A Mall Is Not A Mall, Is Not A Mall!

Everyone knows that men, and especially one named Ken, just love to go to the mall. I am a veritable mall maniac. I go at least once a year whether I need to or not. Well, let me tell you I have forsaken the expression, “ A mall is a mall is a mall,” after two weeks in Bangkok. 

We have entered the domain of the Mega Mall or the Colossal Shopping Centre or the Mother of all Malldom. A quick search has revealed that Bangkok is the home of over 21 major malls, with more than half of them built in the past decade. They are new, they are massive and they are spectacular from an architectural point of view. 

All of Bangkok’s bigger malls have a minimum of 250 shops. Most of them contain 500 to 1000 outlets and the grand daddy malls have 2500 shops. We went to Platinum Mall yesterday and encountered a modern building of six floors with an advertised 2500 stores. Most of the shops are rather small, about 12 by 25 feet, with about 300 to 400 on a FLOOR! It is imperative to drop bread crumbs as you try to meander through the maze of aisles and paths or there is no returning to your entrance door. One book described this particular mall as an indoor flea market with air conditioning and marble floors. And that pretty much sums it up. 

The other kind of mall, that I find really inviting, is the upscale mall with nothing but Gucci, Hermes, and Dolce and Gabbana stores for those who prefer to spend $2500 on a purse. Imagine 400 Holt Renfew outlets in one area. The prestige malls feature wide sculpted aisles, clerks in suits or resembling fashion models, a few articles on display and a destaining eye that told me they knew I was an interloper and had entered their hallowed sanctum in error. 

By comparison, Calgary has about 10 major malls with CrossIron Mills one of the biggest with between 200 to 300 tenants. So if you stack 6 or 7 Market Malls one on top of another you start to approach a Bangkok Mall. 

One mall advertises over 100 restaurant outlets to chose from. That may be true, but I think over 800 of the Thai rice or noodle or broth dishes all look very similar. We often just point at the picture in the menu when we order and hope for the best. Invariably, the food is tasty but sometimes when it arrives we try to reconcile the food with the menu picture, then just shake our heads, and eat it. No big deal, just different.

As much as it is a shopping venue, a mall is also a free escape from the hot humid weather on the outside into an air conditioned, smog free environ. That alone is reason to go malling!

I will save the outdoor Chatachak Weekend Market with its 10,000 shops for another time. Needless to say I am in mall heaven and Darlene is putting up with my shopping addiction!