Bangkok will always be one of the most memorable cities that I have ever visited. It is not known for safety (scammers everywhere) nor it can be considered well-developed or modern like other cities I have been to so far. However, the food, culture, people, and different landmarks have won my heart.

It was almost my mom's birthday when I had the idea of inviting them to have a family trip to this fascinating city as part of her birthday celebration. Obviously, my mom agreed while my sister and my dad just had no choice but to say yes (sorry, sis, if I am making you spend a lot). Right after we made the decision, I bought the flight tickets while my sister booked the hotel. Luckily, few days before our trip, it was announced that the only remaining COVID-19 requirement needed to enter Thailand was vaccination certificate which we already have.

Upon arrival, a van was already waiting for us which sent us to our hotel. Our hotel, LemonTea hotel, was conveniently located in the central area. It was a great choice as the purpose of this trip was to accompany our mom to shop around. A couple of malls such as centralwOrld, Platinum Fashion Mall, and Siam Paragon were just within few minutes away. And, of course, the famous weekend markets were destinations we made sure we wouldn't miss.

Being a part of my family means that we cannot get hungry, otherwise, we'll be hangry. So, after dropping off our luggage in our hotel rooms, we went straight to the first Thai restaurant we found which was Kub Kao Kub Pla in centralwOrld to get a taste of local food. As expected, some dishes were too spicy for our standard despite requesting to make them less spicy. Nevertheless, they tasted amazing! My family most specially liked the crispy omelette and the Thai iced milk tea.

We didn't have much time to explore the mall as we needed to visit IconSiam right after to meet my mom's long-time friend. centralwOrld was surprisingly huge and the aesthetics were topnotch, but, it is nothing against IconSiam. The mall was equally or even bigger than centralwOrld and the architectural design was hard to beat. Outside the mall, you can view the river and board boats to transport you to other parts of the city. The mall had an indoor floating market where tourists can buy local snacks or meals. At the top-most level, there was this food court that was elegantly designed with a water fountain.

The second day was no less special. We started the day with a drive to Ancient City or Ancient Siam which is dubbed as the largest outdoor museum. A friend of mine advised us to bring our driver's licenses so we can rent a golf cart and I only realized on that day why we had to. The place was big (I am running out of synonyms for big... It seems like everything in Thailand is big). We didn't have a lot of time so we focused on the most special parts of the museum. One of the most memorable experiences we had there was when we fed and took pictures with the elephants. One of the elephants was actually very smart. It knew how to pose for proper photos and it also knew when we had already taken too many photos and so we had to bribe it again with more bananas.

Our next stop was Terminal 21 for lunch. Exploring this mall was a great experience. It felt like travelling to different countries for every level we visited. As much as we wanted to explore the mall more after lunch, it was already time for my mom's birthday shopping experience which started at Chatuchak Weekend Market. The idea was for my dad, my sister, and I to carry whatever my mom buys. Funnily enough, all of us ended up buying clothes and other souvenirs for ourselves. This weekend market was (once again) huge. It took us around half an hour to explore one section out of  27 so we focused our energy on clothing and souvenir section.

Later in the evening, we dropped off everything we shopped for in the hotel and went directly to Jodd Fairs, a night market. The selection of food in this place was overwhelming. We started with some familiar western food right by the entrance then proceeded to try local foods and some exotic foods such as jelly fish, worms, and insects. These exotic foods actually tasted familiar and weirdly good. We didn't dare to finish the entire serving though.

We had a tight schedule for our last day in Bangkok. We first visited The Grand Palace where we explored some temples and the home of the King of Thailand. Each one of us made sure to wear our elephant pants from previous day's shopping spree. It surely is one of the must-see places in Bangkok. Afterwards, we had a quick stop once again to IconSiam for lunch before heading back for another shopping spree in Platinum Fashion Mall. I personally didn't get the chance to explore this mall as I had a separate agenda - to meet one of my closest friends and previous colleague back when I was working in HP.

Before meeting her, I had this idea in mind that whichever mall we meet, I will just stay at Starbucks and wait for her to arrive. We first decided to meet at Siam Paragon and so I waited at Starbucks. Little did I know, Starbucks was ubiquitous in Bangkok and the malls all have Siam in the name. Apparently, we were supposed to meet at Siam Square. Nevertheless, we found each other and had our dinner at one of the popular local restaurants, Inter Restaurants. It was easily one of the best Thai food that I have ever tried. Then, she introduced me to a bingsu place called After You. It was nothing like any bingsu I have tasted before. And, before the day ended, we had a short walk to further chat and catch up.

Now that I have come to the end, I realized how most of the things I wrote about was about food. It just shows how much I love to eat. Anyway, I would like to thank a close friend of mine for showing me around Bangkok in the past. It surely helped me to navigate the place now that I was the one who had to show my family this wonderful city. This will definitely be not be my last visit. Hope to see you again soon, Bangkok!