Second day in Bangkok taught me a friendly lesson which I won't forget, and which I think I will apply to everywhere else from now on.
We started the day with breakfast at the hotel.
At first I had thought of sitting indoors- the weather was warm- but then I soon realized that the charm of staying by the River was that you could have your meal alfresco by the River, so I changed my mind and agreed to sit outdoors on the patio instead.
It was breezy at that hour, thank goodness, and I had a lovely time with the omelet, the hash browns, the siew mais, the croffle and the pastries.
Best of all there was the ice cream, and the mango.
You cannot come to Thailand and (not) have mango.
Especially when it's at the breakfast table.
What I loved about this meal, however, wasn't merely the good food.
There was the fish, and the view.
You might find me childish but I got so absolutely delighted at the sight of all them fish happily flopping and diving near the surface of the water that I interrupted my breakfast a few times just to go look at them swim around.
I wish I knew what sort of fish they were.
I also wish I'd taken a video.
After all it's not every day that I get to see fish this breed and this size still alive.
Breakfast over we decided to explore around the hotel a little bit.
It's not a small property this Shangri-La, I tell you.
Never mind that there are two wings- the main wing and the wing called the Krungthep wing- but there's also this super long walkway in between.
I can't say that there wasn't anything interesting about the walkway, but let's just say that the decor had its own charm, there was a most fascinating view of contrasts outside some of the windows, and the sunlight beaming down onto one section of the corridor made me think of a similar structure I'd seen elsewhere.
That one had a concrete floor with dead leaves on the netting overhead.
This one was luxuriously carpeted with interiors whitewashed and decorated.
Sometimes these are the little things that make you wonder, but then you remember yourself, and stop. After all life isn't only about parallels of the present with the past but also about what lies around you.
Walking at the area outside the hotel, I thought I caught a slight glimpse of what the 'hood around the property used to be.
This area is, after all, a short walk away from the water, and no surprise if many of the businesses large and small earned their livelihood from everything that the River could bring.
I'd have loved to know what life here around this area was like before the structure came into place.
I'd also have loved to know what it were like here when the presence was still 80s new.
What were the guests like? Where were they from? Were these shops that are now here around back then too?
The world has changed incredibly since the early days of this hotel, and so I wonder, were there always tailors and laundry shops on the road outside?
And do gentlemen still have their suits custom made the same way they used to years ago?
Perhaps that's the charm of this country.
Redevelop they might, repurpose even they might, but never do they do away entirely with what life used to be.
it makes you wonder how far along their stories are.
Like how is it, and why is it that this particular bowl of green curry beef here at Naam 1608 has a salted duck egg on top of it and many other places don't?
Is it because of their heritage?
I mean, Naam 1608 sits snugly in the middle of Yaowarat, behind a hardcore steel kind of place and right over the river- with currents sloshing under the floorboards, mind- so no surprise there if the heritage of the salted duck egg had been there for a very long time.
I'm not embarrassed to say that I came here specifically to eat the very same thing that I had the last time.
Their food is that good.
Never mind that my friend wanted to try something else.
I was adamant about the green curry beef, I wanted to have back the bee hoon that I fell in love with the last time I ate here- together with the hum dan- and I was definitely not going to miss out on the roast pork- their crackling is divine.
But because life is such that new experiences count, we ordered a different sort of soup instead.
Where the last time we had duck soup with Chinese pear, this time we went for something more stimulating- I can't remember what it was but there was a fair bit of sour plum so strong that it opened up the palate.
From here it was towards our new hotel that we headed to afterward.
And there we stayed for the rest of the day.
Was it funny that we didn't go anywhere?
A little.
And maybe that's why I said that there's a lesson to be learnt.
Moving takes a lot, a lot of time. Between packing, checking out, going to the next place, waiting for the room to be ready, having lunch, unpacking, then going out again, it's really just pockets of time left here and there.
Which I feel can be better utilized were we to remain in one place- and stick to it there.
Call me odd, or whatever.
But it makes sense.
Then again, one doesn't miss out on opportunities either.
There was a TOPS supermarket at the EMBASSY mall near Chidlom. What the exact name is, I now cannot remember, but whilst exploring we walked through Nai Lert Park- a most lovely private park- to get there, and we bought a couple of things.
Let's just say I was absolutely delighted with Nescafe's Americano (in stick size!)
And I grabbed a couple of Strawberry flavored color-changing Mentholatum lip balms that we going at a most fantastic price.
After all the moving we didn't feel like heading out for dinner, so we decided to Grab in from this place called Gok Fa Yuen (Chrysanthemum Garden).
It was good.
Century egg and pork porridge, the noodles with wanton dumplings had a strong, pork-scented soup and surprise of surprise, an egg white dessert, all of which made for a lovely end to the meal at the close of the second day.
