I had a plan. It was a rather ambitious plan and you know what they say about the most well-laid plans… the plan was to visit three places to visit old friends. It also felt like a perfect trip to wrap things up with the ending of cycles. The dog- and cat-sitters I had arranged quite unexpectedly fell through. And then this opportunity for a short stay in Bangkok came up.

My friends were hopping over for a quick business trip. They are big foodies and so it was also going to be a lot of eating. They had already booked an AirBnb, which had plenty of room for one more. She also quickly helped me arrange for a sitter for the weekend and so all I had to do was book my flight.

Bangkok is under 2.5 hours by plane from Singapore and it’s a popular destination for getaways. It’s a very busy and bustling city and I was glad to just be following my friends. We didn’t do much shopping, though we were in a lot of malls, mostly using them to get to places while being inside air-conditioning. I did fall in love with the architecture of Icon Siam. The escalators formed these wonderful patterns.

We at both western and local food. Food court and restaurants. Coffee shops and street vendors. Vendors are set up everywhere and there is always something delicious-looking to try. You can’t go wrong with mango sticky rice, which is probably the most well-known Thai dessert.

Then there is Khao Tom Mud which is glutinous rice dumplings that come with fillings like taro and peanut. Steamed in banana leaves, these small balls are glorious soft/stretchy/sticky and delicious.

Another delicious and very pretty dessert is Khanom Chan, which is multi-layered cakes. These are both chewy and jelly-wiggly. Steamed, Khanom Chan are made with rice and tapioca flour, coconut milk, and panda essence.

This weekend trip to Bangkok was short, with lots of fun and good eating with my friends and I’m thankful this came up as I really needed some time out. It’s not easy to find a reliable sitter for two large dogs and a cat as I recently discovered. So having our mutual friend come watch them for a few days, last minute, is what made this trip possible.