Bangkok Weekending~

Popped over to Bangkok over the weekend with my parents and The Husband~ It's been some years since my last visit to Bangkok so I was quite excited for the food & shopping ^__^

First thing I had after landing was, of course, Tom Yum noodles!

So soooo tastyyyy~~~

This was at the new mall in Bangkok called Terminal 21 which is quite fun to walk through 'cos they have a travel theme throughout the mall so different levels have different countries as themes e.g Japan, Rome, Paris etc~

London~

Japan~



Middle East~ (I think >_<  Sorry I forgot exactly which country this was!)

It's a mall with lots of photo ops given the decor which goes all the way from the painting and pillars to huge random installations like a much-larger-than-life maneki neko (japanese fortune cat)!

 

More after the cut!

 

 

 

The shopping is pretty good too! There was this shop on the Japan floor selling beautiful vintage-style lace gowns and they were really cheap! T_T Wish I wasn't already married so I'd have an excuse to buy one~

 

 

 

And this nifty watch, soooo old skool! And really made for patient people because the time is told by the lighting up of the number keys...it takes about 6 or 7 seconds to get the time and another 5 or 6 seconds in between each reading! I'd probably go insane not being able to read the time whenever but it's a cool piece to look at all the same~

 That first night we had dinner at a roadside stall that seemed promising given the number of diners...

I'm all for roadside food, really!

It would've been fine if not for the little roaches we had to constantly play hide & seek with throughout our meal >_< The little buggers were popping in and out of the gaps in the wooden table...like a game of Hit The Weasel at the arcade.. Definately not my best roadside stall experience...I ate with my plate permanently off the table.. =(

The next few days was spent, what else, eating and shopping~ So from here on it's a short mish mash of rather random photos ^_^

Busy street stalls + the not-so-busy pet of a stall owner =P

Giving me The Look =)

Salt-encrusted whole fishes grilling by the road~

I'm told this is sort of a backpacker motel.. The name is GENIUS!

This is a railway near the hotel we stayed in.. There're little wooden houses very near the tracks but the tracks are rarely used (only saw the gates up once over 4 days) so I guess the occupants are used to that level of umm 'exposure'? It's very humbling to see families living in such conditions (many are in worser states), I really feel blessed and grateful for all that I have.

By Night & Day

Passing by this shrine on the way to other malls and had a short chat with a Thai lady who was also watching the dancing. Apparently Friday is a good/popular day to give thanks for your blessings especially if you've had your wishes granted. People could pay the musicians and dancers seated at the pavillion to perform while they prayed and that would count as extra offerings to the gods.

A popular shrine in town with many devotees praying and making offerings

It was a slightly long walk from mall to mall to mall so I tried to take a photo with The Husband.

 

He obviously wasn't as enthusiastic as I was.... =\

I think it's nice how their religion is so infused with their lives that they can pray and make offerings even outside a mall. And most Thais will bow their heads, palms together, whenever they pass a shrine.. Their reverance is really beautiful~

Shrines outside a posh mall

No trip to Bangkok would be complete without a trip to the Chatuchat weekend market~ Of which I got so caught up in that I forgot I had a camera after our lunch =_= At a roadside stall of course.

Lunch at Chatuchat market!

Shopping was fruitful, as always. But I think now that I'm older, I'm abit more discerning about my purchases so didn't come back with loads and loads of stuff as I did when I was, say, 20? I got a good lot of accessories at a steal though~ And some cute umm phonejack plugs or whatchamacallit! Love the Karl Lagerfeld for Shu Uemura mascot!



I had my heart set on getting some maxi and midi dresses this trip but was quite disappointed at the variety...too many of the beachside variety in my opinion. But I did manage to get a couple and this is my fave~



Love the lace! Love the print! Love the colour!! (n__n)

Just in time for Chinese New Year! ^__^