We slept until 8, which on this trip is pure luxury. Praise be to good AC and actual blackout curtains. We often have one or the other but rarely both.

The plan for the day was to go to a mall and get the items on our list. I’m not a big shopper in regular life but I have come to love this style of shopping. We spend weeks thinking about what we actually need, and then when we get to a place that has the right shops, we hone in on just those items.

My big one today was a new bathing suit. The elastic in my old one is coming apart and the whole thing just feels ill fitting. Most malls still have their winter stuff in them (even though it’s perma hot here) but I found a surf store. Jackpot. I tried on a bunch of different suits. Guess which I chose?

The pink bikini! This is so not me but I’m going for practicality. It’s easy to pack, quick to dry, and more comfortable to wear under clothes. This trip has changed me.

Millie also got a new suit. We gently nudged her away from a matching pink bikini and towards a full coverage Elsa suit. We did a hard sell on the fact that she wouldn’t need to put on as much sunscreen but I know it’s just a matter of time until she switches to a little bikini.

We spent some time browsing the rest of the giant department store. Other purchases included a new book for me (Playground by Richard Powers), some drawing paper, and a new small playmobil toy. We debated getting some workbooks but can’t decide if they will be worth the weight. I might go back tomorrow for them.

We came back to the hotel to drop off our stuff. Millie played with her new people. She has named them “Stacy” and “Lisa”.

At 3 we called a grab taxi to take us to Chinatown for our food tour. We were stuck in awful traffic for about an hour and arrived 10 minutes late. Luckily we were the only ones on the tour so only our guide had to wait. Millie fell asleep 10 minutes before we arrived.

We started the tour by walking down some interesting streets and alleyways. She took us down Texas Lane, named by the American soldiers who were here after WW2. And then through an alley that used to house opium dens.

Our first stop was for some stewed pork. It was reminiscent of Carolina bbq, especially after putting the vinegar sauce on it.

We stopped for some pennywort juice. I’m not sure I feel any stronger but I did like it.

She brought us to a house that had been maintained to show how the Thai-Chinese population lived here over 100 years ago. I loved how this tour was a mix of history along with the food.

She took us to a large Chinese temple, where she explained that if you are one of the 4 zodiac signs that conflict with this year’s sign, then you will have bad luck. You can counteract this bad luck by paying to put your name in a book so that monks can pray for you. I’m highly suspicious of any luck that you can buy your way out of, but Nick and Millie (the two rats) did it anyway. I am a tiger and was not on the list of bad luck animals this year.

Millie wrote her own name on the list.

We walked on to our next food stop. We had green curry with Chinese sausage and winter melon. This was my favorite dish of the night.

Millie ate a substantial lunch but hadn’t eaten much on the tour, so our guide offered a mid-tour treat of coconut ice cream. Of course no one could say no.

We stopped for some red curry fish cakes. I loved these and want to figure out how to make them. They’d be a great thing to have in the fridge as a snack.

We then went to a soup place that had a gajillion Michelin plaques. The soup was peppery and had pieces of pork and freshly made noodles. Liked it but didn’t love it.

Millie then got her second ice cream of the day. Soy sauce flavored soft serve! It didn’t taste too intense and was more like a malty vanilla. We both loved it. Nick got a plum sauce sorbet.

We walked past a cart selling custard filled toast. This wasn’t part of the tour but we got a pandan one anyway.

Then we had a seafood stew. It was sweet and sour, like Tom yum, but without any creaminess. I was stuffed, but it was great.

Then we had… two most desserts. So much food. Donuts and mango sticky rice.

And took a family photo before getting a car back to our hotel and falling into a self-induced food coma.