So I started in Bangkok. Actually I started in San Fran, and had to get to Bangkok, and from house to hostel it took about 29 hours...
One way ticket to Bangkok
Wearing a money belt. I know I'm pretty cool. I feel naked without my wallet in my pocket.
Shanghai Pudong layover.
Nothing like a good bag of duck neck at the airport.
Korean food at the airport. Getting ready for 3 months of Asian food.
This guy is a BOSS.
King Bhumibol. This guy is the world's longest reigning head of state, going on 67 years, since he was crowned in 1946. But the state of Thai politics during that whole time is anything but constant, as there have been 17 different versions of the constitution since the country was first declared a constitutional monarchy in 1939. And each time it was rewritten after a coup overthrew the previous government, and rewritten in a way as to shift power to the winning side. So that's 17 coups in 74 years, or a coup every 4 and a half years, the last one being in 2006, to overthrow prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was accused of corruption and nepotism, and who is currently still in exile. Ironically 5 years later his sister was elected PM. But before he was exiled he was the first Thai PM to serve a full 4 year term, in almost a century of having PMs. So politics are pretty crazy here. Anyway that's it for my history lesson, back to pictures.
The first place I went in Bangkok was I went to the Chatuchak weekend market. It's just a huge market only on the weekends wit food, clothes, pets, really anything. It was as far as the eye can see. I spent about 2 hours walking around turning randomly and I never saw the same thing twice.
Mini turtles (for pets not to eat).
Fried worms (to eat).
Fried bugs. Mmm...
Mango with sticky rice and coconut milk poured on top. So good...
The new hype.
These little guys are on sale in the pet section of the market.
Refreshing coconut. This cost 20 baht (about 70 cents). I'll mention the prices of things occasionally, just cause everything is so cheap.
Durian. This is a crazy weird fruit.
To get the fruit out the guy first starts whacking it with a stick, and listening to the sound it makes. If it sounds good, then he tries to cut it. Sometimes he can't cut it well, so I guess it's not good for fruit. Then eventually he finds one with fruit in it, and the rest he just throws out. Then he cuts off a little corner of the thick shell, and exposes the fruit to the woman in line. She then sticks her finger inside the fruit, and if she likes how it feels she will buy it, otherwise they throw it out. They probably threw out more than half of them while I was watching.
This is what's inside. It almost has a custardy texture. It tastes pretty weird, kinda like a slightly tart, slightly sweet, thick butter.
Durian is a little too much to handle on its own, but with some sticky rice and warm coconut milk on top, it was so aroi (delicious in Thai). And yes, even in Thailand they can't figure out r's and l's, so they pronounce this like "alloy".
Rambutan. Another weird fruit that was really good.
This is what it looks like on the inside. Kinda tastes like a mix between lychee and pear.
Gac fruit. Tastes about as good as it sounds. It has absolutely no sweetness, which is pretty weird for a fruit.
Thai cupcakes. Warmed up.
Mangosteen. Probably my favorite fruit I have had here.
This is what the inside looks like. Tastes like mango only more tart.
The lychees weren't that good.
I have no idea what these things were. They looked kinda like brown, misshapen lychees. They tasted like apple with a hint of stinky cheese.
Tamarind. This is what gives pad thai its sweetness. They make little candies out of it, which are a little spicy. Tastes similar to ginger.
From the 7-11, which are everywhere. Tastes like flowers.
Panoramic of the Or Tor Kor market.
Weird fruits.
Fat ass bananas.
Not sure what this ones called, and didnt get to try it. Looks pretty weird though.
Mangoes...
Sweet corn milk. Tastes like it sounds. Which isn't bad.
At the market a nice old Thai woman saw me wondering aimlessly looking American and came up and started talking. She lived in LA for 15 years, and spoke really good English. Her name was Anne, and said to call her Auntie Anne. I had lunch with her, and she told me what food to get, which was spicy basil chicken fried rice with an egg on the side, and said that was the go-to for Thai people looking for a quick meal. It was really good, but almost burned my toungue off. I went through two big bottles of water trying to deal with the spiciness. She seemed amused by my struggle though. She gave me her number and said to contact her anytime I need anything or have any questions.
I've met a lot of really nice people here, especially Thai people. Most Thai people love to talk to a farang (foreigner) and really want to help out and make sure you are doing ok. But there are two kinds of people in Bangkok. The other kind is the type of people who deal in tourist related industries. Taxi drivers, shop salesmen, massage workers, etc. And it seems like the vast majority of these people are really just looking to scheme some money out of the farangs. Which gets obnoxious pretty quickly. But as long as you know how to deal with these people and avoid scams, the rest of the Thais seem very very open and friendly.
My hostel, Lub D. I've met some cool backpackers here, mostly people are from Britain, some Aussies, an American here and there.
Got a Thai massage.
Thai massage is kinda like a mix between massage and yoga. They stretch you out a bunch while the massage you. Which is cool, but I was so jetlagged from the 13 hours time difference that I passed out mid massage...
Met some friends through couchsurfing, and went out on Khaosan road. This place is nuts, just full of backpackers partying. I met up with a Thai girl named Dear, who was awesome, and went out with her and her friends. But I got there about 20 minutes before her, so I had a beer at a cafe on the side of the road and had 20 minutes of really interesting people watching. It's like backpackers don't really care about anything so they all are just trying to be crazier and weirder than everyone else. Which makes for great people watching. People in this picture are from Germany, England, Thailand, Austria, Austria, USA, from left to right. And we were also hanging out with a guy from Ukraine and a few more locals not pictured. A pretty good assortment.
You don't drink out of bottles in Thailand. Only buckets full of booze.
They are selling these scorpions and other bugs to all the stupid drunk tourists...
...of which I am one.
The bartender is smoking hukkah with us. All of the people who work at the bar we are it have a shirt that says across the front "WE DO NOT CHECK ID".
Drunk Pad Thai and some chicken skewers off the street outside the bar. Perfect drunk food.
Cool little buddhist temple.
Breakfast. Really good, really fresh fish straight from the Chao Phraya river.
Tuk tuk ride. These are mini 3 wheel taxis that are everywhere in Bangkok. They will take you across the city for like 40 baht (a little more than a dollar).
This is a block of grass jelly. No idea what it's actually made of.
They shave it up and put it in a drink. So it's kinda like bubble tea only instead of bubbles its little slivers of jello. And it tastes like licorice. Sounds weird, and is, but is actually pretty tasty.
Coconut and egg sweet crepe taco. Delicious. Where do they come up with this stuff?
Pork skewer.
Real Thai iced tea.
MBK shopping center. Had to buy some pants so I can go to see the buddhists temples tomorrow, which require long pants. This mall is gigantic, 7 or 8 stories, packed with people.
Dinner was Pad See Ew and Tom Yum soup. The soup was really spicy and really flavorful with shrimp. The noodles with chicken were bland but delicious. The two went really well together.
Well I'm exhausted so I'm gonna pass out. The jetlag is brutal and my strategy of drinking through it from last night is not happening, so I can barely keep my eyes open. So until next time, peace from the other side of the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment