Day 28, according to Lauren.   

  
With the intention of going to Skybar at some point, we realised we needed to buy some nice-ish shoes as we’d read that they don’t allow flip flops. There was a market listed in the guidebook that looked quite interesting anyway so we decided to combine the two and do some more shopping. We hopped on the sky train and then went about searching for the market. When we eventually found it, it was a strange maze of lanes selling mostly old lady clothes and costume wear, along with the usual touristy elephant t-shirts and fake Havianas.

    

We were not going to find what we were looking for here. We needed some air con anyway so headed over the road to what looked like a shopping mall. On our way we passed an array of different shaped and scented soaps, like mango and papaya. To our surprise we then spotted soap shaped like a pair of boobs. “Wonder what that one smells like” I said to Sarah. “Probably milk” she wittily replied in a matter of seconds.

The shopping mall turned out to be about 5 floors of wholesale type stalls. We looked at a map and excitedly headed upstairs to the shoe floor. We had high hopes but they were soon dashed when we realised it was the same old story – the only heels they sell here are either stripper heels (sky high and Jewel encrusted) or weird mid height ones that were far from flattering. On top of this, none of them went up to my size. The stalls that did boast ‘big sizes!’ also happened to boast the ugliest shoes I’ve ever seen.

So after strolling round for a couple of hours we were lagging and decided to go and find some food. We knew there was another shopping centre next door so went for that in the hope that they’d have a food court. On our way out we passed a food van selling balls of melted cheese covered in golden breadcrumbs. Yum. We chose pizza flavour, spinach, and a few originals. Perfect snack to keep us going. 

We then went into central world shopping mall and found their food area. There were incredible looking cakes, tarts and pastries. What a dream. We decided we should probably get something savoury first and then we’d come back for delicious pudding. We found a bakery that was reasonably priced; I went for a curry chicken pie and Sarah had a ham and egg sandwich. I chose a custard filled brioche and Sarah had a lemon meringue tart to satisfy our sweet cravings. And some cookies for the road…
  
Sarah was still wanting to fill The Box with more clothes so we went back to the wholesale place, this time to the clothing floors, to see what we could find. We wondered around and saw a few possibles. Sarah asked if she could try them on for size but each time she was bizarrely told “no, can not try”. Needless to say she didn’t buy anything as it wasn’t exactly cheap either. We went back up to the shoes for one last attempt and this time Sarah found some nice sandals which she bought after a bit of haggling.

After this we were definitely ready for a little rest so went back to matchbox. We had a little lie down and then each had a shower, by which time it was actually quite late so decided to find somewhere for dinner. Sarah had seen somewhere called ‘Marshmallow’ on our way back from somewhere a couple of days before and liked the look of it, so we headed for the sky train to take us there. We got off and followed google maps to the supposed location. We wandered round some dodgy lanes but couldn’t seem to find it. Some tuk tuk drivers offered to take us there but clearly didn’t know where it was themselves. We went into a shop to ask and the people behind the counter didn’t know either. Luckily, an American guy overhead us said it was a 5 min walk down the road. Phew. We had a quick look at the menu and sat down. It was kind of like a run down night club inside with tacky furnishings and a DJ bopping along to his headphones with no audience. We sat outside where it was quieter and less seedy. Sarah had seen on foursquare that their corona cocktails were a must, so we went for a melon flavoured one of those to share. 

  
We ordered sausage ball type things (too garlicky to handle) and a chicken curry served in a coconut to share.

  
  
For pudding Sarah had her obligatory mango sticky rice and I had some interesting but super yummy toasted marshmallows with chocolate sauce.

  
A nice meal despite having to shoo away some street beggars – the down side of al fresco dining. We were pretty knackered and definitely ready for bed, so paid the bill and went on our merry way. I briskly walked to the sky train thinking Sarah was just behind me but when I got there and turned around she was nowhere to be seen. After a few minutes of panic she emerged and said she had got stuck behind some slow walkers. Note to self; must hold Sarah’s hand in busy places. We got back and said a quick hello to the German boys on our way to bed.