Thailand has been on our travel wishlist for a long time. We’ve long heard of friends visiting and loving the food, the culture, and the people. We dedicated 3 weeks of our trip to this country and after visiting, we can understand why people love it and how one could stay for much longer.
Bangkok
What an exciting city! The congested motorways empty out into beautifully chaotic streets with delicious food and cruising tuk-tuks. Go a couple of blocks in any direction and you will be met by exquisitely intricate temples of the local Buddhist community. Yellow-orange-clothed monks with shaved heads walk in and out of the shops throughout the city. The occasional mobile food stand with a grill goes by. The smell of Thai food can be found pretty much anywhere you walk or drive. The motorbikes whiz in and out of traffic carrying groceries or even their children. Tailor shop owners plead with every male that walks by to come in and get fitted for a suit. Their fabricated flattery makes for a fun interaction of gamesmanship. Walkers are only blessed with narrow or non-existent walkways along the streets in the old town part of Bangkok. The city gives and gives which made it so hard to leave. Here are some of our highlights from Bangkok.
Thai Cooking Class
We love Thai food. It’s just so flavorful and has some good heat to top it off. I have to be honest: the food is one of the main drivers of why Southeast Asia has attracted me so much. The complex flavors with so much push and pull amongst sweet, sour, salt, and spicy make for some really amazing eating experiences. So, we decided to get to cooking!
We picked Maliwan Thai Cooking School because we could choose which dishes we wanted to make. We even got to experience one of the wet markets which feature every herb you can think of along with really unique fruits and vegetables. The markets also have stands selling all kinds of fish or animals. The cool thing I learned is that many of the animals sold in these markets are meant for eating, but they are also used for offerings. Someone can buy a softshell turtle, for instance, and release it into the wild as an offering.
We made Massaman Curry, Golden Bags, Spring Rolls, and Tom Yum Soup. The instructor was really good at explaining the techniques of how we create components of each dish. We ended up using a mortar and pestle (i.e. a heavy rock bowl with a rounded utensil to crush things together) quite a bit. The use of things like pepper, chilis, garlic, and various spices made for a great base for the delicious spiciness in the curry dishes. The use of woks made the cooking go much quicker than I would have expected. Any meat or proteins cooked in no time at all.
The little kitchen made for a more intimate experience where we could ask questions of the instructor as we made our own individual dishes. We even got to fry our spring rolls and golden bags in oil. Britta was the master!
The food was so good. You can only blame yourself in this type of class if you don’t like the food – you made it. I was happy with the little things we learned along the way. It was especially cool to learn about how to move the spice level up or down in these types of dishes. Thai food is special, so taking something away from our time in Thailand that can be applied to our own kitchen is so worth it.
Michelin Star Food Tour
When you visit a country as food-focused as Thailand, eating is more essential than just for nourishment. We wanted to try as much as we could. We signed ourselves up for two different food tours while in Thailand. The first was in Bangkok where we were taken by tuk-tuk to many of the Michelin-star-winning places where dishes were the best in the city.
There are lots of night markets in Bangkok and other cities in Thailand. There are a multitude of stands where patrons can buy local fare as it cooks literally in front of you. So much of the food is cheap and so fresh that it beats going to a restaurant any day. However, on this tour, we experienced a mix of small-storefront style restaurants that churned out food just like your local market and street food stalls.
We got to eat things like crab-fried rice: a plate of well-seasoned and comforting fried rice with bits of delightful crab. You can get a bowl of fishball egg noodles. The fish is cooked in a ball form and floats in a whole carafe of flavorful broth with a bed of well-soaked egg noodles. Add some heat with the provided chili sauce and you are on your way to a potential meal of oddly satisfying neck-sweating spiciness.
Then, you go off to popular Chinatown food market. If you haven’t had a Chinese donut, put it on your mental list of must-haves. A stand makes them in the thousands; each donut has two parts you can pull apart to share or just make a second delight. But, astonishingly, the donut might not be the best part. Chinese donuts are commonly served with a dipping dish of pandan custard. A tame flavor of sugary sweet custard is hued with a vibrant green color that can be used to coat your still-hot pastry. The combination? It’s the near-perfect dessert toeing the line of sweetness and floral.
The tour (check it out here) was well worth it. When out on the street in Chinatown, we even got to try a fried cricket and grasshopper. They were sprayed with soy sauce and tasted like a crunchy, salty snack. We probably wouldn’t have done it on our own. Having a guide tell us things are okay to have or safe is important when you do your eating from street vendors. We loved the experience and seeing the city at night while getting our fill on some world-class food.
Jay Fai
Smoke hits my face but I don’t really care. Heat emanates from coal pots packed deep with coals to cook over. Oil sizzles in one single pan: Jay Fai’s wok. Jay’s assistants flutter around her to make sure she has everything she needs to work her magic. Goggles on to protect her greatest asset, Ms. Fai intently stirs and flips and lets the food sit. She doesn’t need to move many steps before grabbing the ingredients to make some of the most sought-after street food in Bangkok, Thailand, Asia, or the world.
Getting to taste the food and not just gawk at the cooking takes some serious commitment. Jay Fai’s roughly 12-table restaurant has replaced her former street stand. This small restaurant opens at 9 am and the queue starts long before that. We got in line around 7:10 am and we weren’t even in the first set of tables (we were table 13 actually). We got sat just before 10 am and we were digging into the food by 10:30 am.
Jay Fai became famous for her food and is more well known recently due to her appearance on Netflix shows like Somebody Feed Phil, where her food is raised to infamy. She started out making street food as a way to make ends meet after losing her job as a seamstress many decades ago. She is the classic story of someone who bet on herself; Jay decided to set herself apart from the other stands in Bangkok by incorporating more expensive and quality ingredients which, most notably, included crab meat and seafood.
Her signature dishes have been perfected over decades. Jay Fai is the one and only sole cook. She is now in her 70s and still cooks each and every dish served. Her commitment to quality and her passion for cooking is all packed tightly into her tiny frame. Watching her cook was one of the most satisfying things I experienced in Bangkok. She makes a crab omelet that she fries in her oil-drenched wok. As she rolls up the omelet in the wok, she makes it look like it might be the easiest thing she has done all day as if she will yawn any minute. The end result is a heavily filled omelet with a crispy egg outside. It was delicious, well worth the wait, and we were glad we split it.
Arguably, Ms. Fai’s most famous dish is served in a bowl. Tom Yum Soup is served all over Bangkok and Thailand. The dish consists of a depth of flavors built over time and includes some of the most classic Thai spices and flavor combinations. A pot sits in the corner boiling with little attention. It is the broth for this delectable soup. As we learned in our Thai cooking class, Thai food is a balance of flavors: sweet, spicy, sour, and salt. The Tom Yum soup that Jay Fai makes hits you in the face with spice but makes it all worth it with all the flavors underneath.
Temples In and Around Bangkok
There are more than 40,000 temples in Thailand. With the presence of people of both the Hindu and Buddhist faith, temples are scattered throughout both the city and the countryside. Some notable and much larger temples sit in cities where the royals of the kingdom live or have lived. Thailand has had four different capital cities over its history and temples built in those respective timeframes are either still active or in ruins after wars. We got to experience a little of both while staying in Bangkok.
Ayutthaya Temple Ruins
Ayutthaya is a little way outside of Bangkok and was once the capital of Thailand. It is a beautiful area where a lot of temples are in various stages of ruins. And when I say ruins, I mean that the temples are no longer active and are literally pillaged. Many wars have been fought on Thai soil and those who conquered these lands (most notably the Burmese or Myanmar people) dug through and treasure hunted in these temples. Many of the Buddhist temples in Ayutthaya have little or no statues of Buddha.
The King of Thailand over many years during or before wars would stash jewels or other treasures in places where no one knew. Many of the armies coming through knew this and would dig in spots in and around these temples where they thought they could cash in. And in the hundreds of years since, many treasure hunters have tried to do the same. But, they weren’t just looking for these buried treasures, they also looked to monetize Buddha by stealing the Buddha statues and selling them. It is VERY illegal today, obviously, but the damage has already been mostly done throughout the ruins of Ayutthaya.
Pro tip: We took this really great tour via GetYourGuide to visit and learn about the Ayutthaya Temple Ruins. This tour does a great job of giving you the history of the temples and about Thailand in general. I had tons of notes from listening to Sam, our guide, as he talked about life in Thailand and about the history the ruins hold.
Royal Temples in Bangkok
The current capital city of Bangkok is garnished with the most extravagant temples to date. Each reigning king of the Thailand kingdom has tried to outdo the other by making their temple just centimeters taller or wider, etc. Royal temples carry a little bit of a different meaning than that of a local temple on the city streets. They are often showier and are a place where special ceremonies are held. It is also quite easy to know which temple is a royal temple or not: whether they have a crematorium attached or not. Non-royal temples have crematoriums for those in their respective communities that need them.
Wat Pho
There are many different representations of Buddha in Buddhist temples. Sometimes he is sitting: and sometimes he is reclining. There are many reclining Buddha statues throughout Thailand, but the tallest, most impressive, and most extravagant of them reclines in Wat Pho.
Other than the Reclining Buddha, Wat Pho boasts many other architecturally or aesthetically pleasing statues or works of art. A couple of them are even Chinese-influenced. The statues are quite heavy and the reason they ended up in Wat Pho is quite fascinating. It has to do with the trade between Thailand and China many years ago. Thailand traded extensively with China and many times had to have ballast (i.e. weight to balance the ship) for the journey back. A set of different statues were brought back and placed in Wat Pho.
Wat Arun
Far and away, my favorite temple was that of Hindu influence across the river from Wat Pho: Wat Arun. I can’t really explain it, but something about the stone and intricacies throughout this temple really caught me. I found myself taking pictures and videos from all different angles.
You can even climb up a part of the way and walk along the largest spire of the temple. You really feel and see from multiple angles from the Temple of Dawn, as it is roughly translated to mean. On the day we went many of the monks were present to celebrate the passing of an elder monk. The flowers and ornateness of the temple on this day felt a little more special. And the fact that we came in the later afternoon, made for some cool pictures as you saw above.
A UWEC Reunion in Bangkok
We continue to be blessed with the ability to meet up with people along our travels of the world this past year. Bangkok brought us another opportunity to meet up with an old friend from college, Kally, and her husband, Eric. It was quite an extra treat because I didn’t even realize they were in Bangkok until we shared that we were traveling there a couple of days before arriving. I worked with Kally back in college at the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire and our paths hadn’t crossed until we met all the way across the world in Bangkok.
Kally was kind enough to set up a day trip on the outskirts of Bangkok where we were able to soak in some more of the culture and a unique temple outside of the city. The temple, Wat Sam Phran, is in the shape of a dragon. It was easily one of the most unique places we visited in all of Thailand. On arrival, we prepared a wreath of marigolds to use as an offering. We then proceeded to enter the main temple building and start a trek I wasn’t expecting. You literally walk up in the dragon’s body that curls up the temple walls eventually reaching the top roughly 14 floors up. We then were put through a short ceremony which included us providing our marigold wreath as an offering.
We then got a chance to experience a floating market. There are a couple of them in and around Bangkok, but most of them are only open on the weekends or only a couple of days during the week. We went to Damneon Sadeuk Floating Market. It was a very interesting experience. We rented a locally driven motor boat for a short period of time to take us through the market. Each stall or storefront sits right on the canal and some of the food stalls even have their grills or prep stations on their boats right off the shore. Every once in a while a food boat would float by trying to sell to you from boat to boat. Some of the storefront owners with trinkets or clothing would even try to pull our boat in with a stick just so we would take a closer look. Overall, it was a unique and definitely interesting experience.
Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai sits in the northern part of Thailand. It is a little sleepier and considerably smaller than Bangkok. Though sleepier, it has a large pop of culture and lots of space to walk around. The community holds two nights of large, street-closing night markets. The old city of Chiang Mai is still surrounded by remnants of a moat. The traffic is still significant but the streets and buildings are not nearly as dense as that in Bangkok. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Chiang Mai and, again, a lot of the experience was centered around amazing food.
Chiang Mai Street Food Tour
Every night there are smaller night markets set up in different spots all in and around the city center. Many of these markets are where the locals eat. The lights along the street accentuate the smoke from the food stalls making all kinds of great-smelling dishes. We decided to take a tour to experience a little bit of everything and get a feel for northern Thailand cuisine.
We started by going up to the northern border of the old city of Chiang Mai. The market there has food stalls alongside a shared outdoor seating area of plastic tables and chairs. Our tour guide brought us some of the highlights like cooked morning glory, soups, and fried rice. We even got a chance to try what they call a “century egg”. It looks unusual at first glance. But, honestly, it was pretty great. Someone in our group described it pretty perfectly: “it’s like the eggiest egg you’ll ever have”.
We then went south to a market at the southern gate of the old town. We had a couple of small things like Chiang Mai’s more classic Thai sausage – Sai Ua. It kind of reminds me of Mexican chorizo sausage in its spiciness. Yet, this type of sausage has a lot of different aromatics like lemongrass and kaffir lime in it as well which is where the similarity ends. If you can imagine a Thai chorizo, you’ll be pretty close. You can find this type of sausage at many stands all over the city. But, the main attraction of Chiang Mai from our point of view and the final dish we tasted on the tour was Khao Soi.
Khao Soi
During one of our recent stints living in Minneapolis, Minnesota, we happened upon a Thai restaurant that served this new (to us) dish called Khao Soi. It was love at first slurp. The dish has a comfort to it with a bold and warming broth, well-soaked egg noodles, a crunchy topping of fried egg noodles, and your meat of choice. Traditionally, it is served with a lime wedge for squeezing, red onion for texture, and pickled mustard greens for tanginess.
It is safe to say that Khao Soi was a driving factor in us spending as much time as we did in Chiang Mai. The soup is served in so many ways and at so many places throughout the city: why not get a taste of as much as we can? The meats added to Khao Soi are quite great in number. The most traditional meat choice is a chicken leg. But, many places have choices of beef or pork as well. But, sometimes the beef is beef cheek or something more like steak. We got a chance to try 6 different dishes and if you’re heading to Chiang Mai to try it for the first time, we’d recommend Huen Phen during lunchtime for an approachable first taste.
Koh Lanta & Krabi
Thailand is a beach vacation location for many people. Many tourists take to the water and the islands of Thailand. Many of them are off the southern part of Thailand even closer to the equator making for a nice tropical feel. Though there were many options for places to go, we decided to try out the island of Koh Lanta.
Koh Lanta
It’s a pretty big island. We took a car ferry across to our hotel right off the beach. The little town streets inland from our hotel are a look into a small-town feel of Thailand. Kids play in the streets and vehicles drive slower through the mostly dusty roads. The beach is the main attraction with supreme walkability. Small crabs the size of the end of your pinky finger can be seen scurrying and digging into the wet sand as the tide goes out. The water splashes lightly up to the shore and has a perfectly warm temperature to wade your ankles in. We even saw starfish that found their way ashore and saw long-legged birds fishing in the ankle-deep water. It is a calming place and it gave us a chance to sit and relax after action-packed days in Chiang Mai and Bangkok.
Ao Nang Beach, Krabi
Ao Nang Beach in Krabi is more touristy and gives off more of a party vibe. However, our hotel and how we approached our time there gave us an experience that was above our expectations. And, of course, food made things naturally enhanced as well.
We stayed at Panan Krabi Hotel and got a chance to take in the amazing view of the ocean from our room. With small but tall little islands jetting out of the near-distant ocean, we got to see some picturesque views. The rooftop pool was an added treat!
We happened upon a really great restaurant where we could take advantage of the local Thai cuisine. The restaurant is called Hom Mali Thai Food & Noodle and is located just far enough from the beach to make it a little less known and crowded with partying tourists. They have a very clean kitchen which is open for you to see them cook up your food. We really loved the Pad Kra Pao Gai (i.e. Thai Basil Chicken).
Hong Island
Since there are so many islands off the shores of Krabi, there are many different tours taking tourists out during the day to get a different view of Thailand. We decided to take a tour out to Hong Island which actually has a national park on it. The following pictures of the island and the beach we got to sunbathe on and swim in should speak for themselves.
Overall
Thailand is a special place for me. My grandparents spent many years in Thailand on the Thai/Lao border and raised my mom there until she was in kindergarten. My mom, Becka, even spoke Thai up until they left to go back to the US when she was about 5 or 6 years old. Seeing and talking to the people while experiencing the culture in Thailand really gave me an appreciation for what my mother experienced in infancy. Knowing how kind, loving, and positive my mother is, I can see a little bit of Thai culture through her outlook on life. The Thai people are beautiful people with a lust for life and for great food to share their tables with. The experience in Thailand was one to savor and be thankful for.
Recap
Next Up!
- Malaysia, Singapore, & Cambodia
Read About Where Else We’ve Been
- New Zealand: A Little Bit of Everything
- Vietnam: North to South
- Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia: New Year’s 2023
- Thailand: Temples, Food, and So Much More
- Australia: The East Coast of Natural Wonders
What a beautiful blog entry! Thank you for the kind words at the end. Loved experiencing Thailand thru you pictures and great descriptions. Love u 2!