Back in Bangkok

...for less than 24 hours. Nan wanted to see the sights so here's what we crammed in:

Chinatown for street food and general experience. Chinese New Year just happened so the laterns were hung everywhere. 

Wat Traimit, the Temple of the Golden Buddha, is a few-minute walk from our hotel. Cool story: during wartime some monks covered this solid gold statue in mud/plaster so it would be ignored. It worked! Many years later when it was being moved some mud broke off and the golden Buddha was (re)discovered! Lots of people go there everyday to pray and make offerings. 

Next, we took the river boat up to Wat Pho to visit the Reclining Buddha. Love Wat Pho - went 3 times.

The highlight of the day was a dinner party invitation from Bo and Pack in their Sukamvit condo. We arrived to a true Thai feast:

Pack spent the day cooking enough food for 40 people. 

About ten others were there and they all got to take home doggy bags. TSA doesn't allow bags of fish soup or pork lab so I had to stuff my person at that moment. Luckily we stayed for 4 hours and the feast spread was there the whole time and nobody judged me (out loud in English at least) for having 5ths and 6ths. 

Thank you Bo and Pack!

Hip Bangkok & Pops Arrives

Back in Bangkok and decide to check out where the cool kids hang out. One, literally underground, and one is the tallest bar in Bangkok. 

Maggie Choo's is a basement-level bar that feels like a turn of the century opium den, complete with ladies swinging in silk dresses. Some former bank vaults make for a cool nook in which to hang out. 

Also hit the SkyBar to check out the from-above views of the city. 64 stories tall and the vertigo is running high. If you've seen the Oscar-worthy film Hangover 2, there is a scene shot here. 

Back in Chinatown by midnight to meet my Dad who flew in from Seattle. 

I booked the room, but somehow he ended up with a king suite! He's not going to have much time to use his sitting room at the Shanghai Mansion.

Dad wanted to check out the night market for snacks. We got #dumplings and a seafood pancake. Durian is up next!

That's Wats Up

Back in Bangkok with another temple to check out! Wat Arun is across the river and after a steep little climb, rewards with a cool view.

The river behind us from on Wat Arun. 

There are a couple levels to climb before it becomes inaccessible. Can you notice tho skinniest of ladders below?? It's nearly vertical to the tippy top of the stupa. I hope the person with that job gets paid well. 

Speaking of jobs I don't want, there was a big crew of men restoring and cleaning up the four surrounding stupas. 

Back to Bangkok

Hit the little Jane & June spa down the road (highly recommend) at Ao Nang hard this morning and randomly ran into my friend Allison's aunt. This was an unplanned event. It's a small world, indeed. 

Bussing back to Bangkok to meet my dad - he's flying in from Seattle now!

Grabbed a taxi from BKK Suvarnabhumi airport, and it was easier than I expected. 

Tip: Use the official taxi kiosk to get a stall number. Make sure the driver runs the meter and bring some baht $ to pay the tolls. Should cost 300-400 baht to get to central Bangkok and you pay when you're at the hotel. 

Back in Bangkok. 

Chinatown Selfie

Demo of selfie stick, exhibit A. I'll take it!

Noodle Soup Victory

Culinary win for the day. Noodle soup. With meat.

Misadventure at Grand Palace

Checked out the Grand Palace...didn't go great. Excuse me, what's the Grand Palace? So the Grand Palace is another complex of gardens, buildings, and statues. The "Temple of the Emerald Buddha" is there, too (Wat Phra Kaew). It's more or less the #1 tourist sight in Bangkok and boy does it feel that way when you're there. 

Background: it's a neat mix of styles as it was built up over the course of 200 years by different kings who lived there. However, the current King (may he live long) lives elsewhere. 

Now the bummers. Which are mostly our fault. 

1. They only take cash money so bring it. We didn't have enough. My outfit was provided by the Palace since I was a stupes and dressed inappropriately. You have to leave a 200 baht/per item deposit too, so you're going to want to have cash.  

2. It was insane crowded. All the tour groups in the world were there. Tour groups are cool, but when there are ten thousand of any tour group it's a crazy place. Look at this picture of a giant American man, but mostly note the crowd. Not peaceful - more like a Hong Kong subway station. 

3. Scammers. Palace opens at 8:30am everyday and don't forget it. Some people will say it's closed for a ceremony or something-- they're lying. Just go. 

Or don't.

Tuk Tuk It Up

Tonight we did a nighttime tuk tuk street food tour through expique. 

What's a tuk tuk? Basically a souped up motor trike with cool lights and a passenger cabin. The experience is much like playing MarioKart on Nintendo except real life. 

Tip: you should pretty much never pay more than 100 baht. 

Our first stop to eat was at the train night market. We had fried fish balls and if I'm being honest, I'll not be going back for more. They're not gross, but you could have told me they were fried anything and that's what they taste like. The sweet chili sauce gets claps though. 

Esso showed us around. On top of spots to eat, we checked out temples and other landmarks at night which was cool and not something I would have done solo. Esso's from Chaing Mai, 100% Chinese, went to college in Connecticutt, and covers the sides of his mouth when he says something you won't read in the guidebook. #secrets

Another stop was the flower market. It's open 24/7 and pretty wild. If you want a few dozen perfect roses you can buy them for $2.50. Valentine's is coming up - keep it in mind. 

We hit up Bangkok's fav Pad Thai spot for their omelette style signature dish. The line outside was insane, but God bless Esso for reserving us a table ahead of time. I've got a cool video of them cooking I'll post later. You can dress your dish up with pickled chills, crushed peanuts, sprouts, lime and green onion. Like. 

The last stop was Chinatown for hot dessert soup. Yes, hot dessert soup. I got the hot ginger broth with black sesame dumplings because IT'S DUMPLING MONTH, BABY!! (But it was a mistake and next time I'm getting the chilled cantaloupe with tapioca soup). 

The expique tour was definitely worth the cost, but in my heart I would like less insider scoop and more street food.

Tiny Bags and Taxis

Street vendors line the street, as they are wont to do.  A lot of food comes in tiny bags. I bought some perfect mango in a tiny bag from this man for like $.50.

This stand was selling bags of soup to go. "Thank you, I'll take 5 thousand." A lot of Thai carry their coffee and tea around in a bag with a straw poking out too.

Besides tuk tuk and traditional taxi you can also get around on the river that runs through the city. We took a "long boat" up the river for a buck a pop. The river appears to be dead and nast, but the experience is fun.

Also motor taxis. They wear orange vests -- this kid riding one by himself knows what I'm talking about. Haven't seen any women taxi drivers of any kind but maybe I'm not looking hard enough.