Terminal 21 is like no other shopping mall I ever saw before. It's a place to visit when in Bangkok, even if you don't plan to buy anything. The entrance and escalators are all designed to be an airport with departure gates taking you to seven different destinations. Each floor is designed around a seven famous city theme and the shopfronts and alleys are decorated in the city style, even shop names sound like foreign languages but you still can read them all. The entire building is huge. The central area is vast and buzzing with activity, people seem to spend most of their time taking each other's photo in front of a london bus, a pair of wrestling Sumos or the favorite and most eye catching display: the Golden Gate Bridge of San Francisco. (The name Terminal 21 comes from the location on Sukhumvit 21)
Just to set the decor, the lower floor is the Carribean with the huge lighthouse. From the BTS you will enter the building from Rome with Vespas, marble statues fountains, and reach Paris on the second floor with all the French sounding names, the Metroplitan art deco roofs. The next level you are in London with the unmistakable double decker red bus and a subway line bigger than real. Some shops are actually inside the bus and the train.
Third floor, you travel to Istanbul city with hundreds of colorful glass lanterns and oriental looking shops and roofs.
Above it is the Japan, with a very convincing little streets of Tokyo, with suspended paper lanterns and small restaurants curtains at the door. More accessories, fun looking decorations and gadgets can be found around this floor.
Most of the shop seems to address to the young adults and teenagers, but nevertheless, with such amount of small shop there is enough to keep you entertained for hours. The central area where the escalators are are home to larger shops but designers were really smart and created on each floor little mazes of street with tiny boutiques were the ambiance ids really well rendered. No big brands here, but an amazing amount of original creations.
And of course what would be a shopping center without the most important attraction: the food! San Francisco on the fifth floor is home to many small restaurants. Nothing very sophisticated, but it is part of the fun, and you can choose among many small restaurants, mostly all part of big franchises. Curry seems to be the most popular dish with Coco Ichibanya and Konaya Curry Udon. If you come at lunch or dinner time, get ready to queue.
Top floor, you know you are in Hollywood with the golden oscar statue, and it is obviously where you will find the SFX cinemas
Overall, it's an experience in itself, with an incredible amount of details and no shortage of fun and creativity, Terminal 21 should be on your list of things to do on a short visit to Bangkok. Don't miss the japanese style toilets with herated seats and didet sprinkler!
Terminal 21 is very easy to reach with a direct BTS (Asoke) and MRT (Sukhumvit) stations, and just across the famous Soi Cowboy.
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