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.

Bangkok and 1st Dumpling

Yes! In Bangkok.
The 14-hour leg of the flight was a doozy. Protip for surviving it: be super rich and buy a ticket in business class, where you basically get a small hotel room.
I brought earplugs and a sleep mask which is significantly cheaper, but less effective. Overall the trip was interesting but uneventfull-- a great combination. 

[editor's note: some of the text below is very yelly and I don't know how to fix it.]

We're staying at the Shanghai Mansion hotel which is in the middle of Chinatown. Chosen for it's location, reasonable price, and small size, the vibe is strong and so far I'm really into it. 

My first Thail meal was breakfast and dumplings were all up in it so things are really looking good. 

Heaven soup