Thailand Day 2

 I did eventually get back to sleep last night after waking up and writing the blog at 2am. Day two started early at 6:30am. We both woke up feeling entirely refreshed. I started my day with my devotionals and a little email catch up. I contemplated going to the gym and doing some Pilates for about a minute until John convinced me that we would be getting enough exercise walking today as we intended to go to the market. We decided to head down to breakfast. I brought my surface and got some work done while we spent what felt like a few hours leisurely eating breakfast, drinking coffee/tea and simply enjoying each other's company.

With breakfast underway, we headed back to the room to shower and get ready for the day. We then headed for the boat shuttle to take us to where we assumed we would find a market. Why else would they have a boat shuttle taking folks to a destination all day leaving every 15 minutes? We got to the destination pier to find not much of anything. We got off the boat and started heading away from the water figuring that there must be something of interest somewhere! We were then approached by a first then a second person stating that they were from our hotel and that they "remember seeing us". They HIGHLY recommended we visit a certain mall and jewelry store. This of course upset John as he hates being accosted by people claiming to be helpful only to have an agenda. I enjoyed them regardless. We ended up going the opposite direction than what they recommended as that is John's response to these types of situations. We walked for quite some time simply enjoying the sites and (not the smells) of Bangkok. We walked past a tailor shop that had a beautiful dress in the window. I stored that in my memory banks for later. We kept walking and eventually crossed the street (carefully) to walk back the other direction. Feeling more comfortable with our day, John struck up a conversation with a couple that were from Canada. We learned quite a bit about them, and they shared some interesting facts about Thailand as well as a map of Bangkok to help us get around. They had business in Thailand over the years and visited often. I was so excited to speak to other folks that I invited them to coffee. They asked if I had a coffee shop in mind then.... John must have look terrified as they make their excuses and walked away quite abruptly. I guess things got too real with John at the prospect of being trapped with two other humans in a public place for an undetermined amount of time. Silly me! 

We decided to go back to the tailor and take a look at that dress on our way to find that coffee shop without those scary people. 

Once at the tailor, we met Suni, pronounced (Soonee). She was pretty excited to show me the various fabrics that the dress could be made from and moved to close the deal with John like a pro. He did manage to negotiate the price a modest amount and was satisfied that I truly wanted the dress. I have no idea where I will wear it and why I really needed it but seriously... a beautifully tailor-made dress from Bangkok with Asian flair in a silk fabric that was iridescent from pink to coral in color. This is a party conversation starter for sure. I am going to have to create an event to wear this to! Measurements taken and pleasantries exchanged, we moved on for coffee. 

The coffee shop was super cute and very serious. Have I mentioned that some Thai folks take their coffee chemistry to a new level of science? A gentleman that appeared to be the owner of the shop was teaching some students how to brew the perfect cup of coffee. Or at least that is what it looked like. Since I don't speak Thai, I have to admit that I have no idea, but he was using a small white board with several notes. Each of the students had tablets with extensive notes written and they were performing the most elaborate and carefully composed drip coffee movements that I have ever seen. I should also mention that I had an amazing iced matcha latte with oat milk. So wonderful!

We decided to get going to the "Weekend market" also known as Chatuchak. It has over 15,000 stalls which are spread across 35 acres. Their website states that it is the world's largest weekend market. We spent the next 5-ish hours walking through some very interesting sites. We did stop right away at the first little stall that looked super clean and had colorful menus of foods that looked safe and not so "authentic". John ordered chicken wings and spring rolls. I ordered fish and chip (thai style) and mango sticky rice. The waiter asked if I wanted him to wait on bringing out the mango sticky rice. As if! 

A person can go their whole life and not truly know the taste of a fresh vine ripened mango...but why should they?

We then proceeded to walk and walk and walk. There was one potty break. It cost 5Baht to use the toilet and no one mentioned that you have to bring your own toilet paper. :( Ugh.

The stalls were fascinating. We saw everything from clothing to dishes. Here is a brief list of different items sold by various vendors. 

• bags
• jewelry
• hats
• puppies
• bunnies
• paintings
• shoes
• baskets
• chickens
• household items
• party supplies
• etc.

They actually had a whole section where they sold all different kinds of animals. 

The food was amazing. Well, not amazing, yummy...rather - "I can't believe that I am seeing this" kind of amazing. What I am showing you below is the tamer version of the food options. I was so dumbfounded by the display, I totally forgot to take pictures. 

Did I mention that there was even a Thai DJ playing some tunes? Zoom in!

After entirely wearing ourselves out, we headed back to the hotel where I ate fish...again and John ate a hamburger...again!

John met one last friend before we called it a night...