Central World Adventures

     Last night a few of us decided to “explore” downtown Bangkok.  After flipping through the guide book for a bit and then getting hungry, we decided to take a taxi to the Skytrain and decide from there.  We ended up getting off at Siam Square because we thought that would be cool, then walked down the “Skywalk” which is connected to the Skytrain station and somehow ended up at Central World.  We weren’t exactly sure what it was, but when getting closer realized it was a mall. A giant mall, there were six floors, each floor having a specific type of store.  The first floor seemed to be luxary brands, I saw a Jim Thompson store with some adorable purses.  There was also an electronic/toy floor, and the sixth floor was all food.  Here's a picture from the 6th floor, they had escalators going up and down in a spiral. Pretty sweet.

  

     There were multiple gelato places, and even a fro-yo place called Buddhi Belly!  It was so cute!  One of my favorite places was called “Candy” where they make tiny candies that are similar to candy canes but have little figures inside. I took a couple pics, below is one that shows a few different kinds--

 

   There was also a grocery store area with tons of American food!  It was sad, we all got so excited when we saw peanut butter and PopTarts, but refrained from buying anything because it was so expensive.

  After wandering around for a while we decided on the “Food Court,” because all of the other food was ridiculously expensive (in comparison to the street food we’ve been eating)- ranging from 80-150 baht!  We’ve definitely been spoiled, paying 15-40 baht a meal, meaning I’ve been eating for a few dollars a day.  We were all tired so decided to head out after eating, but decided that a day sometime soon needs to be dedicated to going back and shopping!

   EDIT: Here's a picture of my breakfast. They're grilled bananas and after they were cut, the vendor poured some caramel-like sauce on top.  It was as delicious as it looks.

Thai Quirks

 I have been making a list over the past week of quirky things I have noticed about the culture here. Hopefully you'll find them as interesting/amusing as I do:

Never sweaty- yet always covered up (almost everyone wears pants, long sleeves/sweaters, I've even seen sweatshirts!)

Media focused on being “white” or pale – whitening deodorant, sunscreen, and lotion

Strange taste buds-

• Weird teas! – bubblegum, “Texas longhorn,” bright green cough syrup

• Lobster and seaweed flavored Lay’s

• No cheese (sadly)

• Breakfast = rice + meat or maybe an omlet

Have only seen 2 “not happy” looking Thais- everyone smiles (even when they don’t know what you’re saying)

Everyone stares! Are we tall? Fat? None of us look alike so they don’t know “what” we are?

Utensils- no knives. But lots of other stuff. Multiple spoons, forks, chop sticks!

Very clean -- 

• Utensils in hot water

• Always sweeping. At school and apartments!

• Bubble tea lids- thin plastic seals the top via a machine, so no human contact involved!

• Exchanging cash for a temporary credit card

Food Court in mall- have to put money on a card, but can get money off

Stray dogs! Everywhere, even most of them have collars. They all sleep/chill during the day but I hear them howling at night.  Pai told us they know they need to act calm in order to get food from people during the day.  I have always said dogs are smart….

   So my blogspot is now in Thai...apologies if this looks weird.
   Last night after a nice nap for a few hours we went out to some restaurant/bars on the Chao Phraya River.  They were all open air which was pretty sweet but we were yet again the only white people, being obnoxious I'm sure.  After a bit they moved us to a table from inside to an outside one literally overlooking the river.  It was obviously gorgeous at night with some lights from downtown in the distance, and casual barges going by.

   Today we went to the Chatuchak weekend market in downtown Bangkok.  The fact that we made it there based on a travel book and next-to-no Thai.  We took a taxi to the Skytrain and rode that to the market (which is basically a metro but always above ground) which was pretty cool to see downtown since I haven't been yet.  But, the market was overwhelming to say the least.  There were 21 sections (I think) with clothes, shoes, purses, and pets.  We saw some squirrels (yes, squirrels) that were tied down for sale but unfortunately they had a sign "No Camera," potentially because it's illegal.  There were also tons of Pomeranians and tiny fluffy cats that looked like they were nearing a heat stroke.  Also got some amazing fresh mango for lunch.

Bubble tea and fruit

    Not sure where I should start, its my second day in Bangkok and I feel like I've been here forever! How about I recap my time then reflect?
   Yesterday after catching up on emails, etc. at JGSEE (our school) we went shopping for, forever. Since Jessica and I lucked out and got a basically empty apt we had a lot to buy. I kept catching myself thinking 40 baht for shampoo is ridiculous, and then converting to dollars (/30). In the end I didn't spend half as much money as I thought, I feel like the majority of my money will be spent on bubble tea (new obsession, I love the chewy tapioca balls) and street food which I can't get enough of! Surprisingly the tea is more expensive than most meals, and fruit more expensive than that but totally worth it.
     Okay, after shopping we came back and unpacked/reorganized and someone came to look at my broken ac unit. It was somewhat a struggle bc he didn't speak English but in the end other people came back today and are replacing a part...I think. They didn't speak English either so there was a lot of hand signals I'm not sure if I got right. We went out for some ice cream later and ended up getting bubble tea (I got coco milk which tasted like a milkshake) and then saw some tom yum (little dumplings filled w meat and soaked in a sauce that tastes like soy sauce but better) that we couldn't resist. They were only 20 baht a bag, how could I?
    Skipping to today, I woke up at 5 thanks to my sauna of a room and couldn't go back to sleep, so decides to do some yoga on the balcony (which was basically hot yoga without a mat) and then go on a run. And of course on my run I saw some amazing food stands I hadn't seen before because everyone wakes up super early to beat the heat and then sleep during the day to stay up late. I walked back after my run and bought bags of watermelon and pineapple that were perfect (which I attached a pic of, along w my ridiculous looking room. You probably can't tell but I have a king sized bed that takes up 3/4 of the room).

    One thing that has been amusing is how much everyone stares at you, were pretty much the only white people here and even when I was by myself this morning everyone looked at me like 'what are you doing at a market by yourself, white girl?'...except they don't speak English so they were probably saying in it Thai. I've been working on my Thai to no avail, I usually end up falling asleep while reading. Alright back to the apt to sweat to death, I feel like I'm on a cleanse and I didn't even agree to it!

No ac? No big.

So a group of us arrived last night around 12 AM Bangkok time, no idea what time at home. My body is so confused but luckily I slept on most of the plane rides so i didn't need that much sleep last night. We got back to the apartments around 2 and I unpacked for an hour or so before realizing the ac in my room is broken. Given I am a very hot natured person, this was basically a death sentence but I luckily made it out alive. We just had an amazing breakfast of duck khao neow (sticky rice fried in a banana wrapper w berries or banana) and now were about to go shopping at a Walmart-like place. I know that was super uninteresting but hopefully ill have something better + pics soon!