Advertisement
Published: April 6th 2008
Edit Blog Post
I took Doug on a canal boat in San Saap canal. It was the most direct and fastest way to get from Paan Fa where our hotel was to Pratunum(watergate). In 15 minutes and we were there. This was my usual commute when I was in college. Everything looked quite the same, but i think the fare was slightly increased which is understandable.
The pier located just across the street from Central World, our destination. It was supposed to be a short walk. Practically the distance was short but the time that it took us to get there was longer than it normally should take. Why? there were dozens of street vendor selling clothing, handbags, food, undergarment, miscellaneous stuff, and more clothing on both sides of the sidewalk. So it felt like you walked through a dense forest. Occasionally, I had to stop because the traffic ahead of me stopped. I looked for space to get through and when an opportunity came I brisk walked/almost ran. Once we crossed the bridge to the Central World side, did a bit more of what we did earlier before getting ourself through Central World's entrance. It's normal to see a lot of street
vendors and actually many Bangkokians prefer to shop at this level because things are much cheaper than in the department stores. Quality wise, it ranges from fairly poor to well made depending on the merchants. It's still fun to shop in Bangkok if you can handle the crowd.
Speaking of shopping, Heather, Pat, and I went to Chatujuk market on Saturday just before I took off to Chiang Mai later that day. We were so joyful and just fascinated with cuteness of certain goods there. We got there around 9ish just before the crowd came. What fascinated me the most is the design that you rarely/won't find in the States. I had to restrain myself from not buying things I don't think I'd get to use even though it was so pretty and well designed. Certain products are not that cheap but compared to imported price of the same product, i think it's still worth it. I later separated from Pat and Heather since my time was quite limited. After 2 hours or so of shopping, I stopped by to sit down and had "Lod Chong". It's dessert with green flour made into short noodle like looking in coconut
milk topped with ice. It's very cooling and refreshing. Check out this link to see what it looks like(http://members.virtualtourist.com/vt/pr/?NzczZjh8NDdmOTE2MDE=)
At this point, I had an opportunity to relieve my tired shoulders from carrying the backpack. I put down my backpack and in the process of enjoying my lod chong, I noticed white stains on my blouse. I had a navy blue blouse on so it was very visible. I quickly came to a realization. I knew I was sweating like a pig probably 4 pigs or more combined but I did not expect this, salt stains from my sweat. I got a little bit panic and embarrassed. From that point on I tried to hide them as much as I could and immediately after I got to the airport I quickly changed into a tanktop I bought at the market earlier today, Whewwww!!!! what a relief.
It had been 4 years since I last visited home. I told Gong to let our friends know about my visit. So Gong was nice to help spread the news and got quite a few people to show up. So he called it "TUN reunion"(Triam Udom Suksa Nomklao school) and I kind
of agreed with him. Gong reserved tables at the restaurant named "Banana leaf/beach" (something like that) at Central World? I guess. As you can tell, i'm sooooo good with names. Well, it used to be World Trade Center but now Central group has taken over. The overall decor and arrangement seem a little disorganized to me. It definitely does not have a high end high-so like it used to be when it was WTC. However more lights and brightness though which i like better.
Gong, Um, Boom, Lek, and Bua were already there and later on Oh and her soon-to-be her husband came, then Pui, Rumpheung, and Tirote. Some of us have been fairly secure in their job/career and seem to enjoy doing what they've been doing since graduation. Some of us are more like a commuter of the world, traveling to places, and maybe will travel some more. Some of us just spent some time abroad for a while. Interestingly, a few of us are dating/married to a foreigner. What does it say about Thai men?... well, you have your own opinion. I had really good time chatting with them after it had been so long since we
Oh and her fiance
congratulations!!!! yeahhhhh!! she's sold. last met. Too bad that we didn't have much time because some of us had to work the next day.
Doug was very wonderful in dealing with that many strangers even though he prefers not to generally. He mostly just let me chat in Thai with me occasionally translated some into English.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.204s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 10; qc: 51; dbt: 0.1684s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb