Wednesday, April 21

This morning, we decided to check out Lumphini Park, which is a kind of oasis in the middle of the city, close to our place.

Or so we thought. The entrance near our house was closed (probably due to Covid—they take your temperature when you go in, and are likely only staffing two entrances). We had to walk to the next entrance—and it was another half mile or so, in the ever-rising Bangkok heat.

By the time we entered the park, Roman was in a foul mood. We sat on a bench in the shade to collect ourselves, and a bird shat on his head! Poor Roman!

Not thrilled.

We got Roman cleaned up and then headed to another bench. This time, the mosquitoes descended upon me, and by the time I fully realized what was happening, I had maybe a dozen bites all over my body. It felt like every inch of my skin was itching, and my mood started to plummet just as Roman's was recovering.

But we pulled it together, and walked around the park, which is quite peaceful and pretty, full of green trees, flowers, birds, monitor lizards and smaller lizards, and older Thais doing tai chi.

Not feeling uncomfortable at all

Crow in foreground, Tai Chi-ers in background

See the lizard at the bottom of the pic?

Roman with lizard

A different lizard (with pigeon for scale--thanks, pidge)

Back at home, we made a lunch from leftover grilled chicken, sticky rice, and a grilled Japanese sweet potato.

Feeling...better?

In the afternoon, I worked on my lesson demo for Friday, and submitted more job applications.

A pigeon(ish) we saw on the street earlier in the day. Not a metaphor for how I feel about applying for jobs?

We headed out for an early dinner, admiring the (living) pigeons and the birds of paradise in the neighborhood.

We went to the street food cart scene near Suan Phlu, which was busy with young Thais sitting at tables, sharing plates of grilled shrimp and whole tilapia and drinking beers covertly poured into iced coffee containers (I don't think anyone is legally supposed to serve alcohol right now because of the recent Covid outbreak, but businesses are finding their ways around that). It felt lively and festive, even though it's just another Wednesday night in the city. We shared spicy crispy chicken with rice and the same wing bean salad with squid and shrimp that I got last time.

Now we are home and I am making pandan water and finishing this blog and everyone is feeling totally normal and totally sane.