Bangkok, Thailand Day 2

I woke up at 0730. I had fallen asleep the night before without showering as I was so tired. So I got up, showered and washed up. I didn’t feel like going out today. I just wanted to stayed in and rest. But I knew I had some stuff to get and lunch to eat. Anyway, I decided to stay in to read and leave late. I only left the hotel at 1430. I went to the noodle stand situated in an alley about 2 minutes away from the hotel. I like this noodle stall which sells really nice duck noodles. After lunch, I walked to the BTS to go to Ekamai. I had read about a discounted bookshop opened by Asia Books, one of the most famous bookstores in Bangkok. I thought the rates would be good given it was a discounted store but the prices were off by maybe 100baht and it was really messy in there. I went off without buying anything.I next walked to another bookstore. This bookstore is a secondhand bookstore that sells books really cheaply. I got books for 150-190baht each. I bought in total 4books for 610baht (SG$27). I like this bookstore…not only are the books cheap but some of them are in really good condition plus they have a very wide selection. After the bookstore, I walked over to Emporium to visit Asia Books. This, unlike the earlier is not discounted. After this bookstore, I went over to Kinokuniya. I was looking for a book; No one takes my children by Donya Al-Nahi. I thought the book was really fascinating. It is about a British woman who marries a Middle Eastern guy. During her marriage, she knew of many British women who had married Middle Eastern guys. What happened to some of these British women was that some of these Middle Eastern guys unhappy with their lives would suddenly take the children back to the Middle East and disappear without telling their wives anything. And these wives, they are helpless because the law can’t do anything for them and they are not familiar with Middle East. They can’t find their husbands and can’t get back their kids and really the Middle East is so vast, to search for a person is like looking for a needle in a haystack. So this lady, Donya, hears of these stories and would help the British women by going with them to Middle East to find their husbands and take back their kids. In the end, her own husband did the same thing to her. He disappeared to Iraq with two of their children. So she tracks him down and takes back the two kids. All this “kidnapping” was really unusual to me. I’ve never heard of parents kidnapping their own children and disappearing into their own country. What’s more unusual is that the law can’t do anything for them. I mean, the kids were taken away against one parent’s consent. It just isn’t right.Anyway, the bookstore closed at 2130. I left only because they were switching off some of the lights and pulling the shutters partially down. Walked to the nearest BTS which is Phrom Phong station. On the way back to the hotel, I stopped at the nearby Burger King to get dinner because a lot of places were closed. And as I was walking, I heard loud popping noises that sounded like firecrackers. And it was firecrackers. I wonder what the event was. Anyway, I got back to my room; I was having my dinner and reading the local papers when I read an article about Suan Lum Night Bazaar. A lady had written in to the papers protesting about the closure of the night bazaar. Apparently, tonight is the last night before they close the bazzar to build a shopping centre. I was shocked. I read somewhere that it would close on 1st April. I thought back to the firecrackers. The direction of the firecrackers was where the bazaar is. I decided to make a trip down to the bazaar even though it was about 2320. The bazaar and I go way back to my first solo trip to Bangkok in 2004. I remember staying a few minutes away from the night bazaar and almost every night I would go there and walk around. I went down and asked the front desk if it was the Bazaar’s last night, they said no, not yet. But I decided to go because if it really was the last night, I would forever regret not going for the last time. So I sat a cab to the bazaar as it was late. I got there about 15minutes later. Already a lot of shops were closed and quite a few were in the midst of closing. I wandered around just looking. Even the food stalls were closing. It was a sad night. And really why they wanted to close the bazaar is beyond me. I mean the bazaar is a nice place to do some night shopping. Truth be told, I would rather shop at the bazaar then at some shopping centre. There are lots of shopping centers in Bangkok and one more or one less really doesn’t make a difference. But the atmosphere at the bazaar is something shopping centers can’t replace. Sure, shopping centers are air conditioned but I would rather forgo that and sweat buckets then shop at a shopping centre. I doubt I’ll go back to Suan Lum when the new shopping center opens. At 12mn, 90percent of the shops were closed. I continued to walk around to those who were opened. Even then most of the 10percent remaining were packing up to close. Even the huge ferris wheel went off at 12mn. I decided to leave at about 0030. I thought of going to Patpong to walk the streetside stalls since it was nearby but I was tired and I really hadn’t finish my dinner as I rushed out when I found out the Bazaar was closing so I sat a cab back to the hotel.Did I mention CNN reported it’s 35 Deg C out in Bangkok!!Check out http://www.bts.co.th/en/index.asp for the skytrain service. It's a cheap and fast way of travelling within Bangkok and it gets you to most places. There is a section under Routes that is really good. It shows important buildings around the various BTS. A good way to see if your hotel is near the BTS. You can also check fare prices when travelling on the BTS in order to work out your transport costs.