Scenes around Bangkok and Jatujak Market

Just to give you an idea of what Bangkok is like, here are some photos of daily life.

Traffic here can be ridiculous -- this was taken during rush hour.

This is an alley near our hotel.  They look a little like garages, but these are private homes.

Street food is very prevalent here, and vendor kiosks line nearly every sidewalk.

Most of the dishes are very, very cheap -- we paid 75 baht for two papaya salads (around $2.50), and 60 baht for two plates of phad thai (about $2).  Here is our phad thai being prepared mai phet -- not spicy!

Beers are also generally inexpensive.  Most places seem to have Chang for about 40 or 50 baht (about $1.50).  These were a bit more, since we went to a western-style pub (the Londoner) to see the live band.

Speaking of the band, close your eyes and press "play".  Sounds like Barry Gibb, right?  Now open your eyes.



Other covers included "Bohemian Rhapsody", "The Wall", "Light My Fire", and "We Are the Champions".  And "Don't Stop Believin'", one of my personal favorites!



One of the highlights for serious shoppers is the enormous Jatujak Market that runs on weekends.  In all our travels we have never seen such a huge market.  It is 35 acres with more than 6000 stalls.  Lots of great stuff for sale. 

Shoes

Clothing and Artwork

Dried Fruit and Nuts

Fried Quail Eggs (my brother had some to snack on while we walked)

Electric signs in many languages

Western wear and music (hawked by a banjo playing vendor)

Enormous seafood platters

And of course the ubiquitous knockoffs.  Anyone want a Tiffany necklace?

We actually only saw a small portion of the whole market; it is much too big to see everything in a single day.  There were so many great things to choose from that we were overwhelmed and ended up not buying anything.  But it was worth going to just for the experience!