Wednesday's Window

We are interrupting posts from Indonesia for Wednesday's window which comes from Zen in Centralworld.

I love the silver elfy one and the colourful stripey one but I'm not a massive fan of the pink rabbit ears; I don't like the Playboy bunny girl connotations but here I've attempted to desexualise her with a head and shoulders shot.

Wednesday's Winter Windows

There might be snow, frost, icicles and snowflakes in Bangkok's malls (and not just because of the roaring air conditioning) but there's no sign of 'winter' outside. Let's face it, the three seasons here are hot, hot and wet and really hot, and I'm ready for simply hot.

What is that noise? Ohhhhh; that's the sound of you all tutting and unhooking your RSS feeds, right? Sorry; but it's meant to be a bit cooler now and it's not and I'm a bit fed up with it.

So here are some of Bangkok's winter wonderland windows:

(And, because great minds think alike, when you've finished at Tea Stains you can check out Vogue's Christmas windows here.)

Accessorize Mega Bangna

Dior Emporium

Department store, Siam Paragon

Zen at Centralworld

Christmas tree for charity

Today’s the day where I come begging for your help. 

Central and Zen department stores are having a competition this Christmas season to highlight charitable giving. They have invited embassies in Bangkok to take part by decorating a Christmas tree. The British Women’s Group decorated a tree on behalf of the British Embassy. The tree with the most votes will win 100,000 Baht for their chosen charity.

We wanted our tree to be different. (I think we achieved that!)

There are ten lovely trees in the competition and I don’t doubt for a second that all the charities will be worthy causes but I would be grateful for ever if you would go and vote for the UK tree!

Our charity, the SET Foundation is very close to my heart. It’s a wonderful charity that sponsors Thai students through high school and university. It makes a huge difference to the young people who without funds would have to leave school and contribute to the family income, often in dead end jobs on building sites or in paddy fields. I don’t know about you but I took my education for granted. Have a look at the What It Costs page; to us in the west, making a difference doesn’t cost as much as you think.

Please click here to see the trees. Click on the UK tree for details on voting (Click LIKE then add your name to the list.) PLEASE. It’ll only take a minute and SET really does change lives. Bangkok folks can also vote in Zen in Centralworld.

Thank you.

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Friday Photo:

Friday Photo: if you say so

Some of the aftermath

Until the red shirts made their camp there I didn’t even know that the junction in the middle of so many of the malls was called Ratchaprasong. I’m never likely to forget where it is now…

Yesterday’s visit to Bangkok’s shopping district turned into a surprisingly emotional trip.  I was cheered to do a bit of shopping and to find my favourite place to eat in the whole of Bangkok, the gorgeous Sunshine Kitchen inside Siam Paragon was in operation, but the rest of it was horrifying.

I knew CentralWorld had been wrecked by fire but the knowledge and the reality hadn’t quite come together.  I passed by in a taxi so still the impact didn’t quite hit me. Instead it was road level parade along Siam Square – Bangkok’s funky teenage hangout – that shocked me. Facades had gone and I looked straight into burned out cavernous holes. Wires and struts spewed out, bits of wall and ceiling, not claimed by the fire, hung useless from what remained of the structure. Water continued to drip through the fabric and pool over the ground.

I cried quietly several times while I was out yesterday afternoon. I walked back towards home, passing CentralWorld. God knows Bangkok isn’t in short supply when it comes to malls but the waste, the willful devastation… it took my breath away. Bullet holes and attempts at vandalism left their mark on the windows of Gaysorn Mall.

Siam Square frontage. I like seeing the vendors: setting up despite everything.

Other posts mentioning CentralWorld, before, can be found here, here, here, here and here.

The real Friday Photo

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Pot noodle anyone?

Chinese New Year; the final episode

Here are some tigers I've spotted out and about in Bangkok over the last week or ten days. The four heads are gigantic - about seven feet high and there's one missing.

This post ends the Chinese New Year series!

Alison Murray's Gingerbread House in Bangkok

Knobs and knockers

Despite feeling rotten with a cold since Thursday night (what else could excuse my going to see Bolt at the cinema all on my own?) I’ve had a jam packed weekend.

Daughter’s birthday party was yesterday. Although Husband gave me a ‘get out clause,’ I really didn’t think I could leave him to cope with sixteen thirteen year olds. Put it another way, I’d have been bloomin’ furious to have been left to do it on my own, so I filled myself up with paracetamol and off we went.

After Sunday lunch at the pub, Daughter and I had to go shopping for a dress for the party at school on Friday, because of course, she had ‘nothing to wear.’ Before we left Centralworld (the mall) we made a loo stop.

I couldn’t contain myself… look what all the door knobs, locks, hinges and hooks said:

Christmas is coming and I'm in a panic

Oh lordy, it's December and while mostly I love the start of a new month on my blog (getting to start a new folder called 'December' really seems to 'do it for me' - note to self: really must get out more) I'm not quite ready for this.

My arrangements - presents to be purchased; kids' trip to UK and all preparations that that entails; articles I've promised, to be written; Grotto to be made (please don't ask); website to be updated and surely some more I can't remember right now - have all got to be done by 13 December, before kids fly and I go off to my Skyros course.

So instead of panicking I'm going to pretend to be all serene and show you some lovely pictures of Christmas I've spotted in Bangkok over the last two weeks. Aren't they gorgeous? Don't they work hard to sell us Christians stuff, I mean, to make a lovely Christmas atmosphere?