Living in Bangkok

We made it to Pattaya!  Out hotel is right on the beach, and our room is awesome—it has totally over-the-top ersatz Rococo stylings, and is spacious and comfortable. There is a little kitchenette area with an espresso machine, tea kettle, toaster, etc, the bathroom has a large tub with jets and a separate shower (and bathrobes!) and there is a sweet balcony with a table and chairs and a lovely view of the sea.   View to the right... View to the left... And there's a pool! Pattaya itself it not a total ghost town, but the streets are lined with lots of restaurants, bars, and go-go clubs that are almost all closed. There are still conveniences stores, eateries, and massage parlors open—but the parts of town devoted to the sex work industry (which is a lot of it!) feel particularly shut down. For lunch, we stopped at an open-air Turkish place, and ordered chicken kebabs… After lunch, we picked up some beverages at the 7-Eleven, and headed back to our room so Roman could tea...

Tomorrow we head to Pattaya for our six day beach vacation ! I’ll report more soon! But back to this last week...on Sunday evening, we headed down to Chinatown to eat dinner at a Bhutanese restaurant Emma had recommended.  We ordered ema datshi (our favorite meal from Tibet Kitchen, the Tibetan/Bhutanese restaurant we visited daily in Dharamshala) made with dried chilies, instead of fresh, which our server said was the traditional Bhutanese preparation, and pork momos: The datshi was delicious. After dinner, we wandered around the area, which is known as Little India. It was mostly shuttered, but we peered into stores selling incense and icons, and at closed samosa and chai shops. Then we made our way back to Yaowarat, walking through the rain-soaked and mostly-deserted Sampheng Alley to get there…   Although I considered getting one of those cold sweet Thai desserts I have yet to try (you know, ginkgo nuts in ginger soup, or tapioca balls and cantaloupe in milk, s...

It was a pretty chill week…and now I'm on VACATION! I am off, for the October holiday, until October 18!!! And Roman's last day of teaching is October 8...and then he doesn't have to teach until November . We are planning a beach vacation...but I'll have more to share on that soon. In the meantime, our pool just opened and we're happy to be getting a break from work! I also bought myself quite a few dresses on Friday. I kinda can't believe I bought so many, but I found a very cute vintage shop in Terminal 21 and I haven't bought myself new clothes in over a year and, well, it was kind of my birthday present to myself. The clothing store posted a bunch of pics of me trying on the dresses on their Instagram, so here are some pics (I dind't buy all the dresses. I did buy five of them). And here's a non-vintage, very Thai dress I also got at the mall I took a handful of other photos this week...here’s a skink, sunning itself on a bush… It skinked ...