Officially opened in 2011, four years since have passed before i finally stepped foot into a mall that i have heard so much; a place in Bangkok where you can take many selfies comfortably in an air-conditioned setting.
Yes, i am referring to Terminal 21 which was surprisingly not as humongous as i thought it would be; at least not when i first caught sight of its facade while walking from Nana to Asok BTS station.
From its exterior, it was like any another shopping centre. Walk in and be greeted by a LED panel that looked strangely familiar for a person who just arrived in Thailand via the airplane!
Departure platforms for the various cities and the escalators shall act as the moving aeroplane, with neither the deafening noise, nor the speed, to bring you to the destination.
Designed with the streets of New York, Paris, London, Tokyo, Istanbul, San Francisco and Hollywood in mind, many imposing structures and statues decorated the aisles; attracting more attention from shoppers than the physical stores.
It's quite fun to see signature elements of the seven cities and many people would actually stop to take photographs before moving on!
Interestingly, i didn't get trigger happy in the two times i was there in the four days trip; maybe the long walk under the humid weather had drained me out physically.
Navigating the "streets" can be quite confusing and i believe we have missed out some of the more interesting shops! Most of them were shoe-box units and you do need to take a leisurely pace to browse through their offerings.
Those who prefer a whirlwind shopping experience should just give this a miss and concentrate on the all popular Platinum Mall. Items found were also more unique although the pricing could be on a higher side.
Not everything by the way, the T-shirts here cost only 190 baht!
Quality was quite good and there were plenty of designs; i think Alex bought like six tees from this shop. I personally bought three pieces and one of them had been worn twice with no problem after washing!
From the decoration, it should not be too hard to guess which city this is.
Giving another giveaway hint!
It's Istanbul; largest city in Turkey that wasn't the capital. Turkey is top on the packaged travel lists nowadays but i guess my parents would still prefer to continue their exploration of the middle kingdom.
There were anchor tenants with bigger shop space and one of them was H&M. Do you enjoy globalisation? I do to a certain extent even though it does dilute the novelty somewhat; in the past, one has to travel to UK to get H&M stuff. Now, i just need to take a train to Orchard Road.
A super tall statue of the Oscar trophy, i think.
This would have been a lot more fascinating if it were a live person! Oh, want to guess which country have you arrived at?
Iconic red telephone booth, double decker red bus; this has to be London!
A random shot of the interior of Terminal 21; notice the statues on the ground level?!
Wasn't this part of the Greek / Roman mythology?! According to wikipedia, the G floor is "reserved for luxury brands and brand name boutiques, the theme is Heaven of Rome. It is decorated with marble, sculptures Roman mythological figures, and well-known paintings."
4th floor; Chinatown of San Francisco that housed a few Asian restaurants.
A floor up was the location of Pier 21; a food court that was recommended by quite a number of people. There's another noticeable icon on this level.
The impressive Golden Gate Bridge with dummy cars!
A beauty by itself although i know it would never be compared to the right thing! However, to endure the butt-ache of travelling across the Pacific Ocean is a major deterrent, not to mention the price of the air ticket!
Our lunch was at Tohkai Yakiniku & Sushi! Click here for the review.
Spotted the guy fawkes mask in one of the shop. As Thailand is currently under military law, i am unsure if its display would sit well with the government.
One of the more unusual retailers; given the lack of time i had in Bangkok and the many places i would like to check out, i didn't quite leisurely explore Terminal 21 in the way i would love to.
Frankly, my original idea was to blog on the washrooms at Terminal 21 as each of them was specially designed for the city! The disadvantage was that it can be really distressing taking photos as everyone just gave me the weird looks!!!
Lower Ground - known as basement one for Singaporeans, it deviated from the cities in Terminal 21 and was known simply as the Caribbean; hence the lighthouse.
More a food arena with a supermarket! For those who are into Tao Kae Noi would be pleased to know that there was a shop dedicated to the fried seaweed brand! Stock up here instead of buying them from the airport.
The lighthouse.
Don't you just love the slogan?! One piece is never enough! The cake display was so insanely colourful that i wonder how much colouring was actually used!
I would love to take a bite and there were so many designs to choose from!
The baby rainbow cakes actually paled in comparison! Pity there wasn't a seating area or i would have gladly paid for a slice to satisfy my curiosity on its taste.
Had Sushi Den instead! Note: this was had on the second day.
To continue the craving spree for Japanese food, why not something from Hokkaido? As i am slightly lactose intolerant, my mind mustn't have been clear as i would obviously not enjoy bouts of diarrhea when i am overseas!
Didn't stop my eyes from lighting up though; i was in fact a very heavy milk drinker when i was younger and i would only go for full cream milk!
Nowadays, it's just a small cup from which i would have to wait in anticipation for the "feel". Heng ah, the banana milk didn't result in any anomaly in the bowel movement.
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Location
Terminal 21 @ Bangkok
(next to Asok BTS Station)
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