Bangkok

We stayed in Bangkok for two nights downtown on the Chao Praya River. We stayed at the Royal Orchid Sheraton. It was really a very nice hotel with a great spa and restaurants that you could eat inside or outside next to the River. The hotel was even nice enough to upgrade us to a small suite.

Definitely a different feel than Phuket. Bangkok is a busy bustling city with tuk-tuks, (little open air, roofed, 3-wheel motorcycles with a bench for 3 passengers); river boats of all sizes; taxis; tour buses, etc. We took regular old taxis everywhere as it was a humid 95 degrees. Can't imagine what summer might be like.............BF had heard from other expats that stainless steel dinnerware was a great deal in Thailand. We decided to go to two large markets to look at this and any other unique items. We visited one market in the evening (Patpong night market). The market was next to a Muy Thai boxing ring (you could hear the noise coming from the tent). There were all sorts of eating establishments, shops, a large ferris wheel, a live performance stage, etc. All the Beijing shopping was good preparation for us (including knowing when to get out of a taxi when you are about to get ripped off).

On Saturday morning we went to the Chatuchak Weekend Market. The market is 35 acres and has over 15,000 stores (stalls). We found a really nice cutlery store after a couple of hours of wandering. We thought the Dirt Market in Beijing was large. This was even bigger and it was overwhelming at times.