Living in Bangkok

Breakfast was strawberry toasted buns from Yaowarat with jackfruit. Presided over by a kitchen gnome. We had a kind of...how do you say... stupid journey this morning. Roman wanted to go to the Apple store to get an issue with his computer looked at, and I saw that next door to that shopping mall complex was a shopping mall complex I wanted to go to on Easter Bunny business. Kitties of Si Lom So we headed out...and when we got to the BTS station, we realized Roman had left his computer at home. We decided to forge on anyway, splitting up when we arrived to check out the different shopping complexes. And then we both walked up to shuttered buildings--neither mall opened until 10:00am. It was 8:30am. And then Roman's phone wasn't able to send texts, so it took us some time, and some wandering in the already-rising-heat, to find each other again. Stupid . We headed to a Cafe Amazon (a local chain) in one of the malls to get Thai iced teas. The people in front of me in line ...

I woke up early because I can't help it and because we are in Bangkok! We had some of the pineapple I bought off a street vendor last night... And then I dashed down to the street to buy us an almond croissant and little spinach puffs from a vendor we'd seen yesterday. As we ate, Roman asked me if it felt weird to be eating breakfast with another person. I realized it didn't—this kind of thing already seems normal, and the Maple Hotel feels like 1,000 years and 1,000 miles away. We meditated, wrote some emails, played on our devices, and then headed out. We took the BTS Skytrain to Thong Lo, a neighborhood I wanted to check out, to see if we might want to rent an Airbnb around there. I've heard it's a fun, kind of hipstery neighborhood, and we wanted to see if we liked the feel of it. View form the Thong Lo train stop Thong Lo had a nice vibe—it's not nearly as busy as Si Lom which, although fun, has so many cars and people to navigate around, it can g...

We are in Bangkok for real. I am so happy and so exhausted. Well, but lets not get ahead of ourselves. I woke up in the Maple Hotel for the last time and did the Things I Do During Quarantine. I looked out at the pre-sunrise view, meditated, showered, and ate breakfast (which they did provide on the final day—I got French Toast). I published my blog, drank my third tea, sent some emails, and then I started to get ready to leave. I put on sunscreen for the first time since I arrived, put on makeup, and finished packing. I felt excited and a little more nervous than I expected. We were actually leaving . Once everything was packed and I was ready to leave, I said goodbye to all the things in room 2-1214 that I had formed relationships with. Goodbye balcony, goodbye street dogs, myna birds, and pigeons. Goodbye little garden, goodbye parking lot, goodbye 7-11, goodbye food cart. Goodbye freeways, construction sites, and smoggy skyline. Goodbye Lounging Bed. Goodbye Sleeping ...