Our destination for the day was the Chatuchak Weekend market - Thailand's largest market with 8,000 stalls over 35 acres. It is said you can spend a full day shopping here, but for that to be true you have to enjoy shopping. We (all three of us) are terrible shoppers, and on top of that it was hot and crowded. It was the first day I had to use my umbrella to provide shade from the sun. Our mission was to find Rachel an instrument from Thailand. The information desk told us there were two stalls (among 8,000) that sold instruments and they were, naturally, in sections on opposite ends of the market. We found one stall, didn't like anything, and went in search of the other, which we eventually found, but in the end didn't buy anything at all - except for a slice of pizza, some coconut ice cream, and a smoothie.
Our original plan for after the market was to go to the Mermaid Cafe outside of town - a place that Melissa had sent us a link to and looked fun if nothing else. We were trying to figure out how to best get there when a wonderful employee at the Doubletree named Name said he would call for us to make sure it was open. We felt he was wasting his time because Google had already told us the opening hours, but lo and behold he got off the phone and told us it was closed for renovation. We were so grateful he saved us a 45-minute taxi ride each way (not accountng for traffic). So, we were without a plan for the second part of the day. On the way to the market we had noticed a movie theater near a Sky Train stop and decided to beat the heat by going to an afternoon. The theater was in the Siam Paragon - one of the highest end malls I have ever seen. It was jarring to go directly from the Weekend market stalls to another market place, but this one with a Rolls Royce dealership inside. In addition to a movie theater, the mall has a gourmet grocery store, bowling alley, aquarium, convention center, and art gallery. The automated ticket interface for the theater was more advanced than anything we have in the States and we were able to select seats and buy our concessions from the machine. We got (the best available) seats in the third row to see Dunkirk. One of the most interesting things to me about modern-day Thailand is the seemingly uniform adoration for the recently-deceased King. I mentioned already that the entire country is in mourning, draped with black and white clothe. There are larger-than-life pictures of the King everywhere, even decorating the sides of many of the skyscrapers downtown. They announce their love for him before planes take off. And in the movie theater, I was surprised that after the trailers and before the feature, we all had to stand for a 2-minute montage to Rama IX and the incoming Rama X. I am curious to understand if this adoration comes genuinely from the people or if it is required by the monarchy.
Unfortunately the movie was a real low point for me. The entire WWII movie was filmed either at sea or in the air and I actually got seasick watching it, which must mean the cinematography was outstanding. I will spare you all the gross details, but suffice it to say I may as well have been crossing the Channel myself by boat. It wasn't a good experience for me when I did that in 1989 and it was almost as bad this time.
We managed to find our way out of the maze of a mall and get back to the hotel via Sky Train. Though more motion wasn't ideal, it was better than sitting in Bangkok traffic. The girls took great care of me and left me in still darkness (where I needed to be) while they went out for dinner at a place that they said was aptly named Thai Food Very Good and Very Cheap. The biggest bummer of the night was having to cancel the plans I had been most looking forward to all day - a two-hour body scrub and massage.
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