Casa Lapin, Bangkok

Coffee is a sense of belonging.

It’s another sweltering Bangkok afternoon. Thong Lor is an endless stream of cars, buses and motorcycle taxis, their riders in bright orange vests. Colour and heat.

To escape it, we slip into a café facing the main road yet sheltered from the bustle. A barista slowly, gently brews coffee for his customers. The aroma washes away the terror of the traffic in the streets outside. Old records play old songs, familiar yet fresh again in this place new to us.

This is a sanctuary.

We order our coffees. We sit on metal flip chairs, sipping and chatting. The shy barista, whose name we discover is Sand, doesn’t say much. He’s very attentive when brewing coffee but calm also. A regular customer comes in, platform shoes and crimson lipstick. A few words exchanged, but mostly she is watching him make her coffee, mesmerised like we are.

We pretend, just for a moment, that we are part of this world too.

When he’s not looking, we take a picture of him, of the café, of this good memory.

在一個慵懶的午後，我們不小心走進了一家咖啡館。
樣子靦腆的咖啡師正專注的煮著咖啡；
不時可以聞到一陣咖啡香。
而他身旁的黑膠唱機里傳來了一首首熟悉的英文老歌。
這裡仿佛是哈利波特裡頭的破釜酒吧，又或是禁咒師裡的幻影咖啡館。
開在鬧市中，卻又抽離而獨立；
和外頭喧囂的街道及熱鬧的人潮仿佛是兩個不同的世界。
我們在櫃檯點了兩杯咖啡；坐在板凳上有一搭沒一搭的聊著。
假裝也是這世界的一份子。
然後趁著咖啡師不注意時，悄悄地拿出相機將這里定格。
偷偷地告訴你，這家神秘的咖啡館叫Casa Lapin。