Premium Outlets, Cha-am
If not, just enjoy the journey and the scenery. You know what these are?
Salt farms. Imagine how long one of these packs will last you.
So, after a pretty pleasant drive, you will find yourself in the stupendous city of stupendous shopping. High end, mid range, lower end, cheapo... whatever you want... Spanking new, huge malls, refurbished old malls, night markets, ... whatever you want, like I said.
Our most exciting shopping discovery on this trip was Seacon Square, which we forgot to take pictures of. It's a humungous mall with something for everyone, including many Far East-, Icon-like indie clothes shops and YoyoLand for kids. The only snag is that it is in what is called 'Greater Bangkok', i.e., out of the city centre. How to get there (for my future reference and for anyone who wants to go there): take the BTS (skytrain) to the last station, On Nut, and catch a cab from there. Cab journey is about 15 minutes.
Lov
ed this cute shop at one of the BTS stations:
As with shopping (and food), you are spoilt for choice where spas are concerned, though I'm not sure if you want to try Miss Puke. 
Also, high end, mid range, low end and cheapo all got. Apparently, you can get a traditional Thai massage for 100 baht (about S$4).
Two spas I tried:
The Spa, Hilton Hua Hin.
'Package' of a herbal bath + traditional Thai massage + 'truly Asian facial', costing about 3,000 baht (about $120).
Verdict: lovely
It was my first time trying a Thai massage. Like Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese massage, the idea is to break down and eliminate toxins and re-channel everything so that your body functions as it should. It requires a little acrobatics at some points but it's not unbearable or anything. The mask used for that Asian facial was their own concoction of some kind of powder, yoghurt, honey and don't know what else followed by cucumber. The skin felt really good after that. The only problem was that I had to share the lovely, huge room with an irritating lizard. Luckily, it sounded like it was in some far corner. Anyway, I was inspired to buy a Hangin and Licorice mask sheet (apparently derived from some imperial prescription) and grape yoghurt mask packs from The Face Shop when I got back.
Nails: manicure + pedicure for 1,000 baht ($40). Yes, they have OPI.
Marble House (stand-alone spa, recommended by a Taiwan travel magazine; their website):
'Package' of steam (which I opted out of; cannot take the heat) + herbal scrub + floral milk bath + aromatherapy massage, costing 2,200 baht (so you see, you can get good value outside of the hotel spas)
Verdict: also lovely
Again for future reference, the directions to Marble House: refer to picture with Miss Puke sign above. This is the view from the side of Novotel Hotel. Follow the arrow on the Marble House banner. It's right beside Family Mart. Along the way you will also see a small maternity clothes shop called Best Mum, which has very nice clothes. Why was it that when I needed them, the maternity clothes available here (i.e. affordable ones) were just so dreadful??
The BTS takes you to most of the spanking and sparkling places in Bangkok, but when you look over from the stations you can sometimes see:
I'm not sure if this place looks like that because some buildings were recently demolished and the rest of the people are going to move out shortly to better housing, or that people are actually living beside a dump. Just metres away were apartment blocks.
This income gap thing is such a problem, isn't it? Here, there and everywhere.
As I come home, masking my face and all that, those mother-and-baby teams are still sitting under bridges begging, children are still being sold to the cities, and those people are still staying beside the dump for I don't know how long more...
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