Market Friday: meeting old friends at a very nice coffee shop.

I used to have a few old senior friends who ‘adopted’ me as a junior member of their high society group of friends. We didn’t have the chance to meet up during the last few years since the COVID lockdown had unsettled all our lives. So, it took me some time to contact them again, as I was concerned about their well being after the plandemic. I was glad they would like to see me again to have long discussions like we often had in the past.

After some delay of several weeks, one friend has long Covid and had to stay in hospital, we finally made an appointment to meet at a prestigious hotel in city center. This place used to be one of my favourite haunts several years before the plandemic. The long lockdown had ruined many businesses, lots of hotels were on sale while others were took over by bigger consortiums. The old name of this five-star hotel was ‘ the Regent Hotel’. Now it has changed to “Anantara Siam Bangkok Hotel”.

This hotel has a very large garden with fish pond in the inner court yard. This garden was designed to look like a small jungle with dense green bushes and tall trees. I used to have meetings with friends in this garden where you could have coffee, tea and cakes from the nearby coffee shop. There are three restaurants around this ‘jungle garden’. The old bakery had been transformed into a very nice coffee shop. In the old days, this bakery was very famous for fruit cakes, German cookies, breads and ginger breads for Christmas occasion.

We actually had lunch in the Italian restaurant in the other corner of the hotel lobby. But we still wanted to catch up with more news, gossips and updates, so we had to have tea and coffee at this coffee shop (Mocha and Muffins). The renovation of this shop met with success in high number of customers and sale figures. The lighter and more spacious interior design were very refreshing. The collections of cakes, biscuits, breads are very diverse. The French style croissants have been replaced by jumbo size croissants. I still preferred the old styles of bakeries and breads; the modern styles of cakes seemed less attractive and much smaller. I missed the old styles of farmhouse bakeries and big chunks with rich fillings of fruits and cream.

My two friends had very different tastes; one had iced Thai tea, the other had a small coffee. I waited for thirty minutes before requesting for some Earl Grey tea. The iced tea had a frozen teddy bear made from dark tea. The complimentary biscuit was too small and too sweet. I missed the old bakers who used to stand behind the trays of breads answering customers’ questions about all the strange breads they had. I had never seen such a variety of breads like those before; with so many kind of grains for making bread.

This coffee shop is a very nice place to have a quick lunch or a quiet moment to enjoy a coffee break. They also serve snack lunches of sandwiches and salads. The prices are much cheaper than having a light lunch in the restaurants and the lobby. I had the opportunity to take photos of this new shop and noticed all the decorations. Orchids seemed to be the main item for decoration while cooking utensils were displayed on the wall. The high ceiling with tall glass panels let in sunlight in the afternoon, making the whole place very energetic.

I didn’t order any cakes as I knew that everything would be too sweet for my taste. I only had a small bite of the complimentary biscuit. One of my friends was so eager to feed me but I was too full from lunch. So, she bought me two jumbo croissants and a box of green salad to take home. She almost bought me the teapot with the red cover as I was very amused by its appearance. But they only has the larger set of teapot with blue and orange covers. So, I could decline the offer politely as I insisted on taking the teapot on the table! But the shopkeeper told me it wasn’t for sale.

My other friend thought I would actually abducted the small teapot out of this shop. If I were a wild teenager, I might have been tempted to do something crazy and exciting! My friends used to take beer-coasters and pint glasses from pubs during our students’ pub crawl years ago. Certain things just reminded me of the escapades of the good old days. I was very grateful to my friend’s gift of croissants and green salad. I found them waiting for ne in the fridge late at night. This older friend was like a protector to me, she’s actually my friend’s aunt who became closer to me than my friend.

The other older friend was just curious about me when my ‘protector’ told her stories about me. From the first meeting, she had become my ‘fan club’. They liked to discussed about things that they couldn’t openly talked about with normies (normal people). I have always been a strange object of curiosity among my friends as my opinions and manners were too eccentric for their sense of security. Both if my friends were also partially psychic so we could talk about things we couldn’t see. It’s very difficult to encounter truly psychic people with positive energy nowadays. Most people went down the easy paths of using magic and spirits in their quests for worldly gratifications.

I was very glad to see my old friends again after almost four years. We all got older but luckily our minds were still alert and our bodies still maintained flexibility and stamina to enjoy active lifestyles. The oldest friend came from a very distinguished family line with lots of high level connections. So, I could cross check some rumours with her information. The other friend (my protector) had very good connections to old Siamese families and high society including many astrologers. We all had our favourite Chinese and Thai astrologers. Top business tycoons would know all the top astrologers in Thailand and some famous Chinese Feng shui masters.

Astrology was always on the list of our discussion including the astrology predictions of our country, the government and the Royal Family. I was glad to be able to cross check what I knew with their data and opinions. Then, we would discuss about the ‘die suddenly’ occurrences among film stars and folk musicians. Both of my friends had the first two jabs. Fortunately, they didn’t take the booster jabs. Most of my friends who had only two shots of Sinovac seemed to be ‘unaffected’ by the hidden particles and chemicals in the vial. But my ‘protector’ friend has started to experience symptoms of long Covid two months ago.

I had given her the information on essential supplements for detoxing the heavy metals and spike proteins inside the body. She seemed to have lost several kilos. The other friend didn’t have any side effects from the jabs. But I told them all the important Thai herbs and spices which helped in detoxing the ‘biological weapons’. I was glad that they didn’t feel offended when I started talking about this topic as I was anxious to have them taking proper cures for maintaining their good health.

The final subject centered around the financial crisis in our country around the end of this year. They were quite shocked by my conjecture that a serious kinetic conflict would break out into a limited nuclear exchange. These friends came from very wealthy families with lands and resources for surviving an unexpected society collapse. I recommended that they ought to prepare a safe house in the countryside, just in case the worst scenario took place. As it would be quite difficult to get together like this in the future, I thanked them for all the kindness they had shown me over the years. I was very lucky to have their trust and friendship; they were very generous and took me out to lunches and treats at several five stars restaurants very often in the past. I told them this might be my last chance to be with them and to thank them properly. So, I gave them gifts of my Bohemian lead crystal vases. I used to collect many Bohemian lead crystal glasses and chandeliers. They gave nice reflections and some rainbows colour reflections and they made beautiful sounds when they were made to vibrate. I hoped they liked my gifts.

I had the feelings that we had shared some precious moments together in our past lives. Perhaps we were soldiers fighting together in the battle fields during the times of either King Nares when the King fought for independence from Burmese domination. Most of my close friends and acquaintances were all descendants of old Thai families with long family lines in the old provinces where the old King had ruled and fought with Burmese invasions. I have always been ‘looked after’ by people I used to know in my past lives during my long distance journeys on the trains. It was uncanny how these reincarnated old soldiers from the past continued to look after me naturally during my earlier journeys in the past. They themselves didn’t know why they felt compelled to give me special attention and service without my request. I often interviewed these people about their ancestries and birth places. They were all connected to places important to the old Kingdom and paths of the wars for independence. Their faces also reminded of Siamese soldiers about two hundred years ago.

But my wealthy friends had been descendants of the wealthy Chinese merchants who used to work for the old Kings during the restoration periods of the old cities. Their ancestors were very closed to the Kings as these were skillful carpenters who built the golden teak palace for the King and some ancestors played pivotal roles in trading between Chinese empire and Siamese courts. I sometimes dreamed about the past and saw my friends in a different roles in past history, including very rich scenes at the Japanese inner royal compound. The aches were very vivid and rich in colours and interior design textures. I wish I could have more dreams about my past lives and those of other friends so that I would understand why we had to meet in this lifetime. Perhaps I shouldn’t demand for more privy into the past lives as sometimes it could be unexpectedly painful. I ought to live in the present and be mindfully conscious of the reality. I prayed that I had the stamina and strength to accomplish all the essential tasks in preparation for sudden upheavals next year.

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.

#marketfriday hosted by @dswigle.