Yesterday, out of the blue I asked my wife to drive me to Ngamwongwan Mall for lunch and a cup of Tim Hortons. Yes, we have Tim's here in Ekkamai (at the PARQ), but I wanted to visit the "old" place where I first rented a condo when backpacking 20 years ago with my Frenchie gf. One reason I wanted to go was to visit the old Pantip Plaza which I remember it being a one giant flea market. I wasn't expecting much because nowadays everything has been renovated and it looks so ugly and sterile, especially in the "the center" of Bangkok. Personally I find living in Ekkamai extremely boring and unappealing.
Anyhoo, while the Mall Number 1 (Ngamwongwan) was renovated top to bottom, I was pleasantly surprised that Pantip Plaza remained almost the same, still with the giant flea market on top.... including that specific Thai flea market smell that is slowly disappearing from the buildings. I literally started crying from joy. Why do we long for things gone by? Wife spent a whole 300b buying some clothes and I went through some vintage electronics. Unfortunately we arrived a bit late as sellers were already leaving.
I would love to move to Nonthaburi.... far from BTS. Flooding over there is a bit of an issue tho