An afternoon SCOOT flight it was that we took to Bangkok this time, for which, just let me say, I was so glad.
Daytime flights hit different than nighttime ones, not so much for the fact that I feel like there's still lots of time to do what I want to do when I arrive, but also for the inspiration, and the motivation, especially if I get a window seat.
There's something about looking out the window to the sky above and the clouds below, knowing that you have come this far, knowing that you have a (heavenly) place to go, and that you'll be safe and protected and well and fine.
Back on the ground, of course, I was absolutely glad that the SCOOT had left on time today from Gate B8 in Terminal 1, and that we were able to get to BKK by 1620.
The Grab to Urbana Langsuan in Chidlom took longer today, thanks no thanks to early evening traffic, which I had completely forgotten about until the car turned off the highway and into Chidlom itself.
Tell the truth, being trapped in traffic was flustering, especially since on Google Maps I could see that we were so near to Lang Suan Road.
Except that cars on both sides were not moving and made me feel like I would be here for a very long time.
As it turned out, our driver was good at cutting lanes, so with his skill and his criss-crossing method, the jam didn't seem as long as I thought it would be, and we got to Chidlom around 1845.
By all logic we ought to have gone out for dinner after having settled down in the room, but for some strange reason we weren't very hungry, maybe because back at Terminal 1 we both had had a meal of chicken curry with prata, and a plate of kaya toast.
So it was only until late evening, when dusk had fallen, and my call was done, that we ordered in a dinner of steak, potatoes, carrots, broccoli seasoned with truffle salt.
This steak dinner is one of our favorites whenever we come to BKK.
We've ordered it a few times, once at Shang where we stayed for one night, and once at Voque Sukhumvit where we too had decided we were too bum to head out for dinner.
The meat's incredibly tender with a bit of the smoky char all over the surface, you can feel the chew of the beef when you bite into it, but yet, at the same time, the grill has been controlled so well that, despite the slice being medium rare, you don't find it dry nor hard at all.
My favorite part of this box, however, has to be the vegetables.
So often it has been, I tell you, that the veggie sides are hard and dry and difficult to eat.
Not these ones here.
The carrots are soft and sweet, the broccoli is (surprisingly) soft and easy to chew, and even the potatoes, steamed as they are, have that faint bit of chew. I often dip the potatoes and carrots with the truffle salt. That faint combination of vegetable sweet and salt makes the veggies taste so much better.
Dinner over we headed out for an hour-long massage at a place called JING just a few steps down the road.
If I'm not wrong, it was a Thai massage that we did, and, yes, there were all the usual aches and pains.
Afterwards we went to the large 7-11 and got ourselves a few packets of pistachio milk, and a few bags of snacks, before calling it a night.
Tell the truth, I was more than ready to hit the pillow and sleep.
It had a been a long day.
All because I had not known until the last minute that my Skype Out account had no more service- international VOIP phone calls no longer worked- and there were so few good alternatives to what had been (to me) a lifesaver and huge help for one over year.
That's not to mean that I wasn't prepared.
I had Viber downloaded on my phone.
But the network wasn't very strong- it seemed- lots of drops and chokes- so Thank God we managed to find Talk360, and it seemed the right one to use.