@BBKTrip:Bangkok Shopping Trip (1-6 Oct 2025)

Image generated from Gemini

    Wendy and me booked a Bangkok trip from 1 - 6 Oct 2025. There was some hiccups due to the flight to Bangkok from Jetstar has been cancelled due to Jetstar closed its operation. We had to book Scoot again. Really troublesome but still managed to fly to Bangkok.

    Since this time Wendy does the planning, I just followed her. But found out she know nothing and had to figure out some stuff out like local SIM purchase, taking the metro service to our destination and some minor issues that gets resolved ultimately.

    Since we thought we did not buy any check-in luggage, we brought two 20 inch hard cases for this trip. She finally pack lite for an overseas trip. We only filled 3/4 of the luggage and expect to buy a Bangkok trolley back to accommodate our purchases.

    I did my research using ChatGPT and Gemini for this round instead of Google Search. Results are pretty promising, except for some results that you need to validate to ensure it is still up to date. 

    The AIS Tourist SIM @299฿ is no longer on sale. It is replaced by 5 day Tourist SIM @ 399฿. Since we do not need to make any booking for transport, I convinced Wendy not to buy any local SIM card. Gemini failed to recognise this and we failed to purchase this until we found out it is no longer on sale by AIS sales staff. May have to look at TrueMove next time. 

    During my research, it was mentioned that there are bugs snacks sold in 7-11 but I am unable to find any in the 7-11 stores that I visited. However, when I went to Big C Supercenter Ratchadamri,I asked a pair of male and female staff regarding if they sell bugs snacks and they helped me locate it with the help of a senior staff, near the shelves selling the Koh Kae peanuts. I bought a pack each for cricket and pupa snacks to test them out. I only tried the cricket snack and it was pretty nice! This is a nice find. 

    As usual, Wendy prefer to shop at the Pratunum Day and Night market. The clothes there are more suitable for her and cheaper as well. Now the store owners don't really emphasize the need to buy more for wholesale price most of the time. She bought most of her clothes purchases there. The pain is I don't sleep early so it is a pain to wake up early to go shop for her clothes. 

Tango Vibrant Living Hotel (11 Soi Ratchaprarop 8, Makkasan, Ratchathewi, Bangkok 10400, Thailand)

Previously we stayed in hotels within Pratunum like Hotel 93 and Le Touche Hotel. The main issue staying there is it is very crowded and have cars, motorcycles and tutuks and makes walking touch but still safe enough actually. It is tough if you want to take a Grab car going through the streets, even if they are willing to take you through.

This is the hotel that Wendy and me stayed in Bangkok now. It has lesser traffic and nearer to the Ratchaprarop Airport Rail Link. We really saved a lot of walking, especially carrying heavy luggage when we need to travel to Suvarnabhumi Airport. Hotel room is clean and aircon is strong. It even provides toiletries, such as toothbrush, shower foam, conditioner shampoo and hand soap. However, the hotel is not perfect. The walls of the rooms are thin, thus you can hear voices of Indian residents when they are speaking loudly in their rooms with their doors closed. There are also more Indian nationals booking this hotel so need to be more tolerant about their behaviors. We actually contacted the reception to ask them to ask the security guar to ask them to lower their volume since it is already past 11pm. 

Lotus's Sukhumvit 50
This is a new supermarket that both of us visited to see if it is worth our effort. This Lotus supermarket is conveniently located just beside the On Nut BTS station. It is pretty big but we found out that the food we wanted to buy is more expensive compared to Big C. Only the medical stuff at the pharmarcy is cheaper compared to Big C. I bought the Takabb anti-cough pill for 18฿, same price as Boots@Platinium Mall and yellow lozenges for 45฿.

Potato Corner

Potato Corner Sign Board

After shopping in Lotus's Sukhumvit 50, Wendy and me decided to have lunch before making it back to our hotel near Pratunum. It is at this mall I noticed a fastfood store "Potato Corner" and found it is selling fried sushi covered in mash potato and topped with cheese topping. 

Sushi filling includes crab meat,cucumber, seaweed and rice

Wendy liked it since it is something different that has both sushi and potato in it. I felt that it is interesting but the taste is pretty normal, nothing fantastic about it. 

Pratunam Thai Food~Authentic (Cook by thai chef)
We re-visited this thai restaurant after peak lunch hour around 3pm. The Thai chef is having his late lunch with his wife and son. We ordered the following:

• Kaprao pork 179฿ 
• Omelet on rice 179฿
• Seafood Tom yum soup 289฿
• Fried cabbage with fish sauce 259฿
• Ice lemon tea drink 89฿
• Sago & black bean ok in coconut cream 99฿

Since the chef is having his lunch, his assistant was the one who cooked the food. It turns out not so nice, either too sweet for the tom yum soup, too salty for the fried cabbage and too oily for the fried egg. The price is also not so cheap now and we do not recommend this shop anymore for the price and food quality.

Big C@PHENIX Pratunam / Big C Supercenter Ratchadamri
From my experience, buying lcoal products from Big C is more economical compared to other stores in Bangkok. I usually travel to Big C Supercenter Ratchadamri, which is nearest one where we lived (Tango Vibrant Living Hotel). I happen to find Big C@PHENIX Pratunam when I was opposnite the street and when we went to take a look, we found that the Koh Kae peanuts are cheaper compared to the Big C Supercenter Ratchadamri. Actually 7-11 is having discount for Koh Kae peanuts@39฿ as well but all of the popular flavors have been sold out when I tried to look for them during the weekends. Since Big C@PHENIX Pratunam is nearer to our hotel and near Platinium Mall, will check it out first before visiting Big C Supercenter Ratchadamri next time.

If you are wondering what Phenix Pratunum is, it seems to be the refurbished Pantip Plaza, right beside Grand Diamond Plaza.

Koh Kae Peanut
Throughout my stay in Bangkok, I have searched for different flavors Koh Kae peanuts being sold below:

• Tom Yum Soup
• Shrimp
• BBQ
• Chicken
• Coffee
• Wasabi
• Coconut

Even with the above available flavors, they are not found in different size packing. Since I only focus on . those around 180g packaging some flavors are not available for purchase of this packing, Previously different flavors such as Mala is no longer available. I suspect the special flavors are limited edition and will not be continued for long term.

Takabb anti-cough pill

COLGATE Toothpaste Salt Charcoal 150 g. Pack 2

TAOKAENOI Big Roll Japanese Style Grilled Seaweed Classic 2.5 g. x 3 units

KOH KAE PEANUTS Thai Tom Yum Spicy Flavour Coated 180 g

Delux bangkok hotel (เดอลักซ์ บางกอก โฮเตล)
The previous Le Touche Hotel (Turtle Hotel as we called it) has been refurbished and renamed as Delux Bangkok Hotel ((เดอลักซ์ บางกอก โฮเตล) . We found this out when we are buying street food. Along the back alley near Hotel 93 is where Wendy and me buy most of our street food from this trip:

Salt Grilled Fish
The pricing seems to fluctuate on weekday was 100฿, on Fri became 150฿ which I did not buy and then 100฿ on Sat and Sun. There are close to 4-5 stores selling this food. I noticed that the last store at the end sold me a salt grilled fish not so fresh. So I stopped buying from them.

Pineapple drink (50฿)
This is the only stall I find pineapple juice drink on sale. I bought it twice from this stall.

Stir-fry stall by an auntie
This stir fry stall we often visits as the auntie cooking style suits Wendy and me, especially her fried omelette egg. We also ordered it with rice or fried rice as well. It was tasty so is worth coming here to buy dinner. The price is pretty cheap so is worth buying from this auntie. Just that her business is very good so need to wait. 

Juice stall or fruits
Outside this alley, we noticed that there is a stall which sells the cheapest juice that is in the middle of the 3 juice stalls. Only in Bangkok I would buy pomegranate and avocado drinks since it is cheap (around 40-50฿). I suspect they added water and syrup but it taste fine so I am fine with it. In my previous trip, I think I paid at least 100฿ for a bottle of pomegranate drink.   

    As we went to Belt 17 (hidden beside Belt 19), we went to collect our luggage and it took a while for the luggage to be loaded on the belt. After we collected our luggage, we found our grey hardcase luggage has cracks on the body near the wheel. Oh shit! We found the Lost and Found counter after we asked the staff at the X-ray machine where it is. We managed to make a damage report and then make our way to the MRT station to take the train home. This is the first time we managed to take a MRT from Changi Airport as most of the time we will miss the last MRT train.