July 29th through August 1st: Last Entry

August 2nd: 

I am back in the land of sweaters. It is nice to be home with my family. Now, back to the end of the trip.

July 29th:

This was my last bike ride. this time I headed north along the river, though there were only a few river views. 

cute little wat along the ride.

one of the few views of rice fields on the bike ride

July 30th: After almost 6 weeks together (except for 9 days in the middle when I ventured north of Luang Prabang) it was time to say good bye to Sheila. There are not many people I could hang out with for 6 weeks, or could hang out with me that long, so our relationship is something special. We went on a short bike ride, then found a little bakery, before we said good bye. I spent the rest of the day on the train - 16 hours (supposed to be 14 hours), arriving in Bangkok at 8:30 am on July 31st.

July 31st:
My last day on the trip was all about food. I had few things I needed to do in Bangkok, so mostly it was about eating my favorite meals.

first, I went to my favorite stand that served chicken livers on a stick, in spicy sauce (on Rama IV near Silom road). So so good! I then headed to Arayaa Indian restaurant (right near the Sukhumvit BTS stop), which served delicious south India cuisine. South Indian food is nothing like the Northern Indian cuisine, which is what almost all the Indian restaurants in the West serve. Though Northern Indian food is one of the best cuisines in the world (in my opinion), my favorite is South Indian food: idly, vada, uttapam, and masala dosa.

idly, vada, sambar, with delicious coconut and onion (I think) chutneys

So now the problem was what to do while I waited until I was hungry again, so I could eat some more. That problem was solved by my difficulty in finding a place to stay in Phaya Thai, the area where the train to the airport leaves from. I had to stay there for I needed to catch the 6 am train to the airport to catch my flight home. My old friend Daryl, who I traveled with when I was 19 and 20 years old, used to say, "If you have a problem, throw money at it." Taking his advice, I gave up looking for a cheap place to stay, and ended up with a nice room in a nice hotel, about a 15 minute walk from the station to catch the airport train. 

In the early afternoon I went to walk around one of my favorite areas of Bangkok, the little neighborhood to the west of the Phaya Thai BTS stop. 

Not everyone is living the upwardly mobile affluent dream that is happening all over Bangkok. Along the train tracks this little shanty town has popped up.  

It has everything you could want - restaurants, shops, even a laundry-mat.

I was amazed at the variety of food served on one block of the neighborhood west of Phaya Thai BTS stop.

woman selling spicy Thai sausages - delicious mid-afternoon snack

fried fish

chicken liver on a stick

a variety of sweets

egg roti

all kinds of food

I don't know what these are

two boys - the one in front would not smile, even when I showed him the photos of himself, though the one in the back laughed and laughed.

a sweet old man who didn't stop smiling

I ended my day at my favorite meal: squid, cooked with garlic, chilies, and Thai basil. So delicious! Unfortunately, my photo didn't come out.

August 1st:
Everything went smoothly - train to the airport, flight to Tokyo, then flight to Seattle. I decided to take public transport home from the airport, so light rail to downtown Seattle, then a bus to my neighborhood, and a 15 minute walk to my house. Seattle is so beautiful. A lot of cities in Asia have very few trees, and I forgot how blessed Seattle is with the number of trees that there are here.  Again, one of those things you take for granted, until you leave and then return. And maybe that is what this trip was all about - not just experiencing really cool stuff and seeing beautiful scenery and meeting good people and eating delicious food, but also appreciating all that I have - those things I am conscious of, and those things I take for granted - appreciating coming home and the people I love, and who love me. It is good to be home.

Until next trip . . .