Bangkok Day 1: Erawan Shrine, Chu Chocolate Bar & Cafe and Once Upon A Time

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Greetings chewy chewy friends! Yes I’m finally blogging about our Bangkok 4D3N trip! We were there from 12th to 15th October, a few days after our wedding photoshoot. I had been really looking forward to this short getaway because I can finally indulge in whatever I wanted to eat and drink temporarily! Not that I was on a crazy diet before the photoshoot.. I still ate practically everything I craved for, but in moderation 🙂 Anyway, it’s too much to squeeze everything into one blog post so I will be splitting them into 4 separate posts which will basically cover our activities from Day 1 to Day 4 😀

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We reached Bangkok in the morning and as it was still early for us to check into our room, we left our luggage at the hotel and carried out our plans without wasting time!

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We walked about 15 to 20 minutes from our hotel to Erawan Shrine that is in front of Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel, near Chit Lom BTS station. Despite the hot weather and sweltering heat, many devotees could be seen at the shrine.

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Address: Erawan Shrine @ Thanon Ratchadamri, Lumphini, Pathum Wan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
Opening Hours: 06:00-24:00

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And it was time to find something to eat! Good thing misterchewy had also done a bit of his own research and suggested going to Chu Chocolate Bar and Cafe for our very first meal in Bangkok. The food isn’t Thai cuisine to begin with but it is opened by a local, Toey Na Ranong who is also the chef.

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Chu is highly accessible by BTS, just have to alight at Asoke station and it is connected to Exchange Tower on the second floor, where Chu is. Very convenient!

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I had a Hazelnut Cream Soda (100 baht) while misterchewy chose the Vanilla Cream Soda (100 baht).

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Even though we were famished, we decided to share only the Lemon Curd Pancakes (190 baht) because we wanted to save stomach space for dinner. The pancakes were so fluffy and delicious that we were kinda tempted to order another item from the menu to try out!

Address: Chu Chocolate Bar & Cafe @ 2nd Floor Exchange Tower (Asoke Intersection), Bangkok, Thailand 10110
Tel: +66 (0)2 663 4554
Opening Hours: Monday to Friday: 07:30-21:30 and Saturday – Sunday: 09:00-21:00

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We shopped for a couple of hours at Platinum Mall before heading to Swensen’s for a short break because our legs were protesting already. Haha.

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Does our Swensen’s have Snic-a-Choc sundae? I only recall seeing Frosted Chocolate Malt, Sticky Chewy Chocolate etc!

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It was both our first time sitting on a tuk tuk and we were quite excited! But we weren’t aware of the market rate and the driver ketok-ed us. We only found out from a taxi driver the following day that the average rate from Platinum to our hotel is about 50 baht but the driver quoted 150 baht.

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We didn’t want to splurge on accommodation and my colleague recommended Baiyoke Boutique Hotel which really was good enough for us. When we got off the plane in the morning, we took the railway from Suvarnabhumi International Airport which is very convenient and the trip took only about 30 minutes. Baiyoke is about 5 minutes walking distance from Ratchaprarop railway station if you take the shortcut 😛 We checked into our room, which was clean and cosy, and took a short rest before heading out for dinner.

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Our dinner place, Once Upon A Time, was also suggested by misterchewy and the restaurant’s name sounded appealing enough!

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We walked from our hotel and I was quite amazed that misterchewy knows his directions quite well! Both our last time to BKK was with our parents when we were still kids. Of course, he navigated using his iPad but he only had to check a couple of times and knew which way to go.

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Alfresco dining looks very romantic right! But it was too dark and we were afraid of being bitten by mosquitoes so we chose to sit indoors.

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It is actually darker than what you see in the photos. I actually had to bump up the ISO to get decent shots of the interior.

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Look at the amount of food! I think we kinda over-ordered for two. Hohoho! Good thing the food was lip smacking and we licked our plates clean.

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We called for the bill and it was presented in a huge wooden box. Total bill was 1600 baht, which is roughly the equivalent of SGD $64 for the above 4 dishes, rice and 2 bottles of beer. Definitely not our cheapest meal in Bangkok and not our priciest either 😛

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Once Upon A Time was previously occupied by the owners and is now converted to a restaurant on the ground floor but the bedrooms on the second floor are open to visitors for photo-taking purposes.

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Address: 32, soi Petchaburi 17 (opposite Phantip Plaza) Petchaburi Road, Pratunam, Bangkok, Thailand.
Tel: 0-2252-8629, Mobile: 0-1833-8336
Opening Hours: Daily from 11am until 12am.

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Didn’t wanna tire ourselves out on the first day and decided to return to our hotel for a good night’s rest.

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Our room was cosy and clean, and had practically everything we needed except for toothbrush and toothpaste. Good thing we realized earlier in the day and stopped by a convenience store on the way back after dinner. Our next BKK post will feature a couple of sightseeing places that we went to. Till then, take care and have a great week, chewy chewy friends! 🙂

Address: Baiyoke Boutique Hotel @ 120/359 Ratchaprarop Road (Behind Baiyoke Sky Hotel), Rajthevee, Pratunam, Bangkok, Thailand
Tel: (+66)2 251 8800-1, 2251 8255-58