On 1 Jan 2014, I boarded a plane, my first in like 10 years, to Bangkok, Thailand aka SHOPPERS' PARADISE. Literally, everyday when I was there it was like shop shop shop, eat eat eat, massage massage massage. 

My hotel, Novotel Platinum, was directly above the Platinum shopping mall which made everything so much more convenient because after every level, our bags would have been filled and we really needed to dump out loots somewhere!

The hotel service, however, was super bad, like I honestly wouldn't recommend anyone to stay there even though it was super convenient. From the moment my parents checked in, there were a lot of miscommunication issues. On the third night of our stay, we decided to visit the lounge to enjoy a drink and listen to the live band that was playing. When I ordered a plate of curly fries, which i emphasized like three times as I could sense that the waitress did not understand my order, I was still served a plate of normal french fries. Annoyed, I told the waitress that I ordered curly fries and apparently she insisted that she repeated my order, which she didn't, and refused to change my fries. I didn't pursue the matter as I did not want to ruin the night, but the fries weren't even good, like they were super overcook. Even I, a junkie at cooking, can't overcook fries. It's not neuroscience. I was super annoyed at the band as well, who only played for like 10 minutes before taking a 30-45 minutes break. By the time they were playing again, we were already done with our drinks, which weren't even good to begin with.

Overall, the hotel gave my parents and I a super bad experience and we will definitely not stay there in the future. I honestly would rather stay at Glow, which is further away from the Platinum Mall but I heard that the service there is much better. Anywhere but Novotel.

If you're heading to Bangkok for shopping at super cheap prices, you have have have to stay around Pratunam! There, there's wholesale centres like the Platinum Shopping Mall and the Pratunam Market which is good enough to occupy you for 2-3 days if you're a fast shopper! There are also smaller shopping centres whose names I didn't note down, but they're also around the area and worth a visit too! During my 4D3N, I went to the Platinum Mall like every single day because it was like impossible to complete the whole mall in a day and many of the shops opened only on the third day I was there due to the New Years holiday. My best advice is to not go during any holidays as a lot of shops would be closed.

These places sell mainly clothes you find at Bugis Street but at a cheaper price, like around SGD5 lower than those sold in Singapore. My advice is to go with your family or friends as you'll have to buy 2-3 items from a stall to enjoy the wholesale prices which is around SGD2-3 lower than the retail prices. That makes it like SGD7-8 below Bugis Street prices!!! If you're going alone, you'll have to mix and match a few of the outfits or buy different colours of the same outfit. Don't bother to haggle any lower than the wholesale price though, as it usually get the shop assistants annoyed and besides, the wholesale price is already very cheap! If they were to charge you any cheaper, they wouldn't be earning much already.

The food at Bangkok is really good too! Some of the places I dined at were T&K Seafood, Another Hound, After You & Taling Pling. I also tried the Oyster Omelette at the food court on the top floor of the Platinum Mall, which was only SGD3 and super good, and the famous wanton mee stall near the pratunam market.

Overall, I really enjoyed my trip and can't wait for my next visit to Bangkok! For anyone thinking of visiting Bangkok, don't forget to bring a lot of cash! It's also quite worth it to get a 3G SIM card from the airport as it'll only cost you SGD 16 a week with 100 Baht worth of free calls. Also, try to bring small change or break your cash at the airport as the taxis won't really give change. You'll also need to haggle with the taxi drivers as they prefer to charge you a flat rate than go by metre, which isn't very expensive if you compare it to taxis in Singapore but that's not the point. Till then,