August 1st, 2009
Oh…my….Goodness!!
Today was a FULL day to say the least–we started off with our planned trip, with a driver, furniture shopping. My plan was to be looking at mostly teak furniture–but based on what I saw today I am developing an affinity for Rose Wood also. A bit more expensive even than teak–but even harder wood, so may be a better choice for the long LONG term. Some of the tables are SO heavy, I can not even budge them when trying to lift a corner. And all you folks out there know I am a strong gal…
So we saw several furniture factories here today–We are now armed with photos and ideas, but need to decide if the pocket book can handle it!!
We also went to a couple of silverware factories and a laquerware factory also–very cool! Rachael bought a very cute pair of silver starfish earrings–that girl has not yet met a store (or market or stall or street vendor) where she could not find something to buy…Brooklyn also…Jackie is now the lone hold out for some hard core shopping. She will get there, I have total faith–she has mostly only bought souvenirs for her friends, but she needs to start thinking about herself also…
Troy is coming down with a cold, so he begged off (poor fellow) but Rachael, BK and Jackie and I moseyed off on our own to the “Saturday Market” also known as the “Chiang Mai Walking Street Market” (Did not know this until we read all the T-Shirts proclaiming it as such). BK in fact got herself a T-Shirt all in Thai (so we will have to confirm what it says with a trusted Thai source here at hotel) that says so…
So we were there right at the stroke of 5pm so as not to miss a moment…and after 2 hours and 47 minutes had only covered HALF the market (we know this because we went down one side of the street with the intention of doing the other on the way back). My feet were howling and we were all but out of money–with only 44 baht left to our collective names…we muscled our way home through the thick crowd of beggars, stalls and shoppers…to the relative peace and quiet of our hotel room to pick up Troy and go for supper…
What a day–Rachael and I will rest our poor selves tomorrow while the rest of the gang is at Cooking School so that we can hit the really big Sunday Market tomorrow night–after a trip to the bank machine of course!
