Bond, James Bond

---

Bangkok is a great place to shop. You can find everything here from clothing to computer cables. Stores range from high-end Gucci and Prada (real and fake) in the huge malls to a small stand on the street selling sarongs. It's truly amazing. We ventured out to Pantip Plaza first, J's favorite spot. Pantip is full of small shops selling every computer related gadget you can imagine. Next we walked over to Central World, a mega-mall boasting the largest Christmas tree in Asia.

After our shopping adventures, we met up with J's aunt and uncle for dinner and a movie. But this was not just any movie theater - it was the best cinematic experience of our lives (the 007 movie was pretty good too). Thai movie theaters have several levels of ticket, we got the VIP level for $9 a ticket. We were ushered into a special waiting area with couches and its own concession stand before the movie. Here we ordered drinks and popcorn (included with ticket) for the show - not to take in with us, but to be delivered to our seats at the time of our choosing! Oh, and there isn't just one kind of popcorn - there are 3 to choose from: cheesy popcorn, traditional salty popcorn, and sweet popcorn (like caramel corn). We requested one sweet and one salty to be brought to us an hour into the movie. We entered the theater to find about 20 huge Lazyboy leather recliners, each with a silk blanket and pillow on top. The attendant even pulled the level to put our feet up for us! Now that's service. Before the film, everyone stands for a video tribute to the Thai King. Then the previews began. Sure enough, an hour later our refreshments arrived. The popcorn was not in a paper bag, but in a nice wicker basket. This is the way movies should be viewed! Not only was there a lazyboy-only room, but also a loveseat-only room, and the regular stadium seat theaters - all with great sound systems. Why don't we have theaters like this at home??

---

Photos

Cinema Lounge
This is the waiting area for those that buy the luxury seats. There is a full bar just to the right.

Recliners
Taken with camera phone, but you get the idea!

Shopping Street
This street contains many large shopping malls, as well as street stalls (under the umbrellas on the left).

Pantip Plaza Exterior
It's a "global IT mall."

Software Floor
PC, Mac, Xbox, PS2 - these guys have it all.

Floors of Hardware
Software, hardware and networking vendors.

Buddist Christmas
The Thais (and Asia in general) love Christmas, even if they don't celebrate it in a religious sense.

Comments

[angela]

movie theatres
that theatre sounds fabulous!!! how fun is that! plus different flavored popcorn!!!!! great! i heard the bond movie's good too! we'll have to see it someday soon. hope you had a fantastically merry christmas!!! happy new year if i don't get a chance to tell you later also!