The Ekkamai District

Bangkok, Day 10

We have a possible day trip on our minds but I think we are both a little wary that it might be a bit much in the Bangkok heat as we will be out most of the day, so whilst we are still 'thinking' about this trip, we decide to put it aside for a bit and explore the Ekkamai district today instead.

The Ekkamai district is next door to Thong Lor (or one BTS stop along) but we've mapped out a route that we fancy, that forms a 'big square' and which will cover some of the key points of interest, so after a light breakfast (yoghurt, banana and half of a custard bun) we set off on our way.

29 Nov 2024

Ekkamai Bus Station

As you approach the Ekkamai BTS, you find the Ekkamai Bus Terminal on the right-hand side. We had a quick nip over here to see what buses go where, and loads were going to Pattaya, and a number were going to other places. We haven't yet worked out how we are getting to Hua Hin, although my preference is to go by train, but it might be easier to go by bus if the bus station is quite close to us. We shall worry about that later. The famous Mark Weins (the American YouTube food blogger) restaurant is also very close by too, though as we are not into very spicy (Kaprao beef or pork available in 3 spice levels) food (or your Instagram hyped) places, we just took a photo of us with it in the background.

Wat That Thong

Then we made our way to the stunning and serene Wat That Thong temple.

Wat That Thong is a Thai Buddhist temple which is on exit 3 outside of the BTS Ekkamai station. It was built in 1937 and sits where two previous Buddhist temples used to be located. It is a beautiful and ornate temple with such intricate designs all over it. The detail is just amazing. It was so serene and peaceful when we went - there was not another soul around the temple, even though the nearby area was bustling with people, cars and bikes - such a strange experience but totally lovely. We didn't go into the temple itself, rather, we just peeked in from the outside. I think I read that this temple is used frequently by locals for funeral and anniversary events, and that made sense as we saw a few areas around it that looked like they catered for these types of events.

Gateway Ekamai

Next stop was the Gateway shopping centre, which is the biggest shopping centre in the Ekkamai area. There is a skywalk way from the BTS station to the shopping mall but of course we didn't realise or use that!

The mall was the first medium-sized Japanese-style shopping mall in Thailand. Most of the restaurants are located on the G and M floors. The G floor offers fast food, shabu-style food, buffets, and seafood. The M floor is home to Japanese restaurants, including buffets, sushi, and cafes.

Apart from a very serious safety breach of a creepy Santa hanging off an upper floor in the mall, this was a nice-sized mall to walk around as it wasn't too big. I also have to say that I absolutely loved the massage chairs, which were 20 Baht (£0.46) for 10 minutes. The ones in St. Enoch centre are £1 for 5 minutes! Of course, there are proper and various types of massages available everywhere you go, and maybe I will try one of these at some point, but for now, I thoroughly enjoyed my 10 minutes of massage chair bliss.

Big C Supermarket

Next we headed to the Big C Supercentre. Note when I say this, I mean we do check out other places en-route but we generally like to identify key places for good indoor air conditioning, so that we can get our breaks inside and away from the sun and heat.

The Big C was kind of like a big Tesco and had everything you need including a great food shopping selection with fresh meat, fish and bakery sections etc.

Donki Mall

Our last key stop before heading back to the apartment was Donki Mall. Yet again, this is another fairly newish mall, I think, and it has a variety of food and shops. One of our YouTubers we subscribe to had reviewed this place not too long ago, so we knew that it had a food market in it but we couldn't quite see it, so we had to find a place to sit and check out the relevant video again as this was where we had planned to have some afternoon lunch. Thankfully, we did find it, and although all the big menu screens on the walls were all in Thai, there were some menu sheets available that explained the dishes in English, and a nice lady explained how to place an order too (you tick off what you want on the little order sheets). The place was clean and canteen-like and appeared to be a very popular place with the Thai locals (and some YouTuber types!). We both had very tasty chicken with rice dishes, and the total bill was only 140 Baht (£3.21).

We then headed back to the apartment for SRR (shower, rest and recuperation) ahead of this evening's apartment event.

Apartment Pool Party

We weren't sure if we should go to this or not, despite it being advertised within the complex and although we weren't actual residents, we thought it might be quite cool to go and try to integrate with the other residents and also ask them some questions about living in the area and about Bangkok in general. We are so, so glad that we did, as we managed to meet several lovely residents who were English-speaking. There was Mike (from England), his wife and lovely little girl, and Bruno (from Quebec, Canada) and his lovely partner Tan. We were also introduced to another English gentleman who has been living in the apartment complex for the last 5 years, but we didn't converse much with him as he was seated at another table.

We had a really lovely night with the people at the same table as us, and we enjoyed amazing Thai food and drinks that had been provided by the building owners, who were also a very lovely youngish couple (in their early 40s perhaps) with 2 children who also welcomed us. The owners both spoke excellent English, and we were told by Mike that they had both studied in the UK previously. There were several raffle prize draws, and I think all the children managed to 'win' something, which was just lovely.

I understand that the event is something that is put on annually for the residents, and we really liked this. There are several families in the complex, and because it isn't a big complex, it has a real family feel, and the management seems to look after both the complex and the residents very well. This is something that we would take into consideration if we were to rent for, say, 3 months in the future, as the big condos are highly unlikely to have this sort of close connection with their residents.

Overall, it was another quite busy but fabulous day in Bangkok!

Bangkok, Thailand