Day 1: Bangkok, Cat View of Sukhumvit, Siam Paragon, Pat Pong Night Market, K-Pop di Siam Mall Cat.

Strolling in Bangkok & Adding Steps.
Bangkok is becoming cleaner and more advanced. There are increasingly more Halal food stalls due to the influx of tourists from Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Middle East. I have visited this city many times, especially before COVID. This is my first visit after COVID and after weeds is legal in Thailand and walking through night markets, there's a bit of a smell reminiscent of Amsterdam.
Many tourists from the West, especially from the United States, prefer Bangkok than Kuala Lumpur. Perhaps there's more entertainment provided here compared to KL. In the Nana Plaza area on the Sukhumvit Line, there's a block of shops, eateries, and goods stores owned mostly by Arabs. It feels like being in Jordan or Beirut, and their businesses are thriving, though the prices are on the rip-off sides. On average, Bangkok foods and goods prices are relatively higher compared to KL.
May be because Thai Baht has also risen significantly compared to the Ringgit. When I first came here in 1998, RM10 could get 120 Baht, but in 2025, it's only 74 Baht. This is almost 40% increase to RM. I believe one of the main factors for the strong Baht against the RM is their self-sustainability, not relying heavily on imports for their necessities. Their economy is more resilient, particularly in the agricultural and food sectors. It may take time to impact entrepreneurs, but with diligence and persistence, success is there, unfortunately we Malaysian can't wait, we want to have luxurious life fast, so we borrow and pretend and blame goverment if subsidy cut or no political bonuses, there go with our future.
Taman kan anak & isteri jalan-jalan di bangkok & tambah kan langkah. Bangkok makin bersih dan maju. Kedai Makanan Halal pun makin banyak, sebab pelancong ramai dari Malaysia, Indonesia dan Timur Tengah. Saya banyak kali ke bandar ini terutama sebelum covid, ini kali pertama saya ke sini selepas covid dan selepas ganjar di halal kan di Thailand, bila jalan di pasar-pasar malam ada sikit bau macam di Amsterdam. Ramai pelancong dari barat terutama dari Amerika Syarikat datang ke Bangkok dari ke Kuala Lumpur, mungkin lebih banyak hiburan disediakan disini dari di KL. Di area Nana Plaza, Sukhumvit Line ni terdapat blok kedai-kedai, makan dan barangan oleh orang Arab, lalu di sini macam kita berada di Jordan atau Beirut, semakin rancak perniagaan mereka, cuma harga memang rip off. Rata-rata harga makanan dan barangan agak tinggi banding di KL. Begitu juga barangan lain, Thai Baht pun naik tinggi banding Ringgit, dulu pertama kali saya ke sini tahun 1998, RM10 boleh dapat 120 Baht, tahun 2025 74 Baht sahaja. Saya rasa antara faktor utama Baht kekal kuat banding RM kerana mereka tidak mengharapkan import untuk barang-barang keperluan mereka, ekonomi mereka lebih resilient kerana self sustain berbanding kita, memang sektor pertanian dan makanan ini akan ambil masa untuk memberi impact kepada pengusaha tetapi jika tekun dan tidak putus asa ianya adalah pasti.