Bangkok, one of the biggest cities in Southeast Asia, has a reputation for being completely overwhelming. A filled-to-the-brim density of people, restaurants, mind-numbing traffic and eye-itching, throat-scratching, health-insurance-checking smog levels. It’s an easy place to hate and want to avoid if your interests lie in clean, organized cities like Littleton and Santa Clara. BUT… Bangkok also has an incredibly rich culture – filled with beautiful temples, markets, generous and friendly citizens and of course, delicious and diverse food. We loved every second of it.
After a butt-numbing 12 hour long bus ride from Khao Sok National Park and a confusing/patience-testing Bangkok Bus Station experience, we finally arrived at our hostel. A big, modern hostel located right in the heart of downtown, conveniently next to one of the top rated Pad Thai restaurants in the entire city (more on that later) and one of the biggest tourist-party zones. Trust us when we say that our party days are long behind us (replaced with 9:30pm bedtimes, receding hairlines, complaints about sore backs and aching knees). We thought we could hang, we really did, but we were no match for Khao Son Road aka party central aka tourist trap aka Havasu spring break round two. Khao Son is a massive tourist trap, we lasted no more than an hour before heading out, just enough time to enjoy overcooked pad thai and overpriced beer. I guess we just aren’t 21 anymore.
Armed with the determination to turn our Bangkok experience around, we set out to the Chatuchak weekend market the next day and it was the biggest collection of vendors that I’d ever seen. Bigger than 10 Ikeas. Bigger than any flee market. Big enough that if you lost track of your child, consider him a goner (sign of old age… babysitter-type concern). We wandered around checking out the hundreds of stalls selling similar elephant pants (Emily’s equivalent of me wearing my favorite swim trunks ala Costco), drinking beer on curbs to regain energy and eating street food here and there… also frantically looking for impossible-to-find bathrooms that simple don’t exist here. Bangkok is filled with markets like these – fish markets, flower markets, animal markets (kittens and puppies available)… you can find a new market everyday of the week.
You’d think that getting around to these markets would be difficult, traffic is a mess, Uber is expensive, and the city is big enough to make walking to places feel more like running a 5k (which, by the way, we’re way too out of shape to do right now).
Public transportation, however, is a cheap AND adventurous way to get around! We experienced what it was like to sail in longboats on small, trash-filled canals, equipped with a deafeningly loud engine and optional plastic screens you could cover over yourself with when the waves of another passing longboat came crashing in.
We also experienced playing human tetris, aka twister, aka riding the public yellow bus, operating at constant over-capacity, equipped with a money-collecting employee, who I can only describe as a “hustla-grandma,” who expertly and forcefully pushed her way through the cabin, collecting cash and verbally insulting the situation.
It was fun. It was also exhausting and put us in tons of awkward, spine-bending positions as we tried not to let our sweaty backs come in contact with the elderly. But, yea, it was fun.
The temples, called “wats” were incredible to see. Beautiful pieces of architecture scattered throughout the city, surrounded by perfectly kept gardens, praying monks, the smell of incense, and massive Buddha statues in all sorts of yoga positions that go far beyond my capability. Fantastic spots to calm yourself from the craziness of Bangkok, fantastic spots to work up an appetite.
Ah yes, speaking of appetite (thanks for the transition, Justin. You’re welcome, Justin) – The food here in Bangkok… my god, the food here in Bangkok. Delicious. Absolutely delicious.
The city is filled with all the usual street-wide markets we’ve come to love in SE Asia and Chinatown was overwhelmingly good. We found a few spots local to our hostel that were just as fantastic. The first, a collection of street food carts working together in the finest specticle of teamwork & collaboration I’ve ever seen in my life, took over an entire street corner with tables, chairs, and an entire cooking/cleaning system. These guys were good. The place was packed constantlywith the smell of incredible pork noodle soups wafting through the air.
Spicy, savory, just the right oil fat content… I mean I could just run analysis after analysis, lab test after lab test, on these dishes and they’d all have a consistent result: the type of good that makes you wanna call your grandma after you have the first sip of broth. Do I sound crazy? Do I sound like I have a problem? Probably.
But let’s dive deeper. Next up, Pad Thai – As I mentioned earlier, our hostel was conveniently located next to arguably the best Pad Thai shop in town. It certainly lived up to the reputation. Lines as long as a street block at every moment from 5pm to 2am, filled with locals and tourist eagerly waiting for their turn to sit in the A/C controlled dining room, while the chefs and cooks were outside on the street whipping up plate after plate.
These guys had this down to a science. A whole team cooking noodles, a team working the veggies, a team working the dining room (wearing radio communication headsets that so far, I’ve only seen in James Bond) and one, single, lonely guy doing the eggs wraps. The restaurant’s signature version of pad thai was wrapping all the contents of the dish in a quickly cooked egg and this guy was in charge. And he was good. Damn good. While tons of line-goers took pictures and selfies while the guy worked, we counted that it took him 6 seconds to crank out a plate. It was impressive and delicious.
BANGKOK > NORTHERN THAILAND