Cowpat moo at Big C Bangyai

Aneeka invited everyone out for her birthday at Big C (a shopping mall) Bangyai. I have no idea where it is or the best way to get there, so I ask the family (“I go Big C Bangyai. How go?” Quickly learning to dispense with absolutely all superfluous information when I talk to them – no good asking “could you tell me the best way to get there?”) and Dad said something about a sorngtau. So I went to the end of the road to wait. There's a little corner shop at the end of the road, and after I'd been waiting a while, a girl came out to talk to me. In Thai. “Big C Bangyai. Sorngtau,” I try. and she starts yabbering in Thai again. Every so often I catch the word “Bangyai” and I nod vigorously, “Big C Bangyai”. Anyway, she doesn't seem to think there's a sorngtau to to Bangyai, so she puts me on the back of her motorbike (riding those things side-saddle is scary stuff!), drives me 200 yards down the road and hails me a taxi. How sweet is that?

Taxi ride takes forever! They've closed off a lane on the highway at two points, first because they're building a new footbridge over (or so I gather, from the concrete steps to nowhere on one side of the road), and further up they're building a new exit (concrete slope to nowhere).

Finally I make it to Big C, and manage to meet up with the others. And after waiting for about a day, we get to order our dinner. Cowpats all round. Cowpat moo. No, seriously! Kao is rice, pat is fried, and moo is pork: kao pat moo.