Christmas Dinner

After a lot of texting back and forth I finally met up with Jess and PK at the pier, and we headed off into Bangkok to meet Pete, Murph and Robbie for Christmas dinner. We got the bus into town, then got off too early, got on another bus, got off a stop too late, took the metro to Sukhumvit, then one stop on the skytrain to Nana and found them in the bar. Then we had to get to the restaurant. We were on soi 4, the restaurant is on soi 9, so Murph decided it was too far to walk and we'd get a taxi. All six of us. So he hails a cab, we all pile in – four in the back, and me on Murph's lap in the front. This is incredibly uncomfortable. Oh yeah, and there's something you should know about Thai roads: with the sole exception of main roads, virtually all city streets are one-way. So the taxi takes us one block up, one block across, and we sit in a queue for about ten minutes waiting to get onto the highway. Once there we go up the way (because you have to), U-turn, and down the way, and end up exactly where we got off the skytrain (I'm not kidding – the steps are right outside the restaurant entrance).

But it was so worth it. We had the most amazing tenderloin steaks ever. And what's more, we got 40% off, because Murph's new girlfriend works at the restaurant. 600 baht (that's under a tenner) for a succulent steak, steamed spinach and chips, plus red wine all evening.

Yes, I've become one of those losers who takes photos of their food.

And then in the taxi on the way home, I actually had an entire conversation with the driver in Thai! He had the aircon on, so I told him “I cold,” and, you know, we got chatting. Well, I mean we talked about the weather in Thailand compared to the UK, I said that “I like hot”, I told him I'm a teacher in Nonthaburi, that I'm learning nit-noy Thai... and that's about where I ran out of words. But all the same, it was a conversation – it counts!