Bangkok shopping: ...please...I beg you... no more!

If and when I ever get the urge to go back to work and give up my life of globe-trotting (and let's face it, planning the next year's trips in my mind right now) I am definitely coming back to Bangkok to have my entire working wardrobe made to order at tiny boutiques with completely original designs in 24 hours for less than one outfit would cost in England. But I'd have to be in the mood and focused... because Bangkok is a maze of malls and shopping districts that even the best shop-a-holics in the world - such as Vanessa - could not conquer.

Unfortunately, being on the road, not really needing anything, and having breezed through shopping-mecca Singapore on the way here, I became bored with it all quite quickly. I know... *gasp* ... a female bored with shopping? Yes, ESPECIALLY when my bag already weighs 29kg and I face the prospect of having to lug it around on and off trains in China. So, in a final spurt of acquisitive energy, and to complete the "must-dos" in Bangkok, I enlisted help in the form of my friend Siratas and dragged her to Chatuchak market in 36C heat. A rabbit-warren of covered mini stalls, no airconditioning, baking in the sun... sounds just as inviting as the reality turned out to be! It's a really great place to buy just about anything for very little... just don't go there in height of summer as I did!

To recuperate from the heat, crowds and shopping (needing and wanting sometimes conflict in buying decisions...) we went to the Hyatt International Buffet for lunch and got the balloon-artists who were supposed to be entertaining kids to make us inflatable bunches of flowers! Walking along afterwards, I didn't have a spare hand to hold them, so I twisted it around my wrist like a humongous colourfull bracelet and dubbed it "arm candy"... wait a minute... perhaps the fortune teller WAS right after all, maybe this is my new business idea?! Never say never... :P



Heading to the cinema afterward, we happened upon some kind of Idols-type audition in the mall. Many hopefuls, not a lot of talent between them, waiting for their chance to screech for fame. It was hilarious to watch, but then we only "had to" witness an hour of it. Seems like the sound engineers and such had seen more than they could handle and were in various stages of boredom, unconsciousness, maybe even coma! Makes ofr absolutely addicitive viewing though. :)