andersinthailand
เดสในประเทศไทย (Anders in Thailand)
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Quick stop in Seoul
Our layover was in Seoul and the airport offers a series of completely free tours to many different locations. You can pick them based on how long your layover is. We just missed the 5 hour tour of Seoul so we took two shorter tours. One of an ancient temple up in the mountains. It has these two incredible old Zelkova trees that are more than 1300 years old. They are a popular spot for prayer for couples looking to have a baby because of an old legend that say the larger male tree was reaching his branches toward the female tree out of love.
The city tour was of Incheon, the 3rd largest city in South Korea. We explored a newly developed area that was build on reclaimed land from the sea. It’s a strange place that’s so quiet, clean with over 100 condo towers that are built in matching sets of 10 or so. It feels like sim city.
Reflecting back on Thailand, this feels so calm, quiet and clean. Despite thinking that Thailand would be similar to Vietnam or Cambodia, we found it to have a very unique culture. People were so friendly and kind with quite the sense of humour. The natural beauty of the mountains contrasted with the crystal clear aquamarine waters and sheer limestone cliffs of the islands. Bangkok was loud, vibrant with lots of character. So much incredible food enjoyed with a variety of regional cuisines. Favourites for Thai food were the slightly sketchy gas-station-looking Khao Soi in Chiang Mai, the $2 pad see ew in Bangkok and the crab red curry on the little farm near the floating markets. A worthy mention goes to the chicken blood soup.
A whirlwind of a trip as always but so many wonderful experiences with some great friends! I hope Lisa and Jeff are enjoying Vietnam but we’re headed back home.
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Street food at the floating markets
For our last day in Thailand, we got to experience a street food tour with a local guide. She picked us up in the morning and we drove outside of Bangkok into a neighbouring province. The floating markets are open on weekends and holidays and consist of some more permanent buildings with many vendors arriving by boat via canal. These boats sell everything from produce to meat to cooked dishes and desserts. When we first arrived, it was a quick fire of a bunch of dishes. We got to try an excellent pad thai; more chicken blood with a delicious hot sauce made of fermented soy, garlic and chilis; four different curries: fish with coconut, spicy fermented fish, green chicken curry, and pork peanut red curry; a refreshing cold noodle dish with garlic and pineapple; freshly fried dumplings; green mango salad with peanut and multiple coconut and rice dishes - they different in how they are prepared but include the same ingredients.
We wandered through the market trying different fruits before heading on a small boat to see the surrounding canals. This part of Thailand is almost exclusively farmland. The majority seems to be coconut that is processed as fruit, into sugar and into coconut milk. We stopped at a small coconut sugar farm to see how they harvest the sap from the young flowers (these trees therefore won’t bear fruit) and process it into sugar. The sugar is becoming more popular due to its low glycemic index but it remains a very labour intensive process.
When we got back to the market we cooled down with some coconut ice cream before heading off.
For lunch, we stopped into a beautiful little local restaurant run by 4 Thai ladies. They know our guide from her being a regular at their Bangkok restaurant. We were the only customers and they cooked us up a storm. We got to help a little by picking some herbs and edible flowers from their beautiful gardens. Highlights for me include the best curry I had: red curry with crab (with the most insane amount of crab meat) and crab served with glass noodles and a spicy garlic sauce. Laura really enjoyed her Thai basil fried tofu and the tempura style fried flowers with a sweet and spicy sauce. They served us beautiful Thai tea, coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice. We had commented on how cute their dogs and puppies were and they swiftly said we could take any one we wanted! Unfortunately, we had to leave my favourite, Mocha, behind.
For the afternoon, we stopped at a larger floating market that had much more beyond just food. They did have more prepared foods here though with many boats serving freshly grilled seafoods! We shopped around for a while before heading out. Our guide taught us lots about the different foods and how Thai people spend their time in Bangkok and our in the provinces. We discussed the pros and cons of Thai life and how different and sometimes similar it is to Canadian life. It was a really great day full of some of the best food we’ve had!
After quickly packing up at the hotel, we headed to one of Bangkok’s famed rooftop bars on the 61st floor. It provides a full 360 vantage point of the sprawling urban landscape. Off in the distance is twinkling lights and skyscrapers as far as the eye can see.
We’re off to Seoul now for a quick layover before heading home.
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Temples of Bangkok
Laura forgot she had booked a tour today because she did it so last minute so while we were getting some quality sleep in time, we awoke to our reception calling to inform us our guide had arrived. It’s amazing how quickly you can get ready when you need it. We hit the major temples of Bangkok with a guide to explain some of the history and culture. One interesting fact is how much changed for Thailand once trade relations started with China. He said that temple architecture and construction techniques varied greatly once the relationship began. We also learned that Cambodia had once been a part of the Thai kingdom and the Thai kingdom had once been a part of the Burmese kingdom. Some of the buildings today had influences from both Cambodia and Burma.
The temples in Bangkok are by far the most grandiose. Six storey tall columns covered in mirrored and gold mosaic tile. Pagodas that reach higher and higher, glistening gold. Buddha statues ranging from as large as a human to over 40m for the famous reclining Buddha statue at Wat Pho. The colours are rich and vibrant with such ornate details. Crimson reds, evergreen and deep navy all shining in the sun and gold. All temples are designed to be symmetrical so you also see the satisfying mirrored layouts. Mystical demons and monkeys are depicted in statues and on gold leaf fresco murals. The royal palace was stunning but very busy. Bangkok is becoming extremely popular with Chinese tourists and it’s currently their new year so lots of extra travellers made for a hectic visit.
After a nice riverside lunch, we headed to the largest flower market in Thailand for a tour. Our guide was excellent and taught us lots about market culture and cuisine. She let us try lots of fruits, Thai desserts (the best mango sticky rice we’ve had, and this yummy sticky substance made of coconut paste. We learned about the many different uses for floral sculptures including weddings, engagements, funerals and offerings to monks. After we wandered around, we got to try our hand at one of the flower decorations. Laura’s was much better than mine. We took one of the river boat taxis home. For 15B (about 70 cents), we hopped onto a boat, went 4 stops and hopped off. Much more reliable than car traffic.
We had our daily rest with a pool side cocktail to cool off.
I’ve been hunting for some good pad see ew and had found a local blog that detailed a full scoring process and ranked the top 10 in the city. Naturally, we wanted no. 1 so headed out for a 40 min walk. In the end, best pad see ew I’ve had and candidate for best Thai food so far. So good that I ordered another batch much to the cooks delight. This was a complete hole in the wall with no English speaking staff. They make large batches of the noodles and have them soaking in the dark soy sauce before frying them up to order with a delicious eggs. It’s salty, bitter from the Chinese broccoli, and spicy with the perfectly cooked noodles. It’s a vegetarian dish so Laura thoroughly enjoyed hers as well. The food is so fast that we were done within 10 mins and walk another 40 mins back home.
While Bangkok is so huge and we’d been told a lot that it isn’t great, we’re really enjoying our time here. It’s a vibrant city with many distinct neighbourhoods and cultures. There’s the enormous and loud Chinatown, tourist trap Khao San Road in the old town, the lush city centre island, the posh neighbourhoods and financial districts and the riverside ports. The food is delicious from fine dining to street food.
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Biking in Bangkok
We started our day in Bangkok with a rather hectic taxi experience. Traffic is so insane that getting a cab can be a challenge. We finally arrived at our guide location and the tour had left without us! We were able to quickly figure out our own version and set off.
Right in the middle of Bangkok is an island covered in small farms and temples. It’s so quiet and peaceful compared to the city. We rented bikes and cruised around for the morning. It was amazingly lush and green despite being in the middle of such a large city. While we were biking along a boardwalk we looked up and noticed these enormous spiders that were all over the place. They were easily 6 inches across with a huge body. Conveniently for our photo, there is a normal sized spider in the shot which provides the necessary perspective. Scary stuff. We rode passed a school that was having an outdoor assembly, and when the kids noticed us they all started to yell “Hello!” and it was hilarious.
It is so incredibly hot here. I’m quite confident I’ve never been hotter in my life. You forgot when you’re in a car or a hotel and as soon as you step outside it’s a wave of pure humid heat.
After we got back from the bike adventure, we relaxed by the pool at our hotel.
Now, for one of the highlights of the trip: Gaggan. Currently ranked no. 5 in the world, we were extremely excited. Dinner was an experience. It starts with a menu that is only emojis. 25 different courses and 9 wine pairings. It’s Indian inspired with some Japanese as well. Many of the dishes are inspired by Indian street food. Unlike some fancier restaurants, the staff were super friendly, having lots of fun and laughing with us. It was easily the best fine dining meal and experience we’ve had. Some highlights:
- 5 different bites inspired by street food that were served on these atypically shaped plates. When all were done the plates made a map of India and each course was inspired by the region that its plate represented. The samosa inspired one was so rich and intense.
- Sticky bao bread filled with basically cheese fondue. The bread was the perfectly chewy and yeasty and the cheese sauce inside was rich, creamy and smooth.
- One course that you picked off the plate.
- The most tender and succulent lamp chop I’ve ever eaten. You could have cut it with a spoon.
- Cauliflower ice cream served to look like white asparagus over this clove infused liquid nitrogen
- Beauty and the beast inspired roses served in a glass cloche
- And many more, but don’t want to bore anyone.
Really exceptional experience.
Afterward we met up with Jeff on Khao San Road (Lisa was out for the count due to not feeling well, she’s feeling good now!). It’s a crazy busy street filled with loud music and bars. We enjoyed some beers and buckets before our zippy tuk tuk ride home.
Bangkok is loud, busy and intense but the people are still so kind and welcoming.
Lisa and Jeff are off to Vietnam for a week. Sad to see them go but had such an incredible trip!
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