I had breakfast at McDonald’s again. While eating, I read a free weekly magazine that chronicled Bangkok’s music, parties and fashion. Gene mentioned that a similar magazine circulated in Hong Kong. We had initially planned to be at Chatuchak by 8AM to avoid the infamous crowd. The night before though it was decided that we needn’t push ourselves too hard so we moved our arrival time to 10AM instead. Both the BTS and MRT can take on to Chatuchak Weekend Market, but the MRT Kampaeng Phet Station gets one right smack in the market. Most people get off the Chatuchak Park MRT Station but that would entail a bit of walking to the actual market.

Nikki, Gene, K and I gave up on Chatuchak because we wanted to go back to Platinum Mall on the premise that we seemed to have missed out on a section of Platinum’s second floor. Chatuchak wasn’t as crowded as we thought it would be. The crowds had yet to descend since it was early morning. The heat though was as expected—overpowering, unrelenting, punishing. This was in the rainy season. I guess I should be thankful it didn’t rain. We headed straight to Platinum from Chatuchak to conquer the uncharted territories of the second floor. We managed to buy more clothes, and I was finally able to buy a yellow dress which was selling for 550 baht the previous day and was not at 350 baht. The prices really are subjective. I thought it was worth it that we left Chatuchak that morning.

We went to Siam Paragon (again) for lunch. I wanted to try MOS (Mountain Ocean Sun) Burger, a Japanese fast food chain which was hard to find amidst the many food outlets in the atrium. Gene and I approached an attendant who led us all the way to MOS. I tried the grilled pork and ginger rice burger and was satisfied. Based on Melissa’s remark that there were plenty of freebies inside the Gourmet Market, I decided to go for a stroll after eating. I couldn’t find where the free tastings were until I saw a man open a rice cooker and fill a small cup, akin to those used for urine samples, with rice. I followed his lead and got to taste blue-colored rice, a variety only identified in Thai. I went around and somewhat had a full meal—cookies, noodles, yogurt, apple juice, tamarind and various snacks. Homeless people who have nothing to eat can just come here to feast. I got lost on the way back to our table and must’ve circled the atrium twice before I realized that I had been going around in circles. It was a dizzying and disconcerting feeling. I’ve always hated the feeling of getting lost and displaced.

K went ahead to explore by herself to look for a big buy while the Nikki, Gene and I hung around for awhile for lack of anything to do. In a last ditch burst of energy, we decided to go to Siam Square which we had missed the night before due to rain. As we were about to cross the street, we lost the energy and proceeded to Siam Discovery Center next door instead where there were more of the same stores and some quotes from Thai fashion designers about fashion plastered on the walls. To while away the time, we had coffee and dessert (nothing spectacular) at Greyhound Café wore statement tees, “I may not be cute but I recommend great dishes.” and “Live dangerously. Order our special of the month today.” With nothing better to do, we spent a few minutes playing around with Koh Kae. We couldn’t sit at Greyhound Café forever and so we moved on to the mezzanine outside Siam Paragon where I had fun taking pictures of random things with Nikki’s camera. While I wasn’t enthusiastic about having my picture taken, I realized how fun it was to be behind the lens. If I had more enthusiasm for photography, it would be creatively empowering to explore this form of storytelling.

When in doubt, Ernest and I eat and that was exactly what we did at Chatuchak. We randomly selected a food stall brimming with customers and ordered breaded chicken, grilled pork, and catfish salad. We capped the dining experience at Chatuchak with ice cream topped with nuts served on Thai coconut which we discovered on our way out of the market. The decision to eat proved to be a brilliant one since, not only were the dishes great, but the nourishment also gave us the high we needed to carry on for the rest of the day.

On our way to the MRT, we chanced upon Underground Shop, an establishment located besides the MRT which boasts of several shops selling pretty unique items. Truth be told, we only ventured underground because of the lure of its centralized air conditioning and it was just our luck that we were able to buy distinct sets of toothbrushes to bring home to friends and family.

After freeing ourselves from the heavy burden, we soldiered on and went back to Central World since Ernest wanted to visit Human Touch one last time. After much deliberation, he was able to pick another pillow case to go with the first case he bought during our first day in Bangkok. Who knew one can never have too many pillow cases?

We wasted no time and headed to Platinum Mall after the visit to Human Touch to continue our last minute shopping spree. It was during this trip to Platinum that we learned that Platinum had a wing that we weren’t able to explore during our initial visit. This realization made it impossible for us to return to the stalls where we first bought some choice graphic tees. The stop at Platinum was not in vain though for Ernest was finally able to buy a hip enough bag for his mom, cute clothes for his niece and nephews, and an assortment of things for his officemates. I also was able to accomplish the goals I had for Platinum such as to buy a cute outfit for the baby of my boss and a T-shirt that would suit Polo to a tee.

It was nice to finally see the familiar faces of K, DJ, Gene, and Nikki after paying for the groceries and it was K who joined Ernest and me for a much needed dinner at Siam Paragon’s food court. We shared a meal of shrimp paste rice, pad Thai, and spicy beef noodle soup. Admittedly, I wasn’t able to fully appreciate the food since we ate in a hurry because we needed to return to the hotel asap to catch our red eye flight for home. It was no means an easy feat but K, Ernest, and I somehow managed to carry all the merchandise bought back to the hotel. This was when another round of chaos ensued.

We finally decided to call it a day, effectively ending our Bangkok shopping adventure with a whimper. On the way back however while telling Nikki that I wonder if anyone would recognize me if I weren’t wearing glasses, one of the lens of my glasses suddenly slipped, crashed and broke into shards. I think I may have hit some innocent commuters, but I really couldn’t see clearly to say for sure. There was a split second moment of shock before Gene and Nikki sprung into action and flanked me on both sides to aid my walking. Attempting to retain a semblance of dignity, I tucked my glasses in my bag and told them I would walk unaided and ask for their help as needed. Thankfully, I didn’t slip during the walk back to the hotel (I navigated stairs!) and only required their assistance, like a geriatric, upon crossing the street.

We retrieved our luggage (and my spare glasses) and rearranged our luggage right there on the small lobby— more sofa set and table than anything else. I had to move my stuff around since I decided that I would handcarry all the food, save for the coconut candy, in a duffel bag along with the mooncakes in a paper bag. We had to apologize to and work around a man sitting in the lobby checking his email. He left after a short while. Melissa, K and Ernest then arrived which led to another frenzied round of unpacking and packing. There were three Pinoys checking in as we were wrapping up and were asking the bellboy about the nearest red light district. They were looking at us, but we diligently ignored them even when one of them sat on the sofa as we were flitting about. We were quite unfriendly.

Finally we were done. We loaded up our luggage into the cabs while Ernest took care of the tipping. On the way, we realized that we forgot to tell our cabbie not to take the highway to avoid paying tolls but we ended up doing just that. I had no idea what the toll fees were as there were no notices put up so we just gave the cabbie what he asked for the two times we passed the toll. Despite having taken the highway and absence of heavy traffic, the ride to the airport was still long. We roughly paid the same amount (excluding toll fees) as when we came from the airport sans highway. The other cab driver seemed to have ripped off the others though. On our part, it really was hard to tell since we had no idea what roads we were taking.