25/3/25
Feeling slightly more rested and invigorated with coffee we left at 8:30am. Our house was down a little alleyway with locals already bustling around. We walked straight past Wat Pho, to a viewpoint, across the river from Wat Arun Ratchawaraeam. A towering temple that dominated the river bank.
We’d mistakenly not realised that the national museum isn’t open on Monday or Tuesday (today). And we were meant to be leaving tomorrow. So we were very hastily attempting to find alternative accommodation for two nights. The bikes were being an irritation as always. Interestingly, there was a boat on airbnb just a short walk away. We decided to check it out before booking.
A further kilometre up the road we turned to enter a market. The stalls appeared to have stalled in time. Thousands of dust covered souvenirs lay around. The stall owners were all buried in their phones, where time kept moving. Or did it?
Right at the end of the market was a wooden sign with ‘Sabai sabai’ written on it. Below the sign were two wooden gates. And behind them a boarding platform where the vessel sat bobbing up and down fairly vigorously. We stood there analysing the situation, it looked pretty safe for the bikes. Then Roger walked down from the upper deck. He sounded slightly, but not strongly, German. He’d bought the boat 9 years ago, and during the quiet of ‘covid’ secured the dock. He happily discounted the price to avoid booking platform fees. We arranged to bring the bikes over the next day.
Roger had also made our plans for the day. We welcomed the itinerary as we were overwhelmed with choice. The Golden Mount temple was one of the many sites of worship that one had to consider visiting. It was only a short bus ride away. The ‘mount’ was entirely man made. After changing into trousers we moved through the mystical mist and started climbing the incredibly small rise staircase. On the way Jonathan sounded the enormous gong. The top was a little platform with views of the smoggy cityscape.
After lingering for a while we continued to take Roger’s advice and descended to the nearby boat pier. The boat was being unmoored as we boarded. It headed under a bridge, the roof lowering on demand, did a 180 and sped back under the bridge in the direction of the city centre. We navigated our way towards the Siam Center. A huge shopping mall. As we got closer we felt the wafts of ice cold air leaking. For the first time in months we were confronted with branded sports stores. Walking straight through this first mall we aimed for a second, Siam Paragon.
This was a fancy mall. Every luxury brand had a store we’d never bother going into. From fendi to bvlgari. Downstairs was a ridiculous number of food outlets. It was an unimaginably winding maze of cuisines. We attempted to bee line for Veganerie. After going round in circles several times, we managed to buy a fudgy chocolate cake. Then we looped back to Thank You Cup for a trendy pistachio chocolate (dubai something or other) vegan frozen yoghurt. We were struck by the paleness of both the visitors and workers. We’d found the target crowd of the advertisements we kept seeing.
Over the road was the Bangkok Art & Culture Centre. An art gallery set in a circular pattern on the outside of 4 floors. On the inside was a mix of shops and cafes. We slowly ascended, enjoying the more inclusive flowing nature of the design. Often art galleries feel exclusionary to anyone but the elite. This place set the right balance.
Finally, we fancied some savoury munch. We crossed the sky bridge and entered yet another mall. The MBK centre’s food court was the entire 6th floor. One of the hundreds of outlets was the ‘vegetarian’, but completely vegan, Rabiengboon. We had to load money onto a special card first. It was typical Thai cuisine. We just picked a variety of vegetables and plant proteins before ladling the spicy and sour condiments on top. We’d started messaging another couple staying in Bangkok. They were coincidentally leaving in the same direction. We arranged to meet them for dinner.
Included in the Grand Palace ticket was a ‘Kohn show’. We figured it would round off the day nicely. As we left MBK we wandered into a street lined with yet more food. The number of different food possibilities was truly stupendous. It would take months to be bored of them. The bus stop was under a huge concrete overpass where the skytrain travelled. We stood waiting for the bus by the gridlocked road. We wouldn’t make the same mistake again. This time we jumped onto the grab app and requested a bike each.
In less than a minute we were on the back of scooters holding on for dear life. An experience, although almost reluctantly, we had been wanting to try. It was only after we’d been ploughed through a red light and taken up a one way street that we realised there were passenger helmets hanging between our drivers legs. If only we’d known.
We were getting the hang of life in Bangkok. The trick is to move from one air conditioned zone to another. We jest. The whole place is a ticking time bomb of un-sustainability. Before long everyone will have to live within controlled environments to avoid the toxic air pollution of the outdoors. It’s a truly terrifying future that feels closer than ever here. Our next air conditioned structure was the Sala Chalermkrung Royal Theatre. It was a beautiful show. A condensed taste of Thai culture, traditional dancing and stories.
After a little break at home it was time for our double date with Shalom and Gabby, an American couple from Boston. We’d suggested a little vegetarian Indian restaurant that we were hoping would be mostly vegan. We had some trouble finding the place, it was down a little alley, and we shortly arrived after them. It was a hot little space with limited ventilation. Everything was made with oil, not ghee, and only two dishes had dairy in them. We promptly asked for a little bowl of everything vegan. And 4 Bhature Chorley. That’s the puffy Indian bread.
We were soon embroiled in the usual splurging of information about our journeys and lives. Our food arrived. A veritable feast. The man sadly brought over the dish with dairy in it too. Communication error. The food was fantastic, if a little bit similar. It was unusual to have Indian spices circulating our mouths. Gabby was a teacher too and Shalom was interested in becoming one. Jonathan spoke extensively with them about teaching and its modern day challenges. They were practicing Jews, seeking out centres of Judaism in the large cities. We were glad the topic of Palestine never surfaced, we happily have no idea how they think of it.
We felt bad, they were staying much further away and they planned to cycle on the next day. We would have wanted to be at home already. After walking as far as our place we bid them farewell. It was another enjoyable encounter and we hoped to see them again further. After a cold shower we ate a fruit platter and watched the latest episode of White Lotus. It’s definitely not as good as the first season anymore. It’s trying too hard and the incest is just stupidly unrealistic.
Surly They Won't Make It 