Bangkok: Part 1

Following our adventures in Chiang Mai, Andrew and I returned to Bangkok and to visiting Greg & Mary.  Friday (5 Dec) was the King's birthday, which is a national Thai holiday.  This meant G&M had the day off of work.  They'd had a busy week, and it was nice to take a slow morning: sleeping in, lounging, setting up their Christmas tree, and eating a delicious breakfast cooked by Greg.

About noon, we got ourselves out the door, and continued our restful day by Mary and me getting pedicures while the boys received foot massages.  Next we were off to see Mockingjay Part 1 in the Terminal 21 Mall, which is designed to look like an airport and each floor is decorated as a different city (San Francisco, London, Istabul, etc).  The theater was, naturally, on the Hollywood floor.

After the movie, G&M took us to the Baiyoke Sky Tower, which is the tallest building in Thailand.  On the 84th floor is a revolving deck outdoors which gives views of Bangkok all the way around.  We were there as it was getting dark, which was a good choice:

For dinner, they took us to a new, upscale, riverside mall called Asiatique.  We even got to take a river taxi to the mall.  They hadn't visited it yet, so it was a fun experience for all:

Saturday, we spent our day at the Ampawa Floating Market and the Maeklong Railway Market.  They are near each other, about an hour outside of Bangkok.  G&M had yet to visit the floating market, which was a lot of fun.  We snacked our way through the market, trying all kinds of yummy foods recommended by G&M.

The Maeklong Railway Market is famously located on the train tracks.  Each time the train comes through, the awnings are pulled back and anything in the way of the train (including all the people) have to move out of the way.  Fruit or vegetables that are low enough to the ground can be left in place as the train's edges will glide over them without touching.  Anything taller must be moved - many carts are on wheels and able to be swiftly moved out of the way.  It's impressive how smoothly this happens, although I suppose if you have to move your market stand multiple times a day, it's worth your time to become efficient.

This is what the market looks like when the train is not nearby:

When the announcement is made, everyone makes room for the train:

And in under 5 minutes, everything is back to business as usual: