Massaman Curry, Ping Pong and much much more

(Some images of Patpong bars, dried fish on roadsides of Bangkok and Wat po.)

I am back.. a lot happened since I last managed to write a post but.. that's for the other blog. For you, my dear travel diary, here's a post I've been dying to write.

Jan 10, 2008
Bangkok, Thailand is a strange place to be in. It's everything I've read about - flagrant examples of sex tourism in abundance, green curries in all corners, stinky oily street foods, malls, more malls and night markets. Unfortunately (or otherwise) we had just 3 days to taste it all. The highlight for me was definitely

Pat Pong: the night market where you can get it all.. whether it be fake Gucci for 200 Baht or real BEEPS shooting darts for 1200 bahts or playing ping pong for 1300 (excuse the censoring, I have some underage readers like my Mom!!) I confess I chickened out and didn't venture into the beep shooting dart zone, however much my academic curiosity pushed me! But I did observe the drag shows on the streets, the gay tourism (which I was not expecting), the 60-year old red faced, half-burnt German men in speedos with their 20 year old Thai women escorts in short skirts (I had read about this part so was not too surprised). The whole place was so open and unashamedly raunchy that the naked women seemed almost not-naked and the man selling a SM show beating a chair with a whip seemed as normal as the women selling pineapples..

Wat Po or the Temple of the reclining Budhdha was my second pick in the area. Just the size of the statue is worth a visit if not the inner courtyards and paintings.

Street food: If you are braver that I am and less fussy than my tummy is, you are sure to have a blast in bangkok, foodwise. As early as 7 am, the streets are filled with smell of fish, beef satays dipped in some sweet and spicy sauce and round balls made of who-knows-what dipped in who-knows-what. And the best is that they are so darn cheap. The only thing I tasted and enjoyed without any fuss was the papaya shrimp salad. HOT HOT but YUM

And how can I write a travel blog without a restaurant review?! My top pick would have to be the stylish Thanying restaurant in Silom serving "Genuine Royal Cuisine" ... The green curry with prawns and the way they serve their food made me go there for lunch at 4pm and return for dinner at 7! And if you are the type who looks around even when there is a fresh tiger prawn sitting on your plate, the ambience is charming.. lots of bamboo work and orchids.
Silom Village (yes yes I was staying in the silom area and by the end of the day was too hungry and tired to venture anywhere else for dinner!) was also surprisingly good, their fresj fish were HUGE and rather yum.

On a less foody front, Chatu Chak weekend market was quite an experience as well. If you are the mall type you would be happy with the dozen Macy's style establishments around town but if you are like me and hate malls but would still want to grab a fake Puma for 100 baht (2 dollars) then go ahead, push and shove against the zillion sweaty bodies in Chatuchak market. Plan to arrive at the market before 10, unless you love being squashed between sweaty bodies, and plan to leave by noon! I managed to grab half a dozen shoes (all, I must warn you, are darn good looking but a waste of money since they have no souls, oops soles!), and a couple of householdy things. All for less that 5 dollars...

That's pretty much it for my Bangkok story. I'll keep the real thing (Krabi) for my next rest hour!