Aahhh... Bangkok...

Things I love about Bangkok:

1. Super efficient, clean, and well-organized BTS Skytrain and MRT.
2. Wide selection and up-to-date fashion in the shopping malls.
3. Reasonably priced (and some very cheap!) clothes and shoes.
4. Super cool markets that consist of tons of stalls selling everything from clothes, to souvenirs, to home furnishing, decorative items, candles, bags, shoes, knick-knacks, etc.

So that was my birthday gift, a trip to Bangkok. Thanks, babe! :-x

First of all, I just love love love how organized, efficient, clean, and well-planned Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS) Skytrain is! And they make efficient use of the space beneath the train tracks as well i.e. there is a pedestrian walkway one level below the train tracks along the shopping district (Chit Lom-Siam stations) and this walkway is connected to all the buildings/malls along the road! Talk about integrated, man! After getting off the train, you don't even need to go down to road level to get into the malls; just walk to the building you want, and chances are, it's connected to the walkway. So cool! Their MRT is exactly like Singapore's, it's like the same architect/engineer designed/built it!

And the best thing is the entire place is clean and well-lit. You can see that proper planning was done coz the result is an efficient and well-organized transportation system. KL's Putra LRT, Star LRT, and Monorail is nothing compared to Bangkok's BTS SKytrain and MRT systems. Our train system is like a haphazard network built randomly and later, the powers-that-be try to integrate them but fail miserably coz our city councils don't PLAN properly!

Bangkok malls can rival Singapore malls anytime! Needless to say, KL malls fall way behind in terms of selection, latest fashion, and prices. I think KL gets the outdated stock from Bangkok and Singapore coz we seem to be behind in the latest fashion. And this outdated fashion stuff is sold at such high prices too! Talk about being ripped off, man!

One good example is the lingerie. Take the Wacoal brand, for example. The price range of a Wacoal bra is around THB480-590 (depending on the style) and they have so many different designs, even those fancy ones with sparkly stones on them, which only costs THB590. Here in KL, a normal, boring-looking standard bra from Wacoal costs at least RM80 and if you want to get the fancier designs (if there's any, to begin with), you can expect to spend RM150 and above. But that's IF they even carry those designs here.

And the shoes, oh my! I think the shoes department at the Siam Paragon is 10 times the size of Isetan KLCC and a million times better in terms of selection and fashion. A nice, chic pair of heels that I really like costed me THB1080 whereas in KL, I'd have to first FIND a pair of nice shoes that I like and chances are, it's gonna cost me at least RM150 for that nice pair of shoes. Which is why I hardly buy really nice shoes in KL and end up having to wear the not-so-nice ones coz I just cannot justify paying that huge amount for a pair of shoes (yes yes, this is my post-Nine West 50% off period :p I no longer buy Nine West shoes in KL even if they are 50% off coz firstly, I don't want to pay RM159 for those shoes and secondly, we get the outdated stock).

So, the main malls to head to in Bangkok, based on my recent experience, are:

1. Gaysorn (lots of designer stuff - out of my budget even for Bangkok!)
2. Central World Plaza (the Zen Central departmental store has some nice clothes, ok to buy if there's a sale)
3. Siam Paragon (the Paragon departmental store is awesome! There are other outlets besides this store, designer brands and such. Their supermarket and food court are very nice and trendy-looking, as well)
4. Siam Center (I bought 6 pairs of shoes for only RM150 (gasp!) at one of the shoe shops here. Lots of outlets like Levi's, VNC (I think this is Bangkok's version of Vincci), Bossini, etc.)
5. Siam Discovery Center (Adjacent to Siam Center. This one has a lot of home decorating stores like Habitat, Loft. The Loft has lots of cool knick-knacks)
6. Mah Boon Krong (MBK)

*You can stop at Chit Lom (Gaysorn) and walk all the way to MBK (National Stadium). Or the other way around, whichever you prefer :-) Please note that these are only the malls that we managed to visit. There are MORE!

MBK deserves a write-up all on its own! It's like a classier and trendier Sungei Wang but 10 times the size of Sungei Wang. The number of shops there is just staggering! Just the shops selling apparel can make you go crazy, there're so many of them! And you can find a shop selling denim clothes here, and the next shop selling formal gowns, and another selling baby clothes, it just goes on and on and on! Amazing! Just remember to bargain when you're here. I bought a dress for THB700 at one shop and found out later, in another shop, the same dress in a different color for THB550! And the THB700 one was already the bargained price from THB950! So it pays to browse around first before buying but you'll need lots of time here coz there's just soooooo many shops! If you want to head straight to MBK, just take the BTS Skytrain to National Stadium.

Suan Lum Night Bazaar is another awesome place! It's similar to Chatuchak Weekend Market, just smaller but even so, there are still tons and tons of shops to look around! We didn't need to go to Chatuchak this time around and the best thing is, it's closer to the shopping district than Chatuchak and it opens every night, if I'm not mistaken. They have an enormous food court/beer garden, with many many stalls selling different types of food. Just like Chatuchak, different sections of the bazaar sell different things so you've got one section specially for home furnishings, another for apparel, and another for souvenirs, etc. It's not as big as Chatuchak but even so, there are more than enough stalls to keep you busy for a few hours, especially if you're like me and like to stop at almost every stall, haha! To get there, just take the BTS Skytrain to Sala Daeng and follow the signs to the MRT (there are very clear signs, you can't miss it!). Take the MRT to Lumphini and the bazaar is literally at the exit of the station.

One thing I noticed right away about the malls in Bangkok and the things that they sell, is that, there's a classy, trendy feel to them. It's rather difficult to explain but when I go to the malls in KL, the things feel like, they're "cheap" (in looks, not in price). But in Bangkok, the things are reasonably priced and they have the classy feel as well. And they are well-organized and not all jumbled up here and there like in the malls in KL.

All in all, we spent 4 days almost entirely on shopping! Phew! I walked so much until my tailbone hurt! :-O And even then, I couldn't look at everything that I wanted (i.e. bags and cosmetics) coz I was just too overwhelmed by all the different things they have there!

Here's a glimpse of most of the stuff we bought :

Shoes, tops, dresses, shirts, bags, baby clothes (for my sis), undies, etc...

Wall hanging, pillow cases, salt & pepper shakers, tidbits...

...and he got a Deuter 35 + 10 L backpack (THB4200), a suit tailor-made plus 3 pants (THB4500), and many more other things!

That's it, man. I'm not going to shop in KL anymore. I just need a twice yearly trip to Bangkok to cover my shopping needs for the entire year!

The Thais are generally courteous and they seem more tolerant of each other as compared to Msians. Drivers almost always indicate when they change lanes on the roads, even on highways and they GIVE WAY to others on the roads, even in the traffic jam. On the first night, we took a tuk-tuk back to our hotel and the guy got lost so he stopped at one of the nicer (i.e. more expensive) hotels to ask for directions and the security guy (?) of that hotel, nicely dressed in a suit patiently explained to him how to get to where we wanted to go. Isn't that nice? I tell you, if in KL, the tuk-tuk guy would probably just get told to get lost! Especially if he stopped at one of the 5-star hotels.

Another thing I love about Bangkok is that the people respect and are kind to animals. Even stray ones off the street. People don't chase them away, they just let them be. It's like, they know that these animals have as much right to be on the streets as them. And I think this makes the animals less edgy and more calm (most of them seem to be sleeping most of the time) and less likely to bother the people. Almost all the animals I saw there had collars on them. Outside our hotel, there are street vendors who set up their stalls along the street to sell their wares and there is this black/white dog whose owner seemed to be the lady who has a stall there and the dog just sleeps underneath her stall. How cool is that?! Among all the dogs I'd seen when I was there, I don't think I've even heard one of them bark!

Dog lying under its owner's stall (it's got a collar on)

Many of the stalls at Suan Lum Night Bazaar had cats. And all these cats have collars on them (wow, people actually CARE to put collars on their pets!). And they just stay in the stall with their owners, they don't run out and make a nuisance of themselves. I just find it so fascinating! And such a stark contrast to M'sia. Zen Central at Central World Plaza even allows toy dogs into the store! Gosh, I'm 100% certain that there will never be a day when I'd see a pet (cat, dog, whatever) allowed into any store/building in M'sia! Unless it's an animal hospital/clinic, that is.

Kitty at Suan Lum Night Bazaar... see, it's got a collar too!

Oh, and Thai policemen and security guards are slim and trim! Unlike M'sian policemen... I shall leave it at that.

Colourful fruit made of green beans...

Cool escalator at the new Suvarnabhumi Airport...

Bangkok's got a fan for life here! Till next time, BKK!! :-D