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   buying them. Keeping them at home, hard as a rock and 5 minutes later they are rotten and have to go in the trash.
They have opened a new market next to my room and I was to check it out  yesterday. There was a stall selling some kind of salad with avocado.
I came up with an idea and I asked for the avocado ONLY. This was no problem and I asked for 100 baht and it would take them 10 minutes to cut up the avocados. I was back after 10 minutes and I gave them 300 ฿ I asked them to add avocado for another 200 ฿ and I left again. When I came back, they handed me back 100฿, they had run out of ripe avocado and they could only give me 200 ฿ worth of avocado. They told me to come back tomorrow for more.  Selling Thai avocado
 Selling Thai avocado
Avocado with some olive oil and pepper and it was good and will keep me full for a long time. I got a message that my friends were approaching and I went down to the lobby and they arrived in a taxi after a few minutes. They had been on the go for quite a while, Poland - Canada - New Zealand - Some island in Micronesia and Tasmania. Flying back home and they make a one day stop in Bangkok. One day in Bangkok and we have planned to do a Hop-on Hop-off day, without the getting on and off. First the bus to see the city and the on the boat to see the city from the river. Chao Phraya Tourist Boat web page HERE Bangkok Hop-On Hop-Off Bus web page HERE  Bangkok Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Route Map
Click on the map for full size
 Chao Phraya Tourist Boat Route Map
Click on the map for full size
We will get to Siam Paragon by sky train and my friends can get a “bonus” glimpse of the town from the sky train. We take the 5 minutes’ walk to the sky train station and we get three tickets. Would have been cheaper and more comfortable to take a taxi. But it will  hopefully be quicker. And I hope for the train to be empty so we can get seats.
But I was a wee bit worried, there were quite a few people waiting for the train on the platform.  At the sky train station
 Sky train arriving
The train is coming in and I spot three empty seats and I threw myself in to the train. My friend came after, but now he discovers that his wife is missing. The doors are closing and my friend block the door with his arms and legs. He gets out to get his wife and by now the seats were gone. I asked where she had gone and she told me that she went to look around. - When the train is coming? I asked. She got a seat and I gave my seat to her husband. I have to stand up and the train became very full. I was not happy, but when we arrived, we laughed about it. Bangkok Hop On Hop Off bus takes off from Gate 1 at Siam Paragon and we have to walk through the food area on the ground floor. We pass a place called Bura Maria and as it looks nice we go inside to have tea.  Tea and mango
 Tea and mango
We order tea and as my friends are leaving tonight, we ordered mango and sticky rice. One item off the list you must do when you are in Thailand. We order tea and the tea is cold by the time we get the milk, after having to ask several times.  The mango with sticky rice was good and my friends really liked it. It was good, but the waiting was at least to say annoying.
And it was not like the restaurant was full, just a few other people at the tables. So, I will most likely never come back to Bura Maria.  We left Bura Maria to go look for Gate 1 and the ticket office for the Bangkok Hop-On Hop-Off Bus. We walk between the different restaurants and my friend is suddenly saying “This is where we had our tea” Walking around and we are back where we had started. More concentration is needed and I decided to ask for directions. Passing one TOURIST INFORMATION and I go inside to ask for directions. Turns out that the Bangkok Hop-On Hop-Off Bus is just next to the tourist information. We are soon having three tickets and the bus is waiting outside. Departure at 11:20 so we have to wait for about 10 minutes or so.  Walking around looking for Gate 1
 Stop to ask for directions
 We find Gate 1
 We find Gate 1
 Bangkok Hop-On Hop-Off Bus
 We are the first to board the bus
   Ready to take off for our adventure
The bus took off and the excitement was killing us. Front row view and my friends were really happy. We had a very good view of everything around us, much better than if we would have tried to make our way through the crowded sidewalks. My friend was very happy and I can really recommend this tour. But don't forget to buy something to drink to bring with you, I could have killed for a diet drink. We left Siam Paragon and we passed Hua Lompong, the old train station and we crossed the bridge to China Town leaving Hualongpong behind.  Leaving Siam Paragon
 Leaving Siam Paragon
  China Town
 China Town
 Crossing the bridge to go back to Bangkok
My friends are very excited and they point at everything asking me what it is. Well, I do not know the names of all the temples, but I was happy to be able to point out the Gian Swing. But they enjoyed the trip and after an hour we left Bangkok behind crossing the bridge over Chao Phraya River to Thonburi. There is one stop on Thonburi, at the Siam Icon. We had planned to take one round with the bus and to get off here to take the boat. But we were really not interested in visiting the Siam Icon to “huff and puff” our way through the crows to get to the Chao Phraya Tourist Boat. Leaving the crowded Siam Icon and we ran in to a traffic jam crossing the bridge across the Chao Phraya River. It is Sunday so we have been spared from traffic, the reason for the stop on the bridge is the red light on Bangkok side. 
 We were back after about 2 hours, we got off the bus at Central World, last stop on the route. We will take a taxi to the Sathorn Pier and the tourist boat, one hour more on the bus was nothing we were looking forward to. But I can recommend the bus tour, it was very nice. We stepped in to Central World and we discovered Tan Jun, a nice-looking Thai restaurant. I checked the menu and it looked very good. And as my friends are leaving tonight, we will have to take every opportunity to try the Thai kitchen. So, we need to eat a lot. My friend asked for a Singh beer, first time, a must to drink to get the Thailand experience. His reaction was the same as mine, what the 
Yes, the beer does not taste good. He tried to order a second beer, but they only had Singh beer in small size. If you wanted another brand you had to buy a big bottle, well, he ordered water as  we do not want to fall off the tourist boat later on.
As I am on diet I ordered steak only, my friends ordered prawns, some cooked and the volcano prawn and they came to set fire on the prawn at the table. Again, my friend was very happy with the food, now they have gained a lot of Thai food experience in just a couple of hours. The beer was not impressing, but we can drink water and tea.   We were still laughing at the sky train incident this morning. I told him that he almost lost legs and arms in the door when he was looking for his wife. - What would you have done? He asked - The same! But we are the old school men, today they want to send men that start to cry because they have been ofended by something someone said to fight in Ukraine. It will be a disaster! And the Europeans are really pushing for a war now with non-stop scare mongering about “shadow fleets” “Drones” and everything else. They want to fight a war against Russia and they cannot even take down one single drone that are claimed to be all over the European Airports. A lot of people at Central World so I was pleasantly surprised that we managed to get a GRAB within a couple of minutes. We got off at Sathorn Pier and by now it was so late so Asiatique had open, actually the first stop for the Chao Phraya Tourist Boat. We got on the Chao Phraya Tourist Boat and we were assisted by the staff, very friendly and helpful. We took off leaving Sathorn Pier behind going south towards Asiatique. No place to sit, but I hope the passengers get off at Asiatique and I can get a seat before the new passengers going north coming onboard.  We find the ticket counter
 At Sathorn Pier
 At Sathorn Pier
 Leaving Sathorn Pier
 Leaving Sathorn Pier
 Leaving Sathorn Pier
 Steaming south towards Asiatique
 Steaming south towards Asiatique
 Steaming south towards Asiatique
 Steaming south towards Asiatique
 Asiatique
 It is around 10 minutes to Asiatique and most of the passengers get off the boat. I take a seat and my friends is on the bench behind me. We are sitting on the starboard side so we will face the Bangkok side of Chao Phraya Tourist. The boat was full when we left Asiatique and it was 4 o'clock. I will take the time for us to reach Khao San Road, the end station. Maybe we can return with the boat, but if it takes too long, we will take a taxi to Baan Khanitha on Sukhumvit Soi 23. We stopped at the Sathorn Pier and more people boarded the boat and I ended up with a Vietnamese girl next to me on my bench.  Steaming north towards Khao San Road
 Feeding the pigeons
 Steaming north towards Khao San Road
 Passing some wood boat
We continued towards north while small talking with the Vietnamese girl. She was from Hanoi and she worked for a company in Bangkok. She asked if I had been to Vietnam and I told her that I had been in Ho Chi Min City, and one other place in the north I could not remember the name of. But it is a famous tourist destination with the lime stone rocks in the sea. Approaching Wat Arun and the Vietnamese girl wanted me to help her taking a picture of her with Wat Arun in the back. We climbed around among the passengers getting of the boat trying to get a picture. It was not easy to get any picture as Wat Arun was behind us and the sun.
 National Telecom Public Company
 National Telecom Public Company
 Siam Icon
 Siam Icon
 The Holy Rosary Church
      Wat Arun
 Rainy season, but we have been very lucky with the weather, not one single drop of rain had been falling. And overcast so it was not hot during the bus and boat drive. We had brought water with us for the boat tour wise from the bus tour. My friends really enjoyed the boat tour and there must be a lot of videos for him to watch coming back home. He was behind the camera almost all the time. We leave Wat Arun behind and the boat is almost full again, but it was never uncomfortable. We paid 40 ฿ for our ticket, you can go with the commuter boat for a couple of baht, but then it will be crowded. And the commuter boats do not have the seating area on the roof. So, make sure you get on the tourist boat if you plan to take a tour on Chao Phraya.  Tug boats on Chao Phraya Tourist
 Tug boats on Chao Phraya Tourist
 Tug boats on Chao Phraya Tourist
 Tug boats on Chao Phraya Tourist
 Getting off at the end station
 Took us an hour to reach Khao San Road and we got off the boat. My friends were very satisfied with the whole boat tour experience. It was 5 o'clock and their flight is departing in 8 hours.  Plenty time and we stopped a taxi to get to Baan Khanitha for dinner before they would return to their hotel.
Sunday afternoon light traffic and we were moving along quite quickly, OK, we used the toll way and we came down on Sukhumvit Soi 1. From there it was a couple of minutes to Soi 23. Lucky, I noticed the Baan Khanitha sign, they had moved since I was here last time and now, they are located closer to Sukhumvit Road. I asked the driver to stop and we got out of the taxi.  Baan Khanitha
 Baan Khanitha
Coming in to Baan Khanitha, still look good, but I liked the old restaurant better. The old restaurant and it was almost like sitting in a kitchen. Anyway, we took a seat and the sofa was very comfy and the furniture was of a good quality. As expected at a place like this. I ordered what I have ordered here since the first time I was at the restaurant. Starter: Chicken wrapped in some leaf’s, served with some sesame sauce. Excellent! Main course: Curry noddle soup (Chiang Mai dish) + 2 bowls of steamed rice (very small bowls) Desert: Mango with sticky rice (I had been eating a lot today so I cancelled the mango today) My friends did not know what to order so they asked for the same as I had ordered. They found the wrapped chicken to be very good. The curry soup was a wee bit spicy, but they were happy and I have managed to get them to taste almost all of my favourite Thai dishes. We skipped the mango sticky rice, we had had a lot to eat during the day and they had already tried the mango earlier today.   Sukhumvit Soi 23, the traffic was at a full stop but I was very lucky and I got a GRAB that arrived after a couple of minutes. Obviously one GRAB that had dropped a passenger further up on Sukhumvit Soi 23, and now on the way back to Sukhumvit Road. The staff tried to get a taxi for my friends, but it was not possible as no taxis wanted to get up on Soi 23. I was in the taxi when I suddenly spotted my friends walking by towards Sukhumvit. I told them to join my taxi but then I spotted one of the staff from Baan Khanitha. He will walk them to Sukhumvit and they will get a taxi from there. That is what I call good service. My friends will for sure never forget this place and the service.  Traffic at full stop
We will go to another Max Muay Thai Gym event, this time in Rayong. We had planned to stay for two nights, but as the fight ends early, we will return to Bangkok on Saturday night. I was close to miss the fight night in Rayong as I almost did not make it back home from Chaiyasit Muay Thai Gym. Stopping at the last intersection, red light, my lane are empty and I stop close to the cars on my right-hand side. As usually, the sun is blasting the intersection and it is hot. I wish for green light so I can cross the  intersection and turn off Sukhumvit to get to my room to have a cold drink and a shower.
I hear screaming tyres behind me and BOOM, I fly off my scooter. Almost so I went through the intersection like a superman.  Landing on my back and slamming the back of my head in the pavement. ALWAYS WEAR HELEMT!!!! Never mind how slow you are driving, you are not alone! There is always one formula one driver about! I picked up my scooter and it was not looking too bad, the car was much worse. But my Luang Pu Tuad (ลวงปู่ทวด), the Religious Statue (รูปปั้นทางศาสนา) I keep in front of the handle bar. But my Ganesh, called Pikanet (พระพิคเนช) was standing strong.  Hitting me from behind
 Front broken as well
 The car looks to be more damaged than the motorcycle
 The car looks to be more damaged than the motorcycle
We parked on the bridge to Phraeksa Road to call the insurance company. I heard an ambulance coming down Sukhumvit taking the curve to Phraeksa Road on two wheels. Siren blasting and smokin' and screamin' tyres. The girl in the front seat pointed at my motorcycle, they were obviously on the way to pick up the motorcycle driver. Someone had called when they saw the motorcycle getting hit by the speeding car. But, it takes more to kill a Swedish boxer on the way home from the gym. She looked at me and I gave the thumbs up, they turned off the siren and took off. My phone, I had kept it my pocket and it was totally smashed, so I could not use it. The formula one driver called the insurance company and I borrowed his phone to take some pictures. The site Surveyor arrived while I was to buy some peanuts and 2 bottles of diet drinks. He was enjoying my Egg Boy (ไอ้ไข่) that I have glued in front of my scooter. It was late, very late afternoon before I was back in my room. Some shit hole driving around making nothing but trouble. Surviving this drama and I might make it to Max Muay Thai Fight Night in Rayong, click HERE to find out everything about our adventure in Rayong. 
    
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