The last thing that the parents definitely wanted to do before leaving Thailand, was to visit a mall. And not just any mall, but one of the older, larger, cheaper malls. Because that’s what middle-class Indian parents do. Good qulity fake flowers is what the mother was looking for and father wanted to pick up cheap shorts and t-shirts. ( He did seem bummed when someone told him, “Everything in this mall is Made In China.”
The first store we hit upon walking into the MBK Center / Mall was AIIZ, which we were told was all Made In Thailand. It looked perfect. I bought a white shirt dress and two super cute cotton-knit jumpers with little hearts on them. I’m going to be wearing the jumpers in the currently-mild-cold weather of New Delhi.
Mom couldn’t find any fake flowers, which made her regret not purchasing them at Chatuchak the previous day. But she found a defected goods pile in the Central Hall in the MBK mall and both parents spent more than a couple of hours digging through insane numbers of garments. They’d both run away with all the cash I had, so I couldn’t even grab a bite ( card payments accepted only when purchase amount is above 300 Baht ). And I’d already done my “shopping” the first few minutes of stepping foot into the mall. So I was pissed by the end of the day.
MBK also has a huge floor that sells only electronics and related accessories. Then there’s one floor that has only clothes and accessories. And there are a LOT of fake items being sold quite openly. Fake handbags galore.
The Uber we requested, arrived after an hour of shoing “10 minutes away” on the app. Traffic is brutal in Bangkok. It took the ppor driver an hour to get to us. The ride to the hotel cost us 189 Baht. The tuk-tuks outside the mall were asking for 300 Bahts for the same distance. We didn’t even bother to check with the metered cabs. So we sat on the pavement, outside a Dental Clinic, opposite to the mall and waited.
Dinner was takeaway from All Day All Night again. And it was great. More because it was convenient. The 7 eleven also had a food section that has Thai and other food options that can be warmed and eaten but it would’ve been a travesty to go for those when something more authentice ( even if Japanese ) was available.
Our cab to the airport was supposed to arrive at 5 a.m. the next day, so all that was left to do was pack and sleep.
The only reason I’d ever go back to MBK would be to shop more at AIIZ. The AIIZ brand and quality reminded me of my shopping spree at American Apparel at Los Angeles. Always happy to buy local!
Follow along on my first ever trip to Thailand here : #EyesForThailand
