Three Nights in Bangkok

[EDITOR’S NOTE: This post is terribly written and horribly rambly. I’m sorry. I really am.]

[SECOND EDITOR’S NOTE: The title of this post is actually a reference to a song, and NOT just horribly unimaginative. I could understand why you might think that, though.]

The most recent adventure in my life has been our honeymoon: two weeks in vibrant, amazing Thailand. We really had no idea of what to expect going in, except for knowing that it would be utterly and completely different from home. And in that regard, it did not disappoint.

I find it a little challenging to talk about visiting other countries, because the homebody in me (yes, it does exist) often spends a good portion of every trip looking for the familiar. That’s something that I’ve tried to fight as I’ve gotten older, because I love to travel, but it doesn’t make the experience too much easier to describe. However, the defining point that we found while traveling is the same one that has made the biggest impact in our lives at home: the food. 

[our first meal in Thailand: spring rolls, chicken pad see ew and an omelette floating in red curry]

To be honest, the food on many menus in easily accessible restaurants in Thailand is not so incredibly different from what you might find in your average Thai restaurant right here in the good ol’ US of A. It took some wandering off the beaten path to find some really weird stuff – and I don’t think we really even scratched the surface then.

[hubs and our tour guide, Jenny, eating Hong Kong noodles with crispy duck in Bangkok’s huge Chinatown]

Thai food is intended to be equally sweet, salty, sour, and spicy. In order to create a more diverse array of flavor options, tables in Thailand typically have a condiment tray featuring fish sauce, palm sugar, peppers in vinegar, and chili powder.

My Man spent a lot of our vacation waiting for someone to serve him food that was so spicy it would make him cry. It took him some time to realize that he would need to create the sinus-clearing factor himself after his food arrived. (Much of our Christmas Day breakfast was spent in tears. His tears, to be clear.)

 

I need a moment to talk about fresh young coconuts. It seems completely unfair that I wasn’t raised in a place where they are as easily accessible as they are in Thailand (for those of you who have been wondering: no, they do not sell coconuts on the street in New Jersey). I LOVE coconuts. Coconut water is my whole life. I would run away with coconut water and marry it if I weren’t already married. To a human.

[a vendor selling mangoes and sticky rice at the floating market]

[eating that lady’s mangoes and sticky rice at the floating market]

Mango and sticky rice: it is a THING, man. What an amazing combination of flavors. The nubbly, sticky, sweet rice and the smooth mango are just a dream together. We have a fun little story we can tell you about me attempting to eat this in line to check in at the airport (to put it mildly, my man was not a fan of this choice). But I gotta do me.

Drinking beer in Thailand just feels right. Singha is okay, but Chang is AMAZING. We drank a lot of Chang. Like a LOT of Chang.

The floating market was unreal. Like the busiest old-school market, only everyone is on boats. The craziest thing.

I am sorry about that popped-knee pose. Not sure what happened here. But look at the stuff behind us!

One thing that hubs will probably be too embarrassed to tell people about is how excited I was that it was our honeymoon. Here is a sample conversation that happened between us every 15 minutes:

Me: It’s our honeymoon! We’re on our HONEYMOON! We’re in love! We’re honeymooners! It’s so ROMANTIC!

Him: Yep.

[we were at the top of a temple. this photo is very crooked.]

We saw so many temples. Like so. Many. Temples. I wouldn’t have called myself a Temple Person before this trip, but I can tell you that they are very cool. Still not sure that I am a full-blown Temple Person, though.

[CHECK OUT HOW BIG THE BUDDHA’S TOES ARE!!!]

I don’t mean for this to be completely long and rambling. To be honest, I find most of our trip very hard to sum up, other than to say that it was awesome. Bangkok is the biggest city I’ve ever been to. That place is HUGE. Like huge huge. The food was delicious. But it wasn’t nearly as cool as the other places we went (coming soon!).

I’ll probably leave you with this meal. It was delicious, and we were next to a river.

God, has this been a horrible summary of our time in Bangkok, or WHAT? I know. I know. Here’s a better one: we got there, fell asleep at 7, spent the whole next day at temples, fell asleep at 8:15, and spent the day after that going to the floating market (so cool) and seeing more temples (ach).

And THEN we took an eating tour of Chinatown. An eating tour!!!! Of Chinatown. It was awesome. We ate so many things. Here are some of them: Hong Kong noodles, charred prawns, fried bean curd in ginger broth (yes I know but it was great), and dim sum. Then the next morning we left for Chiang Mai and I ate mango and sticky rice in line at the airport and my traveling partner who shall remain unnamed (but it was my husband) got really mad.

THE END. Not sure why I didn’t just lead with that. Thanks for listening!