Nothing much to report today. I was out of food and a bit under the weather so went to get supplies and also went a bit further afield to what was reputed to be one of the best smash burger places in Bangkok. This was up a street I hadn’t yet been, one lined with […]
Happy day
Yesterday was the day my big contract came to an end, oh happy day. As it happened today, though May Day, was spent working on work for that contract, and I even had a call about it. Still, at least I was on my own time. Not much else to tell, really. It was a […]
Sponge city
This morning it rained and rained, and then was cool and grey. I dawdled a bit and then took the BTS down to Lumphini park, stopping along the way for the Michelin recommended fried chicken in the vicinity. Curious what an economy has erupted around the Michelin guide. I’ve been coming to Bangkok since before […]
Godly sights and one ungodly one
This morning, after tea, I went to Wat Arun. Although I went in the morning I dawdled somewhat so didn’t leave till around 11 and it was very, very hot. Wat Arun shone fiercely white in the sun, its ornament bleached to pastel, and the scores of people who’d rented traditional Thai clothing from the […]
Idle Friday
I have had a very idle Friday today. I took some time off for Eid last weekend but was never really idle. Today I woke up, washed the bedding and cleaned the bathroom, made myself breakfast (purple rice, steamed broccoli, eggs and nam pla) and tea, then faffed and faffed. Then I went for lunch […]
Damp
I only realised just how damp Hanoi was when I arrived in Bangkok and opened my suitcase and everything felt soft and moist. I draped all my belongings all over the flat, and thanks to the heatwave it didn’t take too long. Well I suppose I should have realised it – my hat, bought in […]
Unimpressed
With the great burden of my life these days being the GF’s arrant vegetarianism, I decided to do something unprecedented and signed up for a food tour. There is an entire industry of these in Hanoi, but the one I picked was one of the oldest and definitely the most expensive, with ecstatic accounts in […]
Water
The GF and I met at the baggage claim in Hanoi after rather a long time apart. Our flights came together, as did our luggage, and so we left for our flat together. The flat is in an old workers’ dormitory on the edge of the French Quarter. It is just by a busy road […]
Longing for laksa
Took a car down to an old haunt, to Limapulo in Chow Kit, which was once a step away from my flat. I arrived just as it opened and placed my favourite order, a bowl of their nyonya laksa with barley water. There were were any number of other things I’d have liked to have […]
Ill-gotten gains
Met someone who works in the palm oil industry and is very dismissive about biodiversity loss – not that it’s unimportant but that it doesn’t happen. Not so sure myself. They had just returned from a reception hosted by a major European palm oil user and returned with two large gift bags full of their […]