In the land of the Thai and the Chinese

Well, analyzing the lifestyle and culture of places is a highly learning and enjoyable experience. When I recently toured Bangkok and China, I was constantly comparing the two on various grounds and obviously not drawing conclusions as to which one is better than the other simply because culture of both the places are quite diverse and rich.

As far as the food aspect is concerned, both places have sizeable options to offer on their streets. However, more popular are the scrumptious Pad Thai and Seafood, available at almost every nook and corner of Bangkok. Also, one can fetch some refreshing juices and piping hot waffles in the city. China, on the other hand doesn’t really have lots to offer on its streets and especially if you aren’t the adventurous types as far as food is concerned.

Talking about the therapy that rejoices almost every girl i.e. the retail therapy, both these places are a paradise for shopaholics. Bangkok surely quenches the shopaholics thirst for affordable and trendy clothes and accessories. There are several open markets here like Chatuchak or Suan Lum and lots of swanky malls selling high-end brands which make shopping in the city a memorable experience. China too is a great place to shop but the ones on the heavier side won’t be overwhelmed especially when shopping for clothes in here. The outfits on sale in China are definitely more exclusive and classier than what one gets in Thailand. But yes, shopping in China might just prove to be a little heavy on your pockets.

When in Bangkok, one might not necessarily get the feeling of being abroad particularly if you have been living in India because the infrastructure is quite similar to India and isn’t very developed. Though the sky train in Bangkok on the same lines as Delhi’s metro, making travelling very comforting and speedy. Bangkok also houses few of the best hotels in the world which provide an overdose of luxury to their guests. China, on the other hand is appreciated across the world for having the finest infrastructure with impressive buildings and wide roads. Overall, China is far more developed than many other countries of the world.

Lastly, I must say that people of both the places are extremely hardworking and hospitable. In Thailand, one enjoys the pleasure of communicating with the locals. But in China the interaction with the locals is mostly restricted to non-verbal communication.However, both these destinations should surely be on every avid traveller’s list of must visit places.

YELLOWED

Yellow is no longer the dirty colour for me. This bright colour is my pick for the season.Few of my recent purchases from both India and Abroad surely suggest that I am head over heels in love with this colour. Lately, have bought tops,jewellery,home decor, shoes,wallets and bags among other stuff in this sunny colour. Not to miss, even my room has few strokes of yellow paint.

Here is a peek into few of my yellow possessions-





Inexpensive jewellery picked up from Platinum Mall in Bangkok. A must have is that yellow-rock ring!!!




Big on Bags!!!




A pick from Chatuchak Market,Bangkok...




Simple yet Stylish!!!




Even my shoes have a bright sunny smile :)




To top it with few soothing t-shirts!!!
P.S. Hope my collection inspires you to pick up something in yellow for your wardrobe!!!

BANG-KOK

This time my trip to Bangkok seemed quite jinxed.Firstly, just fixing the date of departure and getting the desired flight was an issue and finally when it happened, we had to return from the Delhi airport due to some passport issues concerning my cousin. Going through the entire process for the second time was definitely not as exciting as usually it is ought to be. Though we were still battling to get our air tickets done, guess what? Emergency was declared in Bangkok in light of the protests by the 'red t-shirts'. Phewww... The media reports did give a sense that things were quite messy in Bangkok but few of my relatives their assured that things were under control.

So, finally things fell in place and we mustered the courage to board our Cathay Pacific flight to my most favourite place.Well, I love the place mainly because of the fabulous food,people and shopping. On getting out of the Bangkok airport, things seemed pretty normal and calm but as we were nearing our hotel which enjoys a good location of being near the main shopping outlets, we saw innumerable cars carrying Thai people wearing red t-shirts who were thankfully moving in the opposite direction to our car. To be honest, this was quite a scary site. As our trip to Bangkok was just three days long, I was dying to get to our hotel to refresh and get started with exploring the shopping malls. Due to the traffic jam, we were stuck on the road for quite sometime. Not getting affected by the ongoing tension, we headed to a nearby Thai joint to eat the yummy local food. On our first day, we checked out the Platinum Mall(a must visit for fashionable clothes and accessories), the Indira market and the Emporium Mall, a replacement for Siam Paragon as the latter was shut due to the protests. Now, Bangkok is known for its nightlife but well majority of the places shut early due to security reasons. So, we headed to Suan Lum market where we dined and enjoyed some great live music. After a series of activities during the day, we decided to relax and pamper ourselves with the very special Thai massage. Trust me, the massage helped us have a sound sleep.

The following day, after the regular and boring breakfast in our posh hotel, we headed to a market that can drive even a shopaholic like me crazy-Chatuchak market. One of the largest markets in the world which has something for everyone, be it clothes,plants,pets or home decor and the like. I pampered myself some more on the second day with a wonderful hair wash and massage. Getting a sense that the situation was improving, we decided to go to Khao San in the night. But little did we know that we ourselves chose to go to the problem area. On our way to the place we again saw the red t-shirt herd. Well, all four of us had our hearts in our mouth and asked the driver to immediately take us back to our hotel. We breathed a sigh of relief as we got out of the problem area.Due to lack of options to explore in the night, we hopped onto a nice bar opposite our hotel for a drink or two. Also, next morning we learnt that several people were injured and a few died just sometime after we had left Khao San. We visited the MBK mall and few other nearby places on our final day.

I won't say that my love for the place has lessened because of what I witnessed but I genuinely think that lots of locals as well as tourists are facing the brunt of the ongoing tension to quite a high degree. I have always liked going to Bangkok for the simple reason that one can just let go but this time with the restrictions on the places we could visit and things we could do-Bangkok surely wasn't the same. I just hope that normalcy returns soon to the place with the most hospitable people.