I compiled this blog about Thailand from records of emails sent to family during my travels.
I visited Bangkok in November of 2005 as the midway point of a two week, multi-country trip (between stops in Hong Kong and Vietnam). I regret that I have only been to Thailand once. Due to anti-government protests during the timing of my travel in Asia we have had to drop this designation from my list. That may change this coming fall. I also regret that my boss was sick for the two days we were there and since this was early on in my travels I was too timid to go exploring on my own.
We stayed at the Bangkok Peninsula and as always in tourist cities in Asia I recall being impressed with the staff and facilities. My room was a luxurious haven that overlooked the Chao Phraya River.
Bangkok from what I saw from the interstate drive to the hotel is a mix of very modern sky scrapers with old mosques and buildings nestled between them. The view from my room let me see that the river was busy with lots of boat taxis and barges would go by every so often.
For dinner we took a hotel taxi to my boss’s favorite eating spot using a business card for the restaurant as directions for the driver and let’s just say I was so glad to be with a male coworker I trusted on that ride. Exhilarating is a nice way to say scared silly. Not only do they drive crazy but there were people out everywhere and there was a big difference between the sights in town versus what I saw on the interstate on the way to the hotel. We barreled past people riding elephants. At one point the taxi was less than two feet from a baby elephant and then a short block ahead there was a full grown elephant toting things. There were vendors and open markets everywhere and lots and lots of traffic and people. I have since learned this is the norm in Asia and with few exceptions today am not phased by hurtling through masses of people and traffic with no apparent traffic laws being used.
The place we went to for dinner was called Ban Klang Nam Fodor's Link (at least the names in Thailand don’t all sound like bad words in English like they do in Vietnam). It was down a long, dark alley but thankfully the taxi drove all the way to the door. Our reservations were for a river side table right on the rail so we ate dinner just feet from the water and watched barges and boats go back and forth. The weather was perfect with a nice breeze, not very humid and thankfully no bugs. This is an open air seafood restaurant where pretty much every table has a good view of the river. Sort of like eating on a very large covered deck right over the water.
We ate crab fried rice, sautéed veggies in oyster sauce, shrimp pad Thai, spicy curry prawns, fried pork, scallops, and had mango for dessert. It was fantastic! I recall loving everything and being thrilled with getting to try a wide variety of dishes. Everything was so fresh tasting. Before this trip I had never tasted mango like it is really supposed to taste - RIPE. It had the texture of butter and was so sweet. Some of the better Asian places here in the U.S. do a good job of only serving mango when it is ripe but it is not the same as what you actually get when in Asia. Think of it as eating a tomato ripened in green house versus tomato ripened on the vine.
Ordering beer was an interesting experience since they had a different girl (dressed in short shorts and tank tops with the beer brand label on their tops) to represent each beer brand to come and pour the beer.
At the end of the meal we had the restaurant manager arrange for a water taxi for us and we paid 800 baht (around $20 at the time) for a water taxi ride back to the hotel. Normally you do not ride the river at night because it is too dangerous but with a private taxi we were safe. The water taxis have Toyota tundra engines attached to long metal poles as the power to run them so they go very fast. We scampered over the rail of the deck of the restaurant and walked across a small plank held in place by the water taxi driver. It was certainly an experience to remember.
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