Morning today began on the high-rise balcony with a gorgeous, inspiring view of Bangkok's golden sunrise.
Brings back memories, seeing this one.
You know, the memes and encouragement cards weren't kidding when they said to wake up at the break of dawn just to catch a sunrise if you wanted to fill your heart up with hope, if you were desiring a new beginning, or if you wanted that new beginning to carry on well.
That light helped me believe that everything would be all right and okay.
We began making breakfast not long after the sun came up, and let's just say it is always a charm when the thinly-sliced toast comes out of the pan perfectly fried with a bite that is crunchy and crispy both at the same time.
Here in Bangkok we have our toast with a little slab of nicely salted butter and a small sachet of extra virgin olive oil.
Breakfast over we did some work at the lobby downstairs then went back up to change before heading out for lunch.
For a moment my friend and I waffled our choices between the boat noodles of Ploenchit and the food of Siam Paragon's basement food court.
In the end we headed to Siam Paragon.
I missed my food court food.
The food court at the basement of Siam Paragon is one of the most popular food courts for visitors and tourists. There're locals, yes, but more often than not I see the tourists.
Maybe because it sits in one of the most popular shopping malls this side of town, but no matter the time, no matter the hour, there's always someone there at the tables with a tray of food they've bought from the stalls carefully eating their way through the plates.
There is a lot of food here in the food court that I'm always eager to try.
Creature of habit I am however, and I tend to go back to what I like, and so this afternoon on our table there was a plate of Go-Ang Pratunam chicken rice, and a plate of Pad Thai from Thipsamai.
I'll be honest.
I like the chicken of Go-Ang, but I actually love the rice more.
There's something about their rice that cuts to the palate, and although I can't tell for sure what it is, I think it is how they've steamed the rice using the rich flavors of chicken soup stock, and in every grain there is just the right amount of oil.
Best of all one doesn't get that jerlak feel even after you've finished an entire plate of rice.
It's so good that where at other places I don't mind sharing a plate, here I always want my own.
It is also a wonderful thing that many of the Michelin-starred places have their outlets here, and so if one wants a Michelin Bib Gourmand winner of Pad Thai. one doesn't have to travel all the way to 313 Maha Chai Road in Phra Nakhon to enjoy the skillful cooking of Thipsamai.
Very orangey this plate of Pad Thai might seem, yes, but that's how it looks, and I don't mind the bright yellow omelet and the vermillion-colored noodles one bit at all.
In any case, this afternoon it was I who ate up most of the noodles, and for some reason, didn't have the vegetables at all.
When we finished lunch, across the road we went, heading towards the Siam Center and Siam Square side.
The plan was to get some work done at the Starbucks outlet on the other side, but the afternoon light seemed good, and, despite the heat, I didn't feel like staying indoors, so back out onto Siam Square I went.
The retail mix of stores here on this permanently pedestrianized street is interesting.
You would think they'd only have the youth-centric stores, but no, there is more.
Somewhere along this stretch there is a Beautrim, there are Japanese restaurants, there are coffee places, cafes, casual clothing outlets, and a plethora of makeup stores.
The star of this stretch, perhaps, has to be the two-storeyed GentleWoman store which even though I've passed by a good number of times, have not shopped.
It is too popular (and crowded) for me.
The heat and glare makes this carless, bikeless street emptier this time of day (everyone's hiding indoors), but at other times, and in the evening, it becomes livelier with groups of shoppers and groups of students milling all around.
Weekends here are the liveliest, however, where more often than not, you'll find music bands of school-going teenager age busking at various spots here and there. Amateur they might be, but they come fully equipped, complete with drum, guitar, bass guitar, mike, mike stand, videographer, speaker, keyboardist, sound engineer and all.
A while on this street I stayed, then back to the mall I went, heading down the escalator to the basement for a spot of window shopping at Eve & Boy.
In the early evening we went to MahBoonKrong (MBK) Center to do an errand.
At first I had worried that getting it done wouldn't be affordable, but as it turned out (again), I was wrong, and an hour later it was finished.
Green lines gone!
Issue settled, with a sense of relief on my part, we headed downstairs a couple of floors to a restaurant called Ban Khun Mae for dinner, where, after settling down at a table, this evening we ordered a bowl of green curry beef, a plate of crab omelet, and, because it looked really good on the next table, a glass of iced Thai milk tea.
You know what's funny?
We had actually passed by this place several times before but had somehow didn't try.
So glad that we did tonight.
Their food was really good.
Yes, some might call it typical Thai food fare- all of which can be found at just about anyplace all over Bangkok- but when it comes to dishes like these, it isn't whether or not the food is rare or provincial, but the simplicity and the sincerity that warms the heart and makes one feel comfortable, as if they were around the dining table relishing the hospitality of home.
Yes, there is a homecooked feel when it comes to these dishes.
The green curry, adjusted for non-spicy palates, was thick and flavorful, almost like a broth made easy to drink, and inside the bowl were plenty of beef slices, all tender and easy to eat. I loved the thickness of it, how it whetted the appetite, and how it made me want to have it with noodles or even soft bread.
Same too it was for the crab omelet.
And it mattered not that there wasn't as much crab inside as the one we had a few months ago, or tasted the same as some of the other crab omelets that we'd had elsewhere.
I liked the fluffiness of this one.
Especially since it went particularly well with the rice.
We were unfortunately a little too full for dessert, but that will be something I'll look forward to when we come back to this area next time.
Mango sticky rice is, after all, one of my favorite desserts in Thailand, and I won't want to miss it ever.
We headed across to Centara Grand after that, taking the route back through Siam Discovery Center, Siam Paragon and the road at the back behind the school.
In the late evening we had a work call, one which lasted about an hour thereof, and when that finished, we made our way back to Lang Suan Road, but not before stopping by at the 7-11 for a couple of snacks.