Day Five: Siam Discovery and MBK Shopping Malls

Today was our first day of class.  We met at eight on the patio next to the pool.  Bill went over a few rules we should follow while we are here so that we do not offend any Thais.  These included being quiet in restaurants and being reverent with anything that has the king's image on it.  He then told us how our courses will be set up.  For the first two or three weeks, he will send us out on particular assignments to observe certain things Thais do.  The last two or three weeks will be open to what we decide to study.  We are to pick a topic and do whatever research is necessary to learn about it.  We are also to read two English language Bangkok newspapers everyday, which we can read online.

We also received our next assignment.  This was for the group to split up into pairs and each go to two shopping malls.  Half of us went to one of three Siam malls in the morning and MBK in the afternoon, and the other half went to MBK in the morning and a Siam mall in the afternoon.  The three Siam malls are right next to each other and across the street from MBK.  I was paired up with a student named Rachael and we went to Siam Discovery in the morning and MBK in the afternoon.

We took a tuktuk to the mall area and were stunned by the size of the malls.  There is not enough room for them to sprawl out as they do in suburban areas, so they towered 7 or 8 stories in the air.  The BTS stops right down the street and the whole area is very modern.

This mall was geared towards farang (a Thai word for foreigners with a slightly negative connotation).  It looks much like an American mall.  Only two or three stores' names were written in Thai and all the rest were in English.  The displays were spread out and the stores were expensive even by American standards.  Stores included Armani Exchange, Lacoste, and Calvin Klein.  Most of the books in the bookstore were in English and many of the restaurants were American chains.  This mall was almost empty the whole time we were there.

The exception to the westernized stores was this one toy store that was back in a hallway.  It had small crowded aisles and was packed with toys geared toward Thais.

We walked around this mall until about one.  For some reason, there were about 8 or 9 Japanese restaurants in it.  I cannot fathom how they can all stay in business.

We then crossed the street and found a Chinese-Thai restaurant in MBK as soon as we entered.  I ordered Sea Bass with pepper sauce and it was quite good.

Photo Credit: Rachael Conway

This mall was noticeable immediately at a mall created for Thais.  The hallways were more narrow and stores did not have the dramatic western entrances of the stores in the Siam mall.  Also, every floor of MBK had normal retail stores, but also had vendor stands similar to the ones I saw in the Chatuchak market.  These vendor stands took up almost the whole area of the upper levels of the mall.  This mall was very crowded the whole time we were there and the people there were almost all Thai.  This is the main atrium of the mall.

One part of the mall looked just like an Ikea store.  It was a large home furnishing section that had wide walkways and dramatic lighting.

While wandering through the mall, I found a crepe stand.  I got a crepe with bananas, whipped creme, and chocolate sauce.

Photo Credit: Rachael Conway

I have heard from several people how difficult it is to translate Thai into English.  The main issue is that Thai is an entirely phonetic language and English is not.  This store name spelling is an example of the translation difficulty.

Photo Credit: Rachael Conway

Two other interesting spectacles at the mall were pay toilets and a stretch tuktuk.

Photo Credit: Rachael Conway

Photo Credit: Rachael Conway

After the mall, we went back to the apartment and I swam in the pool and rested.  For dinner, we went to a restaurant called Raintree.  It is a restaurant that has been in the neighborhood for a long time.  I ordered jungle curry pork.