on my second day of wandering alone

before leaving for work each morning, my sister always asked me about my destination. and on my second day, she asked me again. i vaguely told her 'tk park' and maybe 'jim tomson' musuem next. she is a girl with plans, always has things planned in mind when going anywhere. same here, when meeting me in bkk, first thing she asked 'where are you going while you are in bkk for a week?.. when traveling alone, i don't want to plan lots of things. i just have a few destinations in minds with rough ideas and i will see it again after leaving home..

on the second day, my destination was tk park, one of a thai learning parks.. i read about it from books and media and loved to see it once.. after making sure commuters had thinned out from bts, i got myself ready to leave the room. .. had breakfast at the shop near my sister's office and walked to the akamai bts station.

from the map i took from siam yesterday, it said i could reach central world via skywalk from either chidlom or siam bts station. as the price was the same, i picked chidlom bc i had never been there and wanted to look around the place..

it was a little bit far from the station. while walking on skywalk, i passed row of department stores and erawan shrine. stopped there for a while, watching people paying respect to Tao Maha Brahma..then kept walking until i reached a walkway leading to central world (the biggest department store in south east asia -- it was said from the map..)

in front of central world

the book said tk park was on 8th floor of zone d. i didn't know where zone d was but i kept going up until i reach 8th floor. i took escalators instead of a glass lift. the lift went too fast and i didn't like that.. the department store was decorated in halloween theme with bats and dracula hanging by the escalators.. it was rather cute than spooky..

reaching 8th floor, i felt that i was lost as i saw peple walking around working and decorating the room. i asked the maid for the whereabout of tk park but she had no idea and told me to ask the guy supervising work around there. he told me to go down to 7th and walk straight out..

along the way, i passed food court and a theater. new moon (twilight 2) was showing. seeing the ad of the movie, i thought of mod. she might love to watch it if she happened to be there with me..

not far from the theater was an escalator to 8th floor and tk park was infront of it. finally!

i didn't go inside instantly but stopped to read the bulletin board on the front. on the right hand-side was a counter with staff sitting behind. i read the board to find way how i could get in. there was a daypass for non-member which i had to pay 70 baht; 20 for admission fee and 50 for card deposit and i got 50 back when i returned the card. internet is 10 baht for 30 minutes.

getting the card and going inside, i looked for a computer to check mails. there were lines of flat screen-computers lining up which were about 30 of them. as i was there early, there were plently for me to choose.. after my time was out, i left the computer and started walking around surveying.. there were loads of books and magazines with various kinds to read.. they had rooms for kids, music room, a small cafe and many corners to sit and read or even sleep.. you pick the corner as you like..

many magazines caught my eyes. i got 3 of them each time and started reading.. and this magazine 'runner's world' wasted my time there.. there were 3 of them on the shelf.. and i read them all..

if you want to go to the toilet, you just use your card to beep out and beep in again when you are done. you can come in and out as many time as you want within a day..

..this is the way to the toilet..

..and along the walls, there were quotes encouraging for reading..

when getting hungry, i was too lazy to go out as the air-con was comfortably cold and i was rooted, so i bought a cup of darjeeling tea and a box of cookies.. i could stay there all day long...

the planning for going to jim thomson was failed. i just felt i had enough of musuems and hot weather in the jam-packed traffic from yesterday, so i stayed there until 5 pm.. (was there since 10 am!) reading all the magazines i liked, i decided to leave tk.. but i had a secret intention to come back again, as there were some magazines i still wanted to read..

finding a wayout of central world was a challenge.. turning a wrong way, i got lost again.. but no sweat, finally, i saw the wayout. i walked out of central world slowly and took some photos along the way, as i had plenty of time to pass..

tonight i had an appointment with pu and my sister but i had to wait until they finished work. we were going to have dinner in suanlum and we would catch mrt to there together.. i met pu and my sister at mrt station around 6 pm.. and then we headed to suanlum..

after meeting pu and my sister, i joined the conjested train with them. it was rush hour again. people were hurrying to reach home after work.. stading in the crowded train, we had to grab the stainless steel pole like it was our precious belonging, to keep balance while the train was moving... reaching suanlum, we walked around looking for a restaurant to sit.. we chose the restaurant near the roundabout, ordered food and started chatting.. we sat there eating, chatting and watching people until sky was dark and the road outside was sparkling with headlights of passing-by cars ..

with no intention to walk around for window shopping, around 8 pm, we left suanlum. pu walked back to mrt station to get home. my sister and i hailed a taxi back to boss mension..

it was kind of a rest day for me. not walking too much. i just took it easy and love my still time at tk park.. it was the first day that i really stay still while wandering in bkk..