Shopping

Welcome to my first full day in Bangkok! Today started with my first ride on the Skytrain. Ohmygoodness, the air conditioning on the Skytrain is so, so, so nice! I seriously considered sitting there all day and admiring the city through the window. But instead, I decided to reward myself with a second trip on the train after checking out Chatuchak Market. Yes, it was 7:30 am and already hot. I was rather terrified to find out how hot it might get around noon.

95% of the market is actually “indoors.” Not inside a building, but squeezed into tiny long passageways lined by shops on either side and shaded by some sort of temporary roof. This part of the market was hot, stuffy, and claustrophobic. Despite the early hour, people were already crowding in, so every step I took, I brushed up against at least one or two people as we tried to squeeze by each other without knocking anything or anyone over. The atmosphere was a bit nightmarish, but looking at knick-knacks and people-watching kept me from worrying about what we would do in that maze if someone yelled fire.

I aimlessly wandered for a couple of hours, and bought no souvenirs. I did, however, buy 1) iced coffee (In a bag! I love coffee in a bag!), 2) frosty coffee (Like a coffee slushy, and sold to me by girls wearing Hello Kitty clothes and ears!), 3) freshly squeezed OJ, and 4) a banana, strawberry, and orange smoothie. Can you tell I was thirsty?

It was somewhere around 1 pm when I left the market and hurried back onto the air-conditioned train. I took several photos of the market, but none featuring me. Why? Because after the heat of the market, I looked like I had been hanging out fully-clothed in a sauna. I was flushed and sweaty, with wet hair, and a fine layer of Bangkok gray grime covering my skin. I probably also had a glazed, vacant look in my eyes from a combination of the heat and the chaos. It was nice to sit down on the Skytrain and take a clean, cool breath.

Although I was tired, it was still too early to call it a day. So I got off the train near a shopping mall, Siam Paragon, near my apartment that my guidebook told me was air-conditioned. And it was! Hurray! I now know where to go in a temperature emergency.

The mall was having a special “Royal Orchid Paradise” show, featuring a lobby filled with different styles of orchids. Very beautiful—I took a lot of photos. The mall is pretty huge, and very westernized with restaurants like McDonalds and Auntie Anne’s. The entire bottom floor of the mall is a huge food court and grocery store. Since it was lunchtime, there were tons of people milling about, so I will have to go back again at a different time of day to get a good look around.

On the top floor of the mall is a movie theater. Of course, Spiderman 3 is currently the main film showing. Tickets are more expensive on the weekend, so I’ll probably go back during the week and watch it. I was intrigued by the option to buy a “couch seat” in the theater… I may splurge on the ticket just to find out if this is as comfy as it sounds!

My next stop was neighboring Central World mall. This is advertised as the largest mall in Bangkok (or maybe Thailand… not sure). It was okay, but I liked Siam better. The only thing Central World had going for it was a Toys R Us (with adorable wooden sushi toys that I almost bought).

I stopped at the 7/11 branch near my apartment for a snack (yogurt with a mystery fruit), then went home, and collapsed.