Bangkok: OKONOMI and Silom Complex

Breakfast this morning was at OPEN Restaurant where, being hungrier than usual, I decided a mix of East and West be the best to have my fill- and max out the price of the meal.

They've got a lot of variety here at their breakfast buffet, actually, but because I happen to be on one of those diets where calculation (albeit flexible) is key, I first got my coffee, then went for a plate of stir-fried vermicelli, and a plate of two fried eggs to go with the tang hoon. 

After that, because the appetite was still there, I filled up with carbs from the West side in the form of pancakes (with butter!) and a small serving of Mac & Cheese. 

I actually liked the macaroni more than I liked the pancakes and wish I had taken a few spoonfuls more.

Again today there aren't that many pictures of where we went and what we did, save for our meals, but I think that's more than enough, and I'm happy with them.

We got some work done in the morning.

Then for lunch we walked over to Central Embassy where up we went to the highest floor to OKONOMI. 

The last time we'd come here I'd ordered their Mentaiko & Lemon Mazemen, which had been good, but I thought I'd try something more soupy this time, so I ordered  the Tunakotsu Ramen. 

It was actually pretty good.

Ok so it did take a bit of time before I got used to the texture of the charred confit tuna, but the ramen was smooth and QQ chewy, the ajitama egg had a yolk that flowed easily into the soup whilst giving a tiny little bit of bite, and the tunakotsu broth, whilst not tasting fishy fishy like I thought it would, was rounded on the tongue, and did have a subtle umami taste that catered to a light palate.

My friend ordered the usual favorite of Spicy Salmon Poke, we had a bowl of Japanese Pumpkin Soup, and there was additional order of what I think is a salmon croquette coated with sesame. 

Afterwards we headed to Silom Complex for a short while- my friend had an appointment- and after he got back, we decided to have dinner at this cafe called Baan Ying right in the mall itself. 

Baan Ying is one of those places that sound like they're very traditional, but it is in fact a very casual cafe that caters to young families, millennials and Gen Zs alike. It is a franchise, I think, and although I don't know where their outlets are, they have got quite a few. 

Baan Ying holds special significance to me as being one of the first few cafes in Silom that caught my eye when I first resumed travels in Bangkok. Why we'd come to the Silom area that time, I don't recall, but Baan Ying was located next to the entrance right by the BTS station, and being caught for time at that time, we simply entered, ordered, ate, and left impressed.

I've since discovered a couple more interesting cafes over here at Silom, but for a steady, solid meal, I like this one.

First of all, they've got a great view.

Then their prices are reasonable, their portions are suitable, and they don't do it in a heavy street style way that might test a carefully calibrated palate. 

I love their stir-fried flat rice noodles, but not being very hungry this time, we decided to share, so there was a huge bowl of soup- I think it was chicken, or was it pork, an appetizer of cute little cubed tofu, and a bowl of rice that had a generous portion of scrambled egg, and slices of tender marinated beef, 

For someone who doesn't always appreciate bean curd and tofu, this one I quite liked. I liked how delicately it had been fried, and I liked how soft and spongy the tofu inside was. There was no strong taste of the bean curd (which I liked), and the sweet chili made it especially nice. 

They had done well with the egg scrambled over rice, and I had a lovely time picking up the slices of tender beef with the egg and eating the whole thing with rice.

My friend had made an appointment for a head spa at a place near Siam Square. It had come recommended, so was popular, and although I don't remember its name, I know it was up a flight of stairs on either the 2nd or 3rd floor, and in the small wait area on the sofa there were at least customers either three or four. 

The actual hair spa was an hour long- I wish it could have been longer- I like head massages- but I liked their style of calming the frazzled tourist down before massaging your scalp and your hair. You didn't have to go off immediately when you finished, they brought you out to the main space with your head wrapped in a towel (in full view of everyone, by the way), dried your hair, and for the ladies, straightened it even for you.

It was a good way to end the day. 

But there still was more. 

We had ice cream.

Or rather, I did.

A Matcha Mcflurry that we got from the McDonalds in Siam Paragon. 

Bangkok: Dim Sum & Mungthong

For breakfast this morning we walked a straight road out to the McDonalds in Ploenchit Center at the mouth of Sukhumvit Soi 2 on which Doubletree Hilton was on the very same road.

To date I've not talked much about Ploenchit Center but don't underestimate this place. It might not look glossy or shiny or bright like some of the newer and more popular shopping malls, but it is a practical one where there's a Starbucks on the ground floor, there's a McDonalds also on the ground floor, and in the basement, you have a couple of shops, a couple of dining places, and a Villa Market which holds plenty of imported produce both wet and dry.

This morning we had a Big Breakfast with an additional order of sausage muffin, and a cup of hot tea.  

It's wonderful, really, this thing called globalization and franchising. 

Don't matter where you are- you'll know what to expect- and even if there be differences, they'll be minor. 

Like, I don't think there was butter or jam to go with the muffin. 

And they didn't have salt for the taking. 

But the meat patty was tasty, even without chili, ketchup or salt, and the muffin was lightly burnt on one side so you got a bit of smoky taste too. What surprised me was the hash brown. Far from being soggy, as I had assumed it would, the hash brown was actually so well fried! 

We hung about in the room the rest of the morning until around noon when we went out for a lunch of dim sum at this restaurant called Sui Sian in The Landmark Bangkok Hotel.

Located right close to Nana in the Khlong Toei area (not too far away from Ambassador Hotel where we went the last time) Sui Sian is said to be one of the best dim sum places in Bangkok, featuring award-winning chefs from Hong Kong offering authentic Cantonese cuisine and over 40 varieties for dim sum in either a buffet style, or ala carte. 

This afternoon we ordered quite a bit of food.

Strangely enough it seems we ordered more of the larger, heavier dishes than the dim sum ones even though I know we had steamed char siew baos, siew mais, xiao long baos and a good number of fried dishes that are not in the pictures. 

It is always a staple- steamed char siew baos- and because we like the fluffy white kind, it has become such that we have them whenever we go try new dim sum places. 

Same goes for the xiao long baos (if they have them) and the siew mais (which most places they always do).

I'm not sure whether we ordered any cheong funs this time.

We might have, we might have not.

But we had some rather unexpected dishes on the table for what was a buffet dim sum.

Like the roast pork siew yok which, I have to say, was, like others which I have had here in Thailand, hot, slightly chewy on the meat, and with its skin skillfully roasted to a nice, brown crisp. 

Then there was the fish maw soup that had big chunks of fish maw and sliced mushrooms bobbing about in the thick, starch-like soup.

We also ordered a plate of roast duck.

One of the signature dishes offered by Sui Sian, theirs had a delicious crisp, slightly burnt layer of skin, then a thick row of fat that, upon a single bite, oozed down into the duck meat itself. 

Eating this took a bit of getting used to.

I'm not that familiar with delicious oil and fat that comes from perfectly roasted well-fed poultry. Most of the ducks I tend to eat back on the island tend to be on the thinner side. 

Or rather, they're not as fat.

Amongst some of the dim sum dishes we took this afternoon there was a plate of bean curd skin, a plate of fried puffs with char siew filling inside, and what I think is some sort of fish paste on top a little red pepper.

There was a lot of filling inside the bean curd skin, which, if I recall, had in fact been just as crisp and very well fried. I liked the prawns that had been stuffed inside the triangular-shaped portions that reminded me of cones. 

Then the fish paste was clean-tasting and really cute. 

But it were the char siew puffs that I fancied most of all. 

See, most of the time when I have these puffs, they are filled with a warm, soft, mushy yam paste inside.

And because I hadn't been paying attention to what we ordered, imagine my surprise when upon first bite, I tasted not the light, sweet, distinctive taste of yam, but the strong, sweet taste of the red sauce we normally have when we eat char siew. 

It was so good.

First, the outer layer of pastry flaked off at first bite. 

After that, there was a bit of chew, and then after that you got to the little chunks of char siew slathered over with the bright, auspicious looking red sauce.

So unusual, and rare was this pastry that I wished we'd ordered more. 

But then we were starting to feel full, and anyway it was time for us to go.

Mung Thong Thani was 22km away. 

And we were going there to get shoes. 

Mung Thong Thani is a real estate development in Nonthaburi Province on Bangkok's north side. Built rapidly during the 90s, it underwent real estate ups and downs throughout the years, and today, besides the industrial condominiums that are being used by Kasikorn Bank and the Defence Technology Institute, there're residential complexes, as well as flatted factories, retail developments and hotels surrounding the IMPACT Arena. 

We were here this afternoon specifically for the weekend market and the Outlet Square.

Few are the places, I tell you, where you can find Nikes, Reeboks, Adidases, Levis, Timberlands, and major street style sport brands of good retail quality at great discount price.

Not just that, if you wanted the brands, there were the outlet stores, fine.

But if you weren't interested in brands and just wanted a dressy shoe or a jacket or a top, there were these stalls outside offering a mixed selection of styles, and you got them just as well.

The last time we came I think we got a couple of Adidases, so this time my friend got three pairs from Nike, I got two pairs from Converse (really beginning to love this sneaker brand) and I got a lovely pale purple tote bag from Nike. 

We wandered around Cosmo Bazaar a little bit, then walked out to the residential area of Mung Thong. 

It was deliberate, I had wanted to do that since the last time we came. 

It wasn't so much about the estate that interested me (even though I had been first introduced to it a year ago by Thai singer/rapper NAMEMT) but the fact that I had seen these buildings back on the island before and I was quietly interested in the estate and the shops and the people who defined the estate they lived in there. 

One thing about structure and architecture that really fascinates me is just how buildings from the same era all tend to look the same. 

Doesn't mean they're all used for the same purpose- here on the island, most, I think, are for commercial, and if I'm not wrong, they're either in industrial areas and serve as offices, or dotted here and there all over town on streets that were redeveloped during the 80s and 90s.

I cannot tell for sure whether I've been inside one of these buildings even back here on the island, but for some reason I get an impression of dim, cool (dark) interiors, wood furniture, and thin carpeting in maroon or green. 

There were shops and little dining places on the ground floor. 

There were dessert cafes and coffee cafes too.

There was a little playground and a court and a couple of open spaces here and there.

The whole estate looked neat and lived in, no signs of graffiti. Above me, outside the sliding windows, a good number of units had air conditioning compressors mounted on the outside walls beneath their windows. Some units had clothes and blankets and mattresses flung over the window sill to catch the hot midday sun. And all around me in the car parks there were cars and motorbikes and pickup trucks parked. 

I appreciated seeing the locals go about their day. 

Most of them seemed to be going in and out of the keycard-controlled gates at the corners of each building. Some headed to their cars. Others headed in the direction of Cosmo Bazaar across the road where I assumed they might be buying their meals or going to the AEON supermarket that was there. 

It would be lovely if one got a chance to see how their corridors (and apartments) were like but oy, that's asking for too much (I know) so I'm just glad to have caught a glimpse, and perhaps, one day, if there might be, I'll have a chance to see more. 

Bangkok: Ekkamai & Jodd's

There are no pictures of the breakfast I had this morning. 

That, however, doesn't mean that we skipped it or that it wasn't good. 

It simply means that I forgot to bring Chonkycam down to the pool where we had our morning meal of Grabbed-in meatball porridge and wanton soup, and that by the time the food came I was too lazy to go up, too hungry to wait, and so simply dug into my food.

One thing about Chinese-style porridge in Thailand that never ceases to surprise me is just how grainy, yet smooth their texture is, and how tasty their meatballs are. Here in Thailand the porridge is thick, but you still see the grains, and they've got finely-chopped strips of ginger swimming about.

I like their meatballs.

They don't make it unmarinated plain like I often assume, and seeing them bob around in my bowl every once so often is a consistent reminder that there are places in this world where culinary craft, and generational pride, still exist. 

The wanton dumplings in the soup weren't the smallish kind either. 

Each dumpling had a very smooth skin, with a ball of meat large enough for one to have a comfortable bite. 

Breakfast over, back we went to get some work done. 

Later in the afternoon we headed to the Siam Square area (again) where my friend had an appointment. 

With some time to kill, I went over for a walk at Beautrim, which, like Eve & Boy, is one of the more known beauty and cosmetic stores in the city, and country. The decor of Beautrim seems a bit classier, and they've got l fewer shelves of day to day stuff like shampoos and body washes, but I think they've got more imported skincare from Europe and South Korea. Maybe they cater to a slightly older, more refined, less youngish bubbly type of crowd. 

Before his appointment we had a quick lunch at Eggdrop where we each got a sandwich and a drink to go with it. 

Eggdrop's sandwiches are remarkably generous with the sauce, the mayonnaise, and whatever cream they put on.  I don't think I've ever had a sandwich where I've found it impossible to bite through it at one go, and neither have I ever had a sandwich where the sauce and the mayonnaise literally squeeze out from the sides when I take a bite. 

It became such that I ended up eating each part of the sandwich separately, beginning first with the thick slice of oily, lightly grilled bacon, followed by the soft scrambled egg, and then finally the piece of thick toast itself. 

So rich the flavors of this sandwich were that I got glad for the iced Americano whose slightly bitter coffee taste countered the heaviness of the smooth mayonnaise cream.

After my friend's appointment here, we headed to Ekkamai. 

There are no pictures of the area this time- I spent most of my time in the Major Cineplex Mall, hiding away from the hot, humid heat. 

We decided to have dinner at the Sizzler here in the mall, where again, I ordered my usual go-to of Fish & Chips, and helped myself to a huge plate of Romaine lettuce, a ladle of corn, Caesar dressing, and more corn. 

I don't think I ate very much this evening, not even having much of dessert, but if I had, I'd have taken a jelly, a chocolate mousse, and some fruit. 

Later that evening we headed out to JODD Fairs- a night market at Rama IX in the Huai Khwang area. 

My friend had heard about it and thought it interesting to visit, so we went. They had lots of food stalls offering just about anything from plates of rice and noodles to grilled seafood and deep fried fare. They also had drinks and dessert stalls where you could have crepes and waffles and cups of ice blended mango with a huge slice of fresh mango on top. It was a little tempting, especially the desserts and the snacks and the drinks, but we were full, so we settled for a (very sweet) orange juice, and went to the market stalls where we got a new Hulk toy, cute looking luggage tags for our suitcases, and new mugs and thermos flasks that we were sure we would use. 

Fort Siloso 2024

So it is a little strange, and I can't comprehend it really, but how is it, that despite me having come to this place more than half a year ago, I can still remember it as well as if I had gone there only yesterday? 

Perhaps there really are some places in life that stick to you (if) you choose them to. 

I had not planned to go to Fort Siloso. 

Really.

I had thought there wouldn't be enough time.

But as life goes, the stroll on the (not so new) Siloso Walk turned out to be shorter than I'd thought it to be, and so there I was, on a very hot spring day, standing at one end of the bridge walk looking out over the horticulture shrubs to the hilltop entrance of Tunnel B. 

To be honest, I was surprised. 

I had not thought it possible to access the top of the hill (with tunnels and tunnel complexes underneath) through a man-made structure of a hilltop bridge. 

Neither had I ever imagined that after all these years one day I would be making approach to the Fort not from the bottom of the hill but from the summit. 

Then again I had not come here in 6 years.

And what with my feet already planted here on summit soil, I wanted to take a peek. 

So to the entrance of Tunnel B I went.

From the outside it didn't look like much.

At least to my untrained eye it looked like the same, very much like how it would have looked like when it was first built years and years ago. 

After seeing the exterior of Tunnel Complex B, across to the other hilltop structure I went. 

It turned out to be a Battery Command Post- with fully clothed, fully accessorized wax figures in situ inside.

People unacquainted with wax figures might find these a little eerie, even ghastly with their lifelike facial expressions, limb positions, costumes and all.

But if we civilians are to understand what it was like, if we of present day are to realize just what it took for them to be at their posts day after day, hour after hour, bearing out their duties to the best of their abilities, we need them.

We need them to show just how many men were present at the Battery Command Post working the Depression Range Finder, the Depression Position Finder, making communications via telephone that had its own exchange at Collyer Quay. 

We need them to show just how it was like to have to transfer the propellant cartridges from the Magazine to the passageway to the ammunition hatches and up to the guns above ground. 

We need them to show how alone, and tough, a soldier's life sometimes might have been. I admit I was a little taken aback at the sight of this lone wax figure crouching below the opening where in real life a soldier would have been stationed there- by himself- to pass the shells or cartridges out from here to his comrade on the other side.

There's a reason why this figure is here. 

In the same way there're reasons why we find full-sized, well-maintained wax figures at various spots all around Fort Siloso today.

You don't find them in unusual corners or unexpected places, but they're there at the Guardroom, the Cookhouse, the Dhobi and the Tailor, which, unfortunately, save for the ones at the Guardroom, this time I didn't get to see.

There wasn't enough time. 

Between seeing exhibits that I'd already seen before versus the tunnel complexes, it were the tunnels that I wanted to go. 

So all around the complexes I went, including the sub-surface ones, which, by the way, according to www.fortsiloso.com, have to be called sub-surface complexes instead of tunnels (as how the Fort describes them) because the passage is open to the air and the rooms are covered with earth. There didn't even use to be mesh.  

I was really quite intrigued by how the tunnels, the rooms and the sub-surface structures looked. 

For some time as I wandered along the corridors in the light, I wondered how it was for the men who once spent their waking hours here in between the narrow walls underground. 

I wondered how it was for them to spend each day- in the tropical heat- carrying out the duties required of them to keep the fort and the guns inside the fort functioning and ready for battle.  

Or what was it like in the days of conflict when the guns were put to defensive use. 

One thing I have to admit, seeing these pictures now I don't know which room belongs to where and which tunnel belongs to which. 

I don't even remember whether I went back to to look at Tunnel B. 

I might have. 

I might not have. 

But these oblong-shaped rooms I know were in Tunnel A, which begins right after a very long down-sloping walkway that leads you from ground level to the corridors below. 

Seeing these figures here make me wonder what these rooms had been used for- possibly the Boiler and the Engine Rooms, maybe- and if these guys- like the one receiving Signals- were really housed here.

Still, one of the most intriguing spaces in the complexes has to be this room that www.fortsiloso.com tells me forms part of the Submarine Mining Station.

I don't have a picture of the staircase leading to the station this time but it's to the right of the position where I stood taking the picture of this lone figure standing mid-observation in the (now blocked) Observation Post.

What intrigues me isn't the mere fact that the entrance to the station is sealed, but it is that until I read the work of Peter W. Stubbs on the Fort Siloso website, I hadn't known of submarines being on our shores during the 1940s. 

For some reason we don't talk about it much. 

And if there were, I somehow must have missed out. 

Hitherto I've written mostly about the tunnel complexes I visited on this particular afternoon. 

But there's more to Fort Siloso than guns and tunnels and OPs and concrete floors and narrow walls. 

There's as much to see above ground as there is below it. 

Like the casemates, for example, which today house an exhibition of the Japanese Occupation 1942-1945, and several other buildings that I think once used to be stores.

I've no idea what's inside the stores- didn't go in this time- but the casemates I did. 

Not for the exhibition- I've seen a fair bit of it- but for the aircon. 

Which, what with Fort Siloso being a very warm, humid place, I desperately needed.. 

Why the Fort's so warm, I don't know. 

Maybe it's the presence of the tunnels and the bunkers that run fairly deep below ground.

Maybe it's the presence of the lush, thick tropical foliage that traps humidity on land like no other. 

Maybe it's the currents that bring the sun-warmed waves of the South China Sea right onto the Fort's sandy shores.

But there're rewards to all the humidity and warmth. 

The views.

Like this spot at the Searchlight Tower that looks right out onto the water of what is today Siloso Point and across to Labrador Park (and the Labrador Bunkers).

It is a bit of an effort to get this point, however, via a long flight of stairs from the top of the Tunnel A complex, and which at the bottom has a carefully restored room holding decor that's made to look as if the soldiers had simply upped and left.

There is a fair bit of foliage here at Fort Siloso. 

Some of it is right in your face. 

Some of it you have to peek a little. 

Like this spot that based on the map seems to be like it's is near the 7 Inch Gun Emplacements facing out towards the Telok Blangah side, the Pasir Panjang side and the entrance of Keppel Harbor. 

Except that the guns here don't look like the picture of the 7 Inch ones on the website, and I have no idea what they are.  

But over and beyond the trees, the waters are beautiful, and I wonder quietly what the soldiers might have seen or thought as they looked over the surface of these waters. 

There're always parts of history that will always stay a mystery, that we'll always never know. 

But, really, it doesn't matter.

Sometimes we see things with a familiar eye.

Sometimes we see things with a new eye. 

But timelessness has it's place, and on occasion gets better as the years go. 

I don't think there were that many trees during the time the soldiers used this jetty.

Located right near the present-day Surrender Chambers, it looks like a landing point of sorts- but here's what we have today, and somehow, with the overhanging branches and everything, we've got a rather romanticized feel of the Fort's once heavily-used jetty.