Dear Blog,
Been away over the weekend to BKK for a gentle hen gathering. I say gathering because we didn't really get into anything too raunchy. The bride-to-be is Lish, who is an uptown girl, and doesn't prefer naked men at all over a decent high tea and lots of labels. Five of us made the trip: Me, Lish, Ella, Amy, and Shay.
The trip started off at the Bangkok Metropolitan Hotel, home of the Shambala Spa (and totally decadent wonderful bath products that we used up like a house afire) - http://metropolitan.como.bz/bangkok/default.asp. Friday night was spend hanging out at the Met Bar where we got hit on by men far too old to be light company, and heard music far too 80's to be good for us. It was a gentle start.
We were still hyped after drinks, and slightly peckish, so we took a cab down to a 24-hour noodle bar. It was the only time in our trip that we wound up in Patpong. OMG, I don't ever want to be down that street again. There was piss on the floor and goodness-knows-what dripping from between the zinced roofing.
The next morning, Lish and I had a hearty breakfast at the Met's Cyan restaurant on the ground floor. We made like tai-tais and sat at the alfresco area just off the pool. Gorgeous bods divebombing, a decent eggs benedict, and Chanels sunglasses. Mmm....
The rest of the crew woke up in time to head to the spa. While they were kneaded into oblivion by expert hands, Ella and I jumped into a cab for the big bad Siam Paragon, the epitomy of retail heaven. She scooted off to run errands, leaving me wide-eyed and alone in a sea of materialism. Hermes, Armani, Bottega, Versace, Chloe etc. All the major players were here, and far more well represented than anywhere in Singapore.
I dove straight in.
By the time the spa-goers met up with us for lunch, I had acquired a new pair of striped wedges. Navy blue and white, with a prim ironed bow and peeptoe front. The wedge was arched suggestively, and there was just enough of a hint of Monacan sailordom to guarantee sauce when worn, just as Marilyn (Monroe) might once have teetered over the rail of someone's yacht. I had also acquired a juicy-pink and black pair of extremely peekaboo undies: underwired camisole and tight little G-string; from Playboy. Am looking forward to using them 2 weeks from now ;) My third purchase was an arty slip of a black dress, with wide shoulder straps crossed at the back, and a miniskirted billowy hem which ended above the knees. It was voted by Ella to be the Outfit To Wear, also for the event in 2 weeks' time. My last kill was a waist-long thin pseudo-matte-gold chain with a tassled tiny pendant hanging from the end. Just enough weight to keep it there, and not as clanky as most sold in Singapore (the only contender was a sliver of a chain I found in River Island in Raffles City for which I would rather DIE than pay GBP 15 for).
We dined at Vanilla Brasserie, which was a sweetly mahogany-clad restaurant, somewhere between the chicness of a french cafe and the woodiness of a british pub: http://www.thailandsbestrestaurants.com/2007/restaurants/vanilla.html. GREAT FRIES.
After lunch, we pelted at the shops withe renewed vigour. The girls all made killings in different boutiques, until finally we needed a place to perch, and descended upon L'Espace De L'Oriental, the cafe set up by the Thai Oriental Hotel, with lovely little scones + open sandwiches + cakes + teas: http://www.mandarinoriental.com/hotel/510000384.asp. I ordered a tea called Bouddha Blue and was not disappointed. It was aromatic and light, with a very flowery taste. Most refreshing.
Well-rested, we headed on to Siam Square (http://www.youareheremag.net/) for more walking. As we trod along, we chanced upon a few tiny little gems. Narrow as alleys and barely big enough to qualify as a shop, we took turns to navigate our bodies in and out of the racks of stuff.
Outstanding ones included the weirdly-named "It's Happened To Be A Closet" whose supposed website of the same name is goners. The shop, on Siam Square Soi 3, was a crazy-ass, filled-to-the-rafters fire hazard of hippy chic. Random carpets lined the floors, random wallpaper lined the walls, and everywhere that you turned was met with stacks (yeah, STACKS, not even racks) of items of clothing in every imaginable incarnation. It was like being in Quiggins of Liverpool, only you had to imagine the entire 4 floors of it shoehorned into a lot the size of a toilet. More surprisingly, there was a cafe upstairs which apparently kicks ass.
I was not impressed. It induced a mild headache (if I were epileptic, I would have had one right there and then in front of the dancing textiles and colours) and the prices were outrageously high, for something that looked like my old comforter turned inside out. I leapt out of it the minute I could actually turn around. The open-fire kitchen upstairs made my hairs stand on end in fear of igniting the jangly skirt that Amy was holding up.
More comforting was the cuteness of "Cookies And Cream" spread over 2 separate outlets. Amy picked up a lovely black blouse there that could easily pass for a Chanel original. Lish nearly fell for a batwinged top in lavender but exercised her usual restraint.
The last shop that we hit (we ran out of time!) was the best for me. I can't even remember the name of the place (it resembled the word "mosquitoe") but I bought a really cool chunky plastic ring that looked like matte gold + a neon mixed-colour envelope bag with a black chain + a patent white envelope/clutch with a brassy chain. Woohoo!
Clutching our purchases, we then followed Ella's seasoned lead to the nearest main road and leapt into the first cab unfortunate enough to halt in front of us. There were some local students hangin' there but we surprised them with the ferocity of our assault, so they let us have the cab, in which all five of us mashed ourselves.
Half an hour later, we were preened for dinner at Harmonique: http://www.thailandsbestrestaurants.com/restaurants/harmonique.html, http://www.dininginthailand.com/harmonique.asp. Great hearty food to line the stomach. We moved on to Bed Supperclub (http://www.bedsupperclub.com/) thereafter for some well-deserved boogying, and poor Ella got rubbed up against a hairy caucasian dude. Couldn't blame him though, poor sod. She was ravishing, in a chiffony high-necked top, opera-length faux pearls around her neck and wrist, and tweed hotpants with white stilettoes.
For the rest of us: Lish in retro-printed tunic with plunging neck, a vintage-look necklace and dress-shorts. Shay in a tube/haltered marl-grey dress with twisted brown leather belt, Amy in black tight dress with low square neckline and a scarlet bra (yeah, we all saw her strap peeping out seductively) and bronze pumps, and myself in a blue batik cheongsam/minidress with nude-croc and patent-black stacked sandals. So yeah, we were an incongruous bunch - not likely to be mistaken for gender-confused men, and something for every taste.
After some serious music and alcohol, we bopped into another hapless cab (the driver flapped like an agitated crow and complained that we smelt of cigarettes and alcohol) and it was back to the Met. After showering ourselves out of the smokey haze, we had a girlie chat (it's a slumber party!) and contemplated ordering the tiger-prawn pizza from Glow (http://metropolitan.como.bz/bangkok/default.asp?section=182). We probably thought about it too long, because Amy fell asleep in my bed and we ended the night there.
Sunday was a lazy day. We tidied up by 1100H and had a quick noodle lunch in MBK before raiding the little shops there. I had my luggage with me since I was departing the earliest, and at 1300H, Ella caught me yet another cab and I was on my way to Suvarnabhumi Airport. The other girls carried on until they too caught their flights back home.
Theme song: "U N Ur Hand" - Pink
...when we had lunch at Delicious @ Bangsar Village II. Nice place, a cafe offshoot from clothiers Ms. Read....not dissimilar to Blood Brothers here. 
After we crossed back over the Causeway to Singapore, we also saw this. Understandably, National Day just came and went, but hey. Mind the hazardous stranding....
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