My last 2 days, well 2 and a half days in Bangkok were spent, shopping, relaxing, pampering and not doing any sight-seeing. I had so much fun. I booked myself into a hotel right near the shopping strip so i wouldnt have to go far to get home laden with shopping if i got carried away...but more about that later.
After checking in, first this was first, a traditional Thai massage. Now beleive it or not, in all my coming and going to BKK while flying, i never once stopped to get a massage, never having had one before i didnt know what i was missing out on. Anyway, i booked myself in and spent the hour trying not to laugh. Let me explain why. Firstly it was a nice place, they brought me in gave me pj's to change into and then a Thai girl came in...
She started with my feet...all i knew was that one minute she was smiling at me the next she was beating my feet into a pulp!! heehee...and she managed to find every possible ticklish spot i had! I swear i did all i could not to crack up laughing but i think she knew and she was super nice about it. She was even good enough to laugh with me when my stomach growled that it was hungry round about the time she was massaging my arms. She must have thought i was one weird girl. But i tell you what, she gave one heck of a massage for someone so tiny and my body felt really relaxed afterwards.
The next day i decided i would do some gift shopping and maybe get a manicure and pedicure. Leaving the hotel i decided to just wander around and not head anywhere in particular. It was the smartest thing i did!! I ended up down alleyways filled with shops that appeared to be small start ups of young fashion students/entreprenures and held far more interesting clothes than the mainstream shopping centres/malls.
At one point i found myself near some interesting restaurants...if you look closely at the one on the right, at the top is a small shark. And the photo on the left...take a look at the menu to get an idea of the scale of those shark fins! I would not like to encounter one of those alive!
Back into the alleyways I came across one store that really was challenging. It was an accessories shop. Unique accessories. Earrings!!! I was in there like a shot. In the matter of seconds i had already picked out 7 different pairs i would be more than happy to buy. How i exercised restraint i dont know. I only walked out with one pair.
Really cute!! I was in there looking at everything and started chatting to the 2 ladies in the store. One spoke surprisingly good English, turns out that she had lots of family in Sydney and had even been here a couple of times. She wasnt the designer though. It turns out that a bunch of friends travel around to gain inspiration and when they hit on something really funky they design a couple of pieces and she sells them in her little shop. In fact the shop had only been open for a month or so! I did ask if they had an online store as i was very interested in the designs and would definetly buy some more later. That really surprised her because she asked me if i really would do that and when i said absolutley and explained i really loved earrings but it was hard to find unique designs she was really flattered. Anyway, i did give her my email address should they build a website bought my pair and continued my trek through the labrynth of alleys and shops.
Im sorry to say that the rest of that day - shopping wise - wasnt very fruitful, i guess after the fantastic find with the earrings everything else just wasnt good enough. I did buy some jeans though. Anyway once i saw it was useless to keep shopping i opted for a movie and while waiting for my session time I pampered myself with a manicure/pedicure.
Going to the cinemas was a surprising experience. They have the usual hollywood blockbusters and Thai productions but the difference was in the showing. Like you would expect, they ran advertising and movie preveiws but just before showing the feature they ran a montage of the Royal Family complete with national anthem. Everyone in the audience stood up. Everyone. The teen rebels, parents, expats, tourists (including me) - everyone stood up. I thought it was a nice touch, cant see it happening in Australia though lol! And i enjoyed how everyone - a melting pot of cultures - reacted the same to different scenes.
Day 2 was a lot more successful shopping wise, my bag was packed with Thai silk scarves, colourful handbags, clothes, and much more. In fact i had to make a trip back to the hotel to leave my stuff in the baggage hold because i couldnt carry it all any more!! The bell boys had a good laugh at me, but that was alright, im sure they get that a lot.
Well, that was that, i had my last Tom Yum soup hopped in a cab and headed to the airport to catch my flight home.
Hope you enjoyed the posts about my trip. Sorry again they took ages to complete and thanks for bearing with me :)
VP
Great posts love, you've got some great pics & sounds like you had an amazing time!
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