chatuchak finds

Last Saturday's Chatuchak Weekend Market goodbye trip was a pretty productive one. J was in Bangkok and also needed a few things for his wedding -- so M and I helped him pick an essentail oil scent for their oil burner centerpieces, and incense for their principal sponsors' spa pack. He ended up buying 2 liters of oil for only 700 Baht, (more than enough for 20 tables) and red-orange incense sticks with wooden block holders for their gifts.

It is definitely easier for guys, and grooms for that matter, to shop - not only do they follow their shopping lists and budgets, but they just have to see one store and buy it, and not go around in circles before they decide on something. In less than 30 minutes, we were done with J's list and - girls being girls - M & I ended up randomly checking out stalls and buying a few things.

After a few stalls:
J: What are you looking for?
P: Nothing in particular.
J: How can girls do that... go shopping without any specific item in mind, but end up buying a lot.
P: It's a girl thing.

True to form, we did end up buying a lot of things, even without a shopping list in hand. While M was picking out thai silk shawl colors, I found a stack of monochromatic light pink and white shawls. I opened them up and it was love at first sight - I just had to get them as gifts for our entourage. Not only were they the perfect shade of pink I was hoping for, but the were pretty inexpensive too! So using the excuse that I will not find anything better anymore, I got 3 pieces and crossed entourage gifts out of my wedding list.

On the way back to M's apartment to deposit our finds, J and I traded wedding status reports. Since he's moving to Bangkok soon, their wedding is pretty much in place, down to their centerpieces. Together with his future wife, they've done the rounds of talking to different suppliers and going to bridal fairs. He says that it's always good to book suppliers during bridal fairs because they have a lot of freebies or discounts.

With all this talk about weddings last weekend, I'm getting excited about going home and booking suppliers! Things are slowly falling into place in terms of our pamanhikan and wedding-related errands - more reasons to get giddy!