Best TV series of 2023

Back by popular demand (nobody asked really), here are the best TV series that I've watched in 2023.


Derry girls



Derry girls came out in 2018 and features only 3 seasons and 19 episodes but boy what good episodes those 19 are. Set in Londonderry (Derry), Northern Ireland, a young girl and her cousin embark on many exciting adventures after they attend a Catholic girls' school in the midst of a national conflict. It's so funny, must watch.


The Last of Us



Are you tired of zombie TV-series? I know I am but what sets The Last of Us apart is that it's based on a popular video game franchise, it's zombies are caused by fungal infection (something new) and also starring one of my favourite actors, Pedro Pascal.


Better call Saul



Breaking Bad was easily one of my favourite TV series of all time so the spin-off series should be just as good, right? Actually watching the first 2 episodes for the first time, I didn't like it much. That's why it took me a year after the series ended before I started watching it again and grow to like it.


Silo



This Apple TV original is yet another dystopian series but with enough suspense, twist and turn that kept the viewers wanting more. Can't wait for season two of Silo next.


Ahsoka



Any Star Wars series will automatically make this list, no? Ahsoka is not as interesting as Mando or Obi-Wan Kenobi but it does feature Anakin and some missing back stories from the Clone Wars.


The Bear



If you think chef Carmen looks kinda familiar, it is because he played Lip in Shameless. In The Bear, Jeremy Allen White tries to transform a struggling hot dog join in Chicago into a Michelin star restaurant. Sounds boring right? But there's something about The Bear that keeps you wanting more.


One Piece



I'll be honest, I'm not really a fan of One Piece the anime but any silver screen adaptation of the popular series is worthy of a watch. This Netflix adaptation did not dissappoint (although some people can never be satisified) and I thoroughly enjoyed the first season. Just hope that it does not get cancelled anytime soon.


The summer I turned pretty



A cheesy teenage romance drama? Really Afif? I thought so too in the beginning but Lola Tung (Belly) is just so cute and before you know it, I finished the entire 2 seasons. Available exclusively on Prime.
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Bangkok trip 2023 - Day 5



Our last day in Bangkok was less busier than the previous four days. We ordered halal food for the kids and then walked to the Platinum Fashion mall some 1200 meters away. There, you can find all sort of clothing lines for sale at a pretty affordable price. Just a few hundred meters away is the Siam Paragon and Siam Center, another two well known malls in Bangkok. After much (window) shopping, we rushed back to the hotel because of the midday check out time. We did not check out until 12:40 PM but the hotel staff were kind enough to overlook that.





From the hotel, we took a Bolt to the Darul Aman mosque area again meaning to have lunch. The last place, Rotinies that we went to was already closing so we decided to try Farida Fatornee restaurant just next door. Sadly for me at least, the tom yam there did not taste as good as Yana or Samat and they were 180 baht each which is quite steep for my liking. I will give Farida Fatornee a pass if I ever go to Bangkok again. From there, we walked to the Phaya Thai BTS station to take the train to the airport. We learned from our lesson earlier and arrived 2 hours before departure this time. We walked through immigration only with our mineral bottles confiscated this time but no worries because we bought some more in the duty free area, including the customary chocolates.



The plane leaves 10 minutes early and we had a smooth journey back to KLIA 2. And that concludes our 5 days (actually 4) visit to Bangkok. I think we are pretty happy with our first overseas visit via air travel. We get to visit most of the places on our itinerary and we did many of them on a shoestring budget. Sure we splashed out a bit at Yana Restaurant and The Grand Palace but they were worth it. We tried to walk our way around Bangkok and our hotel is ideally located close to two BTS stations. But having a 4 years old in tow means having to take a stroller along and navigating Bangkok's busy streets, zebra crossings and overhead bridges to go to the other side of the road is no easy feat. That's why half the time we take Bolt or Grab rides to cover short distances in the city. Our Bolt rides cost on average 120 to 160 baht for a 6-seater car while Grab starts from 200 baht onwards.



Our first visit to Bangkok, like our first visit to Singapore was a rushed affair, if I want to summarise it. We rushed everywhere and simply did not have the time to soak in the attractions or atmosphere. That's mostly because we came for only four days (if you discount the late morning arrival). There's simply not enough time. Staying longer will naturally cost us more. Our return flight ticket already costed us over 4,800 ringgit so the rest of our itinerary had to be on a shoestring. That said, Bangkok, the capital of Thailand is a brand new experience for all of us. It's not as clean as Singapore or even Kuala Lumpur but it has its own unique charm. Everything feels a lot cheaper here, goods and services, except for the usual tourist (traps) attractions. For once I'm glad the exchange rate is more favourable here compared to down south. People there are generally more friendly, with more Asian warmth, compared to the cold, unfriendly folks in Singapore. Despite reading and feeling alarmed about the numerous scams that they warned about in Bangkok, we thankfully did not encounter a single one of them. Perhaps we've been vigilant or maybe they've been blown over proportions. Would we visit again? Sure and perhaps next time at a more leisurely pace.

One thing for sure, this is not going to be our only visit to Thailand. There so many more places to visit, including the popular beaches down south or the cool highlands up north in Chiangmai. With hotel prices and goods being so much cheaper there, it's little wonder that Malaysians and other tourists are flocking to the kingdom in droves.

Below is our carefully planned itinerary. We tried to save as much as possible apart from the plane ticket and attraction entrance which are out of our control. 

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Bangkok trip 2023 - Day 4



Our fourth day in Bangkok was a pretty busy one. First thing in the morning, we took a Bolt ride to the Darul Aman mosque in Ratchathewi to have breakfast. You can find rows of halal food stalls and restaurants around the area including the one where we had breakfast - Rotinies right next to the mosque. The basil chicken fried rice was good but the beef skewers was especially delicious. 


From there, we initially took a bus from the guide on Google Map but seeing that it's not really going to our destination, we hop off and decided to take a Grab instead. The Grand Palace is one of the most popular/must visit place in Bangkok so we did not want to miss it even-thought the ticket price is 500 baht (RM67) each (kids under 120 cm go in free).











Under the hot afternoon sun, we get to see beautiful palaces and temples with elaborate decorations, huge mansions and halls, interesting statues and magnificent towers. Since it's hot, we just breezed through most of the attractions without spending too much time admiring them. The 500 baht ticket includes entrance to the Queen Sirkit textile museum, the Arts of the Kingdom Museum and the Khon Thai classical dance performance but we skipped all of that because we need to be on schedule to visit other places.











From the palace, we walked some 1 kilometer to the Tha Thian pier to take a small boat (5 baht each) to Wat Arun just across the river. Entrance to Wat Arun is 100 baht each and they will be raising the price to 200 baht next year. Wat Arun is a big monumental Buddhist temple right on the river, with an iconic, ornately tiled central prangs dotting the area. Some visitors will rent elaborate local costumes and take pictures around the temple. Like The Grand Palace, Wat Arun is one of the must-visit attractions in Bangkok.









From Wat Arun, we took another Bolt to the Chatuchak weekend market. A visit to Bangkok is never complete without visiting this famous market. You can find a lot of cheap clothes, shoes, (imitation) bags, kitchenware, souvenirs, decorations and food (including a few halal stalls). You will be spoilt for choice and be prepared to spend at least a thousand baht each at the market. Don't forget to try the coconut ice cream while you're there.





From the market, we took a train from Mo Chit to Siam station and walked to the MBK Centre mall. Another famous halal eatery in Bangkok is Yana Restaurant, located on the fifth floor of the mall. The food can be quite expensive but they are really-really good. I don't say this lightly but their tom yum with coconut milk is probably the best that I've ever tasted in my life. We paid 1800 baht for a dinner for six but it's worth every baht. The restaurant even gave us a voucher where you can claim a free t-shirt from a store downstairs.

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Bangkok trip 2023 - Day 3


The Hua Lamphong or Bangkok Railway Station.

We rise bright and early today meaning to catch the 7:30 AM train to Lopburi. I called a Grab to the Hua Lamphong train station (also known as Bangkok Railway Station) and bought regular-class tickets (30 baht each). The train was not scheduled to arrive until 9:30 AM. Linda got her train schedule information from one of the blogs so apparently the information were outdated.
 


While waiting for the train, we tried looking for some halal place nearby to have breakfast. We found two on Google Maps but one was already closed for good and the other was not open yet. In the end we bought some snacks from 7-11 (again) for our breakfast.








Being a regular train, it was slow and stops at a million stations along the way. We chose to sit at the wooden chair coach for aesthetics reason but my butt hurts after the 3 hour long journey. You will find food paddlers, selling an assortment of food on the train throughout the journey although we chose to not buy them for hygienic and halal reasons. This time of the year, you can feel the occasional cold breeze blowing from the winter in China everywhere on the northern part of Thailand, including Bangkok. Even more so on this train ride and at night time. At Lopburi train station, we crossed the tracks to get to the Nurous mosque where we can find one halal restaurant there. Just ask the street food seller in front of the mosque about the halal restaurant. They belong to the same owners/family. The noodle soup was superb and the food was really cheap at Khao Mok Gai Soi Ko Sa (name of the halal restaurant).

The Khao Mok Gai Soi Ko Sa halal restaurant in Lopburi.







After praying and cleaning ourselves at the mosque, we tried to find a transport to the Khaochin sunflower field. Somebody said we can always find a songthaew to go there but after looking for a while, they’re non-existent. Apparently, songthaews don’t go to the sunflower fields because it’s too far away and not close to the main road. In the end we hired a pickup truck for a thousand baht to take us there and back. You can ask one of the Grab bike riders waiting outside the train station to call for a private van.

Taking a pickup truck to the sunflower fields after we refused a more comfortable SUV thinking we could get cheaper fares.






Waiting for 3 hours for the delayed train.

The sunflower fields itself was quite small than I had imagined. There's about 2-3 acres of sunflower fields that I can see and they bloom from December to February. There's no entrance fee whatsoever, surprisingly. The pickup truck driver offered to take us to another sunflower (or is it flower?) field but we needed to catch the 4:30 PM train back. The most important thing is, my wife got her wish fulfilled. We bought some sunflower seeds at the stalls beside the field. The return trip was delayed by 3 hours for some reason and we had no choice but to sit around and wait until 8:30 PM (from the original 5:30 PM departure time). In hindsight, we should have taken a bus or bought express train tickets back to Bangkok. Sure you can enjoy some beautiful sceneries along the way by train but you'll be spending half the day just for the travel.

The free shuttle ferry to Asiatique from the Sathorn pier.





Despite arriving at the Hua Lamphong train station at 10:15 in the evening, we managed to catch the last free shuttle ferry to Asiatique riverfront place. It was a minor miracle because we thought we had surely missed our chance on the ferry for arriving so late. Once you get to Sathorn pier, you may find the jetty is already closed. The free ferry shuttle to Asiatique is to the left side which is open until 11:15 PM. Asiatique is basically a bunch of shops and eateries next to the Chao Praya river. Most of the stuff on sale are more expensive than say, Chatuchak or other malls, including the food. However since it’s nearly midnight and don’t have time to find any nearby halal food. (the famous Halal Food Centre has already closed), we ate some from the expensive stalls which charges 200 baht for a meal. The sign says halal but there’s no way to verify so we just tawakkal and eat.







After the late dinner, we walked around a bit, took pictures in front of the ferris wheel and then took a Bolt home. The ferris wheels costs 500 baht each to ride so we decided to skip that. So that concludes our 3rd day in Bangkok.


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