Shopping Galore!

Least you’d think we shopped till we bore holes in our pockets or swiped our credit cards clean, nothing of the sort happened.  But yeah, with a lot of good stuff at such affordable prices in Bangkok, it would be a shame to go there and not shop.

Fueling Up.  A good breakfast started our day.  The hotel has a really nice breakfast buffet place.  Breakfast is free.  It comes with the room.  Coupons are given to the guests upon check-in and you present these to the maitre d’ each morning.  There were the usual choices: ham, meat, rice, selections of bread with two choices of jam.  They have a selection of salads as well and some fruits.  At one corner, they had free flowing fresh fruit juice.  There is also an egg station where you can have eggs cooked your way.  They were thorough since they have one vegetarian dish as well, which was to my advantage.  I was torn between having rice or just some toasted bread with jam.  Remembering we have a long day of walking and browsing, I opted to have the rice, a sunny side up egg and the bean sprout with tofu dish.  For dessert, I had one slice of toasted bread with the jam hehehe A few slices of fruits completed the meal for me.  It was fueling up, alright! The..err.. appetite, I pegged down to the stressful work months prior to the trip.  (Yeah, excuses, excuses :P)

 

We lingered a bit after we ate.  We had opted to eat outside: at a porch-like extension to the hotel’s “breakfast place.”  (They have a separate restaurant at the main building.) The “porch” has wooden boards.  At one end of it, is a pond filled with colorful kois.  It had a fountain as well which added more to the relaxing atmosphere.  And so our photo-shoot for the trip has started :P

Chatuchak Weekend Market. During my first trip to Bangkok, I did not bother much with checking out Chatuchak. I’ve heard so much about the place. But I’m not really a “shopping” person. Whatever “shopping” experience that Khaosan Road had to offer at that time was “it” for me. Then, the main reason for my going to Bangkok was to see and experience the place. It was the temples and the floating market for me at that time and we certainly covered that. I was there to people-watch as well and Khaosan Road is such a haven where that is concerned. It was simply amazing how people from all parts of the world converge in one place and just blend seamlessly. I’d say, the place is very much alive. There is so much dynamism and energy to the place. Oh it gets rowdy sometimes, towards midnight, when a lot had had one drink too many. But it shouldn’t trouble anyone who was not there for the party scene.

Oh, but I digress again.  Back to Chatuchak, prior to taking the trip, I was able to download a map of the entire market.  The notes said that all in all it covers 35 acres with 15,000 stalls selling anything from clothes, home furniture, to trinkets and pets.  Imagine that, 1500 stalls!  So we definitely deserve to have that heavy breakfast.

Chatuchak is like at the other side of Bangkok from our hotel.  We took a taxi to get there.  We paid around 250 baht for the ride.  Once there, we headed straight to the t-shirts for pasalubongs.  There were a lot of t-shirts there showing pictures of anything depicting Thailand: elephants, muay thai (kick boxing), temples.  The most common and the most popular though are the ones with the “I ‘heart’ Bangkok/Thailand” in bold, black letters. 

Earful! Heading towards the inner stalls, we stumbled upon one that sells rows upon rows of fancy earrings and other accessories.  There were feather earrings, and other funky, dangling ones.  Actually you can get stuck there all morning if you’re very much into these things.  I bought a few dangling earrings that I could wear.  Translate that to: nothing too funky, not too long and not too “loud.”  It took me a long time as none of the earrings there is that “simple.”  Even the studs kind were very colorful and loud.   I was just about to move out of the stall when I noticed the necklaces.  I bought one of those accent pieces with a miniature antique camera as pendant.  It would do very well with plain tops.  Ate bought several pairs of earrings, claiming they are expensive back in Australia.  We got all of them even a lot cheaper because Ate grouped them all together as “wholesale.”  Really, no wonder I know of a lot of people who goes to Bangkok just to shop. 

Moving on, we came to the stalls selling household wares: throw pillow covers (in silk), tissue holders, table runners, elephant figurines, Buddha statuettes. Ate got stuck for a while with fridge magnets and so we left her to look at the other nearby stalls. Souvenir items abound: typical key chains, chop sticks, miniature plates with “Thailand” embossed on them, etc. I took a fancy to a small tray with 6 coasters. It’s a wood and silver combination with elephants as accent.


Ate Tata and Mama lingered with the throw pillow cases. I haggled for them and help them choose from among the many designs available. I wanted to buy some for the house but since I did not have enough baht with me, I was careful in choosing which ones to buy. I remembered that Cambodia has nice silk throw pillow cases as well and opted to buy from there.

All in all, Chatuchak is definitely a must-see while in Bangkok.  We were there only for half-a-day and definitely felt it was not enough.  All the bargains are there that one would readily wish your pockets are lined with unlimited cash :P

Afternoon at the Malls.  Hungry and tired, we opted to return to the hotel so we can drop the things we bought and go out again for lunch.  We opted to go to MBK for lunch.  MBK is one of the biggest malls in Bangkok and it is just adjacent to Siam Discovery.  Right next to Siam Discovery is Siam Center and the famed Siam Paragon.  

These malls are in great contrast to Chatuchak and its open, non-aricon stalls.  And as Tunga and I soon found out, we made a mistake of not “changing outfits” while we were at the hotel.  We were actually dressed with Chatuchak in mind.  I was in a plain, drab shirt and white shorts.  She was in shorts herself, albeit more fashionable than I.  Why the mistake?  Because when we drifted off to the Siam Malls later that day, we soon found out they’re the kind of place that the yuppies, the youth goes to hang-out and shop.  In there, one gets the feeling that it’s where the locals go to, fully-dressed-up, to be seen.  In other words, in that regard, we were very much “underdressed.”  But fashion-crime committed notwithstanding, the malls were definitely amazing.  In Siam Paragon itself, there are vertical gardens.  It’s definitely “beautiful” in the ultimate sense.  Needless to say, we took a lot of pictures while there. 

The highlights of the mall visits were: chancing upon Tom Cruise (Madame Tussaud’s hehe) and having our picture taken with him; snack time at Swensen’s (Ice Cream Parlor); Checking out the luxury cars at the auto exhibit; and ogling over Channel, Prada, Bulgari, Hermes shops. Tunga was the only one who bought anything.  Only to find out that a similar blouse can be bought in a tiangge stall outside the mall for 1/11th the price tag :P  What a way to end our shopping day!

We had a hard time hailing a cab on our way back to the hotel.  It rained and that did not help as well.  We wanted to go to Patpong Night Market but soon opted to go to Khaosan Road instead as it is a lot closer to our hotel.  Ate was amazed at the “food carts” there that sell  “street-food” versions of PadThai.  Amazed as they were, we decided we had enough “adventure” for the day and capped the day with a dinner somewhere safe and familiar: KFC! :P 

Back at the hotel, we said our goodnights and agreed to wake up early the next day for the floating market and temples galore excursion! I’ve done that in the past but I still got excited at the prospect of showing them around :)