Thailand Trip Post 7

January 4, 2015

              We slept in! And had breakfast at our guesthouse before walking to the nearest bus stop and trying to figure out which bus would take us to the train station. None of them apparently. After about an hour of waiting, and consulting with a helpful old British man who had a bus schedule, we gave it up as not going to happen and hailed a taxi. Once at the train station, it was simple to find the metro system, purchase tickets (black plastic discs), and find the Jim Thompson House.

              Mr. Jim Thompson served in World War II and joined the CIA. When he retired, he moved to Thailand and built a traditional Thai house. He bought traditional Asian art of all kinds, lots of it from China, and basically turned his house into a ready-made museum. He became interested in the Thai silk industry and helped to revive it and keep the traditional way of weaving and dyeing from dying out. He disappeared on a trip when he was in his 60s and was never found. His house was turned into a museum, with all proceeds going to help the silk industry in Thailand.

This lovely woman performed some traditional Thai dance. The finger movements feature heavily and are enhanced with long, claw-like finger pieces.

Part of the extensive garden around the house

The living room

Yummy appetizers

and curry

              After a turn of this lovely house, and a trip to the gift shop, we had a wonderful (expensive) lunch at their restaurant. Then, we headed out to do some shopping! We chose the MBK Center and it`s acres of shops. There was so. Much. Stuff. There was a whole floor of tiny stalls full to bursting with electronics. That floor was so bright and noisy we just headed right back down the escalator. Way too much stimulation. We finished our souvenir shopping here, as well as picking up candies to bring back to our offices as omiyage (souvenirs, usually food, brought back for all your colleagues). We stumbled across a shop that sold tins of Thai tea, so we could make our new favorite drink back home. Yum!

              Our main goal was the shoes though. Japan is full of cute footwear that is usually out of size range for our big American feet. Thailand, however, if full of tourists, and combines cute shoes, large sizes, and low prices to create a wonderful smorgasbord. I finally got new all-weather black boots and a couple pairs of flats for work and everyday stuff. We both ended the day with arms full of bags.

              The top floor of the shopping center had a restaurant called The Fifth. It was a very fancy food court. You got a card with 1,000 baht credit when you entered. You gave that instead of cash when you ordered food from the various places. When you were finished, you took the card to the cash registers at the exit and paid for whatever you had used. There were lots of options, from all different countries, Thai, Arabic, Greek, Japanese, steak, pizza, desserts, etc.

              We made the trek back to our guesthouse through a combination of trains, taxi, and walking. Tomorrow is our last day, and we have to check-out by noon, so we packed up our bags and turned in early.