Good For You, Good For Me. Lucky! Lucky!
Shopping in Thailand was challenging. First, 
getting to the market was trying as we thought we were being "taken for a ride" by another tuk tuk driver who seemingly dropped us in the
middle of nowhere. After walking a couple blocks we discovered we were not nowhere, but on the outskirts of the Chatuchak Weekend Market (where we wanted to be).
The Market is the biggest in Bangkok, featuring almost 1300 stalls. Lonely Planet promised huge
selection, which was provided, and great deals, which were not. Vendors didn't seem willing to barter and the hordes of shoppers didn't make it easy for one to hang around for a deal. All-in-all, I found Chatuchak overwhelming and remarkably similar to the market I visited in Mexico.The major upside of our visit to Chatuchak was stumbling across a true Thai restaurant. While
wandering around looking for the actual market, Tressa and I found this bridge. We 
took our lives into our hands crossing it, let me tell you! But on the other side was a quaint restaurant that I surmise doesn't see a lot of tourists. It was hidden in a tall garden, tucked out of the city and out of the sun. The staff didn't speak a word of English, which was surprising considering most Thais know some. It was in this little oasis that I enjoyed my favorite Thai meal.After the non-productive stop at Chatuchak, Tressa and I headed for the most famous foreigner spot in Bangkok: Khoasan Road. While riding in a taxi (we switched from tuk tuk's after too many near-death experiences; plus, metered taxis were actually less expensive) we passed through Bangkok Chinatown. This redition of Chinatown was adorned in lights and tourists, as usual, but didn't seem to feature that old fishy smell... or maybe we are now used to it!
More lit and touristy even was Khoasan Road. Not quite knowing what to expect, Tressa and I couldn't help a bit of culture shock: we've not seen so many white people crammed in one place since being in Canada! So to relieve the shock, of
course, we got ourselves giant-sized Thai bottles of beer and proceeded to shop.The plan was to refrain from packing our bags with too much (which wasn't even an option for me, since I brought only one small backpack for the week and planned to buy a secondary bag for purchases toward the end of our trip) since we would be back in Bangkok before we flew back to Japan. As such, I didn't shop. I did enjoy a nice dinner and some laughs when we figured
out what was intended by invitations to a "Pingpong Party." Don't ask! Tressa and I looked into travel from Khoasan to Koh Chang for the following day and then called it a fairly early night. Unfortunately, with a change in plans, we didn't end up back at Khoasan Road again. :(As this post involves shopping, I'll skip ahead to the shopping we did at Koh Chang. Koh Chang
offerred a variety of markets similar to Chatuchak, but much smaller. Bargaining was much easier, in fact, if you showed interest in something and then put it down, the vendor would often say in stitched English: "You like? I make deal for you!" and when a price was countered: "Good for you, good for me. Lucky! Lucky!" - quite hilarious.
Post a Comment