Bangkok, Thailand - Sawasdee ka

I spent the entire month of July 2013 in Thailand with my very dear friend Molly, who is travelling around the world for 16 months.  We met at the baggage claim at Suvarnbhumi airport in Bangkok on June 28th ... me arriving after a gruelling 28 hours of travelling from Ottawa to Washington, DC to Tokyo, Japan and finally on to Bangkok; Molly came in from Perth, Australia at a much more tolerable 7 hour flight - although she had been dealing with a delay and was worried and stressed that I would be lost and wandering the streets of Bangkok all alone!

ready for take-off

By the time we arrived at our hotel it was after midnight and we were absolutely shocked to find that we could not purchase alcohol in Bangkok after 12am!  What?  This is Bangkok - the land of anything and everything goes!!!!  We did find out that the exception to this rule was in two tourist areas:  the Khao San Road area (the original back-packers locale) and Silom/Patpong (the notorious red-light district best known for its ping-pong shows and lady-boy bars).  Neither of  these areas was close enough for us to walk to, so being absolutely exhausted, we called it a night and decided to start our quest to eat as much Thai food and drink as much Thai beer as we could (while avoiding getting thrown in the "Bangkok Hilton") tomorrow.

finally ... a proper drink in Bangkok!

Our first day we went to Chatuchak market - the famous weekend market which is visited by some 200,000 shoppers every weekend!  After wandering and shopping for several hours, stopping for a 30 minute leg and foot massage (at the bargain price of 120Baht = $4CDN) we took a break for a beer at a super cool bar in the market called Viva 8.  The tunes are pumping loud with a full time DJ, it's damn hot (what I came to call:  "Bangkok-hot") and the place had an awesome vibe as well as delicious food smells thanks to the coolest chef who was continually cooking two massive pans of paella all day, all weekend, in between posing and putting on a show for all the tourists.

a chef with pizazz and paella

I don't even like paella but how freaking good does this look?

taking a time-out from shopping at Chatuchak enjoying

a couple of beers and the beats at Viva 8

 

 

Our first night's dinner out we headed down to Khoa San Road on our first tuk-tuk ride, and found a pub called 999 West nestled in the middle of Suzie Walking Street.  Here we happily discovered the benefits of abundant fresh limes in mojitos and margaritas.  If you are not drinking Chang or Leo (Thai beers) in Thailand you should be having cocktails made with fresh lime.

 

 

So the first night for dinner I had chicken with (spicy) Thai basil and sticky rice.  It was super fresh and hot (both temperature hot and spicy-ness).  My nose was running from the heat.  I loved it.  The sweet chili sauce on the side was house-made and had fresh chilies and spring onion.

 check out all those green chilies!

You will notice that I have chop sticks with my meal.  They were not served with the meal when it came; I had to ask for them, although Molly got chop sticks with her dish.  It was quite a fiasco with at least two staff members trying to find me a set of chop sticks -- which we found very odd.  Several days later, we came to learn that chop sticks are not traditional Thai utensils - they are actually part of the Chinese influence.  Thai people typically eat with a fork and a large spoon (exactly the utensils that I had been given when my dinner was served); they use the fork to push the food onto the spoon, which they then eat from.  Once I found that out, I did try, for the most part, to eat with the fork and big spoon:  "Thai-style".  The exception to the big spoon/fork rule seems to be noodle dishes which are generally served with chop sticks.  Once again we learned that this is also related to Chinese influence in Thai culture, as noodles were not part of a traditional Thai diet as they ate only rice for their starch.

 

 

Molly decided to start her Thai eating adventure at 999 West with the tried and true Thai favourite:  Pad Thai with chicken.  It was also very good; fresh and though not too spicy, very flavourful.

Street food abounds in Thailand and a strolling around our hotel in the Siam Square/National Stadium area we were witness to literally hundreds of food carts serving the most varied and sometimes bizarre range of food -- many things we had no idea what they were and some things smelling soooo good, while other things terribly off-putting (fermented fish balls I'm looking at you!).  There is also tons and tons of durian to be found everywhere.  Durian is a fruit that has the most unique and strange smell when it is cut -- it is almost sickly sweet and yet with a sour/rancid (like spoiled fruit) smell at the same time.  The smell of durian permeates many streets and market areas in Bangkok, so you could be walking along enjoying some smokey, spicey bar-b-qued smells only to be suddenly assaulted with the stench of durian.  We also found many many businesses which did not allow durian in their premises including several hotels and on the train.

grilled chicken and pork satays -- delicious!

straight from the street cart

 



the end of a long day for a street vendor making fresh papaya salad -

a Thai classic and one of the primary dishes I want to learn how to make

We ventured back down to Khao San Road the next night as we liked the vibe; there are tons of bars, restaurants, street vendors selling everything (the Thai people will sell you anything!) and tons of people - everyone is down at Khao San from 20-something Australian backpackers to European families with small children, lots of Africans who all seem to be in Thailand on "business", Thai people working in various service jobs and everyone in between, now including Molly and I.  And of course, any kind of Thai food or "western" dishes you can imagine.

Khao San Road by day ...

... and by night 

Street vendor selling a wide range of insects!

We didn't think that eating insects was for us.  However, we were sitting beside a young German couple at a bar one night, who bought a scorpion and Julia just bit the head right off the thing!  Then Mike took a big bite of the body.  So we had to ask ... what's it like?  Well they shared the rest of it with us.  Molly ate a back leg and I ate the tail.  The scorpions are deep fried and black as night.  The vendors sell them either on a bamboo skewer or simply carry around a container with them neatly lined up side by side - a little army of black scorpions.

I borrowed this photo from the internet so you could see what they look like
you've really gotta give Julia credit for biting the head  and front claws right off!

For me the tail was just super crispy and crunchy but had very little taste.  It was just like super burned/crispy chicken skin with perhaps a slightly salty taste.  Molly thought the leg was disgusting - not initially but it left a horrible taste in her mouth that took several beers to wash away.  The deep fried scorpions are so abundant around Khao San Road -- with several people selling them up and down the road, and all the vendors seem to have a couple of dozen of them.  Besides Julia and Mike, I don't think we ever saw anyone else buying or eating one so we did have to wonder how long the same scorpions get offered for sale!

fresh fruit vendor -- the best watermelon and pineapple served

in a bag with a bamboo skewer to eat it

fresh fruit juices and shakes

street food buffet - Bangkok

street food buffet Chiang Mai -- "same same but different"

bar-b-que - choose your fresh seafood and have it grilled up for dinner
 

You can buy a plate of street pad thai for 30Baht ($1CND) and you'll be satisfied and full.  We sometimes had this for an afternoon snack.  One of our last evenings in Bangkok we had had some street pad thai around 3pm and so we didn't eat dinner.  Some time around maybe 10pm we found ourselves in a dive (and I do mean dive) reggae bar hidden off the main streets in a pretty dark alley.  I decided that I had to go in search of some more street pad thai since I needed some food to balance out the booze.  I only walked a few meters to the intersection of another small alley-way where I found this little Thai man frying chicken on a cart.  He had a massive stock pot filled with boiling oil and after cooking the chicken he had a grill on the other side of his cart to keep the chicken hot.  I ordered two chicken breasts for the unbelievable price of 50Baht (literally like $1.75CND!!!!  How crazy is that!?!??).  I brought the fried chicken back to our little table at the reggae bar in a small plastic bag and it was unbelievable how good it was.  By far and away the BEST fried chicken I have ever had in my life - super crispy and crunchy coating but the chicken was so moist and juicy.  Molly and I spent the next two days and nights looking in all the back alleys and laneways searching for Mr. Fried Chicken Man but we never did find him again.  That is probably my biggest disappointment of my entire trip -- I might never get to eat that fried chicken again.  OMG I dream of that fried chicken.  I'm absolutely positive that it was not just the booze that made it damn good.

"My Friends" van bar



on our bike tour in Bangkok - soda in a bag

that's also "Thai style"

Bangkok is an amazing city; it's 15 million people in a concrete and asphalt shopping jungle (both modern malls and traditional markets) with crazy traffic and yet it's remarkably clean and easy to get around with a first-class public transit system.  We toured main tourist areas and wandered off the beaten track to see the real Bangkok of native Thais.  It is a contrast of old and new; traditional and modern.  You can eat for dirt cheap on the street or you can find a high-end chic restaurant for a fancy night out.  I loved it so much that we stayed for an extra day at the beginning of our trip and I only conceded to leave because I knew that we were coming back at the end of our trip for a few more days.  The Thai people are warm and friendly; they work so hard - with many having two or three jobs.  At no point did we ever feel unsafe or insecure and things we had been warned about such as tuk-tuk drivers taking you to places that you didn't ask to go to or being ripped off in bars -- we never experienced.  I LOVED Bangkok and can't wait to go back again.

MBK shopping centre -- and traffic

very modern King Rama VIII bridge across
the Chao Phraya River

and traditional modes of transportation - the long boat and

and tuk-tuks (now motorized but previously propelled by

paddling or peddling)



And the food!  Mmmmm, Thai food.  Two evenings we ate at Sawasdee Guest House - once at the beginning of our trip and then again on the second last night of our whole trip.

Lost in Thai translation!

crispy chicken wings with deep fried lemongrass and

garlic - an appetizer for sharing

 

Molly's Tom Yum Soup with prawns -- it was super spicy and filled with so many herbs and Thai spices by the time she finished, her bowl was still at least 1/2 full with huge pieces of ginger, lemongrass, garlic and kafir lime leaves that are there for flavour and fragrance not for eating!  I tasted the broth and noodles and it was spectacular.  Rich creamy coconut flavour with spicy, herbaceous flavour.

 

I had the spicy pork in red curry sauce with sticky rice on the side.  It was fresh and spicy - not overly hot but great flavour with fresh Thai hot (also called "holy") basil.

 

 

On our return trip to Sawasdee Guest House I had the red curry with pork and with rice on the side.  Although it sounds remarkably like the dish I'd had some 27 days ago it was a completely different meal.  This was a more traditional red curry which is more soup-like.  It was rich and spicy but not overwhelming heat.  It had a nice coconut flavour and was filled with lots of pork and veggies.

 

 

Molly had the chicken with hot basil and chili.  We both recalled that this was the dish that I had eaten on July 1st when we were at Sawasdee the first time and we were both surprised at how different it looked.  It was only later when I was looking at my photos did I realize that we actually had two different dishes - no wonder they didn't look the same!  Molly thought the chicken was good but it was not overly spicy and it was probably not the best that we had eaten in our 30 days in Thailand.

 

Speaking of 30 days ... Thailand allows visitors for a 30-day stay at no cost, and without requiring a visitor's visa.  Because I booked my flights first and Molly just accommodated my schedule, I organized landing in Bangkok on June 28th and flying out ... what I believed to be 30 days later ... on July 28th.  When we arrived, Thai Immigration stapled a "Departure Card" in our Passports which indicated that we could remain in the country till July 27th.  Well that could present a bit of a problem.  Were we to become Canadian fugitives in Thailand?  Would we end up in a Thai prison after all?

 

dealing with the stress and anxiety of overstaying our allowed

visit and potentially ending up in the "Bangkok Hilton"

 

meanwhile, I dealt with the stress in my own way!

 

Ultimately, we found some information that indicated for one day over the allowed stay, you could be fined 500Baht (=$17CND) so we decided to chance it.  Since Molly's flight was 3 hours earlier than mine, she headed to the airport first and emailed me when she made it through immigration.  They did question her and pulled her aside to speak to a second official.  She claimed ignorance and apologized so they let her go; she recommended that I do the same.  When it was my turn, the Immigration Officer didn't even mention the fact that I overstayed my allowed time in the country and they let me head off to my scheduled flight.

 

Our favourite place for drinks in Khao San

Our hostess Ying and the darling bartender and waiter all remembered us

from our first visit to our return three weeks later; they

promised they'd still remember us whenever we return to Thailand!