Showing posts with label Thailand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thailand. Show all posts

Tuesday 11 September 2018

Bringing Aunties to Maeklong Train Market

I visited Maeklong Train Market for the first time, in end of 2017. With that experience, I was better in planning my trip when I brought my mum and my aunts to Maeklong Train Market.

Group photo before we started our shopping trip

1. I bought them some finger food before we even started at the wet market (because I knew they LOVE wet market and expected to spend REALLY LONG TIME before we could have our first meal)


2. I could spent more time taking photos while waiting for them to shop......








 3. I knew where to bring them to take tons of photos on the track, by the track, with the train, without the train......






2 brave aunties with in-coming train

my mum cheated - this was after the train left

my aunt with her newly bought sunglasses

Getting braver seeing the train the second time


4. I knew where to get some good food and chill while waiting for the train. After shopping, we walked straight to Punjung Cafe for some nice Thai coffee.




5. To my surprise, Punjung Cafe also serve some really good food!
Very fresh mango sticky rice (they got new mangoes from the next stall upon your order)

Nice Pad Thai

Best Pad Ka Prao of the trip

Spicy tom yum noodle

Of course, my mum must have coconut ice-cream


6. Punjung Cafe was well prepared for tourists. There were benches for their customers to see the train better.



 7. I knew Punjung Cafe always serve coffee to the loco-pilot. We asked the boss of Punjung Cafe if we could help him and he approved:




We had lots of fun in Maeklong Train Market, and especially glad with Punjung Cafe!

A bunch of happy customers



Bangkok itineraries:

Maeklong Railway Market

Maeklong Railway Market is definitely one of the coolest tourist spots in the world, simply because of this:

I'll say this craziness worth the 1 to 1.5 hours drive from Bangkok (Maeklong Railway Market is about 70km away from Bangkok. We hired a driver, and I'll recommend to combine this with Damnoen Saduak Floating Market to save your money and time)


We started from Maeklong Station, which is the end of the train track. (Hence, the arriving or departing trains are slow enough for the vendors to react). From here, we slowly walked along the train track, crossing the wet market.





This wet market is not different from all the other wet markets across South East Asia. You can get almost everything here, from vegetables to seafood, from fresh produced to sun-dried material...... You can also get simple cooked meals, snacks, clothings, toys etc








We are not interested in shopping here. So we decided to have some local food to kill time. This local Kway Chap stall is just besides the rail track. I'll say the stall hygiene was average (for South East Asia wet market standard) so not too appealing for our European friends. However, I found this kway chap hearty.


After kway chap, we continued our journey to the end of the wet market. There's a nice small cafe selling good Thai coffee. We enjoyed some down time here while waiting for the train. 




You can hear the train coming way before you can actually see it. Of course, you will also start to see the vendors and merchants begin to coolly move their belongings and umbrellas away from the tracks.


The vendors and merchants are so used to this, they even know what kind of things can be left by the track, or even on the tracks without being crashed by the train. See the following pictures for the 2 baskets of fruits on the track:





Bangkok itineraries:

四天三夜曼谷“吃为上着”

习惯了每到某个地方回来,总要把itinerary及花费和大家分享。然而,我越来越懒,写部落格的速度远远的落在我的生活之后。这阵子稍微勤一些,写的,已经是去年的事儿了。所以啊,最近的itinerary,连花费记录也懒得找出来一一写下了。

这一次又到曼谷,是为了从美国回来的四姨。我于2016年带表妹到曼谷吃喝玩乐,表妹对曼谷美食念念不忘,千交代万交代四姨必须走一趟曼谷,于是我百忙中把妈妈和三位阿姨都带上,到曼谷吃吃喝喝去了。

这四天的住宿:Airbnb - Silom Bangkok New Classic
从曼谷到Maeklong Railway Market及Damnoen Saduak Floating Market司机:Peera (+66818597080)


Day 1 - 7th Jun 2018
景点:Asiatique
食:Pee Aor Tom Yum Goong

从住处露台看曼谷市上空的彩虹
我们从曼谷机场叫了Grab到Silom的住处。司机大哥在离我们入住的公寓约300米处硬是转入了Lalai Sap Market,他信心满满的,直到完全被卡住为止。我们有点儿啼笑皆非,付了车资,扛起行李再多走几步路就到了。难为他卡在那儿不知得花都少功夫才得以安全把车子退出小巷。

我们对于住处非常满意,大家很快就把公寓当成自己的家了。我们梳洗后乘BTS找吃去。第一天重点就是Pee Aor Tom Yum Goong。我带着四位美食家还多多少少有些紧张,还好她们都吃得非常满意。


吃了晚餐又grab到Asiatique The Riverfront去。原以为她们会喜欢在干净的“稍微高端点的夜市”shopping,但显然这地点不是她们所爱。我们稍微打了个转就回公寓休息去了。


Day 2 - 8th Jun 2018
景点:Maeklong Railway Market,Damnoen Saduak Floating Market,Kao San Road,MBK Center
食:早餐 - Punjung Cafe
        午餐 - Tom Yum Goong Banglamphu
        晚餐 - Lek Seafood


我们第一站就是到Maeklong Railway Market看火车去。到达Maeklong时错过了第一趟火车,于是妈妈和阿姨们就很高兴的逛着菜市场。沿着铁路走着,她们的收获可不少。最后,我们走到Punjung Cafe吃早餐去,一边等着火车,一边尝美食,以及她们谈不完的话题和故事……

三姨、二姨、落荒而逃的四姨(以及早已不在镜头内的妈妈)

和Punjug Cafe老板合影

离开了Maeklong Railway Market我们就到Damnoen Saduak Floating Market去。(这是吸取了上一回的教训,舍弃了我喜爱的Khlong Lat Mayom Floating Market,把railway market和floating market合为一行程,以节省时间与金钱。)Damnoen Saduak的floating的部分比Khlong Lat Mayom的大得多,游客也相对较多。少了陆地菜市场的部分,少了自主权,我们倒是吃得买得不多。但我们乘船绕了一小时半的一圈,却也买了、吃了、看了……相当满意的。

离开了Damnoen Saduak Floating Market就叫司机把我们送回曼谷。我此趟曼谷行发誓吃不着Tom Yum Goong Banglamphu不回家的。趁时间上安排得来,当然是让司机直接把我们送到Tom Yum Goong Banglamphu的档口前。我们这一次人多,点了一桌的食物,大家吃得津津有味,赞不绝口(详情下回分享)






吃饱了撑着,就到Khao Shan Road血拼去。

血拼完毕一行人挤上tuk tuk到MBK Center走走瞧瞧买些土产去。


表弟之前和我说好了要给她们惊喜,我只好找个借口把大家骗回住处(不然她们可想一口气多走几个夜市血拼呢!)。表弟再“空降”到我们公寓门口和我们“偶遇”,然后到路口的Lek Seafood吃晚餐去。

晚餐完毕,大家都懒了,就回公寓谈天说地去。



Day 3 - 9th Jun 2018
景点:Chatuchak Weekend Market,JJ Mall
食:早餐 - Silom 3 Khao Soi Noodle Shop、Silom一带的街边小吃
        午餐 - Chatuchak Paella及各类小吃、Toh-Plue
        晚餐 - Thipsamai附近的小贩


一早,我们走到Soi 3吃Khao Soi去。这家小店是大家公认曼谷最佳khao soi,一大清早站在门口打包的人可多了。我们硬是挤进小店内,六个人叫了三小碗尝尝。这北泰国面食吃起来有点儿像我们的咖喱面,但稍甜,挤一些酸柑后还不错,但并不止于叫人回味。
我们过后又继续在Silom附近的街道上走着,看见人多的小档口就坐下来凑热闹。吃的早餐总类可不少。要不是最后下起雨来,我们也不知要吃多久。
雨一直下个不停。我们不想一整天呆在公寓里,于是决定grab到JJ Mall去,在室内血拼,等雨停了再走到Chatuchak去。就这样子,我们把一天都预留给Chatuchak,吃、喝、血拼都在里头解决。



离开Chatuchak后叫了Grab,却遇上个循规蹈矩的小哥拒载(我们共五人),好不容易再叫上一辆,却已经碰上曼谷大堵车时间。我原想要到Jay Fai吃晚餐,再碰碰运气看Thipsamai会不会有比较少人的时候。结果一下车被Thipsamai门口的队伍吓死了,她们赶紧去拍照留念。再多走几步就是Jay Fai了,门口已经写着fully reserved。看见店门口四周站满游客,好奇问了一下,原来那些订了位子的也已经站在门口等了两个小时,连位子都还没有,更别说食物了。真是不可思议!我可不打算把青春花在排队上,于是我们再稍微往前走,路边有好几个小档口,人也不少,这就坐下来吃。在曼谷,反正食物平均水平高,很少会吃到难吃食物的。







Day 4 - 10th Jun 2018
景点:The Grand Palace
食:早餐 - Tha Tian Market旁的店屋吃粥和面食
        第二早餐 - Royal Thai Navy Club
        午餐 - 机场解决
       

我们对Tha Tian Market附近的食物印象不错。为了节省时间,决定直接乘车到那儿吃早餐,然后在Grand Palace开门后就可以直接进入参观。






吃了早餐,时间刚刚好。我们看见一大群的中国游客正陆陆续续地集合,赶忙快步越过人群,尽早买票避开人潮。虽然大家都不是第一次到访,但毕竟都是好多年前的事了。在里头打转竟然也还是趣味怏然的。我们在里头走了约两小时半吧,出来后在Royal Thai Navy Club吃点儿点心才回公寓拎行李到机场。




Read also other posts about our Bangkok trip:
Bringing Aunties to Maeklong Train Market



Other itineraries:
2017 - Germany: Upper Middle Rhine Valley One Day Tour (Stay tune)