pitta bread, salad and houmus, chickpea ‘meatball’ spaghetti, pesto pasta with almonds, and eggplant lasagna. The international menu at Ethos typically ranges from around 150 baht to 220 baht.

How to get to Ethos Bangkok

Ethos Vegetarian Restaurant is located down an alleyway near the bottom of Khaosan Road in Bangkok. You need to walk to the end of Khaosan near Burger King and cross over to the opposite side of the main road on the Khaosan junction. Start walking left up this main road until you see a small alleyway on your right, just a couple metres ahead. Enter the lane and you’ll notice the Ethos sign on the adjacent alleyway.

Papaya Vintage Shop Bangkok

Posted on December 30, 2013 by koomatzu

Home to perhaps the largest collection of bizarre vintage merchandise in Bangkok, the Papaya Vintage Shop is great for finding rare buys or merely just a curious peruse.

What’s in store at the Papaya Vintage Shop

Papaya is set in a huge warehouse down a very random and rather neglected road in Lat Phrao, a not-so-central area of Bangkok. Litter blows across the unusually wide and apocalyptic-looking road leading up to Papaya like hopeless tumbleweeds bouncing across a derelict landscape. Still, there are some interesting, colourful yet dilapidated-looking bars and body to body massage parlours to see along the way.

The entrance of Papaya is marked by a rusty old Tuk Tuk and a prominent life-sized dragon peering down from the warehouse roof. Entering the shop up the battered steps, the cluttered entrance sets the pace pretty accurately for what’s in store ahead – a chaos of seemingly infinite items from tacky junk to nostalgic treasures from throughout time.

Vintage shopping and snooping at Papaya

The gigantic warehouse of Papaya houses a plethora of vintage items from olden clocks, exotic vases, lavish china sets, musical instruments and war time trinket boxes; to bizarre paintings, antique furniture sets, 60’s pod chairs and kitschy phones from throughout the years. It also has a random scattering of shabby old mannequins, life-sized comic book heros, nostalgic childhood memorabilia, gaudy penguin bins, cabinets full of Garfield figures, and even more creepy mannequin babies.

Items at Papaya aren’t priced, so you need to find one of the workers if you’re interested in buying something there. Unfortunately, this is usually a sign that you’re probably going to need to haggle, so be prepared if bargaining isn’t your strong point. What’s more, don’t be too disappointed if the vintage item you’re itching to buy isn’t for sale; the Papaya Vintage Shop actually rents out a lot of their most prized and bizarre items to photographers to use as props.

How to get to the Papaya Vintage Shop in Bangkok

To get to Papaya Vintage Shop, the best way is to take the MRT subway to Lat Phrao station and then take a taxi from there. It’s about a mile along the road – a little too far to walk in the Bangkok heat. Ask the taxi driver to take you to Lat Prao Soi 55 (55 is pronounced ‘hah-sip-hah‘) – this will cost around 40 baht depending on traffic. Papaya Vintage is just a couple of minutes walk down the road directly on the intersection with Soi 55/2.

Fantasia Lagoon Water Park Bangkok

Posted on December 28, 2013 by Happy

Fantasia Lagoon is one of Bangkok’s lesser known water parks, randomly situated on the top of a mall in the outskirts of the city. The few expats and tourists who do ever get to hear about Fantasia Lagoon and pay a visit, end up hailing it as one of Bangkok’s best water parks.

A Rooftop Water Park In Bangkok

Fantasia Lagoon Water Park is ideal if you’re looking for a fun attraction off the beaten track in Bangkok. Mainly popular with locals, it’s mall-top location offers numerous other entertainment amenities to keep you entertained for the whole day. It’s a perfect place to take children or as a fun family day out in Bangkok.

On the top floor of the mall, you can spend your time playing arcade machines at the amusement park, shopping the indie boutique shops of the ‘City Walk’ section, watching a movie in the cinema, or enjoying Thai snacks in the food court. There are numerous restaurant chains to choose from too, including Thai, sushi and ramen restaurants.

Best Water Park In Bangkok

Fantasia Lagoon Water Park costs just 100 baht entry per person. The admission ticket system is rather complicated though – you’ll need to rent a mandatory hair cap for 20 baht, plus an option locker for 50 baht locker and towel for 20 baht. On top of this, you’ll need to pay an extra 100 baht deposit for the locker key and an extra 50 baht deposit for each towel and cap that you rent. So it’s best to bring extra cash and take care of the bazillion different tickets they give you!

The park itself is not actually that big. Fantasia Lagoon Water Park is best for families with younger kids than for older kids or couples. It consists of a total of 3 water chutes for older children and adults, and 3 smaller play areas and pools for smaller children. The adult chutes are rather dull, however the kid’s smaller play areas are seriously AMAZEBALLS. I would have been all over that shit when I was a little kid. This is why Fantasia Lagoon is best for families with small children.

Fantasia Lagoon also has a 1.6 metre deep swimming pool (all the other areas of the water park are much shallower because many Thai people can’t swim) which many locals seem to visit and use for exercise. It also has a ‘lazy river’ which travels around the water park with a gentle current. The lazy river is quite pleasant to float around on one of the rubber rings for hire.

Living up to it’s reputation as the best water park in Bangkok, Fantasia Lagoon is well maintained and clean, with great views over Bangkok city. It also has a fun, creative design and theme throughout – pirate ships, treasure caverns, mushroom jungles and all sorts. However, the life guard staff are very serious and a bit jobsworth-y… especially for Thailand! They were quite strict in not letting me wear a T-shirt over my bikini (also surprising for Thailand) and making people wear hair caps. It also has seriously annoying music… the same crappy song repeated playing over and over again! Damn!

Best Amusement Park Arcade In Bangkok

What impressed me the most about my visit to Fantasia Lagoon, was the amusement park. The amusement park at Bang Khae Mall is amazing – the best arcade in Bangkok! Located on the top floor of the mall, the arcade area has a uniquely lit up ceiling to look like an evening sky and give the feel of an old amusement park outdoors during the night. It’s one of the biggest arcades I’ve seen in Bangkok and has numerous rides, a train, and a whole load of arcade machines.

How to get to Fantasia Lagoon

Fantasia Lagoon is located at the top of Bang Khae mall in Bangkok. Currently, the nearest BTS station to this is Talat Phlu or Wongwian Yai. You can take the BTS to either one of these station and then ask a taxi to take you to ‘The Mall Bang Khae’. Most drivers should know it instantly. Depending on traffic, this should cost about 100 baht. Just make your way up the escalators to the 4th floor once inside the mall.

Baiyoke Tower Shopping Bangkok

Posted on December 24, 2013 by koomatzu

Bangkok shopping budget: $$-$$$

Average clothes prices: 200 – 450 baht

Baiyoke Tower, the tallest building in Bangkok, consists of a rooftop bar, a hotel, a multitude of buffet sky restaurants, and a shopping mall on the lower floors.

Shopping at Baiyoke Tower Mall

The mall at Baiyoke Tower is mainly for wholesale shopping, however you can still buy single items from the mall at a slightly higher price. The first two or three floors on entry to the mall are nothing special. Full of cheap wholesale shirts, commonplace t-shirts, hippy dresses and tourist souvenirs, everything you’ll find for sale there can easily be found at all the other big malls and markets of Bangkok for the same sort of price.

But! Despite these boring couple of floors on first glance, don’t give up on shopping at Baiyoke Tower Mall. If you like different and unconventional clothing, or alternative and indie styles, there are still a lot of good shops hidden among the other floors of Baiyoke Tower Mall. Make sure you check out the 4th level and the lower ground floor levels B1 and B2.

These levels have some great shops selling cool t-shirt prints with graffiti patterns, cult images and nerdy parodies; retro style 50’s swing dresses with DC comic prints; colourful, hand made bikinis, Catkinis; gothic tops and band hoodies; and other awesome streetwear clothing.

Shopping for Men in Bangkok

Baiyoke Tower mall is especially useful for men’s shopping as it has so many cool selections of shorts and t-shirts compared to other malls in Bangkok. On the 4th floor, Minute Mirth seems to be a particularly popular wholesale shop in Bangkok for it’s men’s tattoo print shorts and streetwear t-shirts. Melting Pot Design, also on the 4th floor, sells some particularly creative and funny t-shirts.

How to get to Baiyoke Tower in Bangkok

You can take the airport city line to get to Baiyoke Tower. If you’re not staying near any of the airport link stations, you can take the BTS Skytrain to Phayathai station, and then change to the airport link there. You need to then get the city line train to Ratchaprarop station.

Once at Ratchaprarop, you should be able to see Baiyoke Tower from the station. Cross over the railway tracks and walk along the main road for a minute or so. Baiyoke Tower is down the next main road on your right. If taking a taxi, most taxi drivers will recognise ‘Baiyoke Tower’.

Royal Dragon Restaurant Bangkok

Posted on December 20, 2013 by koomatzu

Set on huge grounds amongst mighty pagodas, glistening lily ponds and rollerskating waiters, The Royal Dragon Restaurant in Bangkok boasts a place in the 2008 Guiness World Records as the biggest restaurant in the world.

Biggest Restaurant In The World

With coach loads of lively Chinese tourists excitedly snapping away on their cameras in the front entrance, Bangkok’s Royal Dragon seems to be more of an attraction than a restaurant. With hardly any western or Thai visitors, the biggest restaurant in the world is hugely popular with Chinese holiday makers in Bangkok… I guess if the biggest restaurant in the world specialised in bacon sandwiches and English roast dinners I’d be pretty damn enthusiastic about it too.

Curbing the edges of the central area are rows of smaller karaoke rooms (each with around 25 person capacity) as well as larger rooms for special events. Standing proudly as a back drop to the Chinese landscape, you can’t miss the huge, grand pagoda and smaller floating boat rooms – the layout makes for a pleasant wander round after a big meal.

I went to the Royal Dragon restaurant during the daytime – at this time, the staff seem to shove people into the little karaoke rooms which have a surprisingly claustrophobic feel for the biggest restaurant in the world. Compared with the outer embellishments and ornate architecture, the karaoke rooms are really nothing special – if visiting during the day, try and request decent seating rather than being stuck in one of the less attractive karaoke rooms.

Bangkok Royal Dragon Menu

The menu at Royal Dragon has quite an impressive range of traditional Chinese dishes. Standard dishes range from around 200 baht for simple stir fry dishes such as chicken and oyster sauce, up to 1000 baht for more elaborate dishes such as Chinese roast duck.

One big benefit of visiting the Royal Dragon restaurant during the daytime in Bangkok – although you will miss out on the evening entertainment – is that you can sample the All You Can Eat Dim Sum buffet. Everyday between 11am and 2pm for just 220 baht, you can eat all your favourite dim sum dumplings, steamed buns and other Chinese appetizers to your hearts content. The all you can eat dim sum at the Royal Dragon Restaurant is a bargain – for four of us to eat unlimited dim sum plus a few beers, the bill came to just 1385 baht – tax and service charge free.

The all you can eat dim sum menu at the Bangkok Royal Dragon Restaurant includes steamed barbecue pork, pork dumplings and dipping sauce, shrimp rolled in seaweed, deep fried turnip, spring rolls, wonton soup, steamed buns, chilli birds feet, and a whole load of other unidentifiable meaty treats. To finish off, you’ll be served a dessert of tapioca ice and melon balls, plus some delicious steamed custard buns.

Like many other of the popular food establishments in Bangkok though, service at the Royal Dragon is a little over keen. After continual topping up of our dim sum buffet by the enthusiastic staff, we quickly found ourselves surrounded by a mountain of bamboo baskets 10 minutes into our meal. Claustrophobic much…

How to get to the Royal Dragon in Bangkok

The Royal Dragon Restaurant is quite a distance away from central Bangkok city but not far from the BTS route at least. You can take the BTS to Udom Suk or Bang Na (it doesn’t matter which) and ask a taxi to take you to BITEC Bang Na (pronounce in Thai: Bye-tec Bang Na). This is about a mile away from either of the BTS stations but takes just a couple of minutes to get to in a taxi – it should cost around 40 baht.

The restaurant is next door to the Bangkok BITEC centre. Alternatively, you could ask the driver if he knows Mang Gorn Luang, the Thai name for Royal Dragon.

Website: www.royal-dragon.com

Biggest restaurant in the world Bangkok, All you can eat Dim Sum Bangkok, Royal Dragon Chinese Restaurant menu

Khlong Lat Mayom Floating Market

Posted on December 17, 2013 by koomatzu

Khlong Lat Mayom Floating Market, also referred to as Talat Nam Khlong Lat Mayom, is a quieter, local floating market in Bangkok, on the outskirts of the city off the beaten track. The market has a pleasant and relaxed atmosphere with plenty of unique, cute indoor trinket stalls and a plethora of Thai snacks and freshly cooked dishes.

Best Floating Market In Bangkok?

Surprisingly, not much of Khlong Lat Mayom market is actually on the canal. Apparently, this is more authentic and normal of a floating market in Thailand – the majority of the shops and food stalls are undercover, on land. However, there are still a few areas of the khlong where you’ll find Bangkok locals selling produce from the back of their rowing boats.

Unlike other more renowned floating markets in Thailand, Khlong Lat Mayom attracts significantly less foreigners and doesn’t have the tourist trap atmosphere that comes with some of Bangkok’s other attractions (one floating market worth avoiding for this is Damnoen Saduak). The peaceful khlongs here don’t share the bustling vibe associated with other floating markets, but instead attract the local Bangkokians escaping the business of the city.

You can take a 30 minute paddle boat ride along the canal of Khlong Lat Mayom to the tranquil lotus pond for just 20 baht (no tourist prices here). Alternatively, you can even take a horse ride for just 80 baht from the market’s ‘Mafia Farm’.

Shopping at Khlong Lat Mayom

The indoor market area at Bangkok’s Khlong Lat Mayom is surprisingly big; It consists of a huge variety of little stalls selling handmade trinkets, crafts and carvings such as enchanting wind chimes and embroidered cushions. Many of the souvenirs and home decorations here are unique to Khlong Lat Mayom floating market and different to the standard repetitive products you might find in most Bangkok markets.

In addition to the decent selection of merchandise in the shops, many of the items at the market have price tags – quite a rarity in Bangkok. This means you’re a lot less likely to be ripped off and preyed upon – Khlong Lat Mayom just doesn’t have that kind of walking-dollar-sign atmosphere like other places. The market also sells a variety of clothing, quirky key rings and toys – great for souvenirs to take home or to decorate your apartment in Bangkok.

Thai Food At Khlong Lat Mayom

The food section at Khlong Lat Mayom is even bigger than the souvenirs section. Pretty much every kind of food in Thailand – you’ll find here. The food market is absolutely perfect for sampling all the strange Thai treats and signature dishes of Thailand.

You can try Khlong Lat Mayom’s special omelettes with minced coconut and vegetable filling, or more popular Thai nibbles such as steamed pumpkin cakes, Thai dumplings, papaya salad, summer rolls and a whole lot more. The food market also has a huge choice of fresh seafood with plenty of live crabs and giant fish on display.

Although the food section is undercover and not on the canal, there is still some available seating at the canal side – it’s just a little higher in demand.

How to get to Khlong Lat Mayom Floating Market Bangkok

Bangkok Khlong Lat Mayom Floating Market is open on the weekends from 9.30am until 4.30pm; a good time to visit is early in the morning at about 10am. One of the great things about Khlong Lat Mayom is that it’s very close to the centre of Bangkok – you don’t need to take a 2 hour bus ride to get there as with some of the more well-known markets such as Amphawa.

The best way to get there is to take the BTS to Wongwian Yai station, then flag down a taxi and ask him to take you to ‘Talat Nam Khlong Lat Mayom’. It can actually be quite tough trying to find a taxi driver who will actually recognise the name so you should be prepared to go through a few taxis.

Floating markets near Bangkok… Talat Nam Khlong Lat Mayom – the best floating market in Bangkok

The Good View Restaurant Bangkok

Posted on December 14, 2013 by koomatzu

Good View is one of the more upscale local Thai restaurants of Bangkok. With live music from Thai bands, open air dining and plenty of beer towers on the go, a trip to Good View in Bangkok makes for a great authentic Thai style restaurant experience – complete with a tranquil, riverside view.

The Good View Riverside Restaurant

The restaurant itself is rather big with a large, wooden floored outdoor area and an indoor bar. The outdoor part of the restaurant at Good View is partially covered by a roof, featuring open views out onto the Chao Phraya river of Bangkok. You can either sit under the shelter of the roof, or on the open air seating lined along the riverside front of the restaurant.

Enveloped by the wooden seating area underneath the shelter part of the outdoor seating, is a small, natural grassed area with trees and plenty of greenery. Lanterns hang freely throughout the venue, hanging from the tree branches to give an elegant and charming ambience.

The Good View Menu

The Good View riverside restaurant has an extensive menu of Japanese, European, Chinese and traditional Thai dishes. Prices are a little high considering that the food there doesn’t taste much different from cheaper Thai restaurants in Bangkok. However portions are of a generous size and the pleasant environment makes up for it.

Prices start from 150 baht for a standard Thai dish such as Green Curry or Cashew Nut Chicken. Prices increase to 390 baht for steamed mussels in soy sauce and garlic, sushi, fish heads or grilled whole snappers. As Good View is an authentically Thai restaurant, it also has a large choice of sharer dishes in order for you to dine the traditional Thai way.

Sharers start from 150 baht per dish and include spicy banana blossom and prawn salad, or northeastern Thai-style grilled beef. Another Thai tradition, the beer tower, costs 560 baht per 5 litre tower. Soft drinks start from just 35 baht. Desserts are purely Thai style: Syrup and ice with fruit.

How to get to Good View Bangkok

Good View is located to the very south of Charoen Krung Road. You can ask a taxi driver to take you to the nearest landmark – Charoenkrung Pracharak Hospital – and then keep walking south towards the river from there for about 5 minutes. You can’t miss the restaurant it’s pretty big with a massive car park and signs on the roadside.

Thai-English phonetics are pretty bad, the hospital name is more accurately pronounced like: ‘Rong-pa-ya-baan Ja-roen-grung Bra-cha-rak’… Bit of a mouthful, sorry.

The indoor bar

Flow House Surfing Bangkok

Posted on December 10, 2013 by koomatzu

Set in the heart of Bangkok’s skyscraper cityscape, the Flow House is a great place to either let out some steam surfing on the FlowRider, or to just simply chill out in the bar to some laid back, dub reggae and rock tunes.

The Layout Of Flow House Bangkok

The Bangkok Flow House complex comprises of two separated artificial water ramps surrounded by a bar and restaurant area. As well as serving food and beers, the Flow House also has a plunge pool, shop and photographer service. The shop sells a good selection of boards, surfer style clothes, bikinis and board shorts while the plunge pool is pretty handy for keeping the kids entertained. As for the photographers, they take sneaky photos of you on the FlowRider which you can buy afterwards from 200 baht each.

The Flow House sports bar alone is a pretty good place to hangout to the music while watching all the action from the balcony – If you’re not keen on the idea of surfing, it makes a good enough visit in Bangkok without actually taking part in the flowboarding. The Flow House plays a really decent selection of cool Californian pop rock and reggae tunes in the background for a chilled out surfer vibe.

Food at the Flow House restaurant is equally pretty good. You can get some real tasty smoothies for 120 baht, healthy Caesar or Greek salad from 140 baht, or an epic beef burger and onion rings for 280 baht.

The Flowboarding Experience

If you love extreme sports like surfing and snowboarding, then chances are you’ll probably love Flow House Bangkok and you’ll also love watching the instructors and regular pros spinning and jumping around on the ramps. Depending on when you visit the Bangkok Flow House, group sizes vary from 1 0r 2 people to a maximum of 8 people. Typical sessions last one hour while you take turns with everyone else in your group.

Flow House instructors are all enthusiastic, friendly, encouraging and pretty much fluent English speakers. They make the flowboarding experience all the more enjoyable when they get visibly excited as they see their students improve through the session too. Beginners start off lying down and kneeling on the board which is quite simple and a lot less painful.

Once you’ve mastered this, which – if it’s a quiet day – is doable within a few goes, you can go on to a standing position, holding on to a rope for added balance. Just expect a lot of whiplash, bruises and aches for the next few days; you might want to plan your visit to Flow House wisely if you’re on holiday in Bangkok!

Good To Know

You can book flowboarding in advance on Facebook or just drop in; I recommend booking in advance as sometimes they have special events on (particularly on Fridays). It get’s very busy with lots of kid’s parties on the weekend so sessions aren’t such good value if you go during this time – you essentially end up paying 750 baht for all of about 8 minutes on the ramp after taking it turns with 7 other people throughout the hour.

Conversely, if it’s just a small group like a pair of you, it’s seriously knackering! You need a lot of stamina to survive half an hour straight of taking a beating from the FlowRider. This will only be a problem for other punoid wimps like myself though.

As for what to wear to the Flow House in Bangkok, the ramp does have shading so you don’t need to worry about sun burn. However it’s still best to cover up with a t-shirt, board shorts or whatever you have in your wardrobe, rather than just wear a bikini or skimpy man trunks; more than anything this is for modesty reasons. 1: you may end up feeling a little underdressed otherwise, this is Thailand afterall, and 2: the waves are seriously rough and you do not wanna be showing everybody what you had for breakfast!

How to get to the Flow House Bangkok

Flow House Bangkok is located in A-Square, a small complex opposite the shopping village K-Village. It’s a little too far to any of the BTS and MRT stations of Bangkok however you can ask a taxi to take you to Sukhumvit Soi 26. A-Square and K-Village are both located on a road just off of Sukhumvit Soi 26 called Soi Ari. Just look out for signs to K-Village or mention K-Village to the taxi driver to know when to stop.