we'd just eat more

This post is just a recap of the most memorable meals from my trip. I tend to take pictures of my food.


This was the strangest airplane meal(?) I've ever seen. It included hickory bits, dried radish, onion cookies(!) and chocolate covered wafers. This was from the flight from Shanghai to Bangkok.


The first night in Bangkok, my friend Jason showed me a great German restaurant. I had goulash, hefeweizen, and this. Sauerkraut is not at all like kimchi, except for the part where it's rotten cabbage.


Rice comes in shapes in Thailand. This was at the Hippie De Bar on Khao San Road. I think I had Pad Kapow (fried basil leaves and chili peppers--with shrimp in my case) with it. Yum.


Twice at Jep's on Ko Samet I have ordered Panang Talay (Panang curry with seafood) and gotten Panang Gai (gai is chicken.) Whatever. It's good.


This is the Christie's Mak Mak. I don't know if anyone ever ordered this cocktail before me. It's pretty, though.


But fried red curry with prawns and long beans at Bedrock is the best meal in the world. I felt sorry for everyone around me whose tongues had not just experienced what my tongue had just experienced.


And this was what Elle ordered for dessert on my last night. It's at a fancy place in Bangkok called Spring Summer. It's cake, which is thick and chewy like a brownie, baked into a cup with ice cream on top. Amazing. I ordered a chocolate souffle cake. It was not as good as this.

to Bangkok

I spent my last night in Bangkok in this guesthouse room that is so very typical that I had to take a picture to show you exactly where you'll stay if you stay on Khao San Road.

(This is actually the Star Dome Inn on Rambuttri Road, one block from Khao San. It's much quieter and prettier and cobblestoney.)

This is the very typical view from my typical room.

Khao San Road runs left to right in front of that short, rusty roof.

I spent my last day at the park on the river that's near Khao San. There was some sort of school camp going on. These girls have pigtails with big yellow ribbons as part of their uniform.



In the evening, I had dinner and dessert with Elle! Do you remember Elle? She is one of the girls I went to Cambodia with last October. She's still working in Bangkok.


That dessert place was amazing, but honestly I took pictures of about 2/3 of all the meals I ate on this trip, so tomorrow I think I'll recap my gastronomical adventures.

I headed right from dessert to the airport, for a 2 am flight. My taxi driver...I think was drunk. He kept forgetting my name ("What you name teacher?") but he liked me enough that when he stopped at a light to buy a jasmine and rose garland for his rear view mirror (they satisfy the spirits of transportation) he bought one for me too! I tried to explain that I couldn't take flowers through customs, but he insisted, so I thanked him and then gave it to another taxi driver after he dropped me off. And then I came back to Korea where it was cold.

garden in the shade

Another thing I missed in Bangkok the first time around was Jim Thompson's House.

You can read about Jim Thompson here, but he was basically an American businessman who fell in love with Thailand, collected some old Thai houses from all over that he put here in Bangkok, revitalized the Thai silk industry, and then disappeared into the jungle in Malaysia, never to be seen again.

This is his house:

It's full of antiques and there are all sorts of silk things for sale.




The garden is lovely too.

night in Bangkok

I stayed on Khao San Road when I was in Bangkok. When you're on Khao San Road, you get your falafel here:


Notice the red Fanta for the spirits.

Also on Khao San Road you'll find some wacky performance art. I was out with Ryan, who used to work with me in Ban Phe, and we came upon this scene. I looked at the little baby doll (which is dancing to the music) and said, "wow, that's creepy." Ryan looked at the guy's white mask and said, "yeah, that's creepy." Then we each saw the other thing, and whoa!


Taxis in Bangkok sometimes have advisory stickers like this one:

That's no weapons, no sex, no animals, no alcohol, no durian, no cigarettes.

I still haven't tried durian. It's okay, since I think I'll always go back to Thailand.

elephants go by

I never spent much time in Bangkok when I lived in Thailand. On this trip I decided to see some touristy things I hadn't seen before, and the Erawan Museum was first on the list.

It's a museum inside of a giant three-headed elephant.

This is obviously not my picture, but the detail of the elephant was lost in mine because they were so backlit.


There are three levels to the museum, the Naga level on the bottom which has lots of pottery, the middle, human level (in the base under the elephant) which has art from around the world, and the top Buddha level inside the elephant which looks like this:


The grounds around the elephant are also beautiful, and had sculptures of mythological creatures.

two hundred degrees

I spent a couple of nights back on Khao San Road while I got my camera and recovered from a week in the sun.



On Khao San Road you can get clothing, tattoos, jewelry and fake documents.



I paid way more than 1000 Baht ($30) for my TEFL certificate, but I can make up for it with a $30 Doctorate in... Metaphysical Properties of Luminiferous Aether?



What possibilities!

moonbeams and fairytales

I was going to go to Ayutthaya on Monday, as part of this grand, historical Tour of Ancient Capitals. I bought a bus ticket and got on the bus in Sukhothai, and it entered various cities along the way and stopped at their bus station. It didn't do this in Ayutthaya, though. It pulled to the side of the road and I didn't get off and ended up staying until Bangkok.

(I have a great distaste for Bangkok. I can't explain it.) To perk myself up, I said "Yes! This is a horrible idea!" when a motorcycle taxi offered to take me where I needed to go. There's nothing like an 80kph motorbike ride, swerving through Bangkok traffic at night, to help you feel human feelings again. ("Oh, shit; we're going to hit a bus!" is a feeling, right?)

I arrived safe and sound and shaken at a nice little guesthouse and made a day trip to Ayutthaya the following morning.

My first stop was Bang Pa-In Palace, which is nothing like the Grand Palace in Bangkok, all cluttered with dazzling golden temples. This one is like the setting for a fairytale. It's open and landscaped and dreamy. It was mostly used in the second half of the 19th century.





Rabbits! And the floor inside the tower is black and white tile. And this is not Wonderland.

But maybe it is, because this little building, which also has a checkered floor, has the strangest proportions. The ceiling is very low on the bottom, but not on the top floor.

Up on the roof

My room is on the second floor, and today I walked up to the top (fourth) floor of my hotel to see what there is to see. Little did I know, there is a rooftop garden and shrine above the second floor.



The bit on the right covered in tarps is a walkway to Khao San Road. I'm grateful that I'm off the road a bit here because it stays very loud very late out there.

In the afternoon I visited Banglamphu Weekend Market.



I didn't buy anything. There was lots of street food that tasted and smelled heavenly, but I had just gone to McDonalds. It sounds kind of awful to eat at McDonalds, but I went because the McThai web site lists "Corn Pie" in the dessert section and I just had to try it. This McDonalds didn't have corn pie, but I had pineapple pie which tasted like you would expect.

I didn't try this:


Wat Bowoniwet is visible from the market. Here is a picture of its chedi.



A chedi, I learned, is the bell shaped structure at a temple that usually houses a relic of the Buddha. Most Thai men spend some time as monks before they get married. It's perfectly acceptable in Thailand to be a monk for a few months and then stop. Members of the royal family usually choose to do their time at this temple.

I'm leaving Bangkok tomorrow and heading to Ban Phe to start my teacher training. I don't know how reliable the Internet will be for me there.

Oh, and I went back tonight and bought the tee shirt.

In which Emily fails at haggling, or The Most Amazing Tee Shirt I Never Bought

I've found that Khao San Road is infinitely better at night than during the day. Apart from the impromptu breakdance party my first night here, the music is better (and some of it is live!) it's cooler, there are more people, as a result of there being more people taxis don't go down the road at night (tuk-tuks do) and there are more food carts. Some of the street vendors pack up and leave, and some are just getting started. It really makes it clear that this is a sort of cultural bubble, a community created for and by these weird hippie backpackers and the locals who love their money.



I wasn't going to buy any souvenirs for myself in Bangkok, or on Khao San Road specifically. I researched everything I could about Thailand before coming here, and one of the big things is that everything on Khao San Road is 1) overpriced and 2) available elsewhere in Bangkok.

My rule doesn't apply to souvenirs for other people though, and in addition to pirated cds and dvds, fake IDs and touristy knick-knacks, the biggest thing for sale here is the Tee Shirt. Shirts range from simple "Bangkok City" and the label designs from Chang and Singha beers, to musicians and scraggly-looking guys with cigarettes who I assume are musicians, to naked ladies and naughty words, and the just plain weird (Tree: "hug me." Man: "No.") There are a couple of people in my life who wear tee shirts (I do not...) so I took a couple of pictures in a stall yesterday and sent them to Saul and my brother. My brother said he would wear a certain shirt, so I went out looking for it again today.

No. No, no, no. For one, the street vendors set up shop in different places every day. For two, they don't put all of their stock on display. I couldn't find it! There are a lot of shirts that feature in four or five stalls along the road. This one, nowhere. At the Burger King end of the road, there is a big tee shirt vendor that seems to have set up shop for the evening. This:



Put a ridiculous grin on my face, which was probably my first error. You should probably know that Queen is my favoritest band in the world. I wasn't going to buy it; I don't even wear tee shirts. But someone put "Love of My Life" on a tee shirt and they decided to feature it prominently on the wall instead of on the rack and that made me happy. I dug through the shirts on the rack, hoping to find something for Saul or Nathan. I did not find something for Saul or Nathan. But I did find this:



Amazing. The print gives Important Biographical Information about our hero. Weight: 8.5 stone. Favorite Actress: Liza Minelli. Favorite Drink: Champagne. I don't wear tee shirts, it's big and will fit weird, the sleeves are a funny length. But it is also the most amazing tee shirt I have ever seen in my entire life. I ask how much it costs. "250 baht, but for you I'll give a discount. It costs 200 baht." I was really taken aback, not fake haggle-taken aback. 200 baht is six dollars! The other shirt vendors on the road ask for 100-120 baht, although they are the same shirts that everyone sells, and this baby is unique. There are only two of them, that I saw.

I think I displayed my taken-abackness quite well. I said that's too expensive and offered 100 baht. The man said that the discount was only down to 200 baht. I started to put the shirt back on the rack, and then I put the shirt back on the rack. I started to walk away, and then I walked away. And he didn't stop me. It's not supposed to work like this.

I bought myself a plate of pad thai and walked down the road to the other end, contemplating whether I really wanted this shirt and making sure that none of the other vendors had one (they didn't.)

When I got to the end of the road, the pad thai had kicked in and I was thirsty, so I bought myself a coconut shake. It's blending behind the carrots.



I sipped it as I walked back down the road again. I'm getting very good at politely brushing off the tuk-tuk drivers, by the way. As I approached the end with the amazing shirt I couldn't figure out what to do.

Ronald offered me no guidance.



Captain Jack wanted only for me to buy one of his bracelets.



I reached the shirts and decided that I needed to take a picture at least. As the man saw me approach he made the smuggest of smug faces, which I think was the universe trying to remind me that I don't wear tee shirts and I said I wouldn't buy myself anything on Khao San road. I took the picture and turned around for good.

Rain O'er Me

It's the tail end of the rainy season here. Last night I ordered dinner (palak paneer) from an outdoor restaurant on the street. It had just started to sprinkle, a raindrop landing here and there on my arm or face. This had been a long, hot day and each drop of water felt delicious. The man who took my order directed me under the canopy to wait for my meal, but I savored the rain for a few moments.

As I ate under the canopy, I noticed people with umbrellas and more than one person walked by with a plastic bag on his head. It wasn't more than a drizzle, even as I walked back to my guesthouse. I guess it's a Washington thing that people don't mind when it drizzles a little. Overnight it rained. I wondered before I opened my door this morning, whether that faint smell of decay that seems to be everywhere in Bangkok (covered briefly by street food or jasmine or incense, but always there) was going to be cleaned away by the rain, or whether instead the water would saturate the ground and let whatever putrid smell is there float up to the surface.

Either the rain cleaned the air, or I'm getting used to the smell of Bangkok. It was a great morning. There was still a slight mist, and I brought my umbrella just in case when I went for my walk. My feet were sore from all of the walking I did yesterday, so today I would just visit Santichaiprakarn Park a few blocks north of Khao San Road.



The first thing to greet me when I crossed the street into the park was this pavilion.



Santichaiprakarn Park is on the Chao Phraya River. That's the Rama VIII bridge. There was a wonderful breeze at the park today which combined with the mist to make the most perfect day.



That's a little boat in the canal next to the park. The vegetation reminds me that this is a jungle. I made a new favorite tree at the park. It's a Malay Banyan (thankfully there were signs on the trees which gave their names in English.)



I think it would be absolutely perfect for a Swiss Family Robinson-style treehouse.

Prasumen Fort is one of the biggest draws to this park. It used to be a part of the wall around the old city.



I walked across a little bridge next to the park that took me over the canal. The canals are supposed to be the stinkiest thing about Bangkok, and yesterday the one I crossed to visit the Grand Palace almost made me retch. It might be because of the rain last night and today, but this one didn't smell.



On the other side I saw this kitten on a roof next to a spirit house. I thought it was a perfect representation of Bangkok: cat, spirit house and sattelite dish. I also thought it was a cute picture.

Grand Palace, Saranrom Park

My first meal in Bangkok, very appropriately, was a banana pancake. It's appropriate because Khao San Road, where I am staying, is one of the most notorious stops on the backpackers' "Banana Pancake Trail" through southeast Asia. It's not really Thailand, which is part of why I decided to stay here. Tuesday after trekking across the street to the 7-11 to get water, and down the street the pharmacy to get Valerian root so that I could sleep, I went back to my room and slept. I actually slept this time, with real dreams rather than the frustrating daydreams that end with the air conditioner clicking me back into reality.

Wednesday, which is today, I woke up early again (around 6 ish?) but that's okay because I had been in bed for about 18 hours. Seriously. I showered and had breakfast (eggs and toast) and decided to walk to the Grand Palace.

This is the courtyard of my guesthouse where I eat breakfast:



The morning smelled like car exhaust, street food, incense and decay. I thought that I would get lost, but I made it. Lots of Tuk-Tuk drivers (Tuk-tuks are three-wheeled motorized rickshaws; I don't know if they're made from motorbike parts or golf cart parts or if someone actually manufactures them as-is) tried to tell me it was closed, which is a common scam that I already knew about.

I (surprisingly enough) made my way to the Grand Palace and hired an English-speaking guide. He was amazing. I think his name was Boomsong. Here we are together:



I think I am like a foot taller than him. He took my picture in front of the various buildings and explained which ones were built during the reign of which king.



He was very proud of this picture with the flower in front:



At the end of the tour, he took some time to show me on my map the other things I should see, and told me not to believe anyone telling me that something is closed until I go in the gate and see for myself, and to always take a meter taxi. I knew these things but thought he was awesome for telling me anyway.

Across the street from the Grand Palace is Saranrom Park. I strolled around the park a couple of times and admired the scenery. All of the flora is different here. Even the grass is different. The grass has very wide leaves and is flatter than grass in the USA. The trees were all different, and there were some neat looking birds and interesting bird calls. I did see lots of standard US-issue pigeons and a squirrel that looked a lot like a regular US squirrel.


Neat looking tree, ungrass.

There were a bunch of guys fighting with wooden swords in the park. They would line up in two lines facing each other, and wave their swords and yell taunts at one another, then another fellow counted "neung, song, sam" (this I recognized from Rosetta Stone) and they would all try to kill each other! Some things are universal.



There are lots of stray/semi-stray cats in Bangkok. They make me a little homesick because my kitties are staying in a strange place right now too. I thought this was cute:


He is perched in the wall around the park.

After visiting the park I got very mixed up before making it back to Khao San Road. I ended up at Democracy Monument where I got my bearings.



I had my first Thai Iced Tea which was served in a plastic cup and not a plastic bag (boo!) and some Pad Thai from a cart. It was good. The lady who made it changed the price from 25b to 30b (still less than a dollar!) right after I got mine.

Someone on the wise, vast expanse of the Internet said that one who visits Thailand can either watch very closely what they eat, and avoid ice and street food and all that and get sick in 2 weeks, or eat whatever they want and get sick in a week and a half. I decided to be part of the second group, but I still cringed a little bit inside while watching the man prepare my iced tea.

And most importantly, since I was completely drenched in sweat by this time, I made it back to Khao San Road:



Now I take refuge in my air-conditioned room during the hottest part of the day (91f according to the Internet.)