Checked out of the Leela hotel and headed for my new guesthouse, I took a shortcut through the local hospital like everyone else seemed to be doing and came out on Soi1 just 20 yards from the guesthouse. The roomed I'd booked was basic, with a shower but no toilet, I could live with that. I dumped my stuff and headed to the main road where there was an overhead rail station (this side of the city has an overground BTS and underground MTS metro system), and paid my 15 baht to get to Siam Square, the main shopping area. I got off the BTS and walked straight into a shopping mall that eclipses anything Iive seen in England (even if some of the shops are the same). I would have taken some photos of the mall (especially the Karaoke booths), but no photos allowed.

Through the Siam Centre Mall is the Siam Discovery Centre, a more opulent mall, but still with the same shops. After these I headed into Siam Square proper, a maze of roads and rabbit runs with hundreds of market stalls and small shops. I spent an hour or two getting lost around there before I encountered MBK. 7 Huge floors of shops, stalls and stands, games arcades, net cafes, a cinema and a bowling alley. There is a whole floor that is predominantly to do with mobile phones. Anyway 7 hours of window shopping and I was beat, so I headed back to the Guesthouse. I sat in the cafe and wrote up my journal whilst Chelsea beat Middlesborough on TV and then headed back to the Black Swan to dropped those books off, and have a couple of beers. There was a band on (thai's backing what looked like a roady for the Grateful Dead) banging out rock ballads which was OK, and Maudlin Boy was in, pissed again, and having a bit of a blub. Apparently he's lost contact with his family over the years, has lost a shitload of money and wants to talk to someone, blub, blub, blub. I just told him to get in contact with his family (again and again) and decided i'd give the place a miss from now on.

The next day was Sunday so I decided to head to the Chatuchak weekend market, It would be my only chance for a while and with it being on the Northern end of the BTS, easy to get to. From the BTS platform all you see is row upon row of interlinked corrugated rooves that cover the whole area. The walkways between stalls were tight and it took me a while to just barge through as everyone else does. Allow one lady through and you're waiting for minutes. After an hour or so of wandering I was approach by two Thai women, one young and one old 'That's a nice hat where did you get it?' 'In England' I reply like a fool. The older lady gives me some spiel about how the younger one is going out to work there, but could I talk to her mother as she's opposed to it, 'It's not far, we bring you back'. I declined the offer, they asked for my email address, I made one up. Over the next few hours I was approach a couple of more times 'That's a nice where did you get it?', I see a pattern emerging.

I got a little tired of the hustle of the place and so after heading back to Siam Square and strolling through the area taking a few photos. I headed back to the guesthouse for an earlyish night.