Monday, December 30, 2019

BANGKOK BY FOOT AND TRAIN

We reached Bangkok 11 hours later after leaving Siem Reap at exactly 7:45 am as scheduled, our enthusiasm to eat and shoot the City of Angels intact despite two miserable hours standing in a snaking line to clear Thai immigration at the Poi Pet (Cambodia)-Aranyaprathet (Thailand) border crossing [Cambodian immigration was facilitated by our efficient purser without us getting off the bus] and subsisting on bus food alone [pastry and fried rice].

So it was a pleasant surprise that disembarkation is actually at the Khaosan Road area right in front of a Michelin-listed local restaurant on a street corner [Patonggo Cafe] where I first encountered chicken cooked in heaven which became our first family meal in Bangkok [plus a plate of crispy pork, a bowl of spicy pork rib soup, and patonggo with vanilla ice cream for dessert]. 


Khaosan Road is part of our itinerary and to make the most of our unexpected presence, I toured the family, luggage in tow, through the bustle of Soi Rambuttri while searching for a foreign exchange counter, explained to them the madness of Khaosan Road while scouting the area for a SIM card for sale, and having changed dollars to baht and Bulan's Cambodian SIM card to Thai booked a Grab to our hostel in Silom which is just 240 meters from Silom Larp 3 [another of my local food haunts] where we had a proper dinner of pad thai, grilled pork neck and pork omelette [my personal favorites], which is 500 meters from Pat Phong and the two-pieced girls that Balong refused to look at [or so I thought].  




BRB Hostel is just 950 meters from the Silom MRT Station [550 meters after the Sala Daeng BTS Station], the jump-off point of our Sunday Bangkok city and food tour, and from there emerged at the Sanam Chai MRT Station for a walking of tour of the Bangkok Flower Market [Pak Khlong Talat], a glimpse of Wat Arun from the rubble of demolished riverside restaurants and the spires of Wat Pho from outside its walls [cost is 100 baht to get in and 500 baht for Wat Phra Kaew, per person], and a photo ops at Museum Siam.

We had breakfast in between, stir fried chicken with cashew nuts at the Baan ThaTien Cafe and crispy pork with sticky rice on the street, which is as local as we can get.    



From Sanam Chai, we went walked back to the subway for the Wat Mangkon MRT Station, our gateway to the smell and bustle of Chinatown, roasted and smoked ducks hanging for sale with all kinds of tea, stalls of fresh river crabs and boiled lobsters, a long line at Nai Ek Rolled Noodles, and a refreshment of fresh pomegranate juice and the famous Yaowarat toast before unleashing Bulan and Balong for a tour of Wat Trimit.  




Being a Sunday, we went underground again in the Hua Lampung MRT Stations for the Chatuchak Weekend Market which is 15 stations away, swarming with people as expected, and braced ourselves for madness with coconut ice cream and sticky rice before getting lost hunting for cheap souvening shirts in a maze of stalls, the famous paella restaurant with its jolly Spanish chef and huge cooking pan vanished by the conondrum until finally, I pulled the family out to the Mochit BTS Station, this time above ground, for a late lunch of what is said to be the best crispy pork in Bangkok at Thanee Restaurant, two stations aways and a 200-meter walk from the Ari BTS Station.     


I spilled my first cup of longan juice but it was a satisfying lunch overall, at least that's the feedback I got from my happy eaters while walking to the Sanam Pao BTS Station for IconSiam via the Saphan Taksin BTS Station of the Silom Line, where we were ferried across Chao Phraya River into the aircon cold artificial environment [with fake floating market and street food stalls] and opulence of what is probably Bangkok's most prestigious mall, so luxurious and expensive it soffucated Bulan who asked if we can go back to the real world.       


From the ferry station, we walked to the Bangrak Market area, the enclave of regular people like us, to sample what is said to be the best roasted duck in Bangkok at Ped Prachak, served cold and drowning in sauce, before taking the train at Saphan Taksin to the Chong Nonsi BTS Station plus a 280 meter walk to Silom Larp 3 where we had our final meal of the day --- grilled spicy Northern Thailand sausage, green mango salad with river crabs, fried fish cakes --- regular food for ordinary people in their usual place.

We have tired but happy feet, all walk and train, and tomorrow will be our big day in Ayutthaya.  

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