The Adventures of Shopping in Thailand

Shopping, now there's an adventure in it's own right! First, buying anything imported from America you can expect to pay an outrageous price for. For example, a box of Kraft Mac and Cheese costs $2.50, Kraft grated Parmesan Cheese is around $10.00, and one small bottle of barbecue sauce costs about $3.50! That's just a few items we won't be purchasing much of while we are here. Thank goodness we came prepared with plenty of Mac and Cheese, because, I am sorry to say, we won't be buying much American here. We'll just have to stock up every time we come back to America to visit. We are very lucky that my husband is going to America in the middle of the month. I am sending him with a very large list. We brought along other food and personal items, but there are some things we just can't find here. And some personal items I just can't live without! So far I haven't found an Aldi type store here, at least not yet. See, I was a little picky about what I would spend on certain items. I'm not concerned about brand name for one and Aldi mac and cheese for 39cents did us just fine. Or a huge can of Aqua Net for $1.50, hairspray here doesn't come in a large bottle and the cheapest I have found is $3.30! What?!? Are you kidding me!?! I thought everything was supposed to be cheaper here! Of course there is a lot of stuff that is cheaper like DVDs (when you can find them in English), clothes, and home goods. I just need to learn where to shop. The time will come when I do learn more and I'm sure I'll be writing about that adventure as well. But, for the time being, I'm adding to the list of food and personal items for my husband to pick up when he goes back to America. (Sorry honey, but that list gets a little longer each day.) My poor husband is going to have to go to Walmart and buy, not just one box, but 20 boxes of tampons. All I can say is bless him for that! How many men would go and buy even just one box of tampons for their woman? Oh, did I mention, there are only two brands of tampons you can get here costing about $6.00 for 18 tampons, and they aren't even the good ones!
Another adventure about shopping, trying to figure out what something is. For laundry detergent, since I can't read Thai, I have to look at the picture to figure out if it's for the washing machine or hand wash only. A lot of Thai's hand wash and hang to dry their laundry. And then try asking for something from someone who does not speak or understand English. Imagine me, looking for dish soap, asking a lady were I can find soap to wash dishes by hand and being taken to the hand lotion isle. Ok, I'll find it on my own, hopefully. I really need to find some English speaking Thai friends to take me shopping.
Oh, and they have Toys-R-Us here, but you can forget about me buying anything there! One Hot Wheels car that would cost me 85-98 cents in America, those are $3-$5 here! No Way is that purchase going to happen! And PlayDoh, let's just say I'll be making my own! You're looking at about $5-$6 for a four pack of PlayDoh. No thank you!