Sunday 11/3 – We’re happy, we slept, we had coffee, we walked, we had more coffee at the Minimal Coffee bar, got more cabbage and lettuce at the grocery store, realized we should have just shopped at the market, walked past the Friend Coffee with the really cute logo and spent the rest of the morning and afternoon at the house.  Blogging, reading, eating salad.

Afternoon walk, beer at the corner bar by the night food market, scrambled eggs, pork and cabbage for dinner, nighttime staying in – no Sunday Walking Street for us – we are happy as clams with no complaints. Day done.

Monday 11/4 – It is overcast today, but not raining yet, so off we go to the park for our morning walk, watching the guys playing Sepak Takraw, just like 2 years ago.  And just like 2 years ago, we are still amazed at these players, the dexterity and flexibility.  We could still sit here and watch them all morning.  But, we don’t!  We continue our rounds in the park, stopping at Minimal Coffee, which has now become our routine, for cappuccino after our walk.

Lunch of weird, but good tasting, chicken bologna with the texture of liverwurst on our sandwich bread, then afternoon of blogging and reading.  Back out for our afternoon walk, we stop on the way back at a newer place called Khom Chocolatier House. All artisan chocolates and gorgeous desserts, plus a wide selection of chocolate drinks – really interesting different drinks! We manage to suppress our desire for the over the top chocolaty desserts and instead I opt for a mixed chocolate soft serve cup, while Ed goes for the over the top double dark chocolate drink. Oh. Decadence!  It comes on a board with one pitcher of deep, dark chocolate liquid, another cup with 74% chocolate ice cubes!   And instructions!  Pour the liquid over the ice cubes and swirl to melt.  The richest, creamiest, chocolaty-ist thing you have ever had. 

Later it is the Chiang Mai Gate night food market for dinner – grabbing a table at the soup spot with Ed ordering Pork Bone soup – those are some bones now! – and me going to the next stall for fried chicken and shrimp.  So good!  The pork bone soup isn’t enough (very little pork on those bones) so we go for broke (not really, each bowl is only 50 Baht or $1.50) and order the chicken noodle soup as well.  Everybody’s happy.

We finish with a beer at the bar on the corner, then head home for another lovely evening in the house.

Tuesday 11/5 – Same, same, no different. Park, Sepak Takraw, coffee at Minimal, walk home.  Salad for lunch as the rain pours down. And down. And down. All afternoon.  No walk for us this afternoon.  Finally the rain stops and we take advantage to go to Real Pizza – a “BBQ” fired pizza place that opened up in this garage type area on Prapokkloa Road.  Run by a husband and wife (he a Brit who has lived here for 29 years, she a local Thai), they have a big stone oven set up in the back where they bake the pizza – one at a time – and a little seating area, under cover, of fold up tables and chairs.  Sweet.  We each order a pizza – Hawaiian for me, Meat for Ed – and have a wonderful meal with leftovers for lunch tomorrow.  The most expensive meal we’ve had here – relatively speaking of course – each pizza was about $7. At home – that’s a bargain. Here?  Well, it was a bit overpriced, but it is just the 2 of them and it is a really cool kind of concept – and it was good pizza!  So all is well.

Dinner was perfectly timed, as the rain starts on our way home, where we spend the rest of the evening, finishing The Lincoln Lawyer season 3, while listening to the torrential downpour. 

Wednesday 11/6 – Overcast morning, but nice and cool.  We are studiously avoiding any news about the elections at all.  Can’t do it!  So, off we go for our normal morning stroll, around the park, finally taking pictures of the cute one-eared elephant and the sign left over from the previous Flower Festival.  Then, yes, coffee at Minimal, a trip to the grocery store in search of ground coffee – not to be.  Too expensive and we only have a few days left – we have our drip bags just for this purpose.  On to the morning market for fruit – jackfruit, pomelo, way more oranges than we need (1 kilo for 40 baht – that’s a little more than $1 US).  I was actually in the market for bananas, but after the 1 kilo of oranges, decided to pass on the bananas.

Lunch of leftover pizza – just as yummy as last night – then a jaunt around Ratchamanka Road out to the moat road, and back around to the house – just to see what’s what.  Nothing’s what, that’s what.  LOL.  Actually, as much as we had noticed new places opening up, nothing much has changed on that route. Same restaurants, hotels, shops, congestion, craziness and farangs.  Well, we needed to at least see what was happening.  Now we know.  Same, same, no different. 

But one thing is different, actually – Japanese food.  We can’t figure it out – there are a lot of Japanese restaurants – one that is even calling itself an Izakaya!  And Takoyaki and gyoza everywhere.  What is up with that???  I mean, it would be great if we hadn’t just spent the last month there, but…..just an observation.

Afternoon spent blogging, drinking and reading, and still studiously avoiding the news.

In the evening, in between raindrops, we breakdown and decide to go to Always Thai, the rip off wine place.  The food there is great – we know because we had lunch there last time – so ok, we’ll deal with the rip off wine cost.  Managing to get there before the rain begins, we snag a great table right at the front and settle in for Thai Gyoza (spelled guyza) along with our beer and small pour of wine.  I can sip slowly.  Our main course arrives – fried cashew chicken for me, Khao Soi for Ed – and we dig in, happy little campers.

It has really begun to rain now, and as we eat people keep coming in dripping wet, only to find no tables and have to wait outside or go elsewhere.  We finish as quickly as we can, not wanting to be rude and take space while others wait – and cursing the couple next to us who are just sitting there, completely done with their meals and drinks, talking and doing something on their phone while people are literally standing within inches of their table, in the pouring rain, waiting for a seat.  Sigh. Some people.

At any rate, we head straight home through the downpour (of course) and spend the rest of the evening drinking heavily, trying desperately not to look at our phones and losing ourselves (not really) in a couple episodes of Disclaimer (which is sad and terrible and nasty all on it’s own – we should probably be watching a Disney classic or something).

Thursday 11/7 – Same, same, no different.  Well sort of different.  We go for our walk in the morning, after deleting various social media apps, and get caught up in some celebration by one of the Wats on the way to the park.  Hundreds of people lining the soi with lots of offerings for the monks, chanting a happy chant (so obviously not a funeral).  We have no idea what it is all about, but it makes for a fun little diversion in our normally quiet walk. 

The Sepak Takraw games are more animated this morning, with a girl video taping and then pictures of the team at the end.  A tournament maybe?  Conference finals? We’ll never know – but the games were very spirited.  Coffee at Minimal, back to the house, hanging out through the rain.  It clears enough for us to run out for lunch, today at Huan Chao Bao Tip, the Northern Thai place in the old wooden building on the road a block or so from the house.  Excellent Northern Sausage scrambled with eggs (although not as many eggs as we had thought – or as the picture showed), yummy papaya salad and more gyoza.  Perfect afternoon meal – and we manage to avoid the rain. 

Later, in between the rain drops, we hit the park again, this time taking a picture of the huge banner above the wat with the celebration (still continuing we might add).  Take your pick of translations:  Google says “Please join us in the ceremony.  Than Samakkhan Nonthaburi-is”; Samsung says “Ben joined the army.  It’s a joke.” And then the date.  Your guess is as good as ours – and we’ll never know!

Back at the house, reading, blogging, listening to the rain come down. 

Friday 11/8 – Our last day here – it’s gone by so fast!  Sometime in the night, during the storm, a tree has fallen across the front gate of the house.  Totally wild – we heard the wind whipping in between the houses, but didn’t think much of it.  Today, as we are leaving for our morning walk, the tree is almost blocking our way out of the gate.  It has been impaled on one of the fence stakes – gives us more privacy – that we didn’t need! And we can still duck under it to get out, so all is well, just a little surprise in the morning!

Pushing aside the branches, we head off for our normal morning routine, walking the park, coffee at Minimal, breakfasting back at the house on Jackfruit and oranges and toast.  Then just sort of lolling away the day, organizing the suitcases and getting ready for our long travel tomorrow.  Lunch is leftovers – have to empty out the fridge!  Then later we decide to hit the corner bar, Chai, for dinner. They are actually a restaurant with a huge menu, we like the atmosphere, so why not?  Pad Thai, a Thai omelet and chicken wings.  It’s a nice last supper for our visit here.