We slept through our first sunset

It's not really jet lag as much as it's 20 hours on planes and in airports. Your body will just ache as it acclimatizes to sealevel pressure, humidity, and uneven sidewalks. We got to the hotel room. Nice room with a balcony overlooking the Chao Phraya. We went on a walk. I wrote about that yesterday, but when we came back it was NAP TIME!

We didn't bring a watch, neither did we pack our phones. We have no idea what time it is. Much the same situation as we found ourselves last year in Hanoi. There Dave picked up a "jewel" of a traveling clock for 30,000 dong ($1.50 or something) which lasted all the way until day 6 of Saigon. Faced with the same dilemma we are in the position of being "that kind" of annoying guest in a hotel, the kind which calls down every fifteen minutes asking for something inane. In our case, it's "What time is it?"

It was quarter to 4. We asked for a wakeup call in two hours. The wake up call came in, I answered, "uhrmph, uh-huh, yeah, thanks, erg", rolled over and went back to sleep. Next time we woke up, the Chao Phraya was lit like a Seattle neighborhood at Christmas time. All the dinner cruises were out trawling the river. Their flashing green or gold or red lights, thumping music, has me a bit worried about what I should expect to see on our dinner cruise.

That said, watching the boats go by from our balcony was spectacular. The restaurant was lit below us with candle light, the servings were quiet, the heat had cooled to balm. There should have been the scent of flowers, but the gardens are not extensive here.

We dressed and walked the narrow river walk along the sea wall to another restaurant noted on our Nancy Chandler's Map. The Restuarant is called "Old Phra Ahit Pier." We had a Tom Yum with huge river shrimp - larger than the length of my hand and a group fried in garlic. The garlic itself was crispy, almost like a panko covering. The fish perfectly cooked. We asked for a side of rice after copying some people (from Spain!) sitting at a table next to us. I poured some of the Tom Yum over the rice. The rich coconut soup softened the heat of the chili, but left its bite. The shrimp were split in half and perfectly cooked. We've had times where the shrimp tasted like rubber b/c they were so over done. The flesh pulled easily from the shell, but was still easy to chew. The only drawback was the lemongrass had separated so I had slivers of it all the way through the soup. Mojitos were not as good as I got at the Navali bar (Aquatini). Which Mojito does deserve its own writeup.

The Navali River Resort is right on the water. The bar is built out over the water. Love this. We're in the tourist district, but Bangkok pulls tourists from all over the world, French, the above-mentioned Spanish, British, Germans, Japanese. Apparently the Thai like to travel as well as the person who drove us from the airport to the hotel had travelled to Hanoi and Halong Bay, so we traded stories. The Aquatini bar at the Navali River Resort has an amazing Mojito. There's lots of mint and the lime is devine. The drink is well muddled, but at the same time not all the sugar has been dissolved, so you have something to lick with as you spoon up the mint from the emptied glass. Lovely to cool down with.

Well, we're off to the Chautchak weekend market. We got up a little early for the Thais, but 5am for us is "right on schedule", so I think we've made the sleep transition. Just another hour now until the market starts up.