It was a very early flight that I took to BKK this morning.
Hardly is it that I haul myself to the airport at an early hour for a pre-dawn flight, but one wants to max out the time they have when they travel, don't they, so yep, it was a 0550 Scoot flight this time.
A smooth flight it was, and I arrived at Suvarnabhumi at 0715 local time.
At the airport we had a quick breakfast of sandwich and coffee.
I wish I could remember just from where it is that my sandwich came from (or that I even had a picture) but it might well have been from the same place where my big cup of latte had come from- The Coconut Coffee.
Always so thankful I am to see this, honestly, when it means I've not just made it safely here, I've also made it here on time.
There're times when a latte feels more than just a latte.
This is one of them.
Plus, this morning there was a special delight in the form of seeing a K9 walk behind his minder, holding his own leash as he went up the escalator on his own.
Breakfast over, we Grabbed to our hotel.
Which, by the way, wasn't a hotel-hotel per se, but a serviced apartment slightly out of the tourist area on Sukhumvit 51 near the Thong Lor area.
Was I surprised we weren't heading to a hotel?
No, not when I had been wanting to try out the serviced apartments of BKK for quite a while, and what better opportunity than this time?
Voque Sukhumvit sits in one of those places slightly off the beaten track.
It is not the kind of place where you'll find tourists lounging about in groups of 4 or 5 making their way to dinner or the night market or the bar.
It is also not the kind of place where street vendors have their stalls every two meters apart.
No, it is primarily a residential area, and whilst there be one or two cafes nearby (for the expatriates to do their coffee runs and quick meal runs) that be more or less it.
It is for that reason, perhaps, that Voque Sukhumvit is quiet, cozy, restful and intimate.
I was so surprised, I tell you, when upon entering the apartment, I found myself greeted by a lovely two-seater sofa, a nice wooden coffee table, a charming little dining table for two, a large television, cabinets, and a small kitchenette that had fridge and microwave and stove.
Opposite the kitchenette was the bathroom- a big one, I have to add- and then further on there was the bedroom, which, I thought, was very intimate and cozy for a person of one, or persons of two.
We settled down, then headed out.
There were a lot of places to run today, beginning with Ploenchit near the Siam Pharmacy.
This time I waited for my friend at Central Embassy, first taking a quick walk at the supermarket in the basement, then wandering about some of the shops in the mall.
Afterward we had lunch at OKONOMI where this afternoon I went back for my usual favorite of Salmon and Cheese Mazemen, Salmon Patty and Pumpkin Soup, and my friend had the Spicy Salmon Rice.
One thing great about this place is that the food doesn't disappoint.
The service is consistent, the standard is consistent, and I can always expect the pumpkin soup to have the same level of sweet, the salmon patty to have the same degree of crunch, and the Mazemen to be chewy and thick with the right texture of cheese blended in with the noodle.
Lunch over we headed over to the Siam Square area.
What exactly we were here for this afternoon I can't recall, but it wasn't a massage (I know) and neither was it for shopping, because I don't think I walked around.
Perhaps my friend had an appointment.
And I either waited at Eggdrop, or at Novotel.
Our final place for this day was at Ekkamai.
No doubt, my friend had a third appointment in the area, and whilst it was too hot for me to walk around whilst waiting- I hid in the cool of Starbucks over at the Major Cineplex mall- but glad I am to say that we had dinner here.
I like Sizzler.
I like the salad buffet.
It doesn't look like a lot, really, it's just vegetables and salad creams and the like- but there's a joy in being able to concoct your own plate of salad with your favorite kind of vegetable and having the stomach to finish them all.
This evening I ordered the usual favorite of fish and chips.
From the salad bar for the first plate I took as much Romaine lettuce as I liked, then helped myself to a ladleful of corn, followed by a couple of cherry tomatoes (for the juice!) and then a bunch of quail eggs that are also absolute favorites of mine and which went very well with the Caesar salad cream.
In between bites of the fried fish and the chips, I took another plate of lettuce- another kind of lettuce- this time from the pre-prepared salad dish- and more quail eggs, because I'm the type who likes quail eggs and since I don't have them very often, I don't bother how many I have.
There was, of course, dessert as well.
Sizzler might not be the kind of place that puts a lot of emphasis on dessert, but they do make it such that everyone gets to have a bit of sweet after their savory mains, so even though I chose not to take the mousse or any of the creamier stuff this time, I made sure I took a couple slices of watermelon, and a jelly, because it looked cute, and because it's something I've always wanted to have.
It was late evening by the time we got back to Thong Lor but we needed water, so down it was to the 24-hour TOPS on Sukhumvit 41 where we got instant coffee and eggs and bottles of mineral water.