Songkran
This week is Songkran, the Thai New Year. And so going to the Thai Temple for brunch seemed like an obvious thing to do on Sunday. It's a bit of a Berkeley institution and I've been meaning to go there for ages, so luckily for me a friend did the organising and all I had to do was turn up.I think I was expecting something a bit like Brothers' Cafe in Hanoi, where the Editter and I had a wonderful buffet lunch. But I think the only similarity was really that it was a temple. Oh, and there was good food. And the meal cost about the same in both places, which means that in real terms Brothers' Cafe is hella expensive (note: hella is a word I've been trying to work into my blog for ages, using it shows that I am becoming a real Northern Californian).
I found the Thai Temple without too much trouble, helped by the masses of people milling around outside and sitting and eating on the grass outside the tool lending library next door. The queue to buy tokens was hella (twice in one post!!!) long and I couldn't spot my friends anywhere. But as I was standing there I saw a different friend walk past. He walked straight past me. A minute later his girlfriend walked past and I had to practically jump up and down waving my hands in her face before she recognised me. I hadn't seen them since before I cut my dreddies off...
So I had my rice and pad thai and curry with them, and then managed to find the original group of friends for mango and sticky rice.
Happily there was no dousing with water by elephants as is the custom in Thailand.
R.
posted by flying kiwi @ 12:20 PM
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