New Years in Bangkok

Can you tell we're behind in our posting? :)

We felt lucky to ring in the new year in a big city like Bangkok. We headed to CentralWorld Square for the biggest countdown in the city. The closer we walked, the thicker the crowds became. The major roads had been closed off to cars and were instead filled with people and rows upon rows of street food vendors. Pretty soon, we were sandwiched between sweaty strangers, hardly able to move, but still pushing forward to get a better spot. The atmosphere was electric. So many people had blinking bows and bunny ears on their heads and glow sticks around their bodies. In the middle of the square was a concert stage with music blasting in the middle of the night. As midnight approached, we counted down with the crowd (in English, surprisingly) and bent our heads back to watch a crazy fire work show above the palm trees and mall buildings. We were sprayed with water (hopefully that’s what it was) from someone in the crowd and were herded right out as soon as the fireworks ended.

For years, I’ve celebrated New Years at small parties with friends from church. I always wanted to be in a massive crowd in a big city with a wild countdown to ring in the new year. Well that’s exactly what we experienced in Bangkok, but it wasn’t as satisfying as I imagined. As soon as the fireworks ended, we didn’t have much to do and I would have traded it all for a small house party with our closest friends in a heartbeat.

Yuriy and I headed to the red light district and had a yummy later dinner/drinks/our first meal of 2011. We headed back to our hotel and hit the hay earlier than usual for a new years night. We missed our friends and family, but we felt fortunate to have such a memorable New Years that I’m sure we’ll remember forever.

- Julia

I wonder if any of these people actually enjoyed the fireworks behind their cameras.

"Long live the king." This guy has his photo ALL over the city and in almost every building. 

Cotton candy to celebrate!

Chatuchak Weekend Market

When we found out about the Chatuchak Weekend Market in Bangkok, it wasn't even a question about whether we would go. 

The flea market markets spans over 35 acres, has 5000+ stalls, and gets about 200,000 each day!! It is only open on Saturdays and Sundays. The market sells just about everything and is divided into sections. Even with numbered stalls and a detailed, color-coded map, I was almost always lost.

We walked around until we ran out of money. Walked back to our hotel to get more. Then came back and walked around until our legs ached and the stalls began to close around sunset. 

We resisted shopping in all the countries we visited until now... the prices were too good to pass up, and we figured we were close enough to the end of our trip to load up our suitcase a little more. I scored myself a whole new outfit (which you saw in the previous post). I was impressed with the styles we found, and especially impressed with the great number of vintage shops. I love that so many of the shops sell hand-made stuff and you can meet the person who made what you're buying. Fun!

- Julia

Yuriy snapped some photos of me searching for goodies.

"Beware of pick pocketing."

The small alleyways between stalls are stuffed with sweaty people. No AC or fresh air. 

Kook and Tom run a shop called Kookoo where they sell their own screen-printed t-shirts. We loved the style and quality of their shirts, so we approached them with our shop idea. We met a couple times and became friends quickly. These are the guys who made all the t-shirts for Handle With Care Shop!

Some of my loot.....

New outfit from the market: vintage dress ($10), belt ($3), purse ($7), straw hat ($6), leather sandals ($20)...

Grand Palace, Bangkok II

You can't visit the Grand Palace in Bangkok and not overdo it with the picture snapping. There is so much glitz and decorative detail all around you, it's visually overwhelming. At moments like this, I feel like taking way too photos is the only way to cope. Going by the comments to the first post, it sounds like a lot of you have been here before, so I'm sure you can understand! Here is the second set of our photos.

We bumped into so many gardeners around the palace grounds, working away on the neat hedges and pretty trees. I'm awfully curious how many they have on staff and how many hours they put in. The landscaping is flawless, no?

- Julia

Lotus flowers are dipped into holy water and tapped on the head for blessings.

Prayers and offerings of flowers and incense outside the temple.

Religious paintings on some of the walls.