The Paragon

Whats the best shopping mall youve ever been to ?

Ive been to quite a few - Ones in dubai, in Europe, Singapore..a few others and of course the chickenshit ones in India.

My pick of the lot is the Amazing - Siam paragon - here in bangkok. (*** Update below)

It has its own train station, this HUGE multiplex, HUGE. 20+ screens / Imax / what not, A big aquarium on the ground floor, a food court with thousands of outlets, atleast 5 book stores - each have atleast twice the number of books at Landmark in Spencer, ULTRA cool sports car showrooms on the 4th floor - macerati, BMW, Porche, Lamborghini, a HUGE gym and a HUGE gourmet department store on the ground floor - (How many kinds of mushrooms do u know of ? I saw ATLEAST 50 kinds of them here)

I did one stupid thing and one super thoughtful thing today - i left my camera (stupid) and my wallet (super thoughtful) behind.

I put 300 bhat and some small change in my pocket when i left.

What can one do with 300 bhat at the amazing paragon - Eat this measly plate of Indian food and not have money left over to buy a bottle of water - And by the time i bought a 25 bhat return ticket to Asok - i had about 2 bhat left

- But with no wallet or dollars or tempt you - you can ogle all you want at pancakes, exotic fruit smoothies and 500 bhat special offers for Imax screenings of 'The day the earth stood still'

Please, PLEASE go here if you ever get the chance to visit these parts.

UPDATE:

I seem to have made a sweeping declaration all too soon.

Theres the Emporium (ive been going to it now for 3 years) - about 10 mins by foot from my Hotel which gives it a fair bit of competition. The thing with the emporium is that it has these MILLIONS of shops where you can ACTUALLY shop - like Clothes, bags and stuff.. cheap and like FLOODED with choice. The paragon is more,um, ritzy, shall we say?, stuff is more expensive there.

In the main entrance, every December, they put up these superb christmas declarations and invite school choirs (full of Attention deficit hyperactivity syndrome afflicted thai kids), conductor in tow - dressed in costumes - to belt out chirstmas carols - different choirs perform in slots / dates assigned to them and competition appears fierce - ADS seems to be affecting parents too - who wear santa hats and sing along with their kids in some cases. Quite a case study in human behaviorial patterns i guess - but very entertaining to watch.

The Emporium's Kinokuniya branch is amongst the best bookstores ive ever been to. Woodpanelled flooring, they even have displays for antique / collectors items type books - original handwritten stuff from T.S.Eliot - and stuff like that - some for display and some for sale. Kinokuniya of course has a fiercely loyal following from upmarket patrons of all ages & Expats - their children's section has the most amazing collection of comics from all around the world and brilliant picture books -and it is a common sight to see young parents sprawled on the wooden floors with toddlers - showing them all kinds of kiddie books.