Today Marcus and I decided we would drive up to Bangkok with the kids to find a shopping center we were told about to gather some gifts for our friends and family back in Melbourne for our trip home in April. What a great idea, we had a great day. Not only did we only get a little bit lost driving in, considering what has happened the last few times but we didn't start world war 3 and threaten divorce either. We managed to find the shopping center MBK, it is absolutely huge and sits amongst all the other major shopping centers on Rama 1 (Sukumvit rd) like Siam Paragon (which I cannot afford to shop at so don't bother) and Central World. These places a so big its quite daunting. But funny enough when you are driving along not being able to read the signs as they are all in Thai and wondering if we are really on the right road at all or if we are on some random street north of the city, the huge tall buildings all look the same and we still managed to miss the gigantic signs that a 3 stories high stuck on the side of the buildings.
But we did find it and also a park straight away thanks to the lovely parking attendant with his noisy whistle that you find at every major car park in Thailand. And as soon as we walked in we knew we had hit the jackpot. We wanted to go somewhere other than a hot and stinky market full of sweaty tourists to be able to find some nice "copy" items to bring home as gifts as most people do when travelling abroad in Asia. It took Marcus about an hour to get the rhythm of shopping as he is the worlds worst and grumpiest shopper and he will never admit to it, although once we split up for a little while that's when we started to buy up. I found lovely jewellery both copy and handmade, clothes, Thai costumes, kids stuff and of course sunglasses. Within 2 days last week I broke both pairs of my sun glasses, the Channels and the Pradas, but seeing they only cost me 250bht I was happy to replace them today with another 2 pairs. Marcus got tshirts and pyjamas for the kids as Melbourne will be freezing for us now that we are sort of acclimatised to Thailand and the kids only wear summer clothes.
Judd and Lillie were fantastic, they both sat in their prams and chatted to the sales people. Of course Judd nagged for toys and clothes and money but I expected that considering we were out shopping. Lillie took a nap half way through and considering she normally prefers to run around and hates her pram or the shopping trolley I was impressed she sat still for so long, we must have been there for at least 5 hours.
The icing on the cake was when Marcus discovered a lady selling handbags and we had a picture that a friend had sent us asking to buy for his wife a certain type of bag if we came across it. The sales lady said she didn't have one in her shop but to come back in 30 mins and she would have it delivered. She did want a guarantee that we would buy it but I flat out refused to commit sight unseen to what could have been a gross cheap copy and particularly so because it was for a friend and not for myself. Well while we waited we asked a couple of other stall owners and one lady produced this ugly cheap plastic copy and when we said no she and a man kept pushing and pushing and almost getting angry that we wouldn't buy it. I ended up calling them pushy assholes and walked away. We have been to a few markets these days and never have we been pushed or pressured into buying, usually when you walk away more than 5 steps they give up and turn to the next sucker, but these guys made me feel very uncomfortable and the man was a bit scary. I do have to watch my tongue here as it is very impolite to lose ones temper or raise ones voice to a Thai person and I am a very short tempered lose cannon when someone gets me riled so swallowing my curses can be hard sometimes but in the end as most people say its always better and safer to just walk away.
So we bought some more Tshirts and kids clothes and headed back to the nice lady with the bags and she ushered us in behind her counter and said very secretly that we had to be careful and not show it around for others to see and she pulled out this gorgeous leather bag that I would swear was the original item, I honestly could not tell the difference and knew straight away that this was exactly what we wanted and as it was such a lovely bag and such good quality that Marcus offered to buy me one as well, what a sweat heart. And thankfully she had brought 2 bags over so Marcus then started negotiating the price and surprisingly got her down by 700baht, which considering what we got for our money was pretty good. She wrapped them up tight and tucked them out of sight and I felt a bit naughty walking around the rest of the afternoon with my little bundle as she was so secretive about it I felt like any minute now a cop will tap me on the shoulder and take me and my gorgeous bag away. But no, we finished up and tucked the kids and our 20 bags of shopping into the car and started the 2 hour, or more if we got lost, journey back home.
We did get a little bit off track as soon as we left the car park Marcus turned right straight into a bus lane, but how were we to know as the sign is written in Thai, and just has we got through the intersection a policeman on a motorbike pulls up in front of us and waves us down. I get a bit nervous at this point, firstly we don't have Thai licenses or for that matter international licenses either and secondly I was worried he might make us drive to the police station, where ever the hell that may have been, and then if they wanted to they would check the boot of the car and see my naughty purchases and take them and me away.
But no, he asks us where we are going which is a usual question for Thais to ask, and then explains that we are driving in a bus lane and its 500 baht fine at police station but Marcus quickly says "how much if I pay you the fine" as I emptied out my purse which had bugger all left in it and I could only give him about 300baht and thankfully he says OK and Marcus discreetly hands him the cash below the window, he then hands him back his Australian license and only takes 200baht and then waves us back on our way on down the bus lane.
So we have now popped our cherry and have had our first run in with the infamous Thai police and as most westerners have told us it was a simple matter of paying the officer the "fine" and being polite and considerate and being sent on our merry little way. If this had of happened 6 months ago I don't think I would have survived quite so well, I would have broken out in a cold sweat of worry and panic wondering how in hell I was going to explain myself to a Thai police office who probably doesn't speak much English and also carries a big black gun on his hip and may or may not be in a bad mood. But this time as we drove off down the bus lane we both agreed that it wasn't so bad and we were both smiling and laughing about our little adventure and grateful it was painless and inexpensive.
We eventually found our way out of the bus lane but this of course threw us off our intended route, so much studying of the map with the great big tear in the middle of it and we found our way back onto the motorway, of course after a few u-turns, and headed back home to Pattaya after the most successful day of "family" shopping we have ever had, few tears, no smacks, no money arguments and thankfully no 'divorce'.
(Now I say divorce, but what I mean is one of those stressed out fights that erupt when 2 people are entering into unknown territory and the fight that ensues is one where neither person wants to speak, let alone be trapped in a tiny car with for the duration of the journey, those nasty little fights that I call divorce fights).
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