I should have just gone to bed, but unfortunately, my time clock is all screwed up now. I was on a nice schedule of going to bed early and waking up early so that on the 21st, when I have to be at the airport at 4 a.m., meaning I have to get up around 2:30 or so, it won't be so difficult. But now, here it is, 11:26 p.m., and I'm not really feeling tired. How did this happen?
So, since I was not tired yet, and I was really hungry, and it was a Sunday evening and there wouldn't be a lot of traffic on the street, I decided to go out for a walk and hunt down a little snack.
I was hoping for some fried chicken with chili sauce or maybe a few sticks of satay. But when I got to the main road whose name I don't know right now (but I did know it at one time), all of the little food vendors had long gone. I started to walk to Sathorn Rd., but I wasn't sure there would be anyone there, but I did know where to find food ... Silom Road.
Silom Road seems to have food day and night. The vendors come in shifts. There are morning vendors, afternoon vendors and then the evening ones. Pavements in front of closed office buildings are turned into sidewalk cafes, and that is where I headed - Bee's Cafe, "the best pavement cafe in Bangkok" or so their t-shirts said.
I'd had seafood there before and while it wasn't memorable, I was really in the mood for a nice tom yam kung - spicy soup with lemongrass and shrimp. I thought it would be the thing to knock out the remnants of my cold.
I had a beer and a really delicious little claypot of tom yam and the mosquitoes feasted on me. I forgot about them. Now that I am in the city, I didn't think I had to worry about them. I also didn't think I would be sitting outside. My plan was to get a little snack in a plastic bag and come back to my room and eat it.
After my little meal, I was in the mood for something else, preferably on the sweet side - maybe some nice pineapple, or those little Thai deserts made from gelatin and topped with coconut milk.
I didn't pass anyone selling anything of the sort. A few taxi drivers reminded me of Bali by yelling out "taxi?", though they didn't make the funny steering gesture that the Balinese do. I tried my best to ignore them, because I knew they would also try to offer me other things, like massage. Taxi and tuk tuk drivers who sit by the side of the road are best avoided.
I started to pass through the last dying breath of the Patpong night market that runs all the way down Silom Road. Even though I was blocks from Patpong, I don't know what else to call it (the Silom Night Market?) I was thinking of how it has changed from 15 or so years ago when I first used to shop there. I still have a collection of great cotton pants and shirts that I bought there years ago that they don't seem to make anymore. Now most items seem to be geared towards home decor, though there are still plenty of fake gucci bags and Dolce and Gabana sunglasses to be found.
I passed a few places selling luggage. I stopped and looked at one piece, but no one was there to ask a price, and I didn't really like it anyway. I think it was a fake Polo piece of luggage.
Further down, I saw the kind of luggage I was planning on buying at MBK. The price there was 1,750 baht. I don't know if it was negotiable. I asked the woman sitting in a beach chair on the sidewalk how much it was and she said, 3,800 baht. I simply said, "eh" and kept on walking.
She called after me, "wait, how much you pay?"
I told her I could get it at MBK for 1,200 baht. I sort of lied. I wasn't sure if the one for 1,750 was bigger or not, but I thought so. So I estimated what I thought the smaller one cost.
She said, "ok, 2,500". I said, "no, it's okay, I can get it at MBK cheaper".
I started to walk away, seriously. But she came after me.
"Wait, you give me good price. Please, today no sale. You help me."
I told her at MBK it was 1,200.
She said, "ok, I give you 1,400"
At this point, I pretty much had to take it. She had really come down from her ridiculous first price and it was also easier for me to carry it from Silom to my hotel than to lug it on the Skytrain from MBK.
Now, I don't know if I got a deal or not, but I think from the price that was posted on the luggage at MBK, I think I did.
One less errand to run now (though I still want to go to MBK and compare prices) and I can now begin filling my bright lemon/lime green new suitcase.
No comments:
Post a Comment