Back to Bangkok

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Feeling somewhat lost in Bangkok now, I’m used to living about four foot away from at least three people at any one time. Now I have a whole apartment all to myself, and am at a complete loss at what to do with all the space, and all the ‘me-time’ I have at my disposal. Have been doing a lot of swimming to try and get rid of this beer belly I seem to have found, and just generally wandering around to try and remember where everything is here. Have also been spending hours on the internet, trying to get this potential job as an English teacher at one of the universities in Xi’an sorted out. China and its reams of red tape, it’s beautiful. As is the lack of communication, after many mails sent by us to see what was happening, they finally reply three weeks later, demanding more paperwork from us. Anyway. Fiona arrived on the 15th; she spent some time in the south of China, something to be done in October for me. So, a few days of shopping, wandering, lots and lots of eating. We found the food hall in the bottom of a new shopping mall called Siam Paragon (by Siam skytrain stop, for those in the know-three stops from the apartment). What an amazing place. Half of it is a canteen-type thing, divided into sections according to food type; you buy a coupon and order whatever you want, though it’s generally cooked fresh in front of you. The other half is lots of little shops and counters, selling the most amazing foods. We arrived after the lunch rush, and got buckets of free tasters, and bought a lot of food to have as a picnic that evening whilst watching one of the 65 DVDs we’ve bought. The most amazing mango and sticky rice I’ve ever tasted, and piles of great bread, mini sandwiches and rolls, mini fudge brownies, mini cookies, mini pitta breads stuffed with all sorts of delicious things, and some really fresh salad. It was so good, we ate continuously all evening. It was thunder and lightening all evening, right above the apartment, so we didn’t feel too guilty for not going out. The next day, we got up bright and early seeing as the rain had stopped, and headed off to the airport again. Laos beckons…

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