HAPPY NEW YEAR 2551

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January 1st 2008

Published: January 1st 2008

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leon oz

All the best from Bangkok

HAPPY NEW YEAR from BANGKOK

Jan 1

New Years Eve is a big event in Thailand with most of the smaller shops closed and the Thais having a well deserved two public holidays. I am still recovering from Kanchanaburi so I have just been resting and looking around the Siam shopping malls and also the Pantip Plaza.

On New Years Eve I caught the Skytrain to Siam BTS Station and had a look around Siam Paragon. This is an upmarket shop and also next to Siam Ocean World which I might check out later in my time here. The security for New Years Eve is amazing and there are security forces everywhere checking bags as you go into any of the large shops, same at the Metro subway stations.

I then walked around the corner to the Big C shopping mall which is like a K Mart back in Australia. There is a great food mall where you can get a huge, excellent quality Thai meal for a couple of Australian dollars. Also on floor three I found an MBE shop - Mail Boxes Etc - where you can post mail - Susan B will now get

Erawan Shrine

her requested postcard as this the only post office facility I have seen here.

On the way back I stopped at the Erawan Shrine, a very busy place around New Years, easy to find on the corner opposite Central World shops. There were many people praying and making offerings and also some traditional music and dancing.

New Years Eve was great for me being able to spend it with my friends in Bangkok and there were people everywhere in the street dancing and drinking and having a great time. Balloons were dropped and there were sparklers at midnite and I got lots of hugs and kisses - back to my Hotel at 6 am after a huge night in this crazy and wild city.

Today is New Years Day and I have been to the Pantip Plaza where they sell all the pirated software and any IT type gear imagineable. I didn't need the touts tring to push dvds etc in my face as I walked in the door but you get used to it and I just ignore then now. I used to smile and say something to the touts but now they are invisible to

Erawan Shrine

Cleansing and lighting sticks

me and I just keep walking. Pantip is worth a look and easy to find if you take the Sukhumvit Line from the Siam interchange to Ratchathewi. Just get off and walk up to the next main corner and turn right, Pantip Plaza is about 1 km along the Petchburi road.

On the way back I stopped at the Siam BTS Station and used the Skywalk from the Skytrain station to get to Central World, another huge shopping complex, very upmarket like Siam Paragon.

HAPPY NEW YEARS from Leon - It is year 2551 here but 2008 is easier for me to work out - all the best and I am now going to pack my gear for Khao Yai National Park for two days. An advantage of staying in the same hotel all the time is that I can leave my large suitcase here in secure storage and take two smaller bags on my short trips around the country.

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