BOOSTED

And that would be with three of Bangkok's best beers --- a Singha premium lager on Monday in an upscale diner that served a passable omelette and a disappointing pork neck stir fry, an American-style Chang lager in the usual place on Tuesday with an amazing fried pork ribs topped with an ordinary Leo lager and superb grilled beef that could have been wonderful have I not overate and over-drank to conclude 1.5 days of frank PMU conversations and a bowling match of hologram pins felled by balls of frozen whiskey sour and mojito.     

Two weeks and 6 antigen self tests later, PR 731 ferried me back to Manila where Bulan and the citizens of Timog Avenue Never Stop Dreaming as reflected in the pre-pandemic crowd at Tipsy Pig where the tipsy sisig and tipsy gambas platter are not The Life and Legacy of Shimon Peres but a sober ginataang munggo with three slabs of bagnet and a forgettable squid al olio that tasted like a tin can.

In Bakal 2, Mr. White let Mike Ehrmantraut bleed to death while the Phantom Biker tried to recover two missed weeks with two days in the trail that was enough for a second booster shot, a birthday catch up on Saturday and a Breaking Bad reunion in Talugtug on Sunday as ASAC Hank finally realized that W.W. is in fact the elusive Heisenberg...

THE BANGKOK BIKE HEIST / LOST IN BANG KRACHAO

Flowers and leaves from Pak Khlong Talat adorn the songthaews with one reported casualty two nights after the welcome committee treated the distinguished delegates from Bosnia, the United Kingdom, Australia and South Africa to an overdose of Singha beer and grilled ruby fish. 

And that day stood out from a week of learning and unlearning, the ennui disruption that was punctuated by the sound of frying spring rolls, the silence of soap carvers and the colors of a lunch buffet that is not from kitchen of Albricias. 

On the last day of the second workshop, the 5th round of Covid detection tests came out negative to assure the delegation of the Philippines that the Bangkok surge has not caught up with neither of them, the end of quarantine and a trip to Uganda celebrated with a round of cold Chang beer with a footnote to those who have to leave.   

The Bangkok Bike Heist

But shit happened when Follow Me Bangkok Tours stole my Saturday bike ride that marooned me in the concrete jungle of Yaowarat where I search for the lost Half-Day Siam Boran Cultural Bike Tour in the pots and grills of street food stalls, in the disinfected water closet of Wat Worahiwan and the polished yard of Leng Buai Ia Shrine as free rice was being distributed, wondering if it is among the merchandise on sale at the crowded Chinese Market along Soi Yaowarat 11.

The futile search led me to Siam Paragon for an early lunch of crispy pork and Northern Thai sausage where a mysthical tea leaf pointed to Silom, to a stainless table top and plastic chair at the Kuay Teow Khae Convent where a fortune cookie at the bottom of its famous tom yum noodle jumbo said that redemption is at Som Tam Jay So's equally famous chicken wings and there, the Master of Salad told me to walk straight to the Chong Nonsi Skywalk then go home since Trip Advisor will be refunding the cost of the lost bike tour.

Lost in Bang Krachao

Sunday brought me to the Wat Bang Krachao Nok Pier, to a small boat with two other passengers that took us across the mighty Chao Phraya River to Bang Krachao where the tree spirits made me walk in circles and a mobile phone translated Thai into English that a biking couple said were actually prayers for the lost, and was subsequently delivered by a motorcycle taxi to an abandoned fresh seafood market where I was introduced to Bike No. 16, petite with slim wheels but sturdy enough for a long ride to the Wat Khan Lat School where the Bhumibol 2 Bridge pierce the heavens that for centuries have kept the Lat Pho Canal operational.

The island of course is is not really an island as well as the Bang Nam Pheung Floating Market that don't actually float like the barges moored at the Tha Luean Pier where I should have landed, but the cannabis nursery was real as well as the motorcycle taxi who got lost bringing me back to where I came, in the pier where I was the lone passenger of a small boat that rammed and raced a huge river barge before delivering me to the other side --- tired, sweaty, suburned and blissfully sore...   

HIDDEN BANGKOK

It was a good day when Balong the Youngest finally submitted the last requirements for admission to Hogwarts three days before PR 730 delivered a bottle of ancient tequila that decimated the cartel, and a bomb that blew up Hector and Gus as their punishment for Breaking Bad. 

Although safe in Bangkok, Kim felt that she and Jimmy are bad for each other and left as the servers at Ter Sab Woey brought out three brands of cold Thai beer and an offering of papaya salad, omelette, grilled pork neck, spicy beef salad, steamed fish, chicken cashew nut, morning glory, barbecued shellfish and roasted chicken to celebrate the return of the Phantom Biker after an absence of two years and 7 months. 

He touched down at Tsai Eatery wearing a blue helmet, masked and carried by a green Giant mountain bike that whisked him through the narrow alleys of Kudi Chin where spicy yellow noodles, foreigner's cake and curry puffs were offered as prayers in the altar of the Santa Cruz Church .

He paid his respects to the 10-meter Buddha of Wat Kalayanamit before traversing flyovers, unnamed streets and a bridge that brought him to Klong Dan and a school of shark catfish who fed on omelette and tom yum to enable their reincarnation as the The Big Buddha of Wat Paknam.

He tested negative thrice as a reward for transporting antigen testing kits through 12 kilometers of concrete jungle from the Gypsum Metropolitan Tower to the Chatrium Residence where he shed his 2-day inclusive business suit for 5 days of learning that was preceded by a dinner with the dream catchers of Manila.

So Better Call Saul...