The first thing you have to know about shopping in Bangkok, is if you’re a doña like me, you don’t have to walk and sweat, go from hot street to cold mall, go up and down the stairs and take the sky train. You can always hire a car and driver to take you around town.
My sister recommended Mr. Chim, whom Jeroen and I hired for four days in Bangkok.
Mr. Chim drives his own van. He is kind, on time, and trustworthy.
Hiring a van cost us anywhere from 1,800 – 3,000 baht per day. The rate changes depending on the hours, parking, and tolls paid. I also recommend giving Mr. Chim a tip as he is the nicest driver you’ll ever meet.
Mr. Chim picked us up at the Mandarin Oriental at 11 AM.
My Thai BFF Joey was in charge of booking him a day in advance, including dropping us off at the airport on the last day. I have known this guy since 1985. We were classmates in U.P. Fine Arts.
The inside of Mr. Chim’s van looks more like a car-house. He did mention he was going to buy a new van, so I’m looking forward to using that next time. 
As per my stylist friend Joey, our first stop was Erawan Plaza
Inside are Lanvin
Alexander Wang
Before anything else, we had to eat. When in Thailand, we eat Thai. Like everyday.
Joey and I had a nice chat n’ chew at Nara restaurant where he explained to me the politics of Thai bath houses
I ordered the appetizer sampler and was sad they put sauce on everything, but I ate it anyway. Not bad.
Next stop: Comme des Garçons
I tried on all of these. I didn’t buy all, but I did enough damage to become an elite member of Club 21
Here’s the multi-brand Club 21 store which owns CDG in Bangkok and in Singapore
We walked to Gaysorn Shopping Centre
and saw this restaurant called Thann, covered in paper leaves, which is a scary fire hazard, if you really think about it.
I’m also scared of creepy crawlies hiding within the leaves
Amazing though
I can’t remember buying anything at Gaysorn. Sretsis’ sales assistant was on a very long break apparently. We could not enter, nor did Joey particularly push for it.
Gaysorn is where I saw Dean. I am trying not to think about him so much.
Flynow is no longer what it used to be. Now they have more interesting windows than merchandise.
Then Joey took me to the new location of WWA, which I used to like.
I was not feeling WWA this time. It felt more like WQ (walang quenta).
These shoes were too tight and I’m no longer into the shock value of metal soles. At my age, I find them dangerously trippy.
(To be continued)
Originally published at Chuvaness.com. You can comment here or there.