Bangkok. Saturday. Evening. Weary.

While Charlotte worked at a design center on the other side of the Chao Phraya River, I languidly lingered at our Thonburi hotel, casually attending to tasks like handwashing dirty laundry and curating clips for a short film about a bustling Western metropolis.

As the shirts, underwear, and shorts dried on the balcony and my laptop heated up from importing all the clips, I plunged into the pool for a thorough cooldown. With the entire pool at my disposal, I couldn’t help but wonder where all the screaming kids from breakfast had gone to. Checked out?

I ran 5k on the gym’s treadmill and pumped iron for half an hour. Tuned in to a podcast discussing Kiss, the shadowy side of fame, and the challenge both celebrities and ordinary mortals face in eventually feeling irrelevant. Indeed.

Then back to the room, rearranging the laundry, which strangely wasn’t quite dry. Took an excessively long power nap and felt even more fatigued upon awakening. Note to self: truncate those naps.

Charlotte had barely returned home before it was time to hop on the little ferry again to find the place that supposedly serves the city’s crispiest shrimp rolls accompanied by homemade tamarind sauce.

Wandered around Talat Noi, along Song Wat Road, and delved a little into Chinatown. In dim light, everything becomes beautiful. The blue hour.

I’m somewhat ambivalent about tamarind sauce. It demands a generous dose of salt for the sweetness to land just right on my palate. Nonetheless, We found the restaurant, savored four delicious shrimp pancakes with rice but left the sauce untouched. Two delightfully tasty main courses, a bowl of rice, and two large bottled beers (630cl) in chilled mugs filled with ice cubes: SEK 115. Thank you.

We just made it back on the little ferry. Got home, retrieved the laundry from the balcony. A brisk shower and then the hard mattress blues.

Tomorrow morning, off to the classic and perpetually bustling Chatuchak (Weekend Market) to buy Christmas presents.