Last day in Bangkok today, and yes, not gonna lie, I felt a little sad.
See, life for me is such that every trip is not only a blessing, but also a surprise.
It is the kind of life where, after having done a trip, I don't know if I'll be able to have the next one.
So I treat every trip as the last.
It's easier that way.
That doesn't mean that I don't have faith.
It simply means that I don't have the certainty nor the liberty to say that, yes, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to come back, or once I go back, I'll start planning to come back here again.
No, that's not how it works for me.
So there is that tinge of sadness every time the last day rolls by.
Come to think of it, this feeling isn't new.
I've always had it.
Whether it be I'm in Malaysia, whether it be I'm in Phuket or Australia or Hong Kong or LA, that is how it has been for me.
On this day in March, it was however, I have to admit, tinged with a mix of sadness and relief.
On one hand I was going to miss this city.
On the other, however, I was glad I didn't have to tackle the risk of phone apps, that thankfully, this time had been supplied by Talk360.
Breakfast over, we went out to the balcony and got ourselves a couple of pictures.
I don't ever want to forget this view.
Not when this feels like a prestigious view in the heart of the city.
Not when it is also one of the loveliest when it comes to sunrise, and sunset.
To have this view (at this price) is a privilege, and I don't want to forget it.
You know, I never was a person who liked sunrises.
I didn't buy into the 'hope of a new day', 'life has new beginnings' kind of thing.
But sunrise here at Urbana Langsuan changed that.
To the very least, even if I don't bop into the day filled with hope and anticipation and the joy of being alive, I can tell myself that there're places in this world where instead of I having to greet the day with self reminders, it is the day that greets me and shows me how glorious she is.
We had our breakfast of toast and eggs this morning, finishing up the eggs before packing the bread to bring home.
Then out it was to Siam Square for a last-burst massage where we went to Thai Thai and decided to do a 4+1.
This 4+1 is probably one of my favorites when it comes to Thai massage.
And it's especially good for a last day thing.
It's convenient, I don't have to worry about clothes or make up or body oil, and I still get vital body parts loosened and stretched.
Shoulders, neck, arms, hands, calves, feet, head, everything.
Best part of this massage has to be the head- I love head massages- but there've been times when I wish they'd do the face too.
Out it was to a Japanese restaurant for lunch when we finished.
Shijin Restaurant on the second floor of Siam Center had been on our radar for a while.
Just that, what with all the different foods that we like in BKK, we hadn't had a chance to try.
So today we did.
One of the first dishes we ordered was a salmon carpaccio, which, skillfully sliced as it was, we absolutely loved. Fresh, cold, and chilly, there was a kind of sauce to go with it- something that reminded me of teriyaki.
It made for a great appetizer.
They were generous with the sauce too.
For mains we ordered a bowl of wagyu rice, and a creatively-shaped platter of sushi that came with heaps of tempura bits.
The wagyu rice was perfect.
I don't know how it is that they manage to make the rice so soft and fluffy that when paired with tender cubes of perfectly marinated wagyu beef, they can make each mouthful a cocoon of textures warm and comforting each bite.
Not only does the rice melt into a lovely, blankety mush, the sauce, and the gentle chew of the beef make every bite warm on the palate, cozy on the tongue.
I'd have loved to mix the entire bowl up and eat it together as I would fried rice, but we were sharing, my friend and I, and so we did it spoonful by spoonful- one spoon of rice, one cube of beef, one piece of chopped spring onion...
We alternated this bowl with the sushi roll, and an interesting mix of warm and cold it turned out to be.
Eating this sushi I didn't bother very much about decorum, which, technically, suggests that I eat the roe off the top of the sushi, remove the salmon away from the roll, and eat it before eating the whole piece in one bite.
But I didn't want to do that.
I wanted to eat it mukbang style, chomping through it the way I'd seen content creators do it in their videos.
So, lock stock barrel, the entire piece went in.
What made this sushi extra lovely was that we had lots of ikura in a separate dish that we'd ordered and which came served with seaweed.
I didn't put the ikura on top of the sushi.
I alternated it, one sushi roll, one little bit of ikura, one sushi roll, one little bit of ikura.
When we finished we headed over to Siam Paragon where we got Bo Luo Buns, or as I call it, the bye bye bun, to bring back to the island.
Back it was to Urbana Langsuan on the BTS, where we re-sorted out stuff, and took the car booked through Grab Advance, at 2pm to Suvarnabhumi Airport for the Scoot flight home.