Jug in room, great, so with my Vietnamese coffee I had a great start to the day before heading down to the main hotel for breakfast. Not a good move. American breakfast consisting fat and stodge. Felt gross before I had even finshed so made a quick exit. Funny no one asked what room I was from or anything. Remember folks, if in the neighbourhood and want free stodge come along in.
Started to walk and then hailed a cab. He refused to put the meter on so I got out and hailed another which took me to the central city. Out of the corner of my eye I spied MBK. The crispy pancake place, as well as being the most fun place to shop. Its a huge buildung full of little stalls. Far more civilised than it was last time I was here but still lots of fun. Most of the things for sale are of doubtful quality and many many reproductions are fobbed off for the real thing. Have heard many stories of electrical things bought here totally wrecking the thing they were used on. Buyer beware. I spent a while just hanging out and people watching. Managed to tick a few things off the shopping list - prickly heat powder. My best friend in hot weather.
Got myself a RABBIT card - same sort of thing as our snappers and loaded it up so I could catch and caught the train to the station closest to the Dentist. Found the street straight away and had a lovely walk to my destination. Through lovely streets full of trees and stunning apartment buildings.
My dentist visit went well. Clean, polish, xray and a filling for $80 and some other work to come. Go back in Friday. Will save about $2000 so worth it and have it on good authority that they are very good. My dentist in NZ messed me up big time so can't be any worse than him. I was very impressed by the clinic though. All the mod cons, immaculate, well organised, all speak perfect English and she was very gentle and thorough.
Back on the BTS to MBK for the crispy pancake I have been dreaming of for ages. And it wasnt one, but four. Still just as good. Yummmmmmmeeeeee. The pancakes are cooked on the spot and are about 6inches across, round and the batter is cooked then spread with egg yolk. Then a filling is spread over the egg yolk and the pancake folded almost in half to hold the filling. My favourite is salted coconut. Divine. I was disappointed that the lady that I used to get them from is no longer there and the whole complex has been revamped and far more updated that it was.
I went in search for a couple of tops I had seen this morning and spent about three hours looking for them before I gave up. Maybe I should have looked on their directory and I would have found that I was on the wrong floor. There are seven floors of shops. One floor has a huge food hall where you get a card as you go in and the card is swiped by the vendors when you order something. When you leave they swipe the card and you pay. I remember eating there regularly last time I was here but today when I went I realised how expensive it was in comparison with other places, and so I left without eating. The food looks divine but looks quite homogenised so Im glad I left. So many other places to eat around town.
As I went to leave I looked outside and saw a demonstration happening and the place swarming with cops. I suspect that it was another protest about the controversial political amnesty bill. Probably not a good time to go outside so I hang around for a while. Eventualy I give up and leave going direct to the BTS station rather than onto the street. Since I am here I may as well catch the train to get closer to the hotel. Good idea.
It would have been, had I turned in the right direction once I got off the train. Duh. But I had a nice walk. On realising I was going the wrong way I turn back and then ask a tuktuk driver how much to take me to hotel. Considering I was pretty close it was not surprising that I told him "no way" when he quoted me 300 baht for the trip. This moring a taxi took me twice the distance for less than 100 baht. And so I walked and walked and walked.
I wanted to check that I was still going in the right direction so asked some traffic police sitting in a little glass house. Next thing I know I was on the back of a police bike and being whisked to close to my hotel. How cool is that.
Close to the hotel I buy some pork stuff from a wee vendor on the corner. I wasn't that hungry but wanted a little something so this kebab thing would be prefect. Wrong again. Taste was fine but as I couldn't even chew it I spat it out and turfed it within a couple of secs. No idea what it was but know it wasn't the chitterlings or the trotters so may have been sweetbreads or something. Shame cos I think it could have been yum.
Back to my room, showered, washing done and I started to work out what I will do tomorrow. Trying to find my bearings on the map provided by the hotel was difficult. It just didnt seem to work. I had followed the roads marked on the map and ended up miles from the hotel. Then the penny dropped. The hotel map has a small map that shows the precise spot of the hotel and then a larger map where the writing is so small I can't make it out and has the hotel location marked on it as well. Except the location is about five blocks off the real spot. Add to this the fact that many roads have names that take on an alias (or different spellings) so it makes it really hard to check what the story is. Now it all makes sense and now I know where I am. And I know where I am going tomorrow.
Goodnight from Bangkok.
No comments:
Post a Comment