Our second day was pretty exciting as we had two awesome and memorable experiences:-
- An enjoyable time at Silom Thai Cooking School. (will talk about this in a separate post!)
- Got conned at Patpong Night Market.
Sneak Peak: the attendees of the cooking class at one of their local markets.
After the cooking class which ended at around 12pm, we walked to BTS Chong Nonsi (only a 5-minute walk from the school) and took the Sky Train to National Stadium. From there, we walked for about 5 to 10 minutes before arriving at Jim Thompson House.
Outside the house, there is a counter on the left for people to purchase the admission tickets, which includes a guided tour. As you won't be able to enter the vicinity further without the admission ticket, I would suggest you to purchase it since it's only 150 Baht per adult. Unless of course, if you are not keen, you can still be amused with some performances and silk-making sessions by the locals there, which is just a little further from the counter.
We were lucky because the next guided tour was only about 15 minutes away and so, just enough time for us to chill a while.
Outside the counter at the compound area where you get to witness how silk extracted from the worms.
Local Thai at work. and yes, that's a pot full with silk worms.
Exterior of the house.
Anyway, we got to choose two different languages for the guided tour - English or Chinese. Obviously we took the English one since our Chinese language is not that awesome. :p
No photos were allowed but it was a good tour where you get to really focus on what the guide was explaining about the house and Jim Thompson's previous life. For those who may not be aware of, he revolutionized the silk industry in the 1950s to 1960s until his mysterious disappearance in Cameron Highlands.
Nonetheless, the house was really well-maintained and there were only very little renovations to it. It was also his family's decision to have the house remained the way it was when it's turned into a museum today. The tour was not too lengthy but it took about 30 minutes to complete in total. Before leaving the place, a shot of us to prove that we're there! :p
Boyfriend's shot.
Mine. :p
After the short tour, we headed to Cafe at Ease, which is just a few shops away from Jim Thompson House Museum. This was actually unplanned because we randomly stumbled upon it but oh well, why not right? :p
It was a rather quiet cafe with a cosy ambient that has both indoor and outdoor seating areas. The place was decked up quite nicely and they serve cakes and beverages.
Pretty decor eh? The outdoor seating. :p
As it was a little heaty outside, we decided to sit inside instead and there were some shelves that sell handmade things, which was unfortunately, very pricey.
My Thai Milk Tea and his cuppa coffee.
Red Velvet Cake, which was very dry.
And a selfie with the mirror. :p
To be honest, the drinks and cake wasn't really memorable as it was not really worth paying the price for and the food quality was below expectations.
Anyway, moving on! We had a good 1 hour foot massage for less than 300 Baht each at a massage place which is a few doors away from the cafe. Headed to Siam via BTS for dinner after that at Som Tam Nua which will be talked about separately too, otherwise this post will become super long!
Yeap, our dinner. :p
After so much good food, of course must walk more right? So we walked around Siam Square where the Siam Market is just nearby. It was a pretty long market that sells various street food (where we ate again wtf) and clothes!
As it was still early by the time we finished walking, we decided to head to Patpong Night Market since it was supposedly famous for Go-go bars and some Ping Pong show where ladies can do weird tricks with their lady-parts.
Have heard about this kinda shows since long time ago from a close friend of mine years ago and since we were in Bangkok that time, thought that this MIGHT be an eye-opener to us. He's also warned us that people will get conned here but never thought that it could happen to us.
WARNING: LONG STORY AHEAD.
THE SCENARIO: We were approached by a few people along the streets but we ignored them. Reason being was that we were contemplating on whether to experience those kinda shows or we should just walk around that street. Then, there was this one tomboy who approached us and showed us a list (without any pricing) of what shows to expect and you can sit there all night by buying just a drink at 100 Baht per person. Sounded very fishy but convincing at the same time cause we thought, "If we don't like the show, we can just walk out and since it's only 200 Baht for both of us, why not?" Yeap, so with that curiosity, we followed her up the stairs which led us to that bar. There were a few ladies at the stage walking, moving and doing some tricks. At that point, still pretty convinced it will all be alright. That lady who brought us there even asked us what do we want for a drink and we just ordered a beer each. She also asked us if we could buy her a drink and because we're nice people, we were fine with that. She left very quickly after taking her drink and we sat there for a while more. It was odd because the place was rather empty until an angmoh couple in their 40s entered the bar, which we felt a little safer. After a while, my gut told me that we should just pay for the bill first so that we can leave anytime we want later on and the "show" was getting boring. The boyfriend went to the counter and something didn't look right from where I sat. At the same time, the angmoh couple was leaving but the people from the bar wanted to stop them from doing so and I overheard that they wanted the couple to pay for something. The man actually said he already paid for what he ordered and walked out furiously. The boyfriend came back after a few minutes and asked 500 Baht from me. I didn't question too much and just passed him the money. We left immediately and I learnt from him that they wanted to charge us 10000 Baht WHAT-THE-FUCK. Clearly it was a conned job. My boyfriend argued with them that we only ordered that two drinks and that lady who brought us there said it was only 100 Baht each, which should sum up to 300 Baht. Anyway, after a short negotiation and frustration, we end up paying 900 Baht for that night and boy, we were so pissed after. That lady who brought us up to the bar also disappeared from her initial spot and we thought she must have gone looking for another victim.
***
Well, I have to admit that it was an expensive but great lesson learnt there and we're lucky to be walking out alive. So, the next time any of you wants to be impressed by this kind of show, please think thrice! Anyway, as we lost 900 Baht for that reason, we decided to just call it a night and take a good rest for the next day.
If you'd like to go for the places that we've gone to, here goes with the details:-
Jim Thompson House - Opens daily from 9 am to 6 pm
6 Soi Kasemsan 2, Rama 1 Road, Bangkok (a 5-10 minute walking distance from BTS National Stadium)
Cafe at Ease - Opens from 8.30 am to 6 pm
38/1 Soi Kasemsan 2, Rama 1 Road, Bangkok (5 minute walk from Jim Thompson House)
Massage Parlour (I can't remember the name anymore but it's another 2-3 minutes walking distance from Cafe at Ease)
Patpong Night Market - Opens daily from 6 pm till midnight
Soi Patpong, Silom Rd., Si Lom, Bang Rak, Bangkok (A 5-minute walk from BTS Sala Daeng)
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