First off, the sky train. An amazingly simple public transport system operating on 2 lines in Central Bangkok. Have no fears about using the trains it couldn't be easier:
1. At your nearest BTS station climb the stairs/escalator.
2. Find a map of the route.
3. Locate your destination.
4. The price you pay is the number shown on the map at your destination, ranging from 13 baht to 65 baht (26p to £1.30)
5. At the ticket machine enter the correct amount of money for your ticket and take it from the machine. There are handy change/ticket offices who can help with change for the machines and even sometimes sell you a ticket.
It was literally childs play!
MBK looks very modern from the outside and is pretty nice inside, all air con and massive. However there is literally everything in the world for sale and bargain prices to be haggled. Each floor is organised into sections, with different floors being different types of goods. The electrical floor must have had 400 different stalls/shops selling mobile phone accesories, everything you might have wanted for your phone and loads more you never realised you needed.
To offer a contrast we walked the 150m across the busiest roads using the overpasses that seem to spring from every angle in Bangkok's central shopping area and visited the Paragon Mall.
Of course we bought one of each..........
Before we were asked to 'move along' we headed into the department store to check out the Walking Dead bobble heads and various Star Wars collectibles to keep Andrew informed for his planned visit.
After a quick Burger King lunch we went to the Ocean World.
Bangkok is full of strange and wonderful contradictions, rules that make no sense and systems that are so inefficient they can only be that way to provide a job for 3 people instead of 1. Never the less we've had some exciting times so far on this visit.
Happy holidays!