After returning back to the guesthouse, Dielle and I decided we should wander. We ended up heading south about a 15 minute walk to the Bangkok Art and Culture Center. We checked out a lot of nationalistic pieces - although the point of the contest was to praise the King, there were some really incredible pieces. Lots of need perspective changes, too.
After a couple hours, we walked over to the Siam Discovery mall. This area of Bangkok is all mall all the time. We walked through Siam Discovery, and onto Siam Paragon, which has an international food complex half the size of Piedmont. Now when I say international food, I mean international to Thailand. So yes, McDonalds was there. I'm actually hoping to sneak back there at some point to try Mos Burger. But in the end there was SO MUCH mall, that we didn't even make it to the biggest one, NBK. I'm sure we will make it back there before we leave town, though.
On the way back, Dielle successfully haggled for some earrings, and we even shared a coconut!
The coconut is actually still in the fridge...we need to crack it open.
Our sore legs carried us back to the guesthouse, and we rested for awhile, eventually getting our butts kicked in Monopoly Deal again. We also found out that Dion had missed her connection and wouldn't be arriving until 6AM the next morning. While we were waiting to start the dinner tour, we went down to the "corner market" (I use the term loosely) and got big bottles of beer. Dielle got Chang, I got Singha, and Leo got...well...Leo. Also, you can walk down the street drinking beer. take that SBPD.
Once we found out everybody else coming to the food tour had bailed, we set off for Victory Square Plaza with Nate, Elias, and Leo. The first stop was a noodle shop. Bowls cost about 10 baht, but were only about 5 bites. But you could still get 3 bowls for a dollar. The second stop was some other noodles. They may or may not have been in a pink sauce. What is pink sauce? Nate didn't know.
The next stop was a restaurant/bar a block or so south of the square. We shared a bunch of different dishes, including the soon-to-be-infamous "Make Spicy a Frog".
The verdict? Well, the dish was way too spicy, but once you get past the inevitable bones, the meat is pretty tasty. This was the most expensive meal of the day - about $5 USD each. And that was because they way overcharged for water.
It was at this restaurant, though, that I had that realization of, where is this socialization in the US? Seriously, how many places in US/Canada have 5x5 block centers of food and drinks, where people are out enjoying themselves like every day is the weekend? And the place we were at was clearly not the only one. I definitely got my first glimpse of that idea that the US can be kinda...boring...socially.
After our last stop (OK, so maybe it wasn't a complete food "tour", but it involved lots of good tasting food), we went to the Saxophone Bar. It claimed to once host the King with Elvis, and had been open since 1987. Uh...anyway I had a Tiger beer, and got to listen to a Thai Jazz band groove it out. The keyboardist was a sunglass-wearing hipster version of James Leong. It was nice to just sit and enjoy the music.
When we got home, it was more Monopoly Deal. And I finally won a game! Masochism pays off, kids. Before heading off to bed, I talked to Win, and he told me he was going to come take us sightseeing today. This means I'll even get to experience what it is like to be a passenger in a car on the Bangkok streets. The roads probably are far tamer than India, Bangladesh, or Vietnam, but it's still a far cry from what I'm used to.
I actually slept through the night, for about 6 hours, and feel decently rested. Dion showed up at around 7 or so, and is currently upstairs sleeping (it's no problem though - we will make her come sightseeing at 12). And I think we're going to go party at Soi Khao San tonight. We'll see if all plans hold up though.
For now, though, I leave you with this picture (spotted by dL):
Wow, I've actually written two mornings in a row. Not sure how long that will keep up for. :)
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