Musings: trip a lil trip

23 more days to cold christchurch.

i feel so unsettled just coming back from a holiday and starting to pack for another long-haul trip again. ok, well, not a trip exactly...

it's like, i can't see myself past "leaving for nz". everything in my vision of the near future stops and ends at "when i leave". i mean, i know life goes on and it's what i've always wanted, but as i cross of the days on my planner, i'm loathing to leave penang more and more. it's hard saying goodbye to your comfort zone and hear about your friends doing things you used to do. boo.

but wouldn't life be just boring without new experiences? besides, it's a real blessing that i was given the chance to go.

anyway...

bangkok was wicked!

if i could sum it all up in one word, i guess it'd be shopping. cos that's what we and a whole lot of tourists did the whole 4 days we were there. shopped til the very last minute we absolutely had to leave for the airport. i'm not really a shopping person, so after a day or two i started to get a bit sick of acquiring stuff. but we stayed in the middle of the shopping district so haha, what else is there to do?

but let's start at the beginning shall we? i have to admit, bangkok totally surpassed all of my expectations. i imagined a grime-filled, crime ladden congested city, but my first impressions were of how modern and organised the city actually is. they have this absolutely cool escalators at the airport which i wish i could ride again. hehe. and a lot of their malls are interlinked by walkways just under the LRT (whatever it's called there), so you don't have to risk getting knocked down by scary motorists while crossing the road.

and the malls... the Malls. think kl's pavillion and klcc, only flashier and much bigger. since we did much shopping there, i shall mention some of the places that we visited.

view from our hotel

Paragon was obviously the most high end of the lot. i mean, audi, lamborghini(i hope this is how you spell it?), lotus, porsche, bmw, and masseratti all have showrooms there. so you can imagine. but i liked it even if all we could do was salivate at the shop displays. very classy and posh, y'know? oh, and thumbs up for their gourmet market. lotsa fine imported food on display and sampling.

we frequented Central like a Lot. cos it was directly opposite our hotel so... haha yeah you get the picture. it's this really really ginormous shopping place with the biggest forever 21 i've ever seen. yes, that alone is worth a visit. this mall really reminded me of pavillion, similarities of shops inside i guess.

and on the other side of the scale, there's Platinum. i won't even call it a mall, it's more of rows and rows and more rows of shops selling clothes, bags , shoes, accessories mostly at wholesale prices. the only downside (or upside?) is that you have to purchase at least 3 pieces to be eligible for wholesale price. and most of the stuff looked like things you'd see on blogshops for a fraction of what it originally cost. my sis went absolutely crazy here needless to say.

and the funnest place was the chatuchak weekend market! the sheer size of it is scary. i don't think you'd be able to finish looking at everything there in a day. but definately worth a visit because they sell everything and anything from clothes to craft items to puppies there. i adore the craft section but too bad most of the things go in bulk, so couldn't buy much. it makes you want to start your own business just so you can buy them all back. yes it really does!

look how adorable they are! little fuzzballs...

things things things everywhere...

but, i was right on a few accounts; that bangkok is really a congested place. both with people and cars. still makes me exhausted to think of it. and the sky is grey on default. depressing really, all this pollution.