coconut ice cream

11:45 am, sunday, angkok’s golden mount. decided to tell the taxi to drop me off in this wat because i could not remember loha prasat’s exact name. anyway, it’s just less than 5 minute walk from wat rachanadda (yes, this is where i really wanted to go). i hurriedly went up and saw a lot of locals doing the rounds. not much tourists this time, which was definitely a good thing. i think i was the only one taking pictures . it was a good time to be there. not too crowded. but of course, the pinoy in me won’t hang around this area that long. it was too hot. after a short look around, i went down.

negotiating my way down, i met a mom and daughter team who were also on their way down. some little smiles and in no time, the mom and i were already chatting about how humid that day was. the nice mae was telling me that after several days of raining, humidity goes up in the greater bangkok metropolitan area. they were in the golden mount not on a planned trip but because they were already in the area, they had decided to stop by and to say some short prayer. buddhism she said does not require a strict code of when one should visit a wat. any practicing buddhist according to her, would not miss a quick visit if the opportunity is there.

i of course was there as a tourist, i told her. it was just my second time in the golden mount after several trips to the city of smiles. i wanted to see it during daytime coz the first time i was there, it was close to 5 pm already. topic went to me being a filipino and how nice mae remembers some nice pinoys she met along the way, most of them tourists like me.

at the golden mount’s exit, there was your reliable neighbourhood coconut ice cream vendor. this of course brought such big delight to my face. i’ve been there for a week already but i haven’t had the chance to have coconut ice cream yet. mae probably saw my excitement and immediately spoke with khun ice cream. i asked her how much and she said 25 baht. they were chatting in thai and nice mae suddenly said, “i buy you ice cream.” what?! haha! i could only say thank you. i couldn’t even muster my broken or odd-sounding khob kun kap to thank her. i was just delighted. when they got their two servings of coconut ice cream, she said goodbye and said enjoy my trip. aaww... i asked her if we can have some picture together but she said “naahh. bye!”

walking towards wat rachanadda enjoying my coconut ice cream, i thought of this random act of niceness or congeniality. it may not be that often but once in a while, you’ll meet lovely individuals, whom you’d share only fleeting moments with but will make a lasting impression on you. i probably will not meet her again but my brief encounter with her and her almost teenage daughter made me think that there really are nice people out there. to me now, bangkok won’t only be a place for quick business trips, nice streetfoods, wats or ping pong show. but a place where you’d bump into charming and nice persons. khob kun naa kap!