Chinatown--when it rains, it pours!

So we ventured to Chinatown this afternoon. It started with a trip on the MRT to Hua Lamphong and then we took our first tuk-tuk. Ugh... and then 150 THB later, in the wrong section. Guess that was our first clue, right? So, we ventured around in the rain, saw a gazillion fabric shops, ate lunch... Blah, blah blah. Well, sort of. There were these ads on my Nancy Chandler map asking us to refrain from eating shark fin soup and bird's nest soup. Naturally, that is all that was on menu in a nutshell, but we found some grub. And that was about it. Josh didn't care one bit for it, but that was to be expected I guess. We talked about all the foods we have tried here, all the things we weren't sure of, what we were really expecting from the food and we agreed we both like our egg roll lady and our fried chicken guy on the walk home from the BTS after school. The KFC delivery isn't too shabby, either.

Anywho, Chinatown was a trip, what can I say. My mother-in-law would have loved all the fabrics and textile shops, but I was overwhelmed. Just too much. Felt like JJ Market in a weird sort of way. I almost felt like the iced coffee I picked up at the 7Eleven before we dug in to our jaunt through C-town was spiked, because I just felt like I was floating along the whole time in a different world of some sorts.

This is what I think of, Shrines Galore, when I think of Chinatown

This is what I imagine Chinatown to be like, after visiting C-town in San Francisco and Chiago. Lots of signs lining the streets!

No idea who put the Thai King next to the pig. I would find it insulting myself, especially considering the severity of dissing the Thai Royaly if caught!

So enough about Chinatown because we got ripped off, twice. No, we didn't eat shark fin soup or bird's nest soup, but maybe we will go back when it is sunny.  I kept comparing it to San Fransicso's Chinatown, looking for House of Nanking. Didn't get lucky. One good thing was all the fresh fruit markets. Maybe that will bring me back and maybe we will take a river boat instead of the 'quick' way with taxis, tuk-tuks that rip you off and pretend they don't know what you are saying... Okay, enough about that. Here are some more pics to put you in the feel of things in C-Town.

So Sharin decided to get a massage to make up for lost time this afternoon. That never fails. Learning how to say Mai Ow (or however you spell it) followed by a gesture of hard, to mean "Don't want hard" was all it took and I almost drifted off for the next hour. And then the rain again. Oh well. At least I got some brownies when I got home. And the maid had our house clean. So I guess I cannot complain.

On a brighter note, looking to the future...

I will be running my first 10K here in Bangkok on my sister's birthday. Looking forward to that one, and even better, some friends from work will be running with me. I guess I should get used to how it works here because I will be running the Bangkok marathon in November. All these massages are prepping me for something, right???

I wish I could enlighten the masses a bit more, but I guess it has just been one of those weekends. Somebody has probably slipped something in to my Coke Zero because I obviously am not right these days. As my new girlfriend told me the other night at Ladies Night at Coyote over a few free margs... "TIT, Sharin" AKA--This Is Thailand. Nuff said I suppose. That's all I got for now. Time for some 7 Eleven ham and cheese croissants and then night night time in my clean sheets.