We took the family shuttle to the embassy, and then a taxi to Chinatown. We didn't know where exactly we wanted to go in Chinatown, so when we got into the taxi I just said "Chinatown? Shopping?" and he said okay. He dropped us off on a main street in what was clearly Chinatown (most of the signs were in Chinese), pointed ahead, and said, "Shopping." See, no problems with communication.
We walked for a while down the main street. The sidewalk was narrow and there were little stalls along it, so luckily we got there early when it wasn't too crowded. The things in the store were fun to look at, but we had no idea what most of them were.
There were also LOTS of places to buy and sell gold. There were all these long counters with people standing behind them.
We knew there were more stores on littler streets, so we took a couple detours, and then found this street that was almost like a middle eastern bazaar. There were shops on either side with things out on the sidewalk. You could pretty much only walk single file. It was covered and there was a bit of air conditioning coming from some of the stores, so it wasn't too hot at all. However, we were there early on a weekday morning. I can't imagine how you could even walk there on a weekend afternoon.
It was a girls' shopping paradise, lots of jewelery and sparkly things. There were all different kinds of fabrics
and places that sold every kind of bead imaginable.
We got Vivian a necklace and some stickers, and I got a shiny elephant in a really nice box frame for about $6. After about an hour, we came to the end of the alley we had been following, and decided that we had experienced Chinatown. Then we had to decide what to do next. Jeff had too much work to be able to meet us for lunch, so I decided I wanted to go back to Central World mall, since it felt rushed when we went there on Thursday.
The taxi driver dropped us off at what I think is the front (although it's hard to tell with these huge malls). There were two shrines in front, which were beautiful if weirdly juxtaposed with the mall behind them.
The first store we saw when we walked in was a Jim Thompson store. I had never heard of this before we moved to Thailand, but it's a big deal here and with good reason. First of all, the Jim Thompson house is a great museum. Second, the materials and designs that are on sale in the stores are absolutely beautiful. You can buy the fabric online, but in the stores they have purses, make up bags, shirts, baby clothes, everything. Luckily, the next AtB trip is to the Jim Thompson outlet, so I'm waiting for that, since the stuff is NOT cheap.
After our visit to Chinatown, I was craving dumplings again. Luckily, I have a nice Mom, and she humored me. I picked this restaurant, since it looked like they were really serious about their dumpling making.
Sure enough, the dumplings came out yummy.
We also had blended watermelon juice again.
I think the place at Siam Paragon was better, but I got my dumpling fix, so I was happy. We explored the mall a little bit more after lunch, but I wanted to hit the commissary before taking the shuttle back home, so we didn't stay long. I've decided I'm going to come downtown one day and just try to explore all of Central World. It is my favorite mall so far.
We used a foot bridge to cross the road, so that it was easier to get a taxi back to the embassy. In the middle of the bridge, I looked down and had a moment where I realized, oh my gosh, I live in Bangkok!
Pretty cool.
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