I don’t like the sound that ducks make when they are sad

I’ve spent a lot of time online today, trying to catch up with my RSS feeds despite Outlook’s best efforts, talking to Lee and Jo on Skype and reorganising my Flickr whilst I waited for TV man. It won’t surprise you to hear that TV man failed to show up and so I am still here watching a strange drama featuring what looks like a German man speaking fluent Thai in a jungle. They love their jungles these guys.

So today I have hung around until about 730 and then went out to Esplanade, a fancy mall along the road. I got a cab there, not being sure how far away it was and got a really nice taxi driver who spoke what he said was “no good ing ish” but actually we had a rare old time chatting, with him asking what I was doing, did I have any kids, was I going shopping, etc. He asked me about Scotland and what life was like and the weather, etc and couldn’t believe that we get snow. I suppose it is a pretty alien concept to a man who has never left Bangkok and therefore has likely never experienced temperatures less than about 25 degrees. I told him that in winter we wear hats and scarves and gloves etc and he was genuinely marvelling at what that must feel like, almost like a child. I found it very heartwarming and I was sad to get out the taxi, such a good time we were having. I gave him a 10 bhat tip and he was over the moon – what a nice guy.

So, I had a mosey round the mall which was pretty soulless I have to say, the highlight being a Toys R Us concession and a fancy-looking dentists that will do root canals for about £7. Downstairs was a whole floor of restaurants tho, so I made a lap and saw what was on offer and plumped for Ootoya, a Japanese restaurant that I have been to elsewhere and was pretty good. The food was pretty good, some pork katsu and grilled chicken with leeks and the obligatory rice and no one minded me reading my book whilst I waited (The Book Of Lost Things by John Connolly which is so far a great read).

After dinner I went to the supermarket across from the restaurant and had a wander round, buying the last constituent part for the great Fanta tasting that I promised Mar-c that I would do this weekend – stay tuned. I also found their bakery department that had not one but two types of bagels, so I bought some to have for breakfast or lunch tomorrow (in your face, Lee!). They also had a small but delightful stationery section and I bought a couple of things as samples for Hamish’s perusal which are now on Flickr.

After making my purchases I decided that as it was a bit cooler (only about 27c I’d say – only!), I would walk home, so I did and had a good look at all the stalls that spring up after dark selling clothes, jewellery, bags, DVDs, drinks, food … just about anything you can imagine, really. I briefly pondered the DVDs as I want to check that my laptop does indeed play DVDs, but there was nothing that I wanted to see particularly – I’ll hold out for series 5 of Las Vegas 🙂

So now I am back, uploading some more photos and preparing a post about some of the great handmade things I have come across today – stay tuned for that!