July 8th, 2011
July 8th–a day of wandering and shopping and eating
We had a slow morning today…with the bed being something other than a slab of concrete–I slept until 9:30am! That is late, as I have been hauling my sorry stiff self out of bed by around 7am at the latest most days here. We had b’fast at the hotel…it is just OK…maybe if we were there earlier?? OR Maybe my mistake was letting Troy have the American breakfast at Ginny’s Place the other day–now he has such high expectations…
We got caught up on our electronic communication (ie: all got on our computers for a bit)…then decided to walk down to the Mae Ping River and hit the Warorot market (local market) on the way back. The girls and I went (or thought we went) to this market 2 years ago…but what i have discovered is that we only touched the very tip of the iceberg that night. It is the largest and most central of the markets in the city. Massive does not describe it…in addition to the street vendors…there is a massive indoor complex 3 or 4 floors high (I lost track). There is food, clothing, daily items, trinkets and souveniers, toys…literally everything. It is where the locals go to get anything and everything they might need for daily life–but it caters to tourists alike. Russ was in desperate need of some shorts (it came to my attention a couple days ago he only has 2 pairs here–and one really needs a minimum of three so as to have something to wear when 2 pairs are at the laundry : )
He found some and haggled the lady down to 450 baht (which is $15) for 2 very nice pairs of shorts…and needless to say–I am happy to see him in something else!!
BK also hit the shops–she bought 6 pairs of sunglasses for $10–So that is like a 6 years supply as far as i am concerned…but she assures me they all have a purpose. And a shirt she really liked for $6 and a jacket and a pair of pants for $16.50. So she was a happy camper/shopper!
Troy found some loose tea and i got some Pandanas leaf…not sure what i need that for exactly at this moment–but it is used in a lot of Thai cooking and i have not seen it at home–Maybe Uwijamaya if i scoured the shelf, but i can guarantee it would cost more than $1.50, which is what I paid here : )
Pretty sure we did a decent job of eating our way through the market–we had waffles, these little coconut pancake things and these cookies I like that are like a cross between a ritz cracker and a butter cookie with pineapple jam in the middle. Sounds weird, but they are delish!! Discovered them the first year we were here and try to find them every time…and there they were right at the market : )
We came back to the hotel and decompressed from all that excitement (and de-sweated–it is really hot here today and full sun!) for a bit–with the plan of going to Sopa’s around 6 or 7pm for a massage and then to Ginny’s Place for supper. If you have read more than one of my posts, you might be seeing a pattern here–hahahahahahahaha
The Imm hotel where we are staying has an “entertainment room” which is a comfy hang out spot with a/c and massive bean bag chairs–we ended up relaxing until close to 7pm due to the comfort of those chairs!! That and Russ found some football to watch–the game caught the interest of Troy also, which is weird because Troy is not a football fan–may have had something to do with the fact that the ladies (yes you read that right) were wearing lingerie (yes you read that right). Has anyone heard of this?? LFL–stands for Lingerie Football League. Apparently Seattle even has a team!! And we had to come all the way to Thailand to watch it–with Thai voice over–so we could not even understand what was being said–but apparently the commentating was not that important…as they managed to follow the game with out it. That is all I have to say about that.
So onto the rest of the evening…BK got her hair hi-lighted for 500baht and the rest of us got massage. As always–never a disappointing experience. We picked up our laundry (best 160baht/$5.50 USD spent ever!) Then we went to Ginny’s Place for supper. Troy and Russ got there before us as I waited for BK to finish up with her hair–and they had a plate of cabbage (AKA onion rings and spring rolls) while they waited for us. Then they all caved and had western food for dinner…Troy had cheeseburger and fries, BK had a chicken burger and fries and Russ–a club sandwich. I myself had traditional Thai dish…now I can’t really blame them as i have only 4 days of eating authentic thai food left…they have 14–Not gonna lie, I AM starting to think about a big juicy burger when I get back–just not sure where I will go to get it yet…
L
