Yesterday Once More Day 1

We arrived in Bangkok on the evening of the 8th of August. For me, I was landing in Suvarnabhumi Airport for the first time. I don’t normally take time to admire airports, but landing in this swanking new airport for the first time after being so familiar with Don Muang all these years gave the impression that Thailand has been drastically “reformed” since I last visited Bangkok some 4 years ago. Certainly not the kind of reformation I’d like to see in the Land of Smiles.

We took a cab down to Pratunam. My friend and his wife checked into Baiyoke 2. My wife and I checked into the humbler PR Place which I wouldn’t recommend to short-term visitors. We had supper at a seafood restaurant nearby. The dish that impressed my taste buds most was the crab curry. The dish that impressed both my eyes and my taste buds was the pla nerng manao or fish steamed with lemon. Actually, there’s a lot of garlic in it too. What’s really nice about it? The fish was thick and juicy and kept warm not by some waxy, synthetic fuel but by glowing charcoal pellets.

Then, we went back to my friend’s room at Baiyoke to get a bit more out of that bottle of Gentleman Jack whisky. This hotel reminded me of the one I stayed in when I was in Tokyo. The lobby was high up on the building. The view from the glass window was great. The only things the hotel in Japan had that the Baiyoke didn’t were the nozzle toilets, see through glass walls of the shower cubicle and adult movie channels.

We finished late. There was still about a third of a bottle of whisky left. My friend asked me to bring it along with me. It was about 2.00am when I reached the PR Place with my wife. I decided that I’d probably miss the 5.00am bus to Kanchanaburi the next morning.