Bangkok April 2015 (Day 3) | Victory Monument

Bangkok Itinerary Overview (2015). p.s. Read about our post of how to get from BKK airport to downtown.

Victory Monument in Bangkok Thailand is a large military monument that stands in the middle of a major traffic roundabout.

The monument was erected in June 1941 to commemorate the Thai victory in a brief conflict waged against the French colonial authorities. But it became an embarrassment in 1945 when the Allied victory forced Thailand to return the territories to France. Many Thais regard the monument as an inappropriate symbol of militarism, and a relic of a discredited regime. Nevertheless the monument remains one of Bangkok’s most familiar landmarks. – Wikipedia

The surroundings of the Monument bustles with life. Other than shopping malls, eateries and night market, this area is also a busy transportation hub where you can hop on to buses and vans to bring you to other provinces. We were approached a couple of times by touters from these companies.

Being a major intersection, you can imagine the stream of endless people hanging around this place.

Boat Noodles (Kway Teow Rua)

After our day at Chatuchak, we stopped by Victory Monument for dinner, which was on our way back to the hotel. Awesome boat noodles for dinner! You don’t want to miss this. My must go back place when I return to BKK.

Boat Noodles are originally sold at river canals on floating boats. Now, you can find many stalls selling it on land at Victory Monument.

Directions to Where I Ate:

• Alight at Victory Monument BTS and head towards the giant monument. Keep walking and you will transit into the skywalk.
• You will reach a “T-junction”, turn right and keep walking along the skywalk. We didn’t expect it to be quite a walk away from the BTS, about 8 minutes? We almost gave up, thinking we had missed the place.
• Be sure to look down from the skywalk every now and then, to spot a canal. You will see 3 different boat noodles shop with their staff wearing different shades of t-shirt – pink, purple, and orange – this is to differentiate from one another.
• Once you spot the canal, get down from the nearest flight of stars and walk past the pink, purple and get to the “orange shop”. This eating place is air-conditioned and crowded.

Another Option:

If you are not one who likes to walk too much, or if the above-mentioned shops are closed, you can consider trying this 24 hour shop – Kuay Jap Anusawaree. Turn right at the skywalk and the get down at the first flight of stairs to find it at a corner. p.s. They serve a slightly different dish – kuay jap, a peppery soup full of kuay teow noodles and bits of pork offal, liver and blood tofu, at 30 baht.

The “orange” restaurant we went to was crowded with locals and not tourists. This made the whole experience even more authentically Thai. But this also explains why most staff were reluctant to take our orders, because they couldn’t speak English well. Regardless, we somehow managed to order some delicious bowls of food!

We were initially confused about – how to order, the meaning of Noodles Thicken soup, etc. But we decided to risk it and order few bowls to try.

Pricing and Dishes:

• Each bowl costs only 12 Baht, but that’s because it comes in really small portion.
• You can choose from 4 flavours (the first four in menu) and order 2 other sides – crispy crackling pork and fried dumplings.
• The water served is also charged at 12 Baht.

The Dishes and Verdict

Later I read somewhere online that the Noodles Thicken with Pork / Beef is actually thicken with pig’s blood (fully cooked), and thus the name. We tried, but there wasn’t the smell or taste of blood.

I like Sour Soup with Pork best!

Brewed Bean Burd in the menu should be “Brewed Bean Curd”. It is served with pork crackling and in a hot pink soup (from fermented tofu paste).

Side Dishes

… are just side dishes. We ordered these only once. Focus on the noodles!

Rumour has it that if you finish 20 bowls (easily done if you are in a group of four), you will get a big bottle of Pepsi free!

Shopping

After a whole day of shopping at Chatuchak, I wasn’t prepared for a 2nd round at Victory Monument. But it’s a futile attempt to resist as I walked around the night market. There were more locals than tourists shopping here. There are a few Shopping Malls situated along the BTS Victory Monument’s Skywalk.

However, for me, the real gem was the Outdoor Bazaar located underneath the Skywalk. Here you can find Chatuchak-style shops and food. There are much street style fashion here. Though one downside of this Bazaar was that the prices were not displayed, unlike at Chatuchak.

10:00am – 10:00pm (daily) (p.s. recommended to go in the night.)

The Waffle

The first time I noticed “The Waffle” was when I saw 2 ladies rushing to the kiosk with no customers, early in the morning at Mochit BTS.

Then later in the day, the kiosks at Mochit and Victory Monument BTS became relatively crowded. Though we were very full with boat noodles by then, we decided to follow the crowd and see if the waffles are really good.

Pricing and Verdict

There’s a variety of flavours to choose from. We got 3 assorted flavoured waffles for 50 Baht. And they were yummy!

Locations

You can find these kiosks at 7 BTS stations including Victory Monument, Mochit (2 kiosks), Ratchathewi, Chidlom, Asok, Surasak, and Chong Nonsi. You can also find them in shopping malls, and other transportation stations.

Where else would you recommend to shop or eat at Victory Monument?

You may also like: Bangkok Overview Itinerary, Chatuchak Market, Asiatique

Photo Credits: 1/ Asiatique Ferry Pier Signage and Price list Source, 2/ Collage of Boat Noodles Source

Travels 23 to 26 April 2015 | © 2015 Joogo Travel

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