Bangkok, Day 2

The following day, I proposed that we go for a light meal at the hotel and enjoy breakfast outside instead. When I say outside, I'm not referring to another coffee shop. I was looking for something that reminded me of home, the kind of breakfast place that my family and I would go to every Sunday morning. These places are often tucked away in unexpected locations, and they could be small eateries or even mobile vendors operating out of vans, arranging tables on the streets exclusively for the morning hours.

And we discovered a congee place that is exactly just that, right in Chinatown.

Of course, Sunday morning breakfasts wouldn't be complete without an iced coffee break. I told my friend that this is how we do it in Southeast Asia, but honestly I could be making things up. Maybe it's just something my family's Sunday tradition: a trip to the market, then street side breakfast, followed by an iced coffee stop.

I haven't done that in years, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss it.

Later in the day, in the sweltering heat, we somehow found ourselves in the middle of Sampheng Market. This isn't even the largest market in Bangkok; the largest one would be Chatuchak Market, slightly outside of city center, which I didn't get to visit because it seems way too overwhelming for me. Sampheng Market is already big enough; the narrow paths felt like they went on forever until we reached a large street, facing a gurdwara. A gurdwara is a is a place of worship for the Sikhs. We've never been to one, so out of curiosity, we decided to check it out, and this is how we ended up spending an entire hour at a gurdwara in Bangkok.

A gentleman appeared and the next thing we knew is we took off our shoes and followed him around. He started explaining to us about the Sikh community in Thailand, which is a minority in about thousands. Despite that, they have a school that they built in the outskirts of Bangkok. He also showed us a picture of the most well-known gurdwara in Punjab and how proud he was when he managed to go there.

The gurdwara we were in was a big, well-kept building. The man took us in the elevator to the top floor and gave us a friendly tour. We saw the main hall where ceremonies happen, and smaller rooms where people pray. Some of these smaller rooms are used for special ceremonies like weddings. Like excited, curious school kids, we asked so many questions and the gentleman kindly answered: how many people come here? What time do you open? How often do you pray? What do you pray about?

After the tour, he took us to the langar, which is a community kitchen. They serve free food there every day for everyone, no matter their religion or background. He asked if we wanted to eat, but we were still full from breakfast (and every time we spotted a sweets seller when we were walking through Sampheng Market, we couldn't resist a quick treat), so we politely said no.

Our next stop was the Museum of Contemporary Art. Sadly, we didn't have much time to explore because it was about to close. We should have realized it would take a while to see everything – the museum had five big floors. But when we arrived, we ended up spending the first hour in the cafe instead and got a bit stuck there.

Now... this is where things get more interesting. While we were in the taxi heading to the museum, we noticed that the driver was playing a rock song in Thai. My friend asked if he liked the band, and he replied with a big yes. I can't recall if he mentioned the band's name, but he was really enthusiastic about it. Since we're also big music enthusiasts, we asked him if he knew any places with great live music. He responded with a vigorous nod and said, "Absolutely! There's this place called The Rock Pub. You should check it out!"

So, after exploring the museum and having dinner at a trendy-looking spot, we decided to give The Rock Pub a shot. We had faith in our taxi driver because of how enthusiastic he was, and was hoping to find a local music scene. But alas, what we got was a band playing rock covers. It wasn't that bad, to be fair, but we weren't really feeling it, maybe because we expected something else. After a round of beers, we scoured the internet hoping for a remedy and eventually decided to take a chance on this cozy little bar called Jam...

... and finally, finally, after misadventures here and there, we found a small underground bar tucked away in one of the smaller streets, with sublime live music. They were having a line up of local Japanese artists, and we were a bit tardy so we only managed to catch the last set by an experimental artist. The venue was so small, that you can just chat and mingle with people easily after the show. It was very cozy and exactly the kind of vibe that we were looking for.