Good Morning! We’re already in Sukhotai, a former Thai capital situated about 400 km from Bangkok. The entry was done three days go but the crappy internet connection in Adephi Suites didn’t allow us to upload the photos… Let’s start with Bangkok then. And something tasty. A Tom Yum Kung soup, which is hot like hell…
Tom Yum Kung, a hot like hell shimp soup – here in a constantly boiling version, in Chinatown
We arrived in Bangkok on Saturday morning after a very long flight; first Warsaw-Helsinki and then Helsinki-Bangkok. You probably wonder how did our little one endure this (1 hour 40 minutes and then 9 hours 45 minutes). Well, surprisingly well. He slept a bit, ate some crackers and played with an LCD screen and a remote until the stewardess told us that “it’s not a toy” (it was after Maks decided to call the service for a few times in a row).We can definitely recommend flying to Thailand with Finnair, as it was quite comfy (if an almost 10hour trip with a little one on my lap can be comfy) with good food and good movies.
We got to our hotel from the airport at around 10 am (4 am Polish time). I won’t lie to you – we had a jet lag. Especially Maks, who decided to have some 4 hour fun starting at 2.30 am. We than had breakfast at 6.30 and slept from 7.30 to 3 pm. But we’re getting better now 🙂
But we got rewarded for the trip and the jet lag. Bangkok was absolutely stunning – exotic, colourful, hot, with great vibe and fantastic food. It also made us a bit angry, but let’s hear the good stuff first…
Bangkok at night, a view from our hotel in Sukhumwit Soi 8
Our place was located in Sukhumwit district in 8 Soi street. There was lots of Thai Massage joints around with street cookshops selling soups to go in plastic bags and of course Thai prostitutes with gentlemen paying for their services. A combination of a white male in his fifties or even sixties and a very young Thai girl (some of them really look like 14-year olds!!) was the most popular! There was also plenty of transvestites and little elephants, Buddha figures and child’s clothes were sold next to Viagra, dildos and artificial vaginas. Long live sex!
Adephi Suites – our hotel was a great choice, a great change after a disaster in Tel Aviv. There was a great restaurant called MonSoon downstairs, with chicken satay, tom yum kung and pad thai in the menu. A good start 🙂
As it can never be that perfect, Bangkok really made us angry only on the second day of our stay 😉
fried fish in sweet and sour sauce
seafood market?
What do you see in the pictures? Tasty shrimps and a fish in oriental sauce? Don’t get fooled by the first impression! The food may have looked good but the taste, price and the atmosphere in the restaurant were all disastrous… Don’t even ask how much we paid. For this money we could easily eat at Michel Moran’s Bistro de Paris in Warsaw! How did it happen?
Looking for seafood market (that we finally found, I’ll get to that later…) we decided to let a “polite” tuk-tuk (a local version of rickshaw) driver take us there. I don’t know why we forgot about our experiences from India, where a rickshaw driver always takes you to a restaurant or a shop of his friends instead of the place you ask him to go to…
Bangkok turned out to be similar. Our “lovely friend” drove as to an awful joint that seemed to be getting worse every minute. It didn’t look that bad at first so we decided to stay. The result? A ridiculously high bill due to “products weighing a lot” (even though there was not much to eat on the fish). We said fuck off, they responded with a “fuck you”.
So always remember: if you want to get somewhere in Bangkok, tell the driver the exact address or a name of the place! That’s what we did when we took our next taxi. We drove to Hotel Oriental, and then took a walk to Bangkok’s Chinatown. That saved our day!
Chinatown, Yaowarat street
The Chinese district situated around Yaowarat street is amazing! Full of lights, spices and colours with exotic fruits, local snacks, pomegranate juice, toys and drinks on every corner…
durian – they say it tastes quite good but smells really horrible
anyone for a snack?
a duck with a head?
As our stay in Thailand is short (and we don’t have time to spend it in the toilet:)) and Maks is a picky eater, we don’t experiment with street food and eat in restaurants. In Chinatown we found a perfect place for careful travellers with a child 🙂
It’s called Texas but serves absolutely Chinese food. Let’s eat then!
deep fried won-tons and shrimps for the start
or various little snacks thrown into a pan with boiling water: dumplings, meatballs and vegetables. Price for a single snack (i.e. dumplings): PLN 3-5.
Let’s cook!
a duck — and a headless one this time 😉
fried rice with chicken — top three on Maks’ favourites list
Maks is trying to eat with chop sticks… and he’s getting right 🙂
The food was fantastic and cheap and the service was fast. Why is it a perfect spot for parents with a little child apart from the fried rice with chicken – a safe meal in Thailand? Because they have a huge kids corner in Texas, with slides, a labyrinth and a little fence around – you place the kid inside and he won’t escape on their own :). Maks had some fun while we tasted local food and beer.
a pomegranate juice to finish off
Everybody just eats and eats…
a feast in Chinatown
last look at Chinatown
I will leave you with these Chinese specialties because it’s getting late and tomorrow we’re setting off pretty early. It was urban and Chinese and tomorrow it’s going to be more historic (temples and Buddha and stuff) and more Thai in the culinary section.
If you’re hungry for Chinese food now, try Warsaw’s Chinatown (http://www.chinatown.pl/ ) – it’s quite tasty as well! 🙂
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