Today was a day of unexpected wonder. Started the gloomy Saturday with my usual rooftop ritual. It was my last day of solitude, as Ma was landing this evening. I met my colleague Chuta at the hotel and we went to MBK mall. After about 30 minutes with her I realised one way to easily map the city is from shopping mall to shopping mall.

If you know me, you know that Mall’s are the bane of my existence.  I would avoid the Mall as long as I lived in the US, unless absolutely necessary, and even when I had to go, I would go in, get what I want, and then walk out. This mall-hater is now living in a city that has sky train stops from mall to mall!

Despite my little idiosyncrasies Bangkok is growing on me. It was special exploring with a local; some excellent Thai Iced Coffee and delicacies, we decided to make use of having a local to continue my apartment hunt. After a delicious and indulgent lunch at Sorrento, I headed to Sukhumvit to enjoy the Rugby. This is when the day gets interesting; I’m wearing my Springboks T-shirt to root for my team at the 5pm game, and a lady on the BTS says ” I’m an All blacks fan, I’m a Kiwi!” We start a random chat, and it turns out she is getting off at the same stop as me. One thing leads to another and my new friend Jennifer joins me at the bar!

She regales me with stories of her ex husband and his 4th wife, her sister in law and her daughter living in the US. I buy her a beer, her stories deserve a beer, especially when we get into the tales of travel through Europe and Asia. She says, “it’s nice to talk to someone who speaks real English!”

The bar was nothing much, but they had the game on the large screen, and a relatively lively bunch of expats enjoying the All Blacks- Pumas game. Jennifer bid adieu a couple of hours later.

Spike arrived as we finished our first beer. Spike and I haven’t met in 7+ years, since we graduated college more than 7 years ago. It was hard to believe we don’t hang out pretty often- such a fun time was had. And what a place to re-meet. In 7 years we’ve lived in many places, but it took Bangkok to create this reunion. The ensuing night was one of many beers, a couple of bars, good food, many laughs and more interesting conversations. A proper Saturday night i haven’t had in awhile.

At Hair of the Dog– our last stop of the night, Spike and I met some friendly Japanese Interns, a couple of Wisconsians hungry for more “real English” conversation,  and a brewer from Australia eager to share the controversy of “illegal beer brewing and the Singha monopoly.”

We would have been there for longer, with more interesting situations for sure, but Ma landed a couple of hours before, & I finally headed back. It was nice to come home, and walk Ma down around 11pm to the Beef broth place around the corner for a late night snack. Showing her around the city (that I’ve only been home for 3 days) is adding to that comfortable familiar feeling of this city.

 

**Feature photo: Menu of Kenshin Izakaya Sukhumvit 33 where we had some delicious  Japanese food in Faux Japanese decor.