How to eat in Bangkok

Starving ... as usual, I'm all stomach ...

*found a food stalls with a plate of some fried balls for 30 baht ...




*took a look closer on what's gonna be on the plate, looks fine, some fried rice balls and perhaps slices of onion and sausages.



*ordered a plate and the lady rustled it up ...




*Bon appetit ! It was a bit sour, but still edible ...




*Hmm, curious of what I ate ... I went to the stalls and looked up on the sign ...

.......... HOLY COW!!!!

so, yeah how to eat in bangkok, never see the sign beforehand, otherwise you'd end up with starvation .... merde, I just swallowed some red ants eggs (hopefully it's a silly literal translation and not the real thing)

a day in the park

away from the madness and away from the noise ...
escaping reality that includes grenades and dead people.


Apart from the BTS got closed after 7pm, it's amazing how the other part of bangkok are not in the slightest affected by the political turmoil, life go on as usual ... (sans siam paragon,argh!)

what's in the middle?

one day, one of these day, curiosity will kill the dog ...

You want democracy? I just want the malls to be open!
I need to stock up on some art supplies from that bleeding malls!

pineapple fried rice

The classic touristy restaurant. Pineapple fried rice topped with raisins and decorated with orchid flower , fresh cold coconut juice, spring rolls with salads and slices of chillies, fried prawn balls with sweet lemony sauce.

crispy chicken skin

crispy fried chicken skin! oily oily oily and spicy!
the vendor open her stalls every evening in front of our apartment complex, I had been bracing myself for a try and actually .. it tasted good, quite similar with Indo style crispy chicken skin, just a bit spicy on the sauce.

ah, bouh couldn't stand it .. its stink and too oily for him.

Khlong Thoey - river taxi

Khlong Thoey - river taxi

The cheapest way to get around when compared to BTS/MRT but at your own risk and it stinks!
It is also a bit tricky to know the exact price to get from one point to the other.


Oh also, nowadays, it's probably the easiest way to get around with all those red shirt around because BTS are now randomly closed, depends on the red shirts mood.
BTS line : hi red shirt people, how do you do today?
red shirts : fine, we are happy with the heat and sitting down all day
BTS line : oh excellent, we don't need to close down the BTS today

pfftt ...

no pity on songkran

no running, no pity and no tolerance whether you are carrying a map/camera ...
you'd get wet either way.

Poor bouh, he got chased by a bunch of giggling Thai girls with a bucket of water, seriously, a BUCKET of water!

In "the bruges" movie, you call those kind of girls, dangerous girls with weapon, a slightly different specimen and you are are entitled to punch them.

Chatuchak on week days

the famous chatuchak market on weekdays is converted into a plants market, really great for garden enthusiast. I was wondering though, where did they put all those trees on the weekend when the market sells souvenirs, clothes, trinkets and any other thing imaginable. Perhaps I didn't browse thoroughly enough to find their trees hidden spot.

Wat Phra Kaew

honestly, i don't remember the name, the only word that sticks is the Wat (temple). It was my second time there but I still was fascinated by those murals. It's amazingly detailed and constantly renovated (hm, is that supposed to be a good thing?)



here's a picture of a monster looking at an ancient monster:

Thailand declared State of Emergency

hmm, back in Bangkok and found out that the BTS and shopping malls has been closed.


The political rally has turned violent with 18 death, a reuters cameraman was shot death in a violent clash between the Thai troops and anti-goverment protesters.

Thai troops fired rubber bullets, tear gas and allowed to fire live round into air.
Bouh stop me from going out to take some pictures, I got a Bouh's travel warning, the same as those 43 countries that issue a travel warning for Thailand.

umm, yep, those are the protester's guns, although without the bullets it is still not the tools for a negotiation.

I wonder what's going to happen next week during the "supposed to be fun" songkran festival (water festival, when people on the street splash water to each other).

Pad thai on the street

Pad Thai is a dish of stir fried rice noodles with fish sauce, tamarind juice, combined with bean sprouts, chicken/eggs/shrimp and garnished with crushed peanuts, coriander and lime.

As one of Thailand's national dishes,
it's fairly easy to spot a Pad Thai vendor on Bangkok's street
and a portion of street Pad Thai is around 20-35 THB (less than a dollar).

I spotted this vendor on soi Ram Buttri and he cooked the Pad Thai in less than 5 minutes, amazingly fast but was also left me clicking madly on my camera.



almost as fast as the lighting speed!


et voila ...
a 5 minutes Pad Thai topped with crushed peanuts and spicy dried shrimp.

2nd Sunday - Bangkok street food

Most of Asian street food are fried something,
it's not just Thailand but also back in Indonesia and Vietnam.

Fried banana, crab stick, pork cake, spring rolls, tofu, sausages ...
oh really, the list of all-things-fried can go on and on ..

When fried, some taste really good but others are just plain horrible.

This one, is horribly fried with lots of oil
and it took me a while to recognize that it's a crab stick.

Fried crab stick with sweet and spicy sauce

What's that noise out there?

Last week we've been avoiding places where the red demonstrator gathered, also having our passport with us whenever we went out - as recommended by our embassy and in my case, got scolded by a worried Bouh who knew my being happy-go-lucky attitude.

Living in the middle of Bangkok, how long and how far can we avoid the red?

This morning, there was an awful noise outside and here's what we found, right in front of our apartment.

lots of heart ...

Loud music and shouting ...


and look ..
Bouh got caught by one of them and politely wore the red scarf ...

Bangkok, Sukhumvit - Gallery 11

On a lazy Sunday evening, we found a nice restaurant in Sukhumvit soi 11 street.

The place was really nice for a quick getaway in sukhumvit area, it felt like a hidden tiny green space tucked on the corner and away from the touts and noise. There, we ordered a green curry and a tamarind paste soup-the red one. We're curious on how tamed it will taste, considering that sukhumvit is "the expat area" and because the last curry we had was on Khao San street (the backpackers ghetto), which wasn't a curry at all ... faux curry, sweet and tamed from it's original spicy curry taste .yuck!

here are what we ate,

Toong Thong,
minced shrimp in crispy wonton wrap served with sweet plum sauce
*crispy and a bit oily


Kaeng Kiew Waan Gai,
chicken green curry with devil's fig (solanum torvum) and sweet basil
*the tiny green balls which looks like peas are the solanum torvum, it doesn't taste like peas at all, it's a bit bitter and crunchy. People usually love it or hate it.

Kaeng Som Pak Ruam Goong,
tamarind paste soup with shrimps
*SPICY and a bit sour, next time we'll cut down the chillies.
and the plain rice .. (I can't help posting this, it's sooo cute ..)

Well, being a good Asian, the green curry wasn't that spicy for me but the red one surprised me, it burned my mouth, it burned Bouh alive ...


It was a real spicy soup and gee, maybe they should "tamed" it a bit ...
(did I wrote "yuck!" for the tamed curry? Oups ... )

here's my plate, look at those red chillies!


Eleven Gallery - thai cuisine
1/34 soi 11 Sukhumvit road
Bangkok - Thailand

1st Sunday - Bangkok street food

"What did you have for lunch?"

I've been asking that question to Bouh because I'm curious with all the Bangkok's street food. Everywhere I walk I see food cart selling different type of snacks and meal in styrofoam boxes, fresh spring rolls, fried spring rolls, tiny pancakes, fried fish, grilled beef satay, fried chicken and of course the famous crispy insects. If you don't like spicy, you just need to avoid the sauce and you'll be all right otherwise be ready for their sweet and spicy sticky sauce.

Here's what I got this week:

Fresh spring rolls, fish, lettuce n shredded carrot wrapped in thick rice paper
(spicy alert : stay away from the sauce)


Grilled beef/chicken flat-satay
barbecued grilled beef/chicken meat and intestine



Fried super-oily "something" and cucumbers
fried snacks with spices and herbs
(spicy alert : stay away from the sauce)


closer look :


now wish me luck as I'm bracing myself for the fried insects ...
crispy scorpion and grasshoppers ladies?

Collagen drink and Bangkok's ladyboys

"Thailand is sooo gay it makes San Francisco looks like rural Texas"

That's what I've been told.

There won't be a day passed by without spotting Ladyboys or gay couples walk hand in hand strolling on on the street of Bangkok. I could spot a remarkably beautiful woman, quietly praise her beauty and the next minute when she talks, my envies disappeared into thin air as I also notice her deep voice, not a man deep voice but definitely not a soft woman voice. Some of Bangkok's ladyboys (katoeys) are exceptionally beautiful that it's almost impossible to differentiate between a real she or a she "was a he". Here is a link from TeaStains, she bumped onto some katoeys dressing up as Marilyn Monroe in MBK mall. Thailand also has a beauty pageant for katoeys, the Miss Tiffany's Universe. I'm posting the 2010 winner picture taken from Miss Tiffany's Universe website to give you an idea of their beauty ...


Full of the idea of how gay is Thailand,
When I first spot a small pinkish bottle of "beauty shot-collagen drink" in a 7-eleven on the Sukhumvit area, this is my honest first reaction upon seeing it :


I was amazed and started bouncing on the spot, pointing at the bottle :
me: Bouh, Bouh .. it's a transvestite drink!
Bouh: humm, what? where?
me: That bottle! it says, "collagen - beauty shot" !
Bouh: huh? maybe ... je n'sais pas ... no idea
me: (still bouncing like a 7 years old kid) I'm getting one ! it's hilarious!
Bouh: (looking at me with a thunderstruck face) ... .... ... whaaat?!

I bought both of Blink product and tried it, each cost me 25 THB (75 cents) and both are white grape juice flavoured. The darker pink is a Collagen drink and the lighter pink is a Glutathione drink it tasted slightly better than the collagen.
well, yeah, naively ... I really thought it was a transvestite drink ...
which apparently NOT AT ALL, Collagen drink is an anti-aging supplement.

Okay, here I am, trying to defend my silliness, I honestly don't know much about collagen, or anything related to beauty, cosmetics, make up. That's why my conclusion is quite simple :
collagen = beauty surgery + ladyboy in thailand = ladyboys drink!
Hooray, I'm a miss-understood genius!

so here is what enlightened me, the fact I found after browsing around on the net :

fact about Collagen:
Collagen is produced by your body in sufficient quatities to keep your skin toned, supple and guard against premature wrinkling.

fact about Glutathione:
Glutathione also known as GSH, is the most powerful, prevalent antioxidant in your body.
Increasing your Glutathione level will naturally increase your energy, detoxify your body
and significantly strengthen your immune system.

oh and psstt .. don't tell anyone bout my silliness, mkay?

definitely Thai Burger

Bouh : First day in Bangkok! we should try the Thai food!
Me : yesh, like green curry, red curry, definitely Thai food!
Bouh : let's pick one of the restaurant here

Me : Bouh ... is that a Burger King sign?
Bouh : where? what? huh ..?
Me : there on the shop mirror! It's a Burger King sign's reflections!
Bouh : (looking around across the mirror) ... yep, that's the Burger King

We've been craving for Burger King, it's been months we haven't got a proper junk food burger,I made one in Hanoi, which is not junk foody enough ...