Up and out early – oh what a surprise! Breakfast is simply amazing – the selection of fruit, pastries, bread, and other delectables will satisfy even the biggest appetite. Plus the hot breakfast you choose every evening before you retire – either Western (eggs, sausage, bacon and ham) or Asian (pork with noodles or something else I can’t remember now). It’s all so good – and we finally get to try Jack fruit – which is now one of my favorites. I won’t even try to explain it – I’ll see if I can snap some photos at a market somewhere.
Stuffed to the gills – off we head to the Skytrain. Full day pass ($4US each) and we are on our way to Chatuchak (or JJ) market. This is the largest, and probably most famous, market in the world with over 8,000 vendor stalls (and over 200,000 shoppers on a busy weekend) sprawling over acres and acres of land. It’s so large they have professionally prepared and printed maps by which you navigate the market stalls. There is anything and everything here: Clothes, household goods, hardware, collectibles, souvenirs, accessories, silk, ceramics, flowers, handicrafts, even pets and pet supplies. You name it – you can get it here – and on the cheap!
We’re not shopping for anything in particular (with the exception of a new converter and a battery), we’re just wandering and it is truly overwhelming. Up and down aisle after aisle of stalls, trying to keep your sense of direction so you don’t get helplessly lost in the warren of little alleyways, aisles and streets. It’s hardly past 8am and the market is already teaming with people. We specifically got here early to avoid the crowds and the heat – but there’s already plenty of both to go around.
After an hour or so of wandering, we sit for a little while with a coke and a water. Then we head off again, ending up after 3 hours of perusing everything (avoiding the pet area at all costs – those little bunnies and puppies are just too cute and sad at the same time – and the baby chicks make the worst racket) – we head out of there with our converter, battery, new sunglasses (Ray bans! woo hoo! for 100b or $3. LOL) , a cool leather encased notebook for blog notes and 12 pairs of earrings for 120b or $4. Gotta love the market!
Back to the skytrain – oh dear – the people! They are streaming into the market – hordes and hordes of farang who didn’t get up early enough to miss the heat and the crowds. We are so happy we’re out of there. Since we have the day pass for the skytrain, we head back to the hotel to drop our purchases and freshen up a bit. Back out in 1/2 an hour, we head to the Jim Thompson house.
On our last trip to Bangkok we were in search of the house and could only find the silk store of the same name. So this time, we are determined to find the house and tour it. We only make one wrong turn before finding the little lane that leads to the house/museum (passing unscrupulous taxi drivers, one of which told us the Jim Thompson house was closed today – yeah right – well, we’ll just see for ourselves then!). Jim Thompson was a American architect who fell in love with Thailand when he was in the military and sent to Bangkok. After leaving the service, he decided to move to Thailand permanently. He ended up reviving the silk industry and turning it into the highly regarded industry it is today.
As an architect, he also gained recognition for the teak house he built here. A combination of 6 buildings, the house is a lovely sprawling example of Thai architecture. Thompson kept to traditional Thai culture in many ways, but also departed from custom with an inside stairwell and window casings turned inwards to show intricate carvings inside the house – as opposed the outside – which was a traditional way for families to show their heritage through the carvings to others.
It was a lovely display of his rather incredible talents, and a very nice way to spend 45 minutes or so. Thompson’s whole story is intriguing, as he disappeared from Malaysia in 1967 without a trace. Definitely a story we want to find out more about when we get home!
After Jim Thompson, we decided we were a little hungry, so we headed toward Siam Paragon, a huge shopping complex close by, in hopes of finding some food. Not having any success, we headed into MBK – the giant shopping mall – to see what we could see. Oh my gosh! This place is out of control! First of all, there are thousands of people in here. Second of all there are hundreds and hundreds of little teeny stores – not necessarily chains, although some surely are – but individually owned stores. And each floor has a different theme. A furniture level, clothing level, etc. But the floor that is the most astonishing is the Mobile phone floor. Holy cow! There must have been 500 little kiosk/stand/stores all selling mobile phones and tablets and iPads. New, used, refurbished, accessories. You name it – they sell it, repair it, unlock it. You just can’t even imagine it. And the people! Every store had at least one customer. Jeez! Amazing. And this all in a new, modern mall that otherwise would remind you of any big mall in the U.S.
We finally tear ourselves away from sight-seeing through the mobile melee and find a little food court type place where you can get “street” food – in the mall! You buy coupons for what you want, then turn them over to one of the stalls in the court. Cool! We had Pad Thai for 50b, really good. Nice to sit in the air conditioning and basically eat street food! We wander around the rest of the mall, perusing the department store (it’s got everything from groceries to clothing to hardware items) and also the restaurants upstairs. Maybe an idea for tonight? Who knows – but we have our skytrain pass – so what the heck!
We head back to the hotel – and realize that we’re actually pretty tired (yes, Stacy, we are finally tired!!!). So we hang out in the room for a while, cooling off, then head out on the streets for food again. The little kiosk we wanted to try was packed (again), so we wandered through the market and ended up at our seafood restaurant across the street (taking the pedestrian bridge both ways this time!). Grilled squid for Ed, Stir fried veggies for me. Yum. Oh and of course 2 big beers! Afterward, we hit 7/11 for more beer then collapse in the room – we do need to be ready for 70K bike ride the next day after all!
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