Exploring Unknown Parts of Bangkok

Friday, Aug. 1, 2008--Bangkok (Continued)

When I returned to my hotel, I went to the Sathorn Sauna. I have never been to it before, although I had noticed their building as I had passed it when it was on Rama IV Blvd. That is now the site of a multi-level office building, and the sauna has moved to a neighborhood behind my hotel in an old home. It was okay, but I did not like it as well as the nearby Silom Sauna which I visited last year due to limited space and facilities. The Silom has a bigger pool, more seating area for resting between bouts in the sauna, and also gets a more varied clientel--a mixture of ages including families, whereas the Sathorn gets mostly men in their 40s and 50s.

Saturday, Aug. 2, 2008--Bangkok

Yesterday morning at breakfast, I could not find the chile sauce to have with my omelette and potatoes. As I asked for it, a nearby man of Chinese descent overhead and pointed it out to me. Then last night as I returned to the hotel to pick up my key, he was at the front of the hotel himself making arrangements for leaving today. He recognized me and said hello. Well, this morning, he came for breakfast while I was there and joined me. His name is Kee and he is an IT specialist with a company from Malaysia that services banking operations. He has been here on business.

As we visited, I learned that his flight wasn't until the end of the day. As he asked me about my visits to Bangkok, he was interested in information about the sauna and about the blind massage parlour I plan to try to find this time that is in the far northern part of Bangkok. By the time breakfast was over, we had made plans to go together to try to find the massage parlour today.

We took a bus to the riverfront where we caught an express boat to its last stop--Nontaburi. Then we caught a 32 bus to take us to the area of the sauna. All we knew was that it was on a side street to this major street. Unfortunately, it is such a long street that it has side streets with similar names within different sections of northern Bangkok. We got off the bus too soon, I think, and were searching on the street with the right name but in the wrong neighborhood. Kee's time was running out, so we had to reverse ourselves and get him back to the hotel to catch a taxi to the hotel. But I promised him I will go back out to the area and find the massage parlour one day this week and will send him directions, since he comes to Bangkok often on business. I think I have a better idea where to look now.

It was fun spending the day with Kee. He's a nice young man (33 y.o.). Since I will be going through Kuala Lumpur where he lives next year, I will probably stop now. I had planned just to transit through there. But Kee told me there are foreign films with English subtitles there. And it would be nice to see him and explore his city with him for a day or two. Maybe we can find a blind massage parlour there in KL!!

I went to the night market across the street from my hotel to try to find a place to eat. I didn't really see anything I wanted, however. It is much like the Weekend Market--a huge development with lots of stalls selling just about anything anyone could imagine. But the number of food stalls was limited. Most people going there seem to eat in restaurants. I didn't want to pay the price for that, and I didn't want to occupy a table by myself on a Saturday night when others would be wanting tables.

I returned to the area behind my hotel and searched. I found a small food stall with tables there where a woman was preparing a dish that looked fantastic. I ordered the same. It was stir-fried egg noodles with fresh tomatoes and onions, fried egg, and chicken. It was so tasty and delicious!!!