We have landed in Bangkok! Excited to kick start the trip but also feeling absolutely exhausted from the little sleep on the plane, we set off to navigate our way to our hotel – Hotel Icon Sukhumvit. This turned out to be slightly more challenging than anticipated (given our physical conditions) particularly since we ended up travelling on public transport at peak time just when everyone was heading to work! The carriages on the train were jam packed but at least everyone was wearing masks. Even after we got off the train at Nana station, we then had to drag our luggage a fair distance to the hotel, so we were relieved when we finally got to the hotel.
First impression of the hotel is good, lobby seems nice and welcoming. Then things started to go a bit difficult. Since we arrived so early in the morning and officially check in was not till 2:00pm and we were there by about 9:00am. We asked nicely at reception to see if we could check in early. They said no but welcomed us to try again at noon. Not having much choice, we left our big suitcases at the concierge and headed out to look for food. Since we were so tired and did not want to spend ages contemplating what food to have, we went for the safe option – McDonalds.
What!? McDonalds?
Yep. I am slightly ashamed of it to be honest (not my style to fly half way round the world to have McDonalds!) but it’s a safe choice and Wing always like to try McDonalds in different countries as they always have different stuff on the menu. To make sure I am just not having normal standard McDonalds food, we did order a pork burger and we got plum sauce to go with chicken nuggets. Sadly they were only so so, pork burger seemed drier than beef burger (but then maybe it was my just my taste buds being a bit affected by the flight). The plum sauce was nice but it was super runny.
After food, we went for a walk to burn some calories and time. Honestly what we really wanted was a room, so we could get a shower and nap for a bit but we thought we had to wait a bit longer before asking reception again so we went walking! It was interesting to check out the area. The number of motorbikes and random street food stores right by the roads and big buildings were particularly eye-catching. The eager traveller inside me really wanted to know more and see more but the human in me was still screaming for a bed! We were so tired that our exploration included a few shopping centres and we just went in and sat down haha like how men would sit and play with their phones while waiting for their wives to shop. Eventually we got to 12:00 and headed back to the hotel. Praying they would let us have the room.
Learning: Get early check in next time
Nope, the lady at reception said. We were distraught. We just could not believe for a hotel that big, they could not spare one room and let us check in early. Just when we turned away and thought to ourselves where on earth were we going to spend another 2 hours. The lady said you are welcome to use our rooftop. While this was a welcoming piece of news, Wing and I were already annoyed that they didn’t make this offer at 9:00am this morning which would have saved us dragging our half-asleep bodies around town. We headed up the lift straight away.
I must say we were pleased to be told about the roof top. The first thing we noticed was the swimming pool but what we particularly liked was the sweet little bar area. The bar wasn’t serving drinks at the time so was basically empty. There were a few sofas surrounded by nicely decorated walls, we hogged a sofa straight away and also jumped on a big fan. The temperature was very warm and it was an open rooftop with no air conditioning so the fan was much needed. We literally sat down, attempted to research the area a little on our phones while continuously falling asleep. Honestly the other hotel guests must have thought what were those 2 weirdos doing as we had some small bags with us. They were probably thinking why would anyone sleep like a pig in public.
Between 12 and 2, we actually went downstairs once more and asked about the room. Got told no again. If I am honest, I think if they had been honest upfront and said we would have to charge extra for early check in, or say look our policy is that we cannot allow early check in so please come back at 2pm, we would have either paid for early check in or accepted our fate. It is however not cool to tell us we may be able to check in at noon, giving us hope with no intention to follow through! Never mind, I think I have written enough about our frustration now. Lessons learnt for next time.
Finally we got our room at 2:00pm. We walked in and room was big and bright enough. We also noticed this.
Since this is our first hotel stay during honeymoon, the swans are a novelty but Wing and I literally just turned and said to each other “I hope they weren’t taking their sweet time making these swans when they could have just given us the room a bit earlier!” Time for a shower and a nap! Fast forward about 2 to 3 hours later, we were sufficiently recharged and thought it was about time for… FOOD!
Food
At around 5:00pm, we headed towards China town and went for Thai Chinese braised pork leg and rice at Kha Moo Siri Rama (漢南樓). Why did we pick this when the streets are lined with eateries? Well they looked pretty busy serving local customers! The dish was tasty but was rather small but then I think we only paid around 40 Baht each so it was a bargain snack really.
Since we were craving for more food, we quickly googled and headed to Nai Ek Roll Noodle. This place has got great reviews due to their lovely rolled rice noodles with a great variety of toppings (lovely veg and meat. Oh and Offal!)
Due to the popularity, we did have to wait a little for a table (they always have queues but the wait wasn’t long for us as they serve food quick). Then came the job of picking food. They have a really nicely laid out menu for us in Thai, Chinese, English plus photos and it was good to see that we could order the dishes in small, medium or large portions. In the end, we opted for…
- 2 medium bowls of Roll Noodles soup (which comes with a selection of minced pork, crispy pork, sliced pork, pork stomach, lover, kidney and tongue)
- A plate of large Pork stewed spareribs
- + a bottle of Grosvenor Momordica Drink
A drink then more food
Taking a little food break, we headed back to the hotel for a break and went for our first honeymoon beer at the rooftop bar by the pool. The bar is now lit with purple neon lights and looked pretty cool.
Even though we only ate 3 hours ago, we decided that we had to go eat something else and I am glad we did because we found Madam Somtum. It was a pretty cute place which was a little tucked away but actually pretty closed to the Phleon Chit station.
First thing we noticed was an open station where salad was being made. We thought yep, we will have a nice papaya salad thank you! I also thought the deco was pretty cute so even though it doesn’t have air con, we sat down and started ordering.
- Fried Chicken wings (60 Baht)
- Papaya Salad with anchovy, crab, peanut, grilled pork, salted egg, crispy pork and mixed vegetable (150 Baht)
- Shrimp fried rice (130 Baht)
- + A large Leo (beer)
Each with a tummy too full, we headed back to the hotel and called it a night.