We got a late start on the day. In Siem Reap, we had been waking up very early every morning, and now we needed to sleep in a bit. By the time we finally woke, it was already almost lunchtime.
It took us a little while to get to Tonkin Annam, and we were walking in the heat of the day. According to the World Meteorological Organization, Bangkok is the hottest city on the planet. So, when we got to the restaurant, Aaron was pretty desperate for water. He tried playing it cool at first and just ordering, but when a minute went by and still no water had appeared, he grabbed a nearby waiter and basically begged him to get us some water immediately. That settled, we were able to enjoy our lunch. Tonkin Annam is a Vietnamese Restaurant, so we got to revisit some of our favorite flavors from a few weeks ago. We shared a chicken salad seasoned with lime and Vietnamese spices, and some chao tom (shrimp surimi grilled on a stick of sugar cane, that you then wrap in rice paper with herbs and veggies, and dip in sauce). As in Vietnam, the sauce here was amazing, but the chicken salad was even better. The limey-salty-spicy vinaigrette it was dressed in was addictive. I wanted to drink it.
After lunch, we went back to the malls. There are a surprising amount of things to do in Bangkok’s malls. Today, we had our sights set on the Major Cineplex in Siam Paragon, which has one of the shmanciest theaters in the world. There was still a bit of time to kill before the movie, though, so we decided to try one of these dessert cafes we kept seeing everywhere. Americans have a reputation for loving sweets, but I’ve never been to a mall in the US that had much more than a Great American Cookie Company and a Haagen Dazs. This mall had at least fifteen different dessert cafes, many of them restaurant-sized and full of customers. We shared a mango-sticky-rice-flavored kakigori at After You Dessert Cafe. Kakigori is flavored Japanese shaved ice. Ours was stuffed with sweet sticky rice and large chunks of fresh mango, and it was the perfect treat for Bangkok’s heat.
Finally, it was time to make our way to the movie. We were greeted by two attendants, who ushered us to a lounge, where we were plied with sliders and tacos. Apparently, if we had arrived early enough, our tickets included foot massages as well, but we found this out too late. In the theater, the seats were giant leather recliners that could go completely horizontal if we wished. Each seat came with a plush blanket, large pillow, and flavored almonds. Drinks and a muffin were stealthily brought to us during the movie. Even the bathroom was indulgent. When I excused myself mid-movie, I found a bathroom with stalls as large as regular hotel bathrooms. The toilet cover came up automatically as I approached. The seat was heated! And a panel to my right would have offered me more options for a bidet-like device than I would have known what to do with, were I not terrified to touch it.
We settled into our seats, and, after the trailers, the screen instructed us to stand for a tribute to the King of Thailand. Clips of His Majesty receiving gifts and blessings were played over a stirring and emotional soundtrack, culminating in a shot of the Royal Family waving to a crowd of tens of thousands of people. Then, the movie began. I won’t give you my review of 1917, because that’s not really the point of this blog, but I can and do recommend it. Aaron enjoyed it even more than I did, if your definition of enjoying a drama is “straight-up crying through the whole thing.”
We needed some cheering up after that movie. Lucky for us, we were a stone’s throw from Caturday Cat Cafe. We sat by a window and waited impatiently for the cats to come to us. We had 0 chill, and I think the cats could sense it. But the cafe workers see it as their job to ensure everybody gets their money’s worth, so they helped us attract a few of the twenty-plus kitties to our table. We stayed there for several hours, nursing coffees and gradually getting the cats to warm up to us. There was flat-faced, orange Papoy, that liked to sleep in a giant bowl. And Simba, the gigantic, loveable bully, that the workers made wear a tiny Hawaiian shirt whenever he started a fight with one of his brethren, which he did often. There was Hip Hop, whose short legs and idiotic face reminded us, heart-breakingly, of Bob. And elegant Rocket, who spent the entire time checking me out, but only came to me once we were leaving (isn’t that always the way with men?). Boobee was Papoy’s brother (or son or father?) who could be made to lie still on his back with his front two legs in the air. Phoebe was shy and sweet. Tofu and Udon were a father-son duo who had trouble getting along with each other. Frodo was indifferent, but still spent a significant amount of time at our table. They were good cats (Brent). And we could tell the workers of the cafe really cared for all of them. They had several high places to sleep if they wanted to get away from people, and signs asked that you not disturb sleeping cats. The cats seemed happy, and healthy, and Aaron and I left feeling like we’d made friends both with the cats and the cafe workers. We would be back.
Hanoimoon 