Saturday, February 15, 2014

Valentine's Day in Bangkok

14 February 2014

 Bangkok seems to be just as enthusiastic about Valentine's Day as, well, at least the USA and the USVI.  (I don't think I've been in Europe for Valentine's Day, so I can't speak for that continent.)

I'm not sure if this is the globalization of holidays, or if it's just that everyone loves to celebrate love.  I mean, what's not to love about love, right?

So there's this little restaurant or bar or maybe a café up the road, that has great breakfasts and burgers.  Sometimes you just have to have comfort food of the home-grown variety.

So that's where we went for Valentine's Day.

Yes, they had heart-shaped burgers and buns.  With "I Love You" written (baked) on the bun.  No idea how they did that, but it was very cute.  And funny.  And kitsch-y.

We had our burgers (mine was turkey), and fries, and heart-shaped pink macaron cookies (not to be confused with coconut macaroons, these are little French meringue-like cookies).  Plus a short bottle of champagne for me, soda for Richard.

And it was lovely.  Silly, funny, tasty, romantic, and it made us laugh.  What more could you ask of a meal?

We had planned to go to the National Museum, but, well, the riot police have started dismantling some of the structures the various demonstrators and protestors have put up to block major intersections.  And when you see the riot police all dressed in black, with helmets and shield, it makes you think twice about venturing into the areas where they're doing their job.

So we bagged the museum.  And we've avoided the protest area up the road from our hotel.  We've mostly hung around our neighbourhood or toward the river.  Because we really don't want to get caught up in any demos or protests or riot police clean ups.  One never knows if things will stay peaceful or erupt in violence, as occasionally has happened over the past several months.

We're having fun, but the protests have definitely slowed down our explorations of Bangkok.  Discretion is the better part of valour, right?  And as one ages, one learns more and more to be discreet.  

So Happy Valentine's Day, and yes, we're staying safe.




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