Chilling out in Bangkok.

[drron]

 

[drron]

This is where the final part of the funeral takes place. The cremation takes place through that door.






And you can just see the chimney above the roof.




Lots of flower tributes around this part.













And in the market a side show alley.


I went over the train station to the Gateway Mall. The google reviews say it is an upmarket fashion mall with few shoppers. Only one of those things are now true. There are very few shoppers.
On the entrance from the train station there is a floor of restaurants. All Japanese. One of the restaurants was having a Gyutan promotion.
There was also this sign. Why didn't I think of it when I was in private practice.


Downstairs was a busy food hall. Outside a nifty way of repurposing their Christmas tree. Just a new sign.


On the way back I picked up some sashimi for dinner.

 

[drron]

Sunday and my birthday. A day for really chilling out. Woke up about 0930 but still made it to breakfast. Then back for a nanny nap before walking over the road to the Staybridge suites at 1430 and having lunch in their restaurant. A Japanese fusion restaurant called Origami.


I ordered a Lychee soda but Mrsdrron got to drink it.


She said it was really nice. Remember no alcohol served between 1400 and 1700.
This menu item caught my eye and not just because of the spelling mistake.


It didn't disappoint.


Mrsdrron had the pomelo salad with scallops which was nice.


At 1630 our doorbell sounded. It was 2 women from Reception who delivered this.




Appreciated.

 

[love_the_life]

Sunday and my birthday. A day for really chilling out. Woke up about 0930 but still made it to breakfast. Then back for a nanny nap before walking over the road to the Staybridge suites at 1430 and having lunch in their restaurant. A Japanese fusion restaurant called Origami.
View attachment 422750

I ordered a Lychee soda but Mrsdrron got to drink it.
View attachment 422751

She said it was really nice. Remember no alcohol served between 1400 and 1700.
This menu item caught my eye and not just because of the spelling mistake.
View attachment 422749

It didn't disappoint.
View attachment 422753

Mrsdrron had the pomelo salad with scallops which was nice.
View attachment 422752

At 1630 our doorbell sounded. It was 2 women from Reception who delivered this.
View attachment 422754

View attachment 422755

Appreciated.

Happy Birthday and glad you had a 'chill' day. From memory you would be 65 (and some months)

 

[drron]

Yes 156 months to be exact. But you do get some benefits being over 70.

 

[Pushka]

I must have missed the explanation but why no alcohol in the afternoon? Is this a restaurant thing or a general rule?

Oh. And happy Birthday - for a few days ago.

 

[markis10]

No alcohol sales before 11AM and between 1400-1700

 

[Pushka]

No alcohol sales before 11AM and between 1400-1700

But is that everywhere?

 

[markis10]

Yes AFIAK, some hotels bend the rules to in house guests

 

[Pushka]

Yes AFIAK, some hotels bend the rules to in house guests

Bit like Ramadan in Dubai. Eating behind a screen at breakfast comes to mind but they were very strict on alcohol. All day. Everywhere. And liquids, any liquids, as well. Come 9pm they poured double G@T.

 

[zig]

Bit like Ramadan in Dubai. Eating behind a screen at breakfast comes to mind but they were very strict on alcohol. All day. Everywhere. And liquids, any liquids, as well. Come 9pm they poured double G@T.

Yikes, 9pm is late to wait for a G&T, even if it is a double.

 

[drron]

It’s every day. And in the hotel as well. There are some days when the alcohol ban is all day and that is when the hotels make special arrangements.
When the last king died there was no alcohol sales for the period of mourning which I believe went for a week. Then there was often a day long conference in the ballroom or other large space. Alcohol was officially not on sale but you paid to attend the event so no law was broken. It’s the sale of alcohol that is forbidden not the drinking.

 

[drron]

We have been to Thailand on many occasions. For bangkok we saw all the major tourist sites many years ago. So I pick an area and walk around. You see a lot that is not obvious to most tourists. My general way of picking an area is to see what is close to stations on the BTS or Metro lines. I pick an area that has a potential tourist site, an old market or a couple of Wats not too far from a station. most of my walks are done in these end of year stays as the weather is much nicer. Generally no rain and very low humidity. Average high temp is around 30C for Bangkok though this year it has been 32-34C most days.
Usually I have no idea exactly what I was going to see. On Monday I chose to go to Chang Erawan station with my stops being Wat Bang Nuan Nai, the Erawan Museum and Wat Tri Samakhi. It turned out to be a very different walk to usual.
First as I left the station there was this -




On the side of the building there was a sign saying Cafe. If so it was definitely closed. Thought of @Cossie but google and bing couldn't come up with any more info. Though there is a Car 29 racing team in Australia with a car in similiar colours.


Turning the corner took me through a downtrodden area with closed businesses.


However someone was obviously visiting this place as this is the Spirit house on the property.


And around the next corner something that is probably going to be repeated here.


Just after that I crossed a Klong called Bang Nang Hreng after the village where it joins the Chao praya river.






As you can see it had a walkway along one bank which Google maps told me to take. Of course motorcycles also use this path. But it was a new experience walking along a small waterway with only a few hidden shanties in Bangkok.



Here I had my first interaction with dogs for the day. The 3 dogs came towards me with teeth bared and I was automatically thinking where will i get the rabies shots. Fortunately my voice was soothing or they understood English as repeating good dog several times the walked away.

You can just see the Wat in the distance.


There were a couple of large water monitors swimming here but they were camera shy so submerged.



Across the bridge and I was at the Wat.

 

[Cossie]

Thanks! It's a BMW, driver Yenmanot Kirakiat, mostly mid nineties touring cars