Skip to main content

Chatuchak and Chinatown

So far the Siam City is proving to be the worst of the hotels that we have stayed at in Thailand. Full of tour groups, ornate opulence rather than modern style and crappy expensive internet. Advantages: it's close to the Phaya Thai Skytrain and Airport line stations.

It does have a decent buffet breakfast and Alex likes the many fountains, the lifts and the pool so it's not all bad.


Anyway, we slept in this morning and enjoyed that. Then we caught the Skytrain to its northern terminus at Mo Chit, which is within easy walking distance of the famous Chatuchak (Jatujak) markets. Easy walking distance except for the big playground which lies between the station and the markets.

It was great to let Alex play for a while, though some of the equipment was broken and even dangerously so. Others were in great nick.


The Chatuchak markets were not as scary as I had imagined them to be. Yes they are big, but not overwhelmingly so. All sorts of stuff is sold there, not just pirated bags, clothes and touristy souvenirs. There are artworks, pottery and even a posh pet section that seems custom made for the Paris Hilton chihuahuas out there, not to mention performing squirrels and guinea pigs. There are narrow warrens and broad, but busy, streets in the market area.



We bought a few things, ate lunch at one of the many food stalls, and were amazed by how late it was.

Back to the playground for a while, then we went underground to catch the MTR (subway) all the way back the Hualumphong station, the terminus of the service. A bit of a delay first at Mo Chit while Alex used the clean toilets there - twice because he liked the hand dryer.

Bangkok's Chinatown was really buzzing in the evening. All along the busy main road Yaowarat there were stalls selling Thai-Chinese food, like seafood, shark-fin and birds nest, as well as fresh fruit, chestnuts and other goods under big neon signs.


Squeezing into one busy outdoor eatery we had a dinner of grilled prawns, curry prawns with egg (crab being too messy with Alex), fish in a lime sauce, served with a burner underneath and fried rice with crab. Delicious!

Near the end of the meal Alex looked at me and said "Catch tuk-tuk?"

How could we deny him? For 100B we caught a tuk-tuk all the way back to the hotel. Alex was so excited, shouting out with joy and at the radio when it squawked. As we were stopped at one set of lights a young girl came out selling sweet smelling white flowers wrapped in leaves. I couldn't help but buy them, making Alex even happier.


B wanted to explore the hotel area. There wasn't much except for the big King Power duty-free plaza. Just a collection of mega-expensive brand names, but at least Alex caught more lifts, to his delight.

Last full night in Thailand. Tomorrow we'll visit the malls of Siam Square, maybe see Jim Thompson's House again and that night we depart for Fukuoka. We'll be staying well clear of Tokyo, the north and the radiation.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

One night in Canberra

It's the April school holidays and we are too busy to have a break but need one because of that. And because it's the Easter weekend the options are limited, so we just drive down to Canberra for the night. No, this isn't our first trip for 2023. I wrote about Japan on another site .  I refuse to wake up early so we depart after 8.30 AM. There is not much to say about the drive except that the clouds seem so low and Lake George is very full. We stop at a rest area and at the lookout up the hill to take it all in. Everyone is hungry so we first stop in Dickson and then can't think of anything to eat, so I drive us to Civic, where we can't decide and end up eating at the Singaporean Killiney Kopitiam branch.  The Canberra Centre has nice shops. I dream of getting an iPad from the Apple Store, we buy a blanket and toothbrushes from Muji and wish that Lego wasn't so expensive. Nothing we can't get in Sydney, but then we rarely go out shopping in the city. It'

A selection of jams

We're home now. The last two days of our Brisbane trip involved a lot of driving but not always much movement. On Wednesday we arranged to met Sis and her family at Robina Town Centre, a massive shopping mall. That meant a drive down towards the Gold Coast along the same motorway we'd driven up along. What should have taken an hour took twice that due to the holiday traffic along the 3 and 4 lane road. Lots of people taking the turn-offs to three of the "Worlds" (Wet'n'Wild, Movie World and Dreamworld).  The Town Centre hosts Artvo , a trick photography gallery where you use perspectives to make subjects look like they are part of the artwork. It was surprisingly fun, despite the aversion of we males to being the subjects of photos. Afterwards we had a long chat over lunch, which was sourced from a variety of eateries. I had roti and chicken curry from Roti and Buns . Passable, though the curry was more laksa like. We later took Sis to Daiso and she and her h