Omg, shopping" !!!
It's a quote of white chicks, the movie... I'm never that excited for shopping.
Though I am excited to explore more of Bangkok today!
After a sleep in, breakfast & confirming our plans, we get a Grab to the first destination. The MBK shopping Mall. MBK is also known locally as Mahboonkrong & it ia an 8 storey shopping mall with over 2,000 shops, restaurants & amusement arcades.
We nearly immediately split off into groups of girls & boys. But not before Tom & I find a camera shop & replace the DSLR camera battery. Finally, we can start using the camera again!
The boys have plans to continue browsing through the levels of technology, while Nat & I are more focused on getting a coffee. We find a nice little cafe & both order caramel lattes, which are really good & so they should be for the price which matches that of Australia!
After fuelling up, we head down to the lower levels to look at cosmetics, lingerie, clothes & fake designer bags. Nat has her eye on a really nice MK bag, but the negotiations are still underway & we walk away after the first round. A few hours later we return & Nat gets the bag at a price very close to what she wants to pay. In AUD I think she paid about $40.
I buy a simple black watch & a handmade wallet that is made from cork. I must admit, I don't think I got a great deal, but I'm happy with my purchases.
We meet up with the boys at the designated time, though we were 10 minutes late.. oops. We were also waiting to meet up with our friend Jordan, who we first met in Beijing. He's running late & when we eventually get in contact with him, we change our plans & meet him in China Town.
We order another Grab to take us to China Town. We stand there for about 10 minutes waiting for Jordan to show up, all of a sudden, he's standing right behind me, also looking around for us.
Once the initial introductions are made, we all start navigating our way through the busy streets of China Town. We walk past flashy hotels, restaurants, street stalls & shops, bursting with goods & people.It's like deja vu & it feels like China, the large amount of Chinese tourists standing around in groups or yelling, also adds to the atmosphere.
We walk up & down the streets gawking at everything laid out for sale. It's like a live version of eBay, every $2 item of crap you could ever buy online is here, in bulk, often sitting on tarps in big piles. We very quickly get sick of the chaos that is China Town.
One thing I do have to mention is that the 3 boys were feeling brave & adventurous. This led them to eating deep fried crickets, while Nat & I cringed & filmed it. Jordan was totally not fazed, Tom handled it fairly well & Dom nearly spewed on the street! He was careful to wait until we had stopped filming before bending over & retching. He did an amazing job keeping it down!
The photos are hilarious!
After China Town we move on to Khao San Road. The main tourist road in Bangkok, known for everything you could ever want in Bangkok, especially if you only have a very short time in the capital. It has obvious tourist attractions like bars & tour agencies. But it also has stalls selling the usual Thailand merchandise, tuk tuk's, massage parlours & little street carts selling fresh icy coconuts, juice & pad-thai.
We ditch the boys at the bar to wash down the bug after taste & have 45 minutes of speed shopping. It's a great place to buy $8 Haviana thongs (which we both do).
We say goodbye to Jordan here & head on to our final stop for the night. The Baiyoke Sky
Hotel & viewing tower. Also known as Baiyoke Tower II.
Baiyoke Tower II is a 309m skyscraper (328.4 metres including the antenna), with 88 storeys in the Ratchathewi District of Bangkok. It is the 2nd tallest building in Bangkok, but takes 1st place as the tallest hotel in South East Asia & is ranked the 7th tallest hotel in the world.
It features the hotel, a public viewing observatory on the 77th floor, a glass elevator, a roof top bar on the 83rd storey & above the bar on the 84th floor is a revolving 360 degree viewing platform.
The price was worth every cent & the view only got better & better.
We had our first glimpse of the city while travelling up in the glass elevator. It's a bit disorientating how fast the elevator is moving & also because not every panel is glass giving you a view. The glass alternates with something not see through which must be structural & the frequent adjustments that your eyes make are not exactly comfortable.
We get out after the first elevator & then get into another elevator that takes us to the rooftop viewing platforms & also the bar.
I'm assuming that they have the 2 sections of elevators so that the guests staying at the hotel have privacy. Once at the top, we make our way straight to the bar & the giant windows which will offer us a really nice view of the sun setting.
We find a table in prime viewing position & Tom sets up his phone to do a time lapse video of the sun set. It is nothing short of breath taking.
We wait till after the sun has set before making our way up the top to the open air, revolving viewing platform. It's here that we capture some really nice pictures of Bangkok on the DSLR.
It's been a great day.
Tomorrow's early departure time see's us arrive home just before 10pm to pack & sleep.
- Alli
It's a quote of white chicks, the movie... I'm never that excited for shopping.
Though I am excited to explore more of Bangkok today!
After a sleep in, breakfast & confirming our plans, we get a Grab to the first destination. The MBK shopping Mall. MBK is also known locally as Mahboonkrong & it ia an 8 storey shopping mall with over 2,000 shops, restaurants & amusement arcades.
We nearly immediately split off into groups of girls & boys. But not before Tom & I find a camera shop & replace the DSLR camera battery. Finally, we can start using the camera again!
The boys have plans to continue browsing through the levels of technology, while Nat & I are more focused on getting a coffee. We find a nice little cafe & both order caramel lattes, which are really good & so they should be for the price which matches that of Australia!
After fuelling up, we head down to the lower levels to look at cosmetics, lingerie, clothes & fake designer bags. Nat has her eye on a really nice MK bag, but the negotiations are still underway & we walk away after the first round. A few hours later we return & Nat gets the bag at a price very close to what she wants to pay. In AUD I think she paid about $40.
I buy a simple black watch & a handmade wallet that is made from cork. I must admit, I don't think I got a great deal, but I'm happy with my purchases.
We meet up with the boys at the designated time, though we were 10 minutes late.. oops. We were also waiting to meet up with our friend Jordan, who we first met in Beijing. He's running late & when we eventually get in contact with him, we change our plans & meet him in China Town.
We order another Grab to take us to China Town. We stand there for about 10 minutes waiting for Jordan to show up, all of a sudden, he's standing right behind me, also looking around for us.
Once the initial introductions are made, we all start navigating our way through the busy streets of China Town. We walk past flashy hotels, restaurants, street stalls & shops, bursting with goods & people.It's like deja vu & it feels like China, the large amount of Chinese tourists standing around in groups or yelling, also adds to the atmosphere.
We walk up & down the streets gawking at everything laid out for sale. It's like a live version of eBay, every $2 item of crap you could ever buy online is here, in bulk, often sitting on tarps in big piles. We very quickly get sick of the chaos that is China Town.
One thing I do have to mention is that the 3 boys were feeling brave & adventurous. This led them to eating deep fried crickets, while Nat & I cringed & filmed it. Jordan was totally not fazed, Tom handled it fairly well & Dom nearly spewed on the street! He was careful to wait until we had stopped filming before bending over & retching. He did an amazing job keeping it down!
The photos are hilarious!
After China Town we move on to Khao San Road. The main tourist road in Bangkok, known for everything you could ever want in Bangkok, especially if you only have a very short time in the capital. It has obvious tourist attractions like bars & tour agencies. But it also has stalls selling the usual Thailand merchandise, tuk tuk's, massage parlours & little street carts selling fresh icy coconuts, juice & pad-thai.
We ditch the boys at the bar to wash down the bug after taste & have 45 minutes of speed shopping. It's a great place to buy $8 Haviana thongs (which we both do).
We say goodbye to Jordan here & head on to our final stop for the night. The Baiyoke Sky
Hotel & viewing tower. Also known as Baiyoke Tower II.
Baiyoke Tower II is a 309m skyscraper (328.4 metres including the antenna), with 88 storeys in the Ratchathewi District of Bangkok. It is the 2nd tallest building in Bangkok, but takes 1st place as the tallest hotel in South East Asia & is ranked the 7th tallest hotel in the world.
It features the hotel, a public viewing observatory on the 77th floor, a glass elevator, a roof top bar on the 83rd storey & above the bar on the 84th floor is a revolving 360 degree viewing platform.
The price was worth every cent & the view only got better & better.
We had our first glimpse of the city while travelling up in the glass elevator. It's a bit disorientating how fast the elevator is moving & also because not every panel is glass giving you a view. The glass alternates with something not see through which must be structural & the frequent adjustments that your eyes make are not exactly comfortable.
We get out after the first elevator & then get into another elevator that takes us to the rooftop viewing platforms & also the bar.
I'm assuming that they have the 2 sections of elevators so that the guests staying at the hotel have privacy. Once at the top, we make our way straight to the bar & the giant windows which will offer us a really nice view of the sun setting.
We find a table in prime viewing position & Tom sets up his phone to do a time lapse video of the sun set. It is nothing short of breath taking.
To our great surprise & pleasure, the cocktails here are actually cheaper than the ones at our hotel roof top bar! This calls for many more rounds & the increasing dilution of our blood to alcohol ratio, only increases our amazement at the view.
We wait till after the sun has set before making our way up the top to the open air, revolving viewing platform. It's here that we capture some really nice pictures of Bangkok on the DSLR.
It's been a great day.
Another huge day exploring Bangkok! Just as we are leaving The Baiyoke Tower, I step into a pot hole that was hidden by the surrounding darkness and fall, very hard onto my knee, and one of my hands. My other hand has come down at an awkward angle to protect the DSLR camera hitting the ground & I jarred my wrist on impact. I am mostly in shock when it first happens & I only care about the camera, then I am being hoisted off the ground by Dom. My knee is furiously bleeding (whats new?!), but my ankle & wrist take the foremost place for my attention, both are throbbing & swelling almost instantly. Thankfully, the camera is fine & I'm pretty tolerant of my own clumsiness. I fall over and hurt myself at least once, every week. Just around the corner, we stop & wait for a tuk tuk to take us home & I am cheered up by us finding a litter of 5 ginger kittens sleeping together.
Tomorrow's early departure time see's us arrive home just before 10pm to pack & sleep.
- Alli
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