We're here for a few days so Fuad can work before we head out on our vacation. We're staying at a "boutique" hotel tucked away off the bustle of the main streets in a quiet area near Lumpini Park and the US Embassy.
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| Lumpini Park |
Yesterday after Fuad went to work I decided to walk to the Jim Thompson house, according to my iphone maps this would be a 40 minute walk. I told myself there is no better way to get to know a city than by walking the streets. I kinda wish my iphone had told me that it would be an exhausting 40 minutes due to the route not having much shade and 100 degree temperatures rising before the noon hour. Three quarters of the way there, I spotted something that gave hope to my sweat drenched body & parched mouth...a sight in the distance that made my heart flutter...The Paragon Mega Mall! Yay a Starbucks! I had to stop. HAD TO...so then I HAD TO stop at the department store where I know they sell the products I love, the products that remind me of home! Origins, Bert's Bees (which I find so interesting is sold along side Mac, Bobbi Brown, Origins, Clinique etc...and you can get this stuff at any Walgreen's in the States). While in the department store, I participated in one of my favorite past-times...stealth observation, otherwise known as "people watching". I will admit, I'm fascinated by women who live under the veil. Don't be fooled! These women are the most expert shoppers I have ever stealth-ly observed! They spend their money freely, usually with hordes of children surrounding them, which they loudly boss to go get them a different size/color/shape. They leave the stores burdened down with shopping bags...it makes me wonder...what's really under that veil?
Anyway...then I HAD TO go to the gap! There is just something about gap clothes...the fit, the feel, the look, lucky for me yesterday there was a sale!
Now to continue my journey to the Jim Thompson house, in the heat, with shopping bags & refreshed from a Starbucks Green Tea Frappe...
The cost of the Jim Thompson tour with a guide in English is 100 baht and you can stay as long as you like wandering on your own after the tour. There is also a restaurant and shop where you can buy some Jim Thompson Thai Silk Company wares.
I really enjoyed this tour and I was so glad that I took some time to research Jim Thompson before going...I loved imagining all the rich & famous who were invited to dine at this house and how difficult it must have been to do everything he did in the era in which he did it. Now he's a legend and a bit of a mystery, he disappeared in Malaysia in 1967 and to this day no one knows what happened to Jim Thompson.
When I left the house, I was talked into taking a tuk tuk back to the hotel...after refusing to give in, finally the guy was honest with me...he would only charge me 10 baht for a ride to my hotel IF I would agree to look at a shop on the way there. I only needed to look for 10 minutes and he gets a free gas card from the shop owners. Ok, I finally agreed. We shook hands on our deal, "10 baht, right?!"
I got to the shop and discovered it's one of these "custom-made-to-order" shops that makes tailored dresses & suits. I immediately wondered how I was gonna look around for 10 minutes, there's hardly any merchandise to look at but there's plenty of fabric bolts...I headed over to where some shirts for men are hanging...so, Fuad ended up with a few new items too, everybody happy. I got a 10 baht ride home, Fuad got 2 shirts, and the tuk tuk driver got his free gas card and it's only 3 o'clock...
What adventures await today...?
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