สวัสดีค่ะ :: ปีใหม่ :: กรุงเทพฯ

Lovely to have rung in 2014 with the dearest friends in Bangkok, and surprisingly, the tiniest bit of alcohol and a fantastic 9-hour sleep. Many friends have opted not to travel out of Bangkok this holiday week. We only learnt of their schedules towards the end of our stay in Seattle, and hurriedly booked flights and accommodation. It's rare that everyone's in town at the same time. I can see all my darling friends! Brought two phones to Bangkok. Can't just do roaming on the Singapore number. Need the Bangkok number to sort out dates, last minute coffees and whatnots.

The man's very happy to be in Bangkok for a bit. He loves it because we take him to all those places off the tourist tracks. As usual, it's a city he doesn't have to open his mouth to speak much. He simply grins at me and the friends. DOH. Although this week, I noticed that he says 'hello' and 'thank you' almost exclusively in Thai. Nice.

Started the year wonderfully in a city I love, with a good cup of coffee, fabulous conversation and laughter. Not to mention the 19°C weather. Amazingly, nobody was knocked out from wild new year's eve parties. On 1 January 2014, Everyone was early for our 10am meeting at the blissfully quiet 24 Owls by Sometime's (the apostrophe...don't even) on Ekamai Soi 12. It began as a tiny little cafe far out in Phra Khanong, and now it's a big outfit operating 24 hours. But we've never eaten there; just drinks and desserts.

Way early. Waiting for more humans to show up.