Bangkok's MBK Center

We arrived in Bangkok with an understanding that we would be pretty fatigued and jet-lagged for several days. At least we would pass this time in the comfort of a new American hotel and in a city we had visited before. For a time, I resolved only to see Bangkok sights we hadn't seen before; but that quickly passed, in view of the spectacular nature of many of the sights, and also in view of our fading memories. Case in point: the MBK Center, Thailand's largest shopping center. We thought we'd visited another, more up-scale, shopping center back in 2008. Maybe the Siam Center? So, hoping to see something new, we headed via the Skytrain (metro) to the MBK and took in all six floors of shops and such, gawking throughout, and finished with lunch at the (Asian) food court. Only then did the neurons begin to dance, and a quick check of the blog confirmed that, yes, we had done the exact same thing in 2008, doing the MBK and then having a Thai lunch at the food court. Well, it seemed like a new experience, all the way to the end. Some may observe this is about aging. In my defense I would observe that, as full-time travelers, we've seen quite a few cities and quite a few malls in the past eleven years. And the MBK did not seem quite so upscale as I had remembered it (or whatever I remembered).

View from the 29th floor of the Aloft hotel, Sukhumvit, Bangkok; 9 million people
live here

Ditto; the haze/smog/whatever limited visibility to a mile or so

The MBK, Asia's largest when it opened way back in 1985; 2,000 shoppes, a
couple anchors, giant food court, usual multiplex of cinemas; Ma Boon Khrong,
parents of the developer; in case you're interested

Clue that you're in the retail zone: an array of ATMs greet you

Took almost the same pic in 2008

New King: Rama X; long live the King!

Maybe another day

Sweet shoppe on the 6th floor

Main course, a real Tom Yum...

Coming to a mall near you

Ditto

Just like back home, except here, they're everywhere

That's E-Bomb (Egg-Bomb)

Possibly not coming to a mall near you