So Magical Drink

Sofitel So Hotel Bangkok

The reception desk at the Sofitel So Hotel, Bangkok. Photo by David Lansing.

When PaLè and I finally make it to the Sofitel So Hotel in Bangkok all I want to do is get checked in and go to bed. Even though it’s barely noon. The 2am departure from L.A., the 17 hours of flying, the acrid smell of the city—I’m done in. At the reception desk we are escorted over to a plush couch and minutes later a grinning Thai Liberace (red silk jacket, pink lips, gray nail polish, rhinestone-studded glasses, and purple highlights in his pompadoured hair) slides up to us carrying purple drinks bearing large sticks of lemongrass.

“Look what I brought for you!” he gushes. “You are tired, I know, and this is an elixir to make you feel better. Try it, please, go on and try it!”

It’s delicious. Tangy, perfumy, slightly sweet. I ask the Thai Liberace what it is.

“This one called So Magical Drink.” And then he laughs infectiously. “You like? I’m so glad! It’s delicious, isn’t it?” He tells us that the So Magical Drink is made of lemon grass juice, butterfly flower elixer, and lime juice.

“Is it noon yet?” asks the Thai Liberace rhetorically. He slaps his leg with his perfectly manicured hand. “It is! So maybe we should add some vodka to So Magical Drink. Don’t you think?” Like a model on a catwalk he sashays over to the bar and comes back bearing two more So Magical Drinks, this time juiced up with a little lemon Citron. I like this version even better. Bangkok has suddenly come to life for me. I’m ready to take it all in. All because of the So’s Magical Drink.

So Magical Drink, Sofitel Bangkok

The So Magical Drink. Photo by David Lansing

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