Bangkok Holiday Day 2 - Christmas Day

Sunday, 25th December 2011

Both hubs and I woke around 730am-ish and waited for the kids to wake so we can all go down for breakfast together. William woke (trust this early riser) and I went down with him first, whilst hubs waited for the Queen to awake from her royal slumber. ; P

Buffet breakfast at the Twin Towers Hotel was average, we had porridge, stirfry noodle, the usual fanfare of sausages, bacon, eggs and toast, fruits, cereals and stuff. Vic and Daddy came down at 915am, ate something quick before we adjourned with the rest of the group at 945am, leaving the hotel in two hired private vans to bring us to the famous Jatuchak Market!

A personal note aside, as I write this, I have a tinge of regret of not buying more at Jatuchak, and for the few days after I was still thinking of a few things in the market which I saw, and thought I should have bought, or bought more!

Jatuchak Market


The journey took us 1.5hr or was it 2 hours? I lost track of time, only know that it was a long journey, and thank God the kids somehow entertained themselves; the boys played toy cars at the back for awhile, Vic chatted and laughed with Mama Yeh Yeh in the front and off and on the rotated places.

We had good sunshine today, and after the driver dropped us off at a designated place where he will pick us up again, we split into two groups ie Pastor Kevin and his family in one, and us in another group. The crowd was reasonable, in fact I'd say it was not crowded to the extend of being uncomfortable and although the weather was sunny, I did not feel humid.

Too many good deals, and if you buy more than 2 pieces from the same shop, they give you their special "wholesale" price which is quite a big difference from the price of that one item alone. Most sellers will not reduce price anymore from their wholesale price and they'd rather not sell, than to make lesser. So, times really aren't that bad, right?

From handicraft materials, baskets, bags, paintings, decorative figurines, clothings, belts, accessories, jewellery, beads (millions of 'em!) to shoes, food, uniquely designed serviettes, toys to of course, various types of souvenirs! Basically everything under the sun they can sell, they sell, and you will be spoilt for choices and amazed at the very affordable prices! Honestly, I was already thinking of buying wholesale there and starting a little biz here in Malaysia... haha, imagine the margins! But reality hit me, so...

Here's some pictures...

... of woven bags

... the beef noodle stall which we ate at

... that did not taste very nice, and the beef was tough

... of a stall selling "chap fan" or economy rice which we passed by, after our lunch... just look at the colors of the food!

... many stalls selling jewellery and beads either sold individually or in big wholesale bags

Love the bright colors of these fake fruits.  Selling 3 for THB100 or 7 for THB200

... the kids love the colorful wriggling magnets from this shop.  Vic chose a peacock whilst William chose a happy crab. 

On our way out of Jatuchak Market, hubs sneaked off to buy me my favourite coconut ice cream, shortly after that Pastor Kevin showed us this stall selling home made ice cream, scooped into half a coconut as a bowl, with flesh to go with and a choice of side condiments plus a cup of coconut drink, all for THB30. We bought two.

I paid THB30 for this stick of potato chips, sliced thick from a real potato then deep fried and sprinkled with your choice of BBQ, Cajun or Chili. Very. Very. Nice.

At 230pm, we hopped back into our waiting vans outside of Jatuchak Market as the crowd was swelling inside. We moved on to our next destination, which was Amphawa Floating Market.


Amphawa Floating Market


I thought this police station was relatively big, unless they expect many crimes.  Most tourists including ourselves use this place to answer nature's call.  There was only one policeman manning the entrance and he was watching tv, oblivious to the people walking in and out. 

Fish for sale.  Please don't judge me, but I honestly don't know what they are called. 

In Malaysia, we have oyster omelette.  In Thailand, they have even better - seafood omelette, comprising of squid, shrimp, oyster and mussels.  Yummylicious!

Seafood available from the boats.  We ordered some from here as our dinner at Amphawa Market.

We ate our dinner under this bridge, with lorries and cars driving on top. 

Real fruits for sale. 

Thais love their dogs.  If they own one, very likely the dogs are dressed up, like this, or a couple of mongrels who can't afford designer wear, but still don on second hand tee shirts.

THB10, that's equivalent to RM1 here.  Fresh pancooked "mua chi" with black sesame and sugar.  Glorious.

Finally, one of me and the kids, Daddy took our picture from the bridge before the sky got dark.

The night view from the bridge at Amphawa Floating Market.  William was disappointed that he didn't get to sit on a boat as I initially told him we would, which was my mistake.  He didn't like the crowds, and shopping doesn't interest him at this point of his young life.  But will be good training for him, I guess.  ; P

We got back to our hotel after another long drive at around 10pm.