Bangkok on 10/1/13: Chinatown and Markets

                                                                                                     

We decided to take the ferry to Yarowart, the heart of Chinatown in Bangkok, to look for a pair of gold earrings to replace one out of the several that had been stolen in Reykjavik at the beginning of the trip.  I had done my homework on where to buy gold in Bangkok and knew that Chinatown was the place.

·        We wandered into several gold stores and it was quickly apparent that there was no “customer service” like we’re used to in the States.  There were 5 or 6, always male clerks each dressed in the same pale blue short sleeve shirt lined up behind a long counter; there were a lot of Thais in each branch of the same chain store we went to up and down the same street. They were dropping 1000thb bills like they were $1 bills – I was flabbergasted at the amount of cold hard cash being spent.  No credit cards were used b/c the store charged a hefty premium.  All purchased items came in the chintziest plastic lidded container you can imagine.  Certainly no money was wasted on the equivalent lovely blue Tiffany’s or Birk’s blue box here!

·        With the Thai customers, the clerks would place, in a small velvet tray or box, a half dozen or more items for them to look at at the same time, but that was not the case for Western customers.  If I or another Westerner asked to look at another item, the clerk would just walk away to the other end of the long counter without muttering a word and help somebody else while we stood waiting wondering what was going on.  There was a very limited choice of earrings in each of the stores – all just plain gold hoops and each the same from one store to the next.  Obviously, not a big seller or wanted item for Thais. Steven saw bracelets and suggested I look at those instead; I must admit it didn’t take me too long to switch gears at that concept, especially since all gold sold was 23k, not the 14k we’re used to.

·        Took a taxi to the MBK Market; it was only a 3 mile drive away but it took us at least 30 minutes to get to the 6 story shopping mall in the horrific traffic; at least it only cost us 55thb, so less than $3.

·        We’d thought it would be like the Pearl Market in Beijing which we’d loved but the MBK was way too massive a place for us to enjoy and without all the individual stalls the Pearl Market had that we love poking in.

·        We cut our losses and took the Skytrain to Lumpini Park to see the Night Bazaar but it had closed down several months ago.  Fun however wandering around the park awhile before walking over to Pratunam Market; stalls galore set up there on both sides of each sidewalk but it made for tough but enjoyable going as everyone had to walk single file; I figure it was arranged this way so you were forced to spend more time looking at all the wares as you ever so slowly walked past.

·        Back to the guesthouse via metro and taxi.  In just one day, we had used the ferry, taxi, Skytrain AND metro getting around Bangkok and had a lot of fun too!  Had not taken the only other means of local transportation, the bus.

I'll post photos when I have a few hours hours to spend loading them into a blog post; I just wanted to send this at least first so you know about some of our adventures n Bangkok.