BREAKFASTS AT SOI PRADIT

For four mornings, The Resistance Banker is a homeless man at the Neilson Hays Library bus stop along Thanon Surawong.

He looks like Ho Chi Minh but bigger and I wonder where he'll stay when the rains come.

Bearded men in prayer robes walk while counting their misbahas as I start the day with Thai coffee: instant and sweet from street corner coffee carts for 20 baht or brewed with less sugar from a sophisticated coffee press near a mosque for 45 baht.

Two brothers prepare their rice cakes in their usual place, a fat lady string flower garlands, commuters wait for the bus while I nurse my coffee at a bench in front of a 7-11 store before picking up my crispy fried pork and sticky rice: wrapped together in paper for 20 baht or separately in plastic packs for 45 baht.  

A friendly elder lady with a stall in front of the Soi Prachum Market always ask for my empty coffee cup to throw in her trash bag so I buy my daily fresh orange juice from her.

My daily breakfasts at Soi Pradit tell different stories but I will always remember the stray cats who sleep in the pavement, the piquant aroma of burning meat and spices, and the rushing biker who almost collided with me.    

On the other hand, lunches at the Pullman Hotel G, the United Nations Conference Center and at the Cabbages and Condoms Restaurant were major disappointments that were compensated with dinners of fried spring rolls and chicken pops at the Heaven Rooftop Bar and Lounge in Silom, grilled fish and beef in Thewet, and baked pork ribs and curry crab at the Michelin-listed Somboon Seafood.

It was Barbra Streisand who sang:

Life is a moment in space // When the dream is gone // It's a lonelier place [Red Planet-Surawong's hotel room is indeed lonely and staying there alone for 5 nights is lonelier] 

I kiss the morning goodbye // But down inside you know // We never know why [I know because I'm pretty sure I will be back in Bangkok soon, perhaps at the familiar environs of Chatrium Residence Sathon]

The road is narrow and long // When eyes meet eyes // And the feeling is strong [Not narrow enough from Somboon Seafood-Surawong to the Neilson Hays Library]

I turn away from the wall // I stumble and fall [I turned to the wall to spit the blood from my mouth and wipe it from my nose after tripping along Maha Seth Road]

But I give you it all [It was actually the amazing ladies of the Bangkok Folk Museum who gave me first aid and offered to take me to the hospital which I politely declined]

Then Google Map brought me to the wrong street art and the Lalai Sap Market was closed for the weekend.

That is how I ended up having a late lunch of spicy liver salad and sausage at Larp 3, thus how I found myself venturing into the Patpong Night Market for a so-so dinner of barbecued pork and beef, and enough reason to decide that a Day 5 breakfast at Soi Pradit is not preferable on a Sunday when I will be flying to Vientiane...

THE DAY ST. JOSEPH CAME TO BAKAL 2

Luther, The Fallen Sun, was a Descendant of The Night Clerk from the Faraway inn between Nazareth and Ramallah where Joseph and his pregnant wife got turned away.

In A Land Imagined in Bakal 2, those with Asperger's Syndrome milled until the Clotilda finally docked with bowls of bulanglang and sopas from an island in Coatia.

Joseph's Divine Intervention save thousands in Sicily from the Wrath of God and the werewolf of Nybo, and was declared by Pope Pius IX in 1870 as a patron of the church.   

The Viking Wolf infected Wang, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and the dogs of Bakal 2 with leftover bistek and Spam tocino to fulfill Klostner's vengeance. 

In 1479, a papal bull rendered March 19 in celebrating St. Joseph's Glory but the brass brand was out of tune and played the Amish anthem to the Rumspringa instead.  

Before that day, Dong-eun went for the Moneyshot as featured in The Pornhub Story of how the venerable pork barbecue and the occasional inihaw na panga ng tuna came to be in Bakal 2.

It was 4 nights of the sinadag to a dinner of chicken rice and a welcome pulutan of lechon from the Barangay Night on the eve of St. Joseph's arrival that escalated into a morning snack of kalderetang bibe, lumpiang shanghai and a feast of tiim na bibe at pata, pinangat na hito and a duck dish called dorobo as the celestial guest was paraded by the faithful.

For the Phantom Biker, the narrative is 6 days in the bike trails, a skipped regular meeting in Munoz, a missed installation rite in Baler, and a massively disrupted budget...

PORK BARBECUE Atbp

Apparently, the sweet carmelized pork barbecue of the Philippines originated in Metro Manila in the 1950s, American inspired and not really descended from the Southeast Asian satay.

So except for Wednesday's pinangat na hito from the comite de festejos, the neighborhood subsisted on Aling Inday's pork barbecue for the Next three days. 

That pork barbecue was marinated like the African Queens who Live to Lead a Sex/Life through an American Hustle that brought down the tower of Babel.

A toast then to Intuition, Perdida, Recurrence.

That was Pipa's creed whose common sense got lost so she reenacted the January 12 Maimpis disappointment on March 10 with an affidavit to pair with a previous authentication.    

The Phantom Biker struggled between a sinuglaw and tinolang tuna but eventually, a Thursday dinner in Maligaya with the Mistahs concluded that 4 days in the bike trails is enough...

ODE TO NETFLIX

A Bank Job turned out to be three credit card payments in a seaside bento shop where the Children of Men caught the Earl of Darlington nibbling on British hooters.

Yet, The Hater managed to have the troll farms at Kellynch Hall Unlocked through the Persuasion of Alex, Paul and Buster who spoiled the return of Benjamin Button.  

I am The Natural hacker from the Human Project, sleepless in Busan but triumphant in moving just energy transition and sustainable finance in the ASEAN.   

So Call Me Chihiro because the Decision to Leave was made by SIDA as The Remains of the Day crept into the last 5 months of GRAISEA and the Murdaugh Murders. 

"Tonight You're Sleeping With Me" said the broke New York socialite to the New York Knights who were all implicated in a sisig-fest with the single mom of Bakal 2. 

In Stromboli, the Phantom Biker trimmed a vineyard to expose the indulgence of a lonely Polish wife and a vindictive Dutch divorcee in revenge affairs for a French Exit.