26/10/2023 - Running down a dream.

Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?
                Morpheus:-  The Matrix 1999

    The next few days were mostly a continuation of the feelings experienced the night before, but on an amplified scale. Whichever part of Bangkok that I retread, my first impression was that everything was mostly consistent with how I had left it in 2019, but there was something amiss. It was like when you recall a particularly vivid dream that seemed to accurately portray a person, place or event at first, but soon you think about those bits that just don't tally up with reality. For me, having been away from here for over 4 and half years, I began to wonder how much of what I was remembering was an accurate portrayal, and how much was my subconscious filling in the blanks. 

Thankfully I had taken plenty of photographs over my previous stays, which went some way to backing up the accuracy of the particular details that I was remembering.

      It took me a while to get my head around the differences that I was finding out had been made. Extensive internal changes inside of the MBK and Siam Centre were thankfully not extended to the Siam Paragon or Terminal 21 Malls. The latter 2 locations were of particular use as upon arriving in Bangkok I had decided that many of the clothes I had packed to bring with me were not going to be suitable for the conditions I had put myself back into. The pair of replacement shoes that I bought on the first day was the item that I had planned on getting before I left the UK, but several t-shirts and short-sleeved shirts I felt had more than served their time. So far a total of 6 new t-shirts, 1 polo shirt and 2 short sleeve tops of a much lighter fabric type have been brought in as replacement. This may not be over yet. 

    I have caused myself a mild bit of frustration with my final packing choices before I left the UK, That nagging doubt that had plagued me in the final run-up, that I was not ready or more that I was taking too much had led to a few items being pulled out and discarded in the final hours before I left, despite my baggage weight being comfortably within my allowance. One of those things was a white USB-A to USB-C cable which specific trait was that it enabled my phone to fully charge up in just over thirty minutes. A particularly useful feature for travel I thought and one of the reasons I ended up going for this particular model. I did bring a different white USB-A to USB-C charging cable with me, but this is just a standard cable with no underlying party tricks. All efforts to track down a suitable replacement have as yet failed. The old Pantip plaza that used to be great for electronic devices is (as is maybe getting predictable by now) no longer.

This particular frustration though, may now have been given an end date