ในกรุงเทพ

Thought I should pop in to Bangkok before September ends. Next month is a little sad for the country with public holidays declared on 13 October (the Passing of the Late King Bhumibol Adulyadej) and 26 October (for the royal cremation of the well-loved late King Rama IX).

There're still plenty of shrines dedicated to the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej everywhere. One side of the Bangkok Art and Culture Center (BACC) holds a painted portrait of the late King on the entire height of its building's wall. Although 23 October is also a public holiday, and celebrates the happy occasion of Chulalongkorn Day, I'll avoid being in the city for the whole stretch of dates.

Monsoon season has arrived. Heavy rains have flooded Bangkok. Heard it's been horrid in Phuket. It's not a big deal to me, but getting around the city on this trip requires rain-resistant gear. I didn't bring wellies though. Arrrgh. Drains here don't work very well and many streets flood to almost-car-exhaust-pipe-height during these short but fierce twice-in-24-hours rains. When the thunderstorms come, brollies don't work in the lashing rains. The storms are ferocious. I usually wait it out at a cafe or a bookshop or wherever. Hopefully a repeat of 2011's epic floods isn't on the cards when October arrives.

I'm making loads of jaunts between Chulalongkorn University and BACC, so it's pretty much sheltered on the main stretches. I use the malls to get to where I want to go in order to avoid being completely drenched, but there's little reason to linger. Shopping in Bangkok malls isn't on my list of priorities on this trip. Importantly, I get access to awesome coffee in this part of town at Gallery กาแฟดริป on the ground floor of BACC. Happy to see it still in business and enjoying good traffic.

One side of the wall at Gallery กาแฟดริป.