The Journey to Nerd Tower and Corgis in the Garden

I took a taxi to Don Mueang Airport to pick up my friend Dominik who had just arrived from Siem Reap.

Dominik was going to stay with my wife and me for a few days after our Vietnam adventure together before flying back home to the US.

After lots of sightseeing, temple-hopping, and visiting ancient sights in Vietnam and Cambodia, Dominik and I were pretty tired, and he was in the mood to do some less-touristy stuff in Bangkok. Instead of hitting all the top itinerary destinations in town, we decided to get off the beaten trail a little bit. We started by going on my museum walk through the quiet back streets of Talad Noi neighborhood where we stumbled upon Slow Bar, a small local chocolatier.

They had a really great little operation going set up behind the famous abandoned Fiat in Talad Noi, and we stepped inside to sample some of the chocolate. They had lots of traditional chocolate flavors as well as some stranger ones.

I decided to order a set of Thai-inspired chocolate bonbons. I got two mango sticky rice (which were amazing), two massaman curry (which were odd), and one tom kha gai (which was downright weird). It was fun trying them, and I'd definitely like to go back for more.

Dominik was tired of temples and palaces, but he did have a few things that he really wanted to do in Bangkok, and we were able to roll one of them into the walk as a really conveniently located endpoint.

Dominik is into collecting Pokémon cards, and he discovered that a mall called Mega Plaza had entire floors dedicated to the buying, selling, and trading of cards. I had never been to Mega Plaza. I had never even heard of it, but it was located just outside of Chinatown, and we were able to get there easily from Talat Noi.

The place was incredible! It was like an entire mall dedicated to nerdy hobbies! There were shops selling RC cars, retro gaming consoles, action figures, and tons of collectables...

... and several entire floors dedicated to trading cards, especially Pokémon. I used to collect the cards when I was younger, and I wish I had kept my collection in good condition because some of the cards I had are worth a ton nowadays if still mint.

Anyway, it was super fun to browse, and I bought one card that I thought looked cool and a couple of packs. The Thai print of the Pokémon cards was only released recently, and you can buy a pack for 49 baht (around $1.50). Nowadays, people in the US are into collecting cards as an investment, and even at stores, a pack can go for $5 or $10. Dominik was super excited to be able to buy some cheap cards, even if they were printed in Thai.

Walking back to the MRT, we passed the Berlin Pharmaceutical Museum and, deciding to be spontaneous, stepped inside not knowing at all what to expect. It turned out to be a small but fascinating museum dedicated to the history of Western medicine in Thailand and the Berlin Dispensary, which was founded by Dr. Chai Chainuvati in 1932. Dr. Chai had studied modern medicine in China and returned to Bangkok to open one of the early Western-style clinics in the Charoen Krung-Chinatown area, where he was known for treating patients even when they couldn't afford to pay.

The name "Berlin" was chosen to sound Western and to give the pharmacy legitimacy. It still operates under the same name today and is still one of Thailand's largest pharmaceutical companies (even though it still has nothing to do with Germany!).

The museum is housed in the old European-style building where the Berlin Dispensary once operated, and much of it has been recreated to look as it would have decades ago. There was an old examination room filled with medical equipment, as well as a pharmacy where we could see the tools once used to weigh, measure, mix, and dispense medicines by hand. There were also old medicine bottles, labels, medical books, photographs, and other memorabilia from the history of the clinic and pharmacy.

It wasn't the type of place we had expected to go, but the small museum was definitely worth visiting, especially for Dominik, who is a doctor and is interested in the history of medicine. We also got a small jar of herbal balm for free along with our ticket.

The next day was Dominik's final day in Southeast Asia before heading home, and there was one place that he had specifically asked to visit while in town: Corgis in the Garden, a pet cafe dedicated entirely to the favorite dog breed of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

We purchased a ticket (which included a coffee drink and a slice of cake) and sat down at our assigned table to wait.

The corgi cafe operates on a strict timetable, with a few 90-minute sessions throughout the day. During each session, however many of the cafe's cohort of corgis happen to be in a good mood run into the cafe to meet, take photos, and play with the guests. The fun thing is that all of the corgis are related to one another, and a handy family tree posted on the wall helped us figure out who was who.

The exuberant little family wattled in precisely at 9am, running and jumping up to greet everybody!

It was truly one of the cutest things I have ever seen in my life.