Shopping In Bangkok!

Sa wat diii! (Hello) from Bangkok, Thailand. We're trying to keep up with all the greetings. It gets a little confusing after a while. They have all been kinda similar. Here in Thailand, when people greet us, they greet us with huge smiles and say “Sa wat dii” and they also put their hands together in front of their chest and while bowing. It really makes a greeting more meaningful! I love it. So we're really trying to remember to do that every time we greet people here.

We were a little shocked upon arrival when we walked into the Marriott Resort and Spa. We've gotten used to the small guesthouses and just being in Laos with no a/c, the Marriott was like paradise. It's kinda a great way to end our trip, though me and Jordan were just talking about missing the guesthouse experience. We are being so spoiled here. The staff is super nice. Since Jordan is a member through his job, we get all the extra perks. Food, drinks, chocolate truffles and flowers on our pillows each night. It's wonderful.

We got to Bangkok on Sunday afternoon around 4:30ish. We indulged in their delicious spread that had prepared for us before heading up to our room. Our room is great! It's ice cold, but we're not complaining. We have the river right outside our balcony and a great view of Bangkok.

To get anywhere, we have to take the boat across the river and then walk, grab a tuk-tuk/taxi or ride the air train. With not much time left in our day, we went to town to this huge night market called Suan Lum Night Bazaar. We took a tuk-tuk, but we didn't realize that the tuk-tuks here in the big city go just as fast as the cars. We nearly put our lives at risk! I was holding on for dear life. We won't do that again. This particular night market was really cool. It was huge and it had this big food court that we ate at, as well as an entire row of different beer choices. Once we got our food, we sat down and watched this lady sing, then they put down a big screen and played the soccer games. The market had a ton of stuff for sell, but we wanted to wait and see the other markets and the going price for certain things before we bought.

Day 2 in Bangkok...our first full day. We kinda took our time getting up and going. We were lazy. Once our tummies were full, a breakfast buffet that nearly offered everything, we made our way to the Grand Palace. We read that we were suppose to wear closed toe shoes and that our shoulders had to be covered. So we were prepared for that. But once we got there, we found out Jordan had to wear pants. Luckily they expect people to dress inappropriately, so they gave out pants, skirts, etc. we just had to return them of course. So Jordan walked around the Grand Palace in these cute blue draw string pants. Ha. (along with a ton of of other people) The palaces were magnificent. Wow, the detail was incredible. The murals, statues and columns were all amazing. We saw the Emerald Buddha. (quick history – this buddha was covered in some type of gold material and when it was being moved, a man noticed that the nose of the buddha was chipped and they realized underneath the material was emerald.) It was really cool to see. We continued on to Wat Pho, another temple....seeing a few more Buddhas, one being the declining buddha. It was huge and laying horizontally. That was pretty neat.

We wanted to see the Golden Buddha, so we headed to Chinatown. We grabbed lunch at some random restaurant on our way. It started pouring down raining once we got to the temple. Were heard other people talking and realized that the real Golden Buddha was inside a near by temple under construction. So we were looking at a fake one for the time being. We were bummed, because how many times will we be in Bangkok to see this! Oh well. It was raining hard, so we sat looking at the fake buddha until the rain slowed down.

Wet and tired, we arrived at out hotel in time for the afternoon feast! We ate up, showered and got ready for the night. When we were getting dressed, downstairs outside our balcony, Aspara dancers were performing. So cool! We went to the Pat Pong night market. Lots of name brand stuff for cheap. We weren't really hungry seeing as how we eat so much free food at our hotel! So we each grabbed a kabob from a street stand. Yummy! We went to this little bar and listened to live music for awhile. It was really good, I could have listened longer, but the boat stops running after midnight, so we had to make it back in time.

Tuesday...Day 3 in Bangkok. Oh my goodness....our trip will be over soon. We don't want to think about it! We went to see Jim Thompson's house, which is a guy who really initiated the silk industry in Thailand. He was really wealthy and pretty much made silk what it is today in this country's economy. He mysteriously disappeared some time ago and now after being moved and restored somewhat, his house is a staple attraction in Bangkok. It was nice to see. The house was unique and it seemed like everything in it had a story, which was pretty cool.

For the rest of the day, we had planned to see all the shopping malls that are such a big talk here in Bangkok. They are all right there together. They are huge, some like 6 stories high. So needless to say, we weren't going to walk through them all, but we went in and out of them for the rest of the afternoon. One of them was more of a bargain market type setup but the other ones were basically a normal shopping mall. We had heard that the prices were lower than normal and brand names were cheap. We didn't see that though at the shopping malls. Same stores and same price in USA. But it was still fun to walk through them. At the market type one, Jordan decided to get fitted for a suit...the price was right! So he'll get a suit and a shirt. He's excited!

After a long day of walking and being on our feet non stop, we went to the pool and enjoyed some drinks while hanging out in the hot tub! I love a hot tub! It felt so good! Later, we took a taxi to this neighborhood we had read about in our guide books. It's where a lot of tourist go and hang out...lots of restaurants, shops and bars. It was weird because the taxi dropped us off in the wrong area, so we walked the rest of the way and all of a sudden we turn on this street and it's full of people and interactions. It was really cool. We ate at this little random street restaurant. The food was good. Jordan finally had a taste of the Pad Thai. He was pleased! We spent the rest of the night walking up and down the street, shopping, stopping at little places to get a drink and people watching (our favorite thing to do..ha) It was really a fun place to be. So many people just enjoying their time in a different country, all in the same place, experiencing the same thing...and the locals working hard to make it a great experience for us. The people are really what have made this trip incredible to me. They are just wonderful! :)

It's Wednesday morning now and we are about to head back to the suit place for Jordan to get his last fitting before they complete it. They will deliver it straight to our hotel for us this afternoon. Oh yeah...They do it right in Thailand! :) Just three more days...