7D7N Bangkok 2015: Wang Lang Market
Previous post: Marriot Vacation Club (MVC) at The Empire Place
Good thing I kept my notes and itinerary and everything in Evernote, so even though the trip was on May, I can still recall things haha. And luckily no one is keeping track so I can still talk about it although it's been almost a year ago.
As briefly mentioned in the earlier post, Hon and I went to Bangkok 1-2 days earlier than our other two friends. Hon prepared all of the itinerary for this trip (which is an extremely rare case because he is a man without planning but he has his reason), FC introduced him to use Evernote and it is like the best tool ever!!
We had the whole day to ourselves since one of our other friends would arrive later in the evening. He let me choose a location as our dating spot. On his notes, something along the line that said "famous among local for food...." immediately caught my attention, and I said "THIS ONE!! Let's go THERE!"
So, Wang Lang Market IT IS!
Note: Hon and I, we both share similar interest/taste in traveling - we are not into shopping mall (plus we have all those malls back home so see ya Siam Paragon); we are not into shopping itself (unless there's a to-buy list hanging around, like I wanted to look for formal attire so we had our shopping spree in Union Mall the next day; darn we spent only an hour in Chatuchak LOL!), we are not into clubbing etc etc; AND we are very much into markets, especially local markets.
From our place, we took the BTS to Saphan Taksin station, then a boat ride (15B/pax) to Wang Lang Market.
When we stepped out of the BTS at Saphan Taksin station, Hon stopped me and pointed to a high-rise building nearby:"See that building? I read on some blog that place is haunteeeeed..." followed with the typical haunted stories like demolishing is impossible because people get hurt doing it. It gave me chills when he told me that, and some people has the nerve to scale it!! OMG!
The jetty was right around the corner from the BTS station. A long queue was kinda expected as it was the beginning of the long Labor Day + Wesak public holiday, and (the residence's receptionist told us) not only tourists, a lot of people from other districts came into Bangkok for the holidays. There were two queues forming at the jetty divided with fence, one was the more expensive and better ferry and another one was the common boat with cheap fare. Pay attention to the announcement and when have doubts, ask nicely.
The boat ride was kinda fun, it recollected some vague memories I had when I was last here almost 10 years ago. The interesting bit was the way of communication between the driver and the jetty staff, Hon noticed this and told me to observe when the boat got to another stop. They used whistle back and forth from the minute the boat approaching the jetty until the boat left.
Our stop was at stop No. 10, Wang Lang. It seemed like we were the only tourists alighted here.
From the first sight, Wang Lang Market is not very touristy as 99% of the people we saw were locals, and that already got us all hyped up lol. The fact that Wang Lang is not tourists-oriented, most of them can't speak foreign language other than Thai, or very limited English and/or Mandarin. It is such a perfect place to practice our (also very limited) Thai! Heeee.
The market is actually made of rows and rows of shops with narrow lanes and local food paradise! Check out here for more info about the market and pictures. Our first stop was at a restaurant called 'The Dish' and oh boy what an experience!! =D
We got into the shop and sat at a vacant table. A boy came to our table while handing over the menu, talking Thais and we were wide eyed saying "Chan mai kao jai... (I don't understand)", then the boy also shocked and hurriedly asked an aunty, seems like the boss of the shop to attend to us. The aunty asked us to write down what we want to eat but sadly, only 1% of the menu has English translation, so we asked her to recommend.
We had a noodle, pork rice, shrimp and 2 drinks = 190B. The aunty was impressive with us talking a very limited but understandable Thai, and ofcoz with the typical "you look like Thai! Like one of us!" Yeah I do. in Malaysia sometimes people say I look like a Malay.
After the yummy meal, we continued exploring the market. We spotted a lot of students and people in hospital staff uniform in the market as well, and Hon told me there's a hospital nearby - Sirijay Hospital.
After a round of satisfying belly burst, we went back to our sweet little apartment and rest. In the evening, I joined the body combat class and I had never been this exhausted before!! I literally cried at the end of the class LOL.
If you ask me to recommend a place to visit in Bangkok, Wang Lang Market is definitely one of it.
Good thing I kept my notes and itinerary and everything in Evernote, so even though the trip was on May, I can still recall things haha. And luckily no one is keeping track so I can still talk about it although it's been almost a year ago.
As briefly mentioned in the earlier post, Hon and I went to Bangkok 1-2 days earlier than our other two friends. Hon prepared all of the itinerary for this trip (which is an extremely rare case because he is a man without planning but he has his reason), FC introduced him to use Evernote and it is like the best tool ever!!
We had the whole day to ourselves since one of our other friends would arrive later in the evening. He let me choose a location as our dating spot. On his notes, something along the line that said "famous among local for food...." immediately caught my attention, and I said "THIS ONE!! Let's go THERE!"
So, Wang Lang Market IT IS!
Note: Hon and I, we both share similar interest/taste in traveling - we are not into shopping mall (plus we have all those malls back home so see ya Siam Paragon); we are not into shopping itself (unless there's a to-buy list hanging around, like I wanted to look for formal attire so we had our shopping spree in Union Mall the next day; darn we spent only an hour in Chatuchak LOL!), we are not into clubbing etc etc; AND we are very much into markets, especially local markets.
From our place, we took the BTS to Saphan Taksin station, then a boat ride (15B/pax) to Wang Lang Market.
When we stepped out of the BTS at Saphan Taksin station, Hon stopped me and pointed to a high-rise building nearby:"See that building? I read on some blog that place is haunteeeeed..." followed with the typical haunted stories like demolishing is impossible because people get hurt doing it. It gave me chills when he told me that, and some people has the nerve to scale it!! OMG!
 |
| Sathorn Unique Tower - urban decay with haunted stories behind it |
The jetty was right around the corner from the BTS station. A long queue was kinda expected as it was the beginning of the long Labor Day + Wesak public holiday, and (the residence's receptionist told us) not only tourists, a lot of people from other districts came into Bangkok for the holidays. There were two queues forming at the jetty divided with fence, one was the more expensive and better ferry and another one was the common boat with cheap fare. Pay attention to the announcement and when have doubts, ask nicely.
The boat ride was kinda fun, it recollected some vague memories I had when I was last here almost 10 years ago. The interesting bit was the way of communication between the driver and the jetty staff, Hon noticed this and told me to observe when the boat got to another stop. They used whistle back and forth from the minute the boat approaching the jetty until the boat left.
Our stop was at stop No. 10, Wang Lang. It seemed like we were the only tourists alighted here.
From the first sight, Wang Lang Market is not very touristy as 99% of the people we saw were locals, and that already got us all hyped up lol. The fact that Wang Lang is not tourists-oriented, most of them can't speak foreign language other than Thai, or very limited English and/or Mandarin. It is such a perfect place to practice our (also very limited) Thai! Heeee.
The market is actually made of rows and rows of shops with narrow lanes and local food paradise! Check out here for more info about the market and pictures. Our first stop was at a restaurant called 'The Dish' and oh boy what an experience!! =D
 |
| Menu. |
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| Iced coffee and iced tea |
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| Sukhothai noodle |
We had a noodle, pork rice, shrimp and 2 drinks = 190B. The aunty was impressive with us talking a very limited but understandable Thai, and ofcoz with the typical "you look like Thai! Like one of us!" Yeah I do. in Malaysia sometimes people say I look like a Malay.
After the yummy meal, we continued exploring the market. We spotted a lot of students and people in hospital staff uniform in the market as well, and Hon told me there's a hospital nearby - Sirijay Hospital.
It's approaching noon and a lot of students and hospital staffs came here for their lunch, plus there's not many shades in this place so it could get very hot. There's a variety of things to shop here: second hand goods, clothes ranging between 100B - 400B (I got few shirts and pants here) etc. The price was reasonable and OMG I love their - I call it - food street the most!!
I don't have pics coz too busy holding food so you can check out the Aroimakmak blog for pictures.
It was as hot as it can get because all the food stalls were cramped next to each other but OMG the smell and the look of it!! I drooled at every single food I laid my eyes on!
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| One of the famous delicacies - fried pork! |
If you ask me to recommend a place to visit in Bangkok, Wang Lang Market is definitely one of it.
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