MUGA Day #10: Bangkok--Eat Me

This is the 10th day of my ultimate global adventure (MUGA), so let me take stock of what has happened thus far.  Sydney was restful, with Est approaching an ultimate meal.  

Bangkok is steaming, with temperatures exceeding 100 F at high humidity.  But the night life is colorful. 

I thought I would try to get to Japan earlier to see the remnants of the cherry blossoms in Tokyo, but I couldn't find a seat on the Thai Airbus 380.  I want to experience that plane.  

There remain concerns, first about Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, whose best shots at an American base are Japan and South Korea.  It doesn't help that I posted a kind of spoof about him.  

Then, I just read this morning that Shanghai, the stop after Seoul, announced two new bird flu deaths, triggering emergency measures.  Also today, a UK journal reported that the China smog was linked with 1.2 million deaths in 2010, and it has only gotten worse.  Thus, 25 million years of healthy life was lost in the country just that year.  China is currently accounting for 40% of global deaths by air pollution.  Also, think of Korea and Japan, where face masks are becoming normal.  Then, when you are aware of all their food scandals, plus severe water pollution, you wonder why anyone goes there.

I'm having a 3PM lunch/dinner today, so splurged on the Sheraton Sukhumvit breakfast buffet, which is a lot more expansive than the Tokyo Westin version.

There are half a dozen international stations, including one for meats, where I ordered steak and eggs.

Getting to Eat Me Restaurant and Gallery was an adventure.  While the walk is only around ten minutes from the Sala Daeng Sky Train station, 100+ F and the obscurity of the site were challenging.  My room is freezing, even with the setting at 30 C.  Then, when you step out, it's like an oven.  When you board the Sky Train, you freeze again.  Then, when you leave the train, you immediately go blind because your glasses fog up, and this can get dangerous.  So from freezing to broiling, there is no middle ground.

Eat Me is supposedly the 19th best restaurant in Asia--nahm, see lunch yesterday, is #3--not bad considering that there are more than 3,000,000 eating establishments, and most are in Asia.  Frankly, I've been to at least 50 better Asian restaurants in my life.

Anyway, I was the only diner at 3PM, and a couple came in when I left an hour and 45 minutes later. The place must sit at least a hundred.  The artist being displayed was Luigi Fieni.

The music was American and New Age jazz.  I ordered a Singha beer and Saffron Bloody Mary.  The warm sourdough  bread was excellent.  I ordered only one course, beef cheeks and potato chips:

The potato chips were wedges and double french fried...I hope not because they were re-cycled.  I also tried to get a dish of truffle risotto, but the waiter recommended only one of the two.  He was right.  I couldn't finish that one order of beef cheek, nor the potato.  Apparently one ox cheek (facial muscle) can serve up to six.  My experience with cheeks has to do with fish, and they get as large as a thimble.

I finished with a coconut and raspberry salad topped with pomegranate, plus an expresso and a glass of Calvados (apple cognac):

The set was a perfect ending to an excellent meal.

It turned out that I did not bring a credit card, and only had about a thousand baht.  However, I had a 10,000 yet note, which the owner was gracious to accept.  The entire cost above was $70, so I left a few bucks to my waiter for negotiating the money exchange.

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The Dow Jones Industrials rose 89 to 14,662, again, a record high.  The Dow has gained 12% this year.  The S&P also reached an all-time high, now at 1570, up 10%for the year.

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