Bobae Market

Arrived at the Prince Palace towers hotel after a 248 baht (8$) cab ride. I'm really glad I dont have to drive in this town.
Paula booked all four of us a really great three bedroom suite with kitchen and living room for $70 a night. We're on the 27th floor and have great views.
We chilled for a while and then Paula and Ralph went out to get Paula's tattoo finished and Andy and I toured the Bobae clothing market across the street.
The market is a warren of small (six to 10 square meter ) stalls selling all kinds of clothes, mainly cheap no-name stuff from China and Viet Nam. Despite being across the street from a fairly major tourist hotel, Andy and I were te only farang there.  The aisle between the stalls is less than a meter wide and you don't want to stop in the middle. Everyone was very friendly and lots of lots of smiles and nods were recieved. We wandered around the central market for a while then crossed the street to look at even smaller stalls along the canal. We decided to cross the canal to see what was on the other side at which point we realized we were no longer in Kansas. This was a real Bangkok neighborhood, where people lived and did their business in little ground floor stall like apartments. Lots of small street restaurants, little appliance stores, ubiquitous 7-11's and even a small welding shop. The upper floors of the buildings seemed to be a higher end. In a place where we were obviously strangers we never felt any unease, a table of people who obviously thought we were lost even tried to help us ( we managed by dint of pointing and saying the hotel name to let them know we weren't lost). Eventually I reached the limits of my poor sense of direction and we turned around and relocated the hotel towers.
My jet lag isn't too bad, but I think I need a little nap.
See you all later