Sunday, 3 Dec, Lunch, Shopping, Dinner

Lunch. Food and shopping—all at the Big C. The food court at the Big C has a variety of typical Thai food (and some Western selections) at very reasonable prices. The Big C itself is part Wal-Mart and part street fair/market. In the parking lot is an automobile show complete with pretty Thai models and loud music. Under canopies outside, vendors sell much of the same merchandise available inside the store itself. Even indoors we find independent vendors, as well as a bank branch (Siam Commercial Bank), and a frenetic pace of costume characters (some “Teddy Bear” mascot), loudspeaker announcements, and special discounts (you’ll need your receipt).

Dinner at “Fine Day.” A nice dinner at Fine Day restaurant. We had about 9 people, a feast of Thai food with free flowing Leo beer, and the bill was less than 1800 baht. We had green curry (gang pet), sweet and sour chicken (pat pio wan), Evil Jungle Prince (mostly veggies and shrimp—spicy!), green veggies with dried shrimp (gang chaom), steamed egg with shrimp (kai tun), wing-bean salad (yam tua poo), spicy crispy fried snapper (pat pla).

We sat on the front patio (picnic table/bench seating) under a canopy--it was dark, but there are several conventional tables inside (with air conditioning), and a fairly good 3 person band was playing Thai language ballads (the songs had a definite Western style—not traditional Thai).

Fine Day serves a variety of imported beers, and the clientele seems young and a bit upscale. The serving girls are attractive, and wear fashionable shorts—service itself is very good. The green curry and steamed egg dishes were below average that evening, but everything else we tasted was good to very good.