Back to Bangkok! Well, we all had pretty good sleeps in the train, with Robin taking first prize!
Apparently trains are not immune to traffic. We got to the Don Muang airport stop at about 6:30, and didn't get to the main station in Bangkok until 7:45 - just 10 kilometers away. In Bangkok, it's cars delaying trains delaying cars.....
We got to our hotel at around 8:30, and they were nice enough to have already prepped our huge family room for our arrival. Top notch service and very nice people! We basically just ditched our stuff and went over to Khaosan Road in search of breakfast.
The kids had wanted to see what a "scam" looked like (the one where a Tuk Tuk driver will drive you around to a couple of sights for a strangely low fee, then drop you off at a jewelry shop or something), so we tried to indulge them. We found a Tuk Tuk driver with a vague plan of taking us to some sights for an hour or so for 50 baht ($2) for about an hour.
The kids have some videos of the result of the "scam", which they'll post separately. The short story is that we didn't really get scammed.... The driver pretty much did what he said he was going to do. He did drop us off at a tourist information office (ie a private tour company), but they seemed so disinterested in us that we couldn't even feign any interest and left. Then, the guy had the nerve to actually drive us back to where we wanted. Come on Bangkok, you're getting soft on us!!!
We went back to the hotel after lunch for a little Walking Dead and a nap that none of the females complained about - and it was a long one. It was time to finish the food tour that we'd started last Friday and that had ended prematurely....
We were on the early side, so we took a cab to Central shopping mall - the 6th biggest mall in the world. It's just one of the many malls in the city that have a skating rink inside. The place was so huge and very upscale - it was really hard to believe that the seemingly poor Klong neighbourhoods that we'd motored through last week were just about 5km from there.
We met our guide, Phang, at just before 8pm. We were joined by a young American couple from L.A. - he was an immigrant from Hong Kong, and she had immigrated to the U.S. from Hi Chi Minh when she was five. The girls were very proud that they'd been to both of those places, and they started chatting the couple up. Beth and I are so pleasantly surprised at their ability to engage and hold a conversation with these people we meet. Very nice.
We started the tour with the same delicious chicken rice, pork salad, mango salad and mango and sticky rice at the first place. Yum. Then it was back in the Tuk Tuks (Robin was my partner, Abby was Beth's) and off to Chinatown. We tried some deep fried wontons and a really delicious fried egg, chicken and broad rice noodle dish. I love how the Thai places all have sugar, salt (soy sauce), spice (dried chilli peppers and small sliced chillies in vinegar) and often sour limes so you can individually flavour your dishes "as you like".
The really interesting part was when we walked through the back of the restaurant to check out the "kitchen". The whole setup was in the back alley. There were other stations, but these two guys were at the station preparing the same noodle dish over charcoal flamed grills. Each guy produces 300 to 400 custom noodle dishes per night... Wow.
We needed a walk, and we got it. We went to "Papa fantasy land", otherwise known as one of the biggest orchid markets in the world. The wholesale flower market in Bangkok is just huge - it's mainly there for supplying hotels and weddings with flowers, while also servicing all of the temple offering suppliers. It runs 24 hours a day and apparently really heats up after midnight, though it was quite busy at 9:30.
We were pretty shocked at the prices - 80 Baht ($3) for a huge bunch of long stem roses!!
After about 20 minutes at the flower market, that bled into a huge fruit and vegetable market, we took a short ride over to Wat Pho - the Unesco Heritage site that is famous for its many stuppas and for the giant reclining Buhhda statue.
We were the only ones at the property (the main shrine was closed, but the grounds were all completely open) and it was totally zen. Standing in the cool breeze around the dozens of funeral pyre stuppas that were beautifully lit up, on landscaped grounds that were empty of the thousands of tour bus throngs was nirvana.
Phang walked us through some of the history and facts and figures of the objects around the grounds. Then she dropped the bomb that Bangkok is actually not Bangkok - the real name is in the Guiness Book of World Records and is as follows..
Krungthepmahanakhon Amonrattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokphop Noppharatratchathaniburirom Udomratchaniwetmahasathan Amonphimanawatansathit Sakkathattiyawitsanukamprasitกรุงเทพมหานคร อมรรัตนโกสินทร์ มหินทรายุธยา มหาดิลกภพ นพรัตนราชธานีบูรีรมย์ อุดมราชนิเวศน์มหาสถาน อมรพิมานอวตารสถิต สักกะทัตติยวิษณุกรรมประสิทธิ์ About this sound (listen)The name, composed of Pali and Sanskrit root words, translates as:City of angels, great city of immortals, magnificent city of the nine gems, seat of the king, city of royal palaces, home of gods incarnate, erected by Vishvakarman at Indra's behest.
On our itinerary for stop 5 was the word "Secret". Our Tuk Tuks took us on a short drive to a restaurant by the river. We climbed three flights of stairs, then a tight metal spiral staircase up another two stories until we arrived at a very chill rooftop bar. The night was breezy and the view of Wat Arun, lit up across the river, was serene. The kids ordered some mocktails and took in the view.....
....as did my date and I....
Here's a shot of the group, including little Phang on the end.
Our last stop of the night was a very famous place for locals. Apparently, a customer went to this reststuant and enjoyed his Phad Thai so much that he sent a letter in to the Guardian newspaper in the UK. They wrote an article which got picked up by the BBC, who sent some really brave reporters to come to Thailand to try this Phad Thai. Several weeks later, this place gets a letter from the BBC stating "congratulations, your Phad Thai is the best in the world!". The rest is history.
Phang explained that we were lucky we didn't have to queue up - since the bomb last Friday, businesses had been slower than usual.
There were two types - the one I ordered was wrapped in a thin egg sack that you would mash up with the noodles inside. This one had a nice, spicy, red sauce. It was really good.
The one the girls ordered was very good, but not the best. It was a little too sweet for most people at the table. I still think "Craig's Yummy Phad Thai" recipe knocks it out of the park, but I'm not complaining!
My partner and I zipped back to the hotel in our Tuk Tuk - we had a blast (a good one this time!) on the food tour tonight. Phang was excellent, the food was great and the little diversions and extras were well timed and fit well. Since we got back earlier than we thought, we watched one more episode of the Walking Dead - for someone that swore off zombies a long time ago, Beth has really shown a savagely addictive side of her personality. I'm not convinced yet that she'd do well in the inevitable Zombie Apocolypse, but she's learning fast.
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