conspicuous consumption

after three months in india, bangkok hit me like a ton of cool, immaculate golden feathers.  the airport was the first shock:  what's this?  a system for getting taxicabs?  and the hits just kept on coming ... a perkily clean pink taxicab with aircon?  where is the traffic?  why is it so quiet?  where is the honking?  why don't these people care if i look into their shops?  what?  this toilet flushes?  why are these walls so white?  what is this big white box in my hostel room ... it's an air conditioner?  ooo, what's in this 7-11?  lots of products!  and, um, why is it so cold in here?

so for the first couple of days in thailand, all i really did was shop, eat, sleep deeply with an actual blanket covering my body instead of a fine sheen of sweat, and hang out in air-conditioned buildings.  in a way, it was sort of gross how much i enjoyed the comfortable trappings of wealthy civilization.  in another way, it was marvelous.  

this is the ground-floor food court in bangkok's swankiest mall, the siam paragon.  seriously, this food court reminds me of isetan in tokyo (although, i think bangkok has an isetan also ... didn't quite make it there though) -- so much to choose from, all delicious.  i scarcely knew where to start.  ok, i did know where to start ... with pad thai, and tom yung goong, and coconut ice cream, of course. mmm. 

yes, that really is cigarette-flavored ice cream.  yes, i tried it.  ew.  it totally tasted like ash and coffee grounds.  honestly, who would get a whole cone of this yuck?  i think its just there to show that they can make any flavor of ice cream in beautiful high-tech bangkok.  but just because you can doesn't mean you necessarily should ...

and since there was a super-fancy wedding in phuket just a couple weeks away, i had a mission:  to garb myself in fancy-looking clothes that didn't actually cost that much and that were cute enough so that i could continue to wear them back in the good ol usa.  [hand to forehead, and sigh]  so much challenge.  roaming through all those independent design stores in siam center ... trying on dresses and skirts and these fabulous little cinderella slippers ...

one thing that's great about bangkok shopping is how they divide up the malls.  like, siam paragon is a mall full of only highend stuff, prada and chanel-type stuff.  siam discovery is a whole 'nother mall, basically a really boring one, full of american stores that you could find just about anywhere.  and siam center, my favorite, is like a mall full of only indy stuff ... plus some of those stores-within-stores like they've got in buenos aires, where all the artists band together to buy some front space.  it was a blessing that i had a very specific objective and limited funds ... else i would maybe still be there, consuming.

tom is not known for being a shopper, but even he got in on the action.  how could he not, when adidas and star wars team up?  yeah, there were ad-at sneakers, and xwing fighter sneakers, and the luke skywalkers ... here is tom modelling a lovely death star hoodie.

and what could be more of a luxe escape than alice in wonderland in 3D?  we stood up to pay respect to the king during his pre-movie anthem, then settled in with some snacks and pure sedentary entertainment.  (the movie itself, i can recommend visually but not mentally ... do you know, they turn the mad hatter into a romantic interest?  which sort of worked, but only because johnny depp plays the hatter.)