Travelogue: Eating snow

There were a few open air restaurants where some musicians were performing. There were also stalls for getting tequila shots. We wandered all over the place and couldn’t resist the temptation of getting into the giant wheel; this was pretty high and it was moderately expensive as well. They had a regular fare and vip fare – the vip one would fetch you a seat in one of the vip cabins that were concealed in black, with privacy and more comfortable cushions inside. It took us a while to get our ‘normal’ cabin but we used the opportunity to click plenty of snaps. Once inside, our expert, photographer and veggie friend clicked over a hundred snaps on two cameras trying to capture every possible angle and every possible view. Slowly I started developing a stinging pain on my right foot – I think it was the impact of me trying to see every Buddha posture in Wat Pho. Our veggie friend was still managing with his sprained ankle while our expert was a completely new person now – no signs of being sick! After the giant wheel we met a European who said he is heading to India after a few days; I do think that they are better than us when it comes to taking vacations – we seem to be so tied up with the hustle and bustle of work everyday.

Next up was time to try some desserts – and ice cream it was but of a different kind. It seems that the ‘snowy ice-cream’ is kind of popular in Thailand because we saw it in many places later. Thinking it was just ice-cream all of us ordered different flavors with toppings. They gave us a fairly large cup with a good quantity of ice cream. And on first taste we went, ‘yuck’! It’s called snowy because it is truly like snow – the way snow feels if you eat it. The problem was that the flavor on snow tasted really weird. Our veggie friend was the smartest – he had opted for a safe flavor and that wasn’t so bad; the other 3 of us were keen to try variety and ended up on the wrong side!

Our return from Asiatique was not as eventful as the earlier cab ride; outside the mall it was dark and past 10pm. Taxi drivers hounded us with exorbitant rates and just like in India we avoided the taxis that were standing outside the mall. We flagged a few on the road and tried to put a Thai accent while saying our destination, negotiated a rate, showed our location on the map to confirm that they knew the place and stepped into one. Most of the city was asleep – there are a few areas where there are pubs that do stay open late into the night; but this is only in few places. The 7-11 shop was still open; they are open 24 hours. The areas around our hotel was dead silent.