July 22,

I did not sleep well last night, but I made up for it this morning. Jeff woke me at 0815! Then at 0830, we called and talked with my sister. Now, we had our coffee/hot chocolate and were contimplacting our day, when Jeff received a WhatsApp from the Pakistani couple we met yesterday. They invited us to supper tonight. We accepted for 1600. So we decided on a bit more for breakfast but to stay here. We had some chocolate chip bread – that we had bought the day before, a yogurt each and split an apple.

After breakfast we watched some You tube, and did future foodie planning. We noticed Biden's withdraw from the presidential race, and that set Jeff on research for getting an absentee / out of country voter ballot. Anyway, we had a light lunch of crackers and blue cheese, after Jeff went to “our 7-eleven” to find some non-sweet crackers (He was, as we have been here in Thailand, unsuccessful. We have been having trouble finding simple savory, not sweet crackers!).

Around 1500 we set out to go dinner with the Pakistani family at their place. We caught the BTS a few stops and went to a store in search of a dessert to maybe take. But striking out we instead found two toys, age appropriate, for the kids; and a little flower arrangement. We then took a bus to get us the closest. Then walked the rest. We took our time and came to their place about 1545. The lady made us Chicken Biriyani, Dahl, a sliced veggie salad, and fresh grilled Chapati Bread. The husband and kids started eating after we served ourselves. The lady never ate with us. This is the same custom as with the Indians, and Nepalese. It is hard to get used to! We talked after and were served some milk tea. We thanked them and wished them well. They need prayers – that's all I'm going to post here!!

We left and decided to walk the 2.8 miles back to our place. It was mostly along the busy road, but there is not obsessive horn honking and we have a fairly decent sidewalk to walk on. This is the latest we have been out in Bangkok. We did go into the mall on the way that has a Lotus Supermarket for some breakfast stuffs tomorrow. Still in the mall we saw a Swenson's (a USA started) ice cream place. We had never heard of it, so we checked it out. We split a scoop of chocolate brownie, and a scoop of rum raisin. The store has the slogan- A Favorite American Ice Cream. It was good, but we discovered there is only one store left in the USA, in San Francisco! -No wonder we had not heard of it. Anyway, we left the mall and went back out on the busy road to our place.

We passed through a bustling street/sidewalk food market. It was a sight for the eyes and aroma for your nose. Almost made us hungry again. Jeff did see a sausage booth he could not pass up. He bought two big, like 8 inches long and fat! The guy sliced them up and bagged them up with some fresh cabbage. It cost 50 Baht ($1.38)! We will have these tomorrow for breakfast instead!

Back at our place, we relaxed and cooled off. We had a light sprinkling on us getting back. This only made it more humid, and made us open the umbrella – in case it unleashed the rain that the sky looked like it should, but thankfully did not. Anyway, we are inside now and settled in for the night. I set about doing this blog, Jeff read. Then bed by 2200.