We slept late, by the standards of this trip, and had a late breakfast in the hotel buffet. The coffee was not up to the standard set in Vietnam and Cambodia, but the selection of items was decent. Most of the guests appear to be from India and Russia, although I think I heard some German as well.

We got a late start, but made up for it by visiting a number of markets, as well as a very upscale mall. We’ve already seen so many temples and palaces, Buddhas, Vishnus and Krishnas, that seeing more here felt unnecessary. Besides, it’s doubtful any temple here could compare with Angkor Wat. And “spiritual” sites in this mass of concrete and asphalt seem a little out of place.

Our first stop was the Chatuchak weekend market, a crazy collection of approximately 15,000 stalls selling everything from tourist souvenirs to used jeans, rock t-shirts, pet supplies, actual pets, home decor and lighting, street food, and more. I very nearly bought a funky handmade jacket, but couldn’t imagine myself wearing it all that often. It would have looked great on stage, but would be ridiculously hot. Adele bought some gifts for friends back home.

It was quite warm in the corridors between shops, which were narrow, low-ceilinged and for the most part not air-conditioned. On a whim I checked Google Maps to see if there were any guitar stores nearby. It said there was one across the street from the market, which had great reviews, so we decided to go check it out.

It was sunny, still, at that point of the day, and hot. It felt close to 40C. Thankfully the GPS led us into an air-conditioned mall of sorts, filled with small stalls mostly selling “vintage” items, everything from actual antiques to flea market fare. There were four levels, and we explored them all, but didn’t find a guitar shop. We asked one of the vendors, and he said he thought they’d closed down or moved about a year ago.

We went outside and ordered a ride with Bolt, which had been recommended as an alternative to Grab by our Uber driver in Vancouver, who was Thai himself. We’d used a Grab to get a car to the weekend market, and the driver at first couldn’t find us (he was parked a few hundred metres from the pickup location), so we figured we’d see how things went with Bolt. The first car we hailed suddenly switched out for second vehicle when it was, reportedly, 2 minutes away. The second vehicle stayed the other side of the canal from where we were, with the alternating between 6 and 7 minutes away (as if some Gen Alpha kid was messing with me) for a good ten minutes before I cancelled it. We tried one more time, and finally got the cab the app assigned. So much for Bolt.

The cab fought for 45 minutes or more through the insane Bangkok traffic, as well as the driving rain that began to fall, and eventually dropped us at CentralwOrld mall: an absolutely bizarre, but decidedly upscale mall that our local guide had suggested the day before. It was like a cathedral devoted to consumerism. Every Western brand you can think of, and a number of Asian brands, too, was represented there. Zara, Guess, Apple, New Balance. You name it, they had it.

We had a fairly mid lunch (but pricey, by the standards to which we’d become accustomed) at a ramen restaurant, then decided to head back to the hotel to recharge before going to a night market. We hailed a Grab, but the first one never appeared, although he claimed to have waved at us, and when the second was going to be a 15 minute wait, we just negotiated the price with a cab. The traffic was even crazier by this time, and it took us almost an hour to reach the hotel.

We rested up for a couple of hours and then ordered another Grab to take us to Chinatown. This one drove past us and nearly didn’t stop, but I ran after it and knocked on his window. He apologized and we got in, and he drove us to the night market.

Sadly, the Chinatown Night Market is almost entirely about street food, while Adele was hoping there might be some clothing stalls here or there. On the plus side, though, the food was good, and that’s what we ended up having for dinner. After walking through the market for close to an hour, we grabbed a tuk-tuk back to the hotel, as it was really too hot to walk all that way. When I asked his price for the trip, he said 250 Bhat. I told him that was crazy, and started to walk away. He said 200, and I said no. 150? Still too high. How much, he asked. I said, I only paid the Grab 100 to bring us here, and we agreed on that price. He was far faster than any other ride we had all day.

Tomorrow, we will relax. Have a leisurely breakfast. Repack our bags. Eventually, we’ll meet our driver and head to the airport for the long day of flying home. It’s been an incredible trip. We’ve seen and learned so much about Vietnam and Cambodia. I hope we get a chance to come back someday. I’d like to add Laos and Myanmar, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. But there are so many places to see, and only so much time and money. Still, I’m glad we came, and will have so many memories that we’ll carry with us for the rest of our days.