Category: ahiko in Bangkok

Since my last trip here was from Sunday to Thursday, I did not have a chance to see around with hubby.  It’s always nice to have an accompany to walk around.  We went to Phrom Phong where the latest (I believe) luxury mall is located.  Surprisingly, the majority of customers there were Japanese – my wild estimate says 70% of the total customers.  Since things are expensive there, we just took a stroll.  Then we found a green garden at the top of the mall!  The water is running from the top of wall, fresh greens are hanged at the ceiling, and sunshine comes from the large roof window.  It was an incredible harmony of the inorganic building and organic greens.  I totally loved the concept  and the design of this easily-reachable oasis.

Lunch: New York Style Steak & Burger
Cafe: Quartier Food Hall
Dinner: Vientiane Kitchen

Though we enjoy the urban life, greenery is one thing we miss in our daily life.  So this time of my visit, hubby kindly suggested to spend a day at Bang Krachao a.k.a the lungs of Bankok which is called an island but actually is a large bend of the Chao Phraya, and the governmental nature protection area.  By 15 minutes of taxi and 10 minutes ride of boat, you can get away from hustle of the city. And it only costs 100B (300 yen approx.)/person for the boat and rental bicycle to enjoy there a whole day.  We got lost a lot – even navigated by a dog once, sweated terribly under the heat – could not survive w/o taking a break at air-conned cafe, the floating market was not floating, and my back hurts from sun barn, still it was quite extraordinary day and worth visiting there!

Lunch: ??? (I cannot read Thai)
Cafe: Bike and Cafe
Dinner: BameeKonSaeLee

Bang Krachao: https://migrationology.com/bang-krachao-bangkok-bike-tour/

Living alone is something I never can enjoy.  Some say having one’s own time is good even between the partners but it does not work for me.  So to live together with my hubby during weekend at least, I am in Bangkok again.  Thanks to the red-eye flight, after I worked until 19:30 on Thursday, I still could start my Friday with homemade breakfast and mango with hubby.  The roof-top bar was one of my wish list.  I feel so much better now.

We woke up at 6:00 since my hubby needed to leave early.  The hotel has a pool on the roof-top which sounds nice but actually is too hot during day-time.  So I figured early morning would be a good time to try it.  As there was no Sunshine yet, it wasn’t hot at all, water was cold.  But it was a luxury time using a pool alone with no one else,  looking down the whole city.  Since I hadn’t go out for sight-seeing much, I decided to visit a temple called the Golden Buddha Temple.  The temple was 10 minutes away from the nearest station which is considered as quite close usually.  However, in 35 digrees weather when even a monk needs a break to take a nap, it was far enough to get soaked with sweat.  I paid my respect to buddha, but the golden buddha was a bit too shiny for me to believe it’s covered by real gold.  And a foreign couple who asked me if it’s real, agreed with my opinion.  After prayed to buddha, I went to my final shopping for souvenirs.  Now I am all packed and recharging myself for the flight. Yummy:)

My day started with a great news in Japan.  It was a bit shame that I am away from the team while they were busy with providing  follow-ups.  But, I am sure I deserve this vacation.  I went back to the massage salon today to try their foot-exfoliation which I truly loved.  Now my feet are smooth as baby skin.  Their shoulder and back massage was not bad at all either.  I mormaly don’t choose the shoulder massage because it gives me a headache, but I was fine this time.  With feeling lightness of my body, my next stop was a movie theater to watch 3D Beauty and the Beast.  Since this was the first movie video which my parents bought for me to study English, I knew the whole story and even songs, I could simply relax and enjoy each scene, still couldn’t stop crying at the end;).  We went to Si Lom, Japanese business town for our dinner today.  Our first choice was wrong (Sorry hubby, no offense.) as the place was dominated by Japanese business men.  Somtum Dir was much better as we can still feel that we are in Bangkok by listening Thai language.  My last dinner was a fiesta as you can tell from the pictures.  I’d never gotten tired of Thai cuisine.

Though it is well known that physical work-out is good for our health, its priority easily goes down in our crazy daily life.  To regain my lost muscles, I spent a half hour at the gym this morning.  Too short?  Trust me, I could not come back to my room if I spent an another half hour.  My lunch today was Somtam again at the local restaurant where my cousin and I planned to eat but was closed last Sunday.  After my lunch, it supposed to be my shopping time.  However, I could not just ignore some of office emails which was a huge matter to me.  So shortening my shopping time, I came back and worked a little.  Dinner today was another Thai cuisine and two large bottles of Chang including another Somtam with hubby followed by an ice-cream bought at supermarket.  We found the restaurant named Sendai-an in front of the supermarket, but nothing in menu was related to Sendai..  It was a day like taking just a half-day off, but being able to have a dinner with hubby everyday is one of the worth points of being here.  

So, the email which I longed to receive finally came, but the content was not what I expected, and I barked again.  After three hours from that, the project has over finally.  My two-hours massage physically made my body light though getting massage wondering my work wasn’t my plan.  As for dinner tonight, we went to Taling Pling meaning Star Fruits with my hubby’s colleague.  It was a fancy Thai cuisine restaurant which was a different from the street stands and street restaurants.  One of the beauty of SEA and I guess it’s our advantage of being there as Japanese is that we can experience the variety of the lives there.  My day was closed with a sweet yellow mango and a grass of chilled white wine.

One more email to receive to switch off my connection with work.  Though my plan is going to get massage with a burden-free mind once I receive the email.  However that email doesn’t come..  It’s like an oasis which looked so close, actually is far from me.  After walking in a couple of stores checking my email every five minutes,  I ended up sitting down at a cafe until the email comes.  Give me a break soon, people!