A Pokemon Go Trainer in Bangkok

The IconSiam was the newest luxury shopping mall in the planned 55 billion baht (1.76 billion US dollars) mixed-used development complex - shopping malls, hotels and residences on the Charoen Nakorn Road. It was the first high-end shopping mall in the Thonburi area on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River. The shops and decorations clearly reflected the exclusivity and expensiveness. As I first arrived from the underground parking space, the first impression was the eye-catching market that emulated the traditional floating market and communities on the ground floor with very high ceiling and mezzanine. In the central area, the floor plan was exciting with the shops around the outer walls with balconies around the raised space from the first floor in the middle which also connected to the galleries on each floor. In short, the space design was very innovative. On the green side, the energy consumption for air-conditioning must be very high due to the enormous cavern, but the inter...

The community mall Sena Fest was open for business in 2013. It was located on the south side of the Taksin Bridge on the west bank of Chao Phraya River, usually called Thonburi area. Sena Fest featured similar characteristics to other community malls. The central space was not air-conditioned; the ceiling was very high, so it was not uncomfortable. Actually, I quite liked the arrangement as it consumed much less energy and far greener than a typical overly cool, big shopping mall. There were many restaurants, bakery, coffee shops, and other miscellaneous shops on the main floors with a supermarket on the ground floor. There were also clinics, banks, children playground and educational areas. While there were no expensive brand name shops for clothes or cineplex as in the large shopping malls, the diversity of services were sufficient. Actually, the facility was definitely on the high-end side with an Apple service shop, a Starbuck, Villa Supermarket and strings of upmarket restauran...