The flight was on Thai Airways A350-900, in what has to be a new plane but that looked a bit worn, a combination of a less than stellar color scheme choice by Thai, and the fact that this plane is probably flying a bunch of short-haul flights and getting more wear and tear than it should be. The trip was comfortable enough given I could lie out across the three seats. The food was decent, a Thai style baked curried fish with rice and steamed veggies, and a really nice side starter of tuna salad in a thai vinegar sauce. Quantity wasn't much - definitely when compared to my last flight - but was more than enough to fill me into sleeping for the rest of hte flight.
We landed early in Bangkok which was nice because immigration and bags took a while. Despite our flight being fairly empty, we landed at more or less the same time as a flight that seemed far more full from Germany, and what had to be a very full Emirates A380, so the backup for immigration was quite substantial. Even despite things moving fairly quick, we only got to the other side with bags in hand in about 45 minutes. There's no taxi issues in Thailand (admittedly, after I figured out that Uber worked, there aren't in Korea either), as I quickly got my Grab car to take me to the heart of hte city, right off of Sukhumvit Soi, to my hotel.
Bangkok is a jungle in a way that Seoul just isn't, particularly in this area as the MRT train line runs above the main thoroughfare endlessly - and while this is a fully modern metro system, it creates a more claustrophobic, hectic atmosphere than what it should be and a bit detracts that every time I come to Bangkok - and for each of the last three I've stayed at this same place - the buildings, be them offices, hotels and mall after glittering, giant mall, are more and more impressive.
This time I took a walk up to the Siam Paragon complex that I've been more familiar with, and it probably is the fanciest within this area off of Sukhumvit. I'll be comign back to shop in its giant food hall later, but in the interim I found a maybe more interesting food shopping place. On the way from Siam Paragon back to my hotel lies Central shopping complex - which I learned is the oldest continuously operating mall in Bangkok (not sure what all qualifiers are included in that statement). There are two parts of the mall, connected by an indoor food hall and walkway. One is the Central Chidlom which is a giant department store, like Macy's in Central Park. The other is Central Embassy, which is more upscale with all the fancy stores that are either also at Siam Paragon, or completing the full set.
The more notable aspect of Central Embrassy is that in its bowels, on the second basement floor, is a large combined food garden and replica indoor street market (e.g. many food vendors set-up in makeshift stalls) called Eathai - Thailand's answer, I guess, to Eataly. I came well off of its peak - at around 4pm, so it was fairly empty. I plan to have lunch here tomorrow, when I presume all the stalls will be open, and the place will be buzzing. Still, the concept is great - mimicing Bangkok's legendary food markets, but in a safer and air conditioned (very important - Bangkok remains a humid swamp) if more expensive environment. I was fairly hungry - as you would imagine the plane food wasn't going to tide me for a day - so I did get a couple pork skewers and a thai seafood soup - both were great, and the set-up was great where everyone is given a makeshift credit card with QR code that you scan at the stall and then pay for everything all at once on your way out.
I had slightly too little time to venture too far away (Bangkok traffic remains nightmarish, though thius is probably the busiest roadway in teh city...) so I went to the Hair of the Dog Brewery. There are two locations, one that is a bit smaller in an alley - that I went to three years back. The other is further afield and larger, and maybe I'll check that one out tomorrow. I thought for a minute to go to one of the rooftop establishments, but it seems that when it won't be raining, it will still be a drab, dour gray. The beer was cold, the place well air conditioned (Bangkok is excellent in this aspect of having every indoor place air conditioned to no end), and was a good place to talk a bit of steam off.
I have two fancy dinners lined up, the more notable one being Gaggan tomorrow - the impetus of me coming to Bangkok in the first place. The first one is tonight at Le Du, a traditional thai tasting menu restaurant. There are surprisngly, and sadly, few Thai tasting menu options. Gaggan is obviously Indian (primarily). The second most reputed restaurant in the city is Suhring, which is German. There used to be a top Thai style restaurant Bo.Lan, but for reasons I couldn't quite discern, they shut down. Anyway, Le Du remains well reputed and nicely for me, a lot more affordable than Gaggan.
Again, I'll detail the meal at some point picture by picture - my guess is on my flight back from Singapore (have to do something with 19 hours, and reminiscing about the trip that just concluded seems fitting). For a quick study, the restaurant is close to the water, so well away from Sukhumvit area, which crested in my struggling to get a cab (granted right in the middle of the end of monsoon like rain). The restaurant has a half open kitchen where you can see a team of like six chefs plating and tweezering away. The meal was excellent, showcasing local thai fish, every dish with thai spices if not thai curries. It was a great meal, even if on the shorter end of my tasting menus on the trip.
By the end of the meal, around 10pm, the rain was completely gone - still humid but at least dry. Due to taht it was simple in getting a cab to take me back to Sukhumvit - further down to Thong Lor, where two reputed cocktail establishments lie. The first is Rabbit Hole, which I went to in 2019 - and I may sneak to tomorrow. The other is named FindTheLockerRoom - becuase it is about as speakeasy as you would imagine. First you have to go down a random, dim hallway. Then reach a row of lockers, with a fairly obvious door to slide one end of lockers aside. At this point it seemed a bit cheesy - but the effect is doubly effective when you go up stairs and hear music but are met with another set of lockers, this time with a less clear handle. Hitting you over the head with the gimmick works I guess. What else really works is the quality of the cocktails - some of the more inventive stuff I've seen. One even comes with the topper of a dried cricket, which they more or less force you to have.
When I realize that the club I went to in 2019 is now only open Fri-Sun, I stayed at FindTheLockerRoom longer than I expected, and headed back near 1:30 to Sukhumvit 11, maybe the busiest alley of the whole Sukhumvit Soi neighborhood. Things still close at 2 (reportedly, many will stay open roughly 30 min late - there are underground places that stay open to 4, but are hard to find). I tried for a second to go to Sugar Club, one of the supposedly less seedy spots on the road (i.e. less hookers sitting, drinking, carousing with old white guys), but it was more a lounge, with a ton of tables and no dance floor, so I hurried away. I'm saving my dancing shoes for my nights at The Observatory - which better not have changed at all. Bangkokg is great for food, great for cocktails, great for sites (tomorrow we'll do more), but not great for just going to a place and dancing away to tecnho - at least from what I could find.
