Friday 27th July
We both enjoyed a good night’s sleep, though Minuk’s sciatica flared. Fortunately, the relieving exercises improved things. Decided to give the swimming pool a miss though, and pottered about for the morning after a light breakfast of leftover Jetstar snacks. Once we got peckish, we set out for the Terminal 21 Mall to visit the quite excellent food court (Pier 21). It turned out that today is the beginning of a 4 day holiday, today being the anniversary of the Buddha’s first episode of preaching. Apart from temple ceremonies, the other side effect is no sales of alcohol for the day. No beers for me! We hailed a taxi which took just 15 minutes. Each level of the mall is themed as a famous destination as if the mall were an airport terminal. Patrons are saluted by a chap dressed as a pilot as they pass through metal detectors at the entrances! We after a short reconnoitre to the Caribbean flavoured Lower Ground floor for a look at the gourmet food market, headed up to the 5th level food court. Here, one buys coupons and chooses ones food from many different stalls, each with their own specialties. The place was crowded, but we duly found a place to sit. I chose pork with basil & chili with fried egg and a serve of mango and sticky rice for desert. Minuk chose a soup with noodles various bakso and other floaty things. All was good, cheap and tasty (about $10 in total). We watched the locals eagerly scoffing at their food even as they carried it from the stalls to their seats! After lunch, Minuk and I separated for a walk around this Temple of commerce. From the food court modelled on San Francisco (complete with Golden Gate Bridge and nautical themed toilets, to a floor dedicated to high end fashion with a taste of Rome. Other levels modelled Tokyo, Hollywood, Istanbul, Paris and London. Each with their own themed toilets! We met back at the food court where I sampled a $1.50 (35 Baht) latte (which was quite OK), then sought out durian soft serve ice cream, which we’d seen earlier in the day. It was very delicious. We ate it sitting on the faux marble verge of the Roman fountain, in imaginary Rome. Minuk maintains that ice cream is the only thing durian is good for! We found passably good breakfast fare at the St Etoile Bakery, then returned to the food court to get food for a meal tonight. Home cooked meal by takeaway 5 baht extra. Minuk chose 3 (2 meats and vegies) dishes with rice, and fried spicy catfish, And for desert, a double serve of Mango and sticky rice. Yum. Afterwards, packing and bed. ![]() Thursday 26th July We Ubered to the airport for the first time. Quick response, but the cost much the same as a taxi as it happens. Early for check in, navigated the kiosks and bag drop without major difficulty. We lunched at BA XA, a mostly vegetarian Vietnamese style noodle and soup place. Competent but bland, with prices 20% above that of good places in the city and suburbs. We scored the desired empty middle seat between us, and were reasonably impressed with the 787 service on Jetstar. It turned out we were on tickets which gave us a ‘comfort bundle’ including food, blanket and toothbrush set. No entertainment though (Minuk pleased she’d bought the service). As for the included food, the Chicken Parmigiana was surprisingly good – sauce especially so, but the potatoes were dry and floury. Coffee pretty acceptable too. So we need not have brought packed lunch. The afternoon snacks we'd paid for were also OK. My 'Dad's Pie lacking in salt (and in discernible pieces of meat!), but OK. We kept the pastries for breakfast in Bangkok. I read the remainder of the ‘Provenance’ excerpt and then commenced the very good ‘City of Blades’ on the Kindle after no luck in getting audiobooks to work on the phone. Too noisy to hear the audio! A smooth flight though, with nice views of Gunung Rinjani, Gunung Agung (not erupting), and the volcanoes of Java poking up above the cloudbanks. Landed in Bangkok in a red sunset at 7:30pm. Immigration and baggage collection pretty quick, but the queue for taxis very long. Took nearly half an hour to get a cab, then a very slow start to the trip to town, which thankfully sped up after the first half hour. Our driver managed to find our apartment building without too much trouble. It is bright and a little quirky, especially the outdoor kitchen! Settled in for the night after a cuppa. Gracious me, that crept up on us. We are mostly prepared. Just cleaning up the house and packing. Cue groans from Minuk!
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AuthorKen writes about the adventure before and after Christin and David's wedding on the German Riviera. Archives
September 2018
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