Day 2 & 4 - Suan Lum Night Bazaar

This was the place we had to go to for shopping, according to Nancy Chandler, who provides a really good walking map to explore the Suan Lum Night Bazaar. So, excitedly, after checking-in to the hotel, we took our first steps to get dinner from the famous Beer Garden at Suan Lum and maybe to preview the shopping scene.

Our first encounter with the Bangkok skytrain system was without much fuss - they had pretty clear instructions on how much you had to pay for wherever you wanted to go. All done with machines. Only thing was you'd have to change your baht notes to coins at the counter. Pretty simple stuff, as the counter person speaks perfect English :)

Anyway, we bought tickets to Sala Daeng station. And walked and walked and walked around asking for directions to Suan Lum Night Bazaar. When we finally arrived at the bazaar, we realized that there was an MRT station right at its doorstep - Lumphini MRT. Oh no. Ah well.

Hungrily, we flopped down at the first "beer garden" we saw and proclaimed Thai food the most delicious ever! Soft squid in spicy sweet sour sauce, coconut tarts, spring rolls, rice with yummy pork legs, cincau drinks, and the nicest strawberry juice I ever tasted (JC found this). Food wasn't that cheap la, all cost about RM2 or RM3 each.

They also had this person on stage who sang cover versions really well. Someone remarked, "Even better than some of our Malaysian Idols!". Hmm, I guess Malaysian Idol has become the benchmark for all non-professional singing.

Later, while wandering around, we realized that we were sitting at the wrong beer garden. Apparently, there was another one further in which had a really big stage and really loud live bands on stage. Never ate there, but it's apparently recommended. Maybe next time. However, I enjoyed sitting at the "fake" beer garden we found :)

But enough about the food there. We headed to the bazaar. Original objective was to shop and get it done with. But, after trawling a few aisles, I realised that it was not possible to shop today. Maybe we were just too tired. But personally, I was too amazed at the number of pretty things there were - so I decided to just preview it all and come back again.

There are literally rows and rows and rows of shops there. It's quite hot too because there's no air-conditioning. A bit like Petaling Street in KL, but cleaner and more organised. And within a building. There were basically shops selling decorative items for the house (if I had a home and the money, I'd fly back here to buy all their pretty stuff to decorate my home - serious!), lots of souvenirs (I bought wooden croaking frogs), plenty of individual-designed clothes (by freelance designers), foodstuff, pharmacies selling all kinds of balms (the red Siang brand is apparently quite popular and cheap), and even one or two quirky shops selling towels, lingerie, cutlery. They basically sell everything you need and want.

I tried my hand at bargaining here. But KF says I suck at it :P There were plenty of clothes I wanted to buy. There were a number of shops selling pure linen and pure cotton, really wonderful clothes. If I had a second chance, I'd go back and shop more.

Directions : Take the MRT to Lumphini station. Follow the signs to the Suan Lum Night Bazaar exit. Simple :)

Bangkok is a shopper's haven! Just Suan Lum already made me happy :)