Bangkok--Final Night

On our final night in Bangkok, Uncle Heng drove us through gridlock towards a restaurant he could barely remember, but really wanted us to try. The stop and go traffic jam allowed us to take some good shots of the city enroute.

Monica remarked that many of the older buses reminded her of the public buses she rode while in Siberia a couple of decades ago!

Although there was a lot of traffic, there was little honking, and it moved in a pretty civilized manner for the most part.

The entrance of the restaurant was little more than a gate on a concrete wall on a dimly lit alley off a turn from the main road--no sign suggesting the large campus.

It did, however, have this very large wasp nest carcass hanging over the main entrance! 

By now, we were eager to see what we could sample for the evening.

Our first dish of the evening was a prawn, petai bean and Cha Om triple 'stink' salad with mung bean noodles. It was pungent and very earthy, but strangely seductive in its flavor!

The server insisted that we get these chicken wings for the kids, which they happily ate.

Another refreshing Som Tham--green papaya salad. Bright, citrus flavors.

Here, we have a soup with slabs of dried fried fish. A very earthy, fishy soup that was familiar to me. It was supposed to have contained ant-larvae which would have added a citrus like acidity to the soup, but the restaurant ran out of them. Pity.

Banana Flowers. I would describe this as tempura-like vegetables. Ian remembers this dish fondly.

And my favorite nam-prik of the trip, made with dried shrimp pounded and served with fried fish.

The kids were in a very playful mood.

Soon, Aria was playing with her food scraps...

I contributed material to her cause as we ate.

Soon, Aria had a food scrap 'fort' complete with a red flag.

Thank you Uncle Heng for making a special trip to Bangkok to show us a unique perspective of Bangkok!

~ Shien

Bangkok--Pool Day

We had promised a pool day to Aria, and today was it! We realized that the purpose of this vacation in Bangkok was also to rest, and the late nights, feasting and sight seeing had left us weary. So after buying in breakfast of beef noodle, crispy roasted belly pork and braised pork shank, we hit the pool to Aria's delight.

This is the 2 storey gym, with reading room next door.

Here I come to save the day... armed with more movies to watch!

It was really fun to browse through the latest releases and watch them at leisure free from the concierge!

This property is quite an oasis from the grind of Bangkok.

Surreal when you realize the intensity is just a few floors below you!

Ian and Aria like making whirlpools by swimming rapidly in a circle. This 'hot tub' had a drain right in the center, which caused the whirlpool to open all the way to the bottom at times!

Negotiating another pool game.

One of the ants that fell out of the tree onto me. At first, it scared me because it almost looked like a highly venomous jack-jumper from Tazmania!

Our GM, Noi, treated us to even more Mangosteen!

She was really doing a good job spoiling us!

~ Shien

Bangkok--A Meal with a bit of View

<insert photo of view>

Uncle Heng took us to this restaurant specifically to have a view of one of the prettier bridges across the Chao Praya. Unfortunately, all the tables on the patio were reserved, so we had to sit partially inside and only had a bit of a view.

The food was spendy, but tasted good. Our first picture is of a Yam Nuea--Beef Yam Salad. It was supposed to be Monica's favorite, but it lacked the fishy pungent punch of fish sauce. It was too lemony.

River prawn nam prik. Reminded me of a cold prawn salad cocktail.

Scallops with broccoli. Scallops are among Monica's favorite foods, but they paled in comparison to the other items on the table that had much bolder flavors.

Gaeng Som Cha Ohm--an alternative soup to the ubiquitous Tom Yam, this soup had very unique grassy flavors courtesy of the forest ferns.

Ian practically drank this Penang Style coconut curry straight up!

This four-lobed bean salad had bold flavors, but needed the toasted chilies for a kick to lift it out of its identity crisis.

Ian and Aria were so happy to tease the river fish that I forgot to take a picture of the bridge, lit with garish colors from pulsating spot lights. It looked like a squid bridge! Came for view, but left with no pictures. Ironic.

~ Shien

Bangkok--Grand Palace, Well Almost

We made it to the Grand Palace, and were confronted by this sign. We knew that we were under-dressed, but were not willing to move around in this heat in long sleeved shirts or long pants. So we were very willing to borrow a wrap-skirt or pario to cover up to comply with protocol.

Except that we had arrived so late that there were hordes of tourists there and no more loaners to be handed out. They said we could wait it out, but it was already 2:30pm, and the last entry was 3:30pm. Or we could go to the souvenir shop to buy clothing for all of us.

After some agonizing deliberation, we took photos of what we could see from the entrance, and moved on. 

Feeling hot and disappointed, we retreated towards the market to cool off and had a drink.

Closer to the water-bus station, we found an air-conditioned restaurant to retreat!

There, we quaffed water, fresh coconut (although the first was rancid and had to be returned), and our children's first taste of Mango with Sticky Rice!

Two plates later, I think we successfully inducted our family into the Mango and Sticky Rice Fan Club.

Refreshed, we went into the market on the hunt for souvenirs. Soon, we found this vendor crafting a very unusual wire and sisal dragon. Aria named her purple dragon Mushi. 

Next, we found this man twisting wire into alien like shapes and other fun creatures. We got Ian a pair.

  

 We headed home with our spoils.

Hmm, I think Ian's newly purchased hat makes my head look big!

We were hungry again, so I prepared a nice snack for tea... Saucisson, Salami, Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Apples and Crackers!

~ Shien