Bright Lights, Big City Redux 2

Day Two of Bangkok Redux - We had a leisurely breakfast this morning, then Steve and Carol walked over to the mall so she could look for some gifts to bring home.  I appreciated a little down time, and took the opportunity to relax in my room and do some writing on the blog.

Steve and Carol were invited to lunch by one of the other professors, and this woman was kind enough to let me tag along.  We were taken to the RBSC (Royal Bangkok Sports Club) Polo Club - this is the sister club to the Royal Bangkok Sports Club.  It is a beautiful, old, exclusive facility with lots of brick and wood paneling - reminiscent of the Country Club of Detroit, minus the golf course.  (Apparently they don't play polo there, either).  They do have riding stables and rings, a beautiful lawn bowling facility, huge swimming pool and more. http://www.rbsc.org/sport_fac.php?club=1

Our hostess has had a most-interesting life - she grew up in New York, studied at Michigan State (and somewhere else I can't recall), and began teaching in a tough neighborhood in New York.  She was very disillusioned by her work, feeling like she wasn't making a real difference to the students - teaching them about Shakespeare when it had no relevance in their difficult lives.  She wanted something more.  This was right about the time when the Peace Corps were forming, and she decided to try that for a year, ending up as a teacher in Thailand.  By the end of the year, she had fallen in love with a Thai man, and decided to stay.  She married and had three children.  She lost her husband when her children were still quite young, but she was so in love with Thailand by then that she chose not to return to America.  This American woman was more at home in this foreign country, easily speaking the language and driving in the Bangkok traffic without any trepidation.  I was captivated by her story, trying to imagine all that she had experienced.

Our hostess kindly ordered for all of us, making sure we sampled all of her favorite Thai food from the menu, and everything was delicious.  We enjoyed some fine conversation, and shared some old memories.  She was kind enough to give me her card and offer any help if I should be back in Bangkok.  It was a surprising and delightful afternoon.

Carol was interested in having dinner by the river.  When I googled "best restaurants on the river," the first one to come up was "Steve Cafe."  Well, obviously we had to try it!  As I wrote on my TripAdvisor review:

The first part is how fun it is to find this place. You have to be dropped off outside Thevaratkunchong Temple, then find your way back through little alleyways to the river. You come upon a most unlikely sight - a charming little riverside restaurant with a huge, authentic Thai food menu. 

No signs pointed us toward the restaurant, but Steve's GPS told us the general direction of the river. We passed behind a big temple that was undergoing renovations, and wandered down a narrow alley toward the river.  We came out on a little cement walkway where two Thais were fishing and shooting the breeze.  They knew immediately that we must be looking for Steve Cafe, and pointed us back in the other direction.  We tried another narrow little alleyway, and eureka!  It was like being let in to a secret club.

Had to remove our shoes
before entering

We removed our shoes, and were seated at a pretty little table with a lovely view of the Chao Phraya River and the Phra Pin-klao Bridge.  The all-Thai menu was huge - page after page of dishes to choose from, all authentic Thai cuisine.  We finally settled on a few dishes to share, and settled in for nice food and conversation, with a great cool jazz soundtrack.

(Thank-you, Hiustyn, for showing me the wonder that is Photo Collage Maker!)

The restaurant owners were awesome and called a taxi for us.  We enjoyed an easy ride back to Sasa House.