Groundhog Day

Ekamai, originally uploaded by Dianthus.

Today D had surprised me by taking the day off (and making up for a lost holiday day), and we decided to explore one of the neighboring streets in our new neighborhood. We’d been hearing a lot about cool shops along the street and decided it was worth a look.

First we headed off to Playground! (yes, the exclamation point is part of the name) to look for fun items for the house. D had also mentioned that there was a KuppA there as well. KuppA (a coffeehouse/café), had intrigued us after reading about it in our various guidebooks, so we decided to check it out and perhaps have lunch there. Playground! is a pretty neat store, sort of a cross between Urban Outfitters and Ikea. We picked up some little condiment jars and an oil bottle from one of my favorites, Eva Solo. KuppA turned out to be a nice, chill place and we ended up having lunch. D ordered a chicken sandwich with this delicious coffee drink and I had a panang pot pie with a refreshing lychee and mint icy/shake. The food was decent and the atmosphere was one where you could easily kick back and sip on coffee and read. Very nice.

We continued walking with our next destination of H1, a modern mini-mall designed by Thai architect Duangrit Bunnag. I had been curious to see it after reading about it in our Wallpaper* City Guide. I have to say I was under whelmed. The buildings were ok, nothing too crazy, but I guess different for Thailand. The outdoor spaces were small and did pull you away from the hustle and bustle of the street, but it was empty and there were no obvious places to sit and enjoy the place. We spent a little time at the art & design bookstore there and then headed back down the other side of the street in search of cake!

For being in a country that seems to enjoy its sweet treats, we discovered a serious lack of cake options. At that point, I had gotten lemon meringue pie in my head and the only piece we had managed to find was completely unappetizing. We decided to head back to the house and order from the wonderful Food By Phone. I would have my lemon meringue!