A Week in My Life II: Tuesday

Tuesday II

It's another early morning, but I've got my coffee. My fiancee's sister bought me a pack of 12 cans of my favorite coffee at Tesco Lotus, so I'm set for a few early mornings at least.

My fiancee had a meeting at her clinic today, and I tagged along to the trendy Ari neighborhood to join her for lunch beforehand. I rarely, if ever, take tuk-tuks in Thailand, but it was raining, and we just needed to go down the soi. Tuk-tuks are fun, but not worth it if you need to go any real distance.

We had lunch at a new casual Italian place called Ma Ma Pasta. It was a small hole-in-the-wall type of restaurant with just two tables and a tiny kitchen where the Italian chef cooked each dish himself. Ma Ma Pasta makes all of the pasta fresh, and is popular for its use of truffle in many of its dishes.

We started with a classic Caesar salad with homemade croutons and crispy bacon. The dressing was great, too! In fact, you could even taste the anchovies, which gave it a really rich flavor. Pinky dubbed it "the best Caesar ever", to the delight of the chef.

Pinky ordered some seafood pesto. I had a bite of squid and sun dried tomato. The pesto was very fresh, and prompted me to contact my mom for her own pesto recipe.

And I ordered a classic Italian meatball dish in red sauce. The meatballs were especially excellent! They must have been marinated in red wine; they were sweet and a tiny bit tangy. The pasta, each piece made fresh by hand, was chewy and textural. It was the best Italian meal I've ever had in Thailand!

It was almost time for Pinky's meeting, but there was still about half an hour before she needed to be at the clinic. The rain was really pouring down, so we found a tiny rooftop cafe. I ordered a cup of hot tea, and we waited out the rain listening to the drops pounding on the metal roof. It was surprisingly cool, a bit windy, and really comfortable! The cafe was quite nice, too. It was just a simple little place, but full of nice green plants. It was like being in a small rooftop garden.

While my fiancee went to have her meeting, I walked to a nearby office tower for coffee. Ari is a really cool neighborhood with a ton of great cafes, but since it was raining, I didn't feel like wandering around to look for something unique. I just sat down at S&P (a Western-style Thai diner franchise) and ordered a hot latte. I listened to an audiobook (I'm currently listening to a really great Chinese science-fiction series called "The Three-Body Problem") and watched the rain outside for a while.

In the afternoon, I received the excellent news that the Thai cabinet had officially granted an additional extension of the emergency visa amnesty that I had been waiting for. It had been a stressful few weeks dealing with the unpredictability and stress of not knowing what was going to happen with my visa, so now I can finally relax!

The new round of visa amnesty has been extended until 26 September, and hopefully by then the borders will be open and I'll be able to travel to Laos or Cambodia for a new full visa. After that great news, I took the rest of the afternoon off to relax, had a nice early night in bed, and slept soundly.