A Japanese Christmas and a Thai New year.

[drron]

Since we have been in Bangkok the Thai baht has been 22.5 - 23 per AUD. So you can gt an idea how cheap it can be to eat here. This is for vegetable curry with an egg or fish. The jasmine rice is 10 baht.






And Takoyaki. A big Japanese influence around here.






I left the market and kept walking. Some larger properties with a good bit of land.


But I thought I had seen the last of these when I left Haneda.




And a block of serviced units.

 

[drron]

But I turned a corner and things changed rapidly.








Still people had their spirit houses.


But living conditions and tidiness were going downhill.

 

[drron]

The typical electrical wiring.




It became apparent that the water supply here was not up to scratch. Many of these water dispensers and plenty of people carrying water back home.




And on one side of the road at about every 2 houses these pair of washing machines were present. But still street vendors. But prices from here on were adjusted up.


An old style house but there was advertising outside suggesting it was going to be bulldozed for new units.




Meat drying on the roof.


Temporary housing to put up construction workers.


Then a small waterway with houses built over it.

 

[drron]

Preparing food.




And a new massive tower block. In years to come this area will probably be just a mass of these blocks.


But now I cross the road to the Khlong Toei markets.

 

[drron]

Khlong Toei market is huge. It is the largest fresh market in Bangkok very easy to access as just a short distance from the Queen Sirikit Metro station and not that far from Asoke BTS station. It is open from 6am until 2am. The name means Pandan leaf Canal. So more sights around this busy place. So more of the market. The colours vary depending on the colour of the plastic overhead. The commonest was red plastic.












frogs.


Narrow laneways sometimes completely blocked by loaded vehicles.

 

[drron]

A whole alleyway of the various parts of chickens including their heads.

 

[drron]

Standing in the middle of an intersection of 2 of the many main thoroughfares of the market.








I then headed for an exit.


Over the road was another market but this is a general market mainly clothing and shoes.


And a gold shop.


A few street vendors around the outside.


No crossing the roads here. It is up and over.

 

[drron]

Then back along the main road to the Westin.






I've called these buildings the meerkat apartments.

 

[drron]

But across the road from the Convention centre and Benjakitti park with their glitz and flowing fountains is the last remnants of the area I walked through facing the main road.






The Parks weather centre.


But also the sign that the old area here hasn't got long to go. more demountables and the workers transport to their work place.

 

[drron]

This fellow tried to outrun me. Easy over a short distance but eventually he decided under the bushes was better.














A bit too much red cordial here.

 

[drron]

That night another good sunset.














saturday was our last full day at the Westin. We decided to have an easy day and went over to the Terminal 21 food court just before 1500. We were able to have an oyster omelette each -still 60 baht. then we both had coconut ice cream served in a young coconut. No pictures take.
We took the easy way back to the Westin via the elevated walkway and wandered around the Robinson's dept. store next to the Westin.

 

[drron]

The breakfast spread at the Westin lounge on our last morning. Extensive choices and you could order egg dishes as well as an avocado toast dish. The fruit was very good with fresh mango every day. Dishes were replenished quickly. The staff was excellent.








The salmon was excellent.

 

[drron]

 

[drron]

Although we were able to go to the restaurant at breakfast we didn't feel the need. Very happy withe lounge.

 

[Quickstatus]

I went online where there were no tickets left for the trains

Which online website.

He explained that only a few tickets are sold online and most are sold at ticket offices around Japan. Stress relieved.

Referring to the general sale of train tickets in Japan or specific for that train?

 

[bPeteb]

Then down to the supermarket. You always find some interesting things.
View attachment 365037

Fish kidneys! Extracting them could be my retirement career

 

[drron]

Which online website.


Referring to the general sale of train tickets in Japan or specific for that train?

He was referring to General train sales though I was trying to book a Thunderbird to Kanazawa then Shinkansen to Tokyo.
I tried 3 sites including JR West.

So if you have a specific train you want to use go to a JR ticket office as soon as possible after arrival in Japan. Though the special services would have been available at ticket offices for a while so still may miss out.

 

[Quickstatus]

@drron what about online sites like Klook?

 

[drron]

I use Japan Transit (Jordan).
You can now buy tickets online using the app.
Have used it since Hyperpedia imploded for timetables.

 

[drron]

Sunday and a changeover day. going to move from the Westin to the Royal Orchid Sheraton on the river. However I was offered a 4pm checkout when we checked in. So we had time for lunch. Now they have a very good Japanese restaurant -Kisso - and on weekends they have an all you can eat a la carte buffet. We have done this before and always enjoyed it.
We encountered a problem as the server had a major problem with Australian english. It was obvious so I pointed to the brochure on the table.
.

Despite that she didn't get it right. She brought us the A La Carte menu but as it turned out it wasn't the all you can eat a la carte menu. So I was a little upset at the end when presented with the bill. Significantly higher than it would have been. Compounded by the problem of getting points awarded as I paid at the restaurant as have had problems at various hotels waiting for the charge to make it to the front desk. I showed her my Bonvoy card which is a metal LTP card. I found out that is useless as you need a card that has a QR code on it. So she bought out the ipad with it opened at the page to apply for a Bonvoy account. Really? Ended up having a rant at check out and everything fixed. Now on the weekend special it comes with a glass of sparkling wine. We had limited ourselves to a glass of wine each. The front desk came to the rescue and took the charges for the wines off and we ended up only paying ~300 baht extra. $22.

The pity was the actual restaurant is very good and the food excellent. Really liked the way your napkin is presented.


As usual began with salmon sahimi.


Then Nasu Gengaku. different than previous dishes we have had with 2 types of eggplant with 2 different miso pastes. Really nice.


Next Ikura. Always enjoyed.


Next an excellent roll presented beautifully. soft shell crab with crab meat avocado, cucumber and mayo. Absolutely delicious.



Another roll of flamed scallop, foie gras with avocado, cucumber topped with salmon roe and mayo instead of the spicy sauce. Beautiful.


Then I had possibly the best Unagi I have had exquisite.


And by the time we had the Kurabota pork we were done.