Red Pork Rice, Starbucks And Bicycles For Rent In Bangkok

Posted by : foongpc | Tuesday, May 17, 2016 | Published in

ADVERTISEMENT


On my first day in Bangkok, I met up with a Thai friend for lunch. No, you are not going to see him here as I did not take any photo of him. Haha!

Anyway, as soon as I have checked in to my boutique serviced apartment and settled down a bit, I left the hotel to meet him somewhere in Silom. Outside, I saw these red vehicles lining the road. I wondered what they were as I have not seen them in Bangkok before.

 photo P1250278_zps6wzkq7ub.jpg

As I walked towards the nearest BTS Skytrain station which is Surasak Station, I came across these bicycles.

 photo P1250117_zpsnxp5stic.jpg

It was my first time seeing bicycles for rent in Bangkok! I found out later it is known as the Pun Pun Bicycle Sharing Scheme. How nice if Malaysia has a similar system!

First, you need to register at the Pun Pun website (www.punpunbikeshare.com) and collect your smart card which you can then tap on this machine to key in some kind of verification code.

 photo P1250119_zpsirk8hdqx.jpg

Then you choose the bicycle that you like and tap your card on the dock to unlock the bike.

 photo P1250281_zpsqvbzjngg.jpg

It seems that if you fail to return the bike by the end of the day you will be fined a certain amount. Not sure how that works though. Maybe they could track you down using your address or something. Wonder if tourists are allowed to rent these bicycles?

I did not try it as using the MRT, BTS, tuk-tuk and boats are more than sufficient to get me around Bangkok easily without much hassle.

I met up with my Thai friend at a restaurant along Silom Road (not sure what's the name) to try khao moo daeng or red pork rice.

 photo P1250113_zpstsavmvci.jpg

The dish is actually red barbecued pork with some sausages and egg with rice covered in a type of slightly sweet red sauce. It tasted good, but not to the extent that I must eat it again. LOL! But I don't mind having it again, of course.

This is the restaurant where we ate. Notice the Chinese characters?

 photo P1250114_zps3nk6x3fh.jpg

After lunch, we walked over to Starbucks for some coffee. My brother had, before my trip, asked me to get the Starbucks card from Bangkok, as he wanted to collect Starbucks card from different countries.

 photo P1250283_zpsr6b7xuir.jpg

However, I (or rather my brother) was in for a disappointment as the Starbucks card in Bangkok was nothing special. I did not even bother to get the card.

Anyway, I ordered coffee and my Thai friend ordered tea.

 photo P1250115_zpssgraobdl.jpg

We chatted for some time, before we said good bye and went on our way. That was half a day gone. I spent the remaining part of the day window shopping at Siam Paragon. But let's talk about that in the next post, shall we? :)