Shopping at Siam Paragon

Our session with Phra Chainarong was far too short, but he had other obligations and so did we -- downtown Bangkok beckoned! We boarded the bus and rode it to the nearest BTS stop.

No travel blog would be complete without a picture
of me standing in some public transportation area
waiting for a bus, train, subway, or some other
method of transportation, now would it?

Bangkok is an extraordinarily congested city -- I got a small taste of the traffic on my (long) ride to the International House from the airport, and, judging by the fact that our packed schedule allows nearly three hours each morning to arrive at our first destination, I can just imagine how bad things get. The BTS Sky Train is one of the latest of Bangkok's many efforts to deal with this problem. Opened in 1999 by one of the Royal Princesses, the Sky Train is a clean, convenient monorail system that shuttles urban dwellers from place to place above the hubbub of the city below.

Me and Pantee in front of Siam Paragon.
Note her cute school uniform!

In almost no time at all, we had arrived at Siam Paragon, Bangkok's largest and most decadent luxury shopping mall. Siam Paragon is connected via elevated walkways to at least two other important shopping areas: Siam Discovery Center, which houses nearly every electronic known to man (in Dr. Loike's words, the place has more cell phones than there are people in Thailand); and MPK an upscale-but-not-outrageously-so shopping area that is a favorite of Thai locals. MPK is in turn connected to a maze of smaller, independently run shops, which blend seamlessly out into those jostling one another along the streets under the Sky Train.

Me and Tasha in front of Siam Center.

Tasha, Pantee and I roamed all these places in the time allotted to us, buying little but drinking it all in and making plans for our return next week.

Her Royal Highness Queen Sirikit.

A photograph of the queen when she was around twenty greets you at the lavish entrance to Siam Paragon, but things quickly become more up-to-date. (The queen was 20 in 1952. In fact, it will be her birthday next week, but more on that in a future post.)

One of the many beautifully designed shops in Siam Center.

The level of planning and design was equally up to anything I've seen in New York, DC, Hong Kong or Taipei. In fact, much of the experience reminded me of shopping in Taipei -- Siam Paragon had many similar brands to Taipei 101, while the Discovery Center reminded me of the technology section of New York, New York where I bought my much-beloved ideastyle laptop cover.

Lamborghini (!)

Still, it must be noted that while Taipei 101 has many other features to commend it, it does not have an entire floor devoted to luxury cars -- Porsche, Lamborghini, Ferrari, and many others I had never even heard of.

Heuer represent!

Of course, more standard high-end brands were also well-represented. When we passed a TAGHeuer store... how could I not take a picture? Note the ad featuring Tiger Woods in the background.

Heaven on earth.

Still, despite all the glamour and high technology of the shopping at Paragon and Discovery Center, my favorite stop (and the one where I actually made a significant purchase!) was at a tiny little stationery store along the street by the Sky Train station. Paradise!

Pink taxi!

By the end of the day, we were all pretty pooped. We grabbed dinner on the ground floor of Paragon, then lined up for a taxi to take us back to Salaya. One of the coolest things about Bangkok is how its taxis are all different colors -- each company has its own particular pattern and hue. One of the most prosperous companies has bright pink taxis. Although we didn't make it into a pink one tonight, I hold high hopes for that experience eventually.