Seat of Our Pants » Thailand

SeatOfOurPants Thailand Roundup

Jaime — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 05:19:13 +0000

Most people come to Thailand for the amazing beaches. While I’m sure they’re amazing, we’re not really beach people. Our interests lie more in eating and Thailand gave us ample opportunity to do just that. We’ve been all over southeast Asia and we’ll let you in on a little secret: Thailand is SE Asia’s premier dining country. No contest.

It’s also a very traveler friendly place, making it an obvious favorite for sun-seeking tourists from all over the world. Generally we like ourselves some off-the-beaten-track tourism, but when push comes to shove, being in Thailand is just plain nice.

Feel free to send us an email if you have any questions about traveling there. Between the two of us we’ve been through through Thailand fifteen times so we’d be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Otherwise, you can check out some of our favorite posts from our time in Thailand here:

Say What?

A Thai woman gives us an example of how tonal the Thai language is.

I Chef, You Chef, We All Chef

A rundown of our cooking class in Chiang Mai, complete with a delicious recipe

Tiger Temple

A Buddhist monastery where the main attraction are killers. But have no fear! They have somehow been subdued enough for you to pet them. Strange, amazing and true!

Bacon Does Bangkok

Our porcine friend gets a little too excited to be in the Land of a Million Smiles. (He misunderstood it to mean the Land of a Million Shots).

A Day in the Life of a Bangkok Eater

Our guide on how to eat your way through a day in Bangkok without ever stepping into a restaurant.

Ayutthaya Again

A post that sums up why we booked an extra day in Thailand en route to Myanmar – food, food, food.

Where…

View Seatofourpants.com Thailand tour in a larger map

When….

2009

Bangkok: April 29 – May 5

Kanchanaburi: May 5 – 7

Koh Phagnan: May 7 -13

Bangkok: May 13 – 15

Chang Mai: May 15 – 19

Ayuttaya: May 19 – 20

2010

Bangkok: January 21 – 27, 2010

Ayutthaya: January 27 – 28, 2010

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Auytthaya Again

Martin — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:34:23 +0000

“We don’t come here for the ruins” is an oft-quoted adage of the seedier Thailand tourists. Well, we don’t come here so much for the ruins either, picturesque as they are. We came here for the food, because for us Ayutthaya is an overlooked Thai culinary gem.

Between the two of us, one of the things we’ve talked about a lot over the last nine months has been the Auytthaya night market – a series of food stalls that offer an enormous range of foodstuffs; from scrumptious sticky rice desserts to deep fried pig snouts. In between the extremes, you can find just about any protein and carbohydrate on offer, and walking around these stalls is a feast for all senses. Once it became clear to us that we had to spend some time in Bangkok, it didn’t take much to tip the scales in favor of coming back here.

To give you an idea about what the night market is all about, check out the video below!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

A Day in the Life of a Bangkok Eater

Jaime — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:15:10 +0000

If I had one suggestion to give someone going to Bangkok it would be this: don’t eat in their restaurants. Sure, they have great selection there. Their prices are also enticing but believe me, the real eating experience is had right on the street. You will pay a fraction of the price and it’s the real deal.

Here’s an example of some great finds in the streets around Banglamphu. If you’re not staying in that area, there will be similar stalls elsewhere. You don’t have to go far – a block or two will give you all these options and more.

Forget the “set breakfasts” (toast, eggs, breakfast meat, etc) on offer at the restaurants and eat what the locals eat: noodle soup. This is usually served from carts that display noodles piled up in their display cases and cost us just about US $1. We had Tom Yum soup, which was spicy and delicious – the perfect way to jump start your day.

Lunch was a series of nibbles we picked up at food stalls like the one pictured above. You may not know what you’re ordering, but at $.50 to $1 per bag, you can always try it and toss if it’s not to your liking. Many of the stalls have either English descriptions of what they offer or display images of the type of meat or filling in their food. Everything we tried was scrumptious and set us back about US $3 total.

Bangkok is hot and humid – the kind of place that screams for an afternoon fruit snack. Carts like the one pictured above are a godsend in the mid-day heat. For the equivalent of about US $.50 you get your choice of one of the fruits displayed.

Dinner was a plate of Pad Thai, cooked at a street side stall. You’ll have an option of protein (chicken, egg or tofu) and they’ll make it non-spicy for those of us that aren’t used to Thai spices. If spice is your thing, they have chili flakes to add after it’s been cooked. It’s a heaping portion (Martin and I shared one) and at US $1, it won’t break the bank.

Dessert was the always delicious Roti, also called a pancake on the vendor’s menu. You can choose from a number of delicious fillings (peanut butter, nutella, banana or chocolate to name a few), which they fold into a paper thin pancake. We had the egg banana smothered in condensed milk and sprinkled sugar. Yes, it constitutes about ½ of your daily calorie allowance, but you’re on vacation – you shouldn’t be thinking about those things!

Finally, if you’re anything like the two of us, you’ll top the night off with an adult beverage of your choice. There really is nothing like a cold beer in this hot climate. You’ll see. They’re hard to resist – and one never seems to quench the ol’ thirst.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Riverside Bangkok

Martin — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:01:45 +0000

Bangkok, just like Stockholm, is a city best viewed from the deck of a boat. The Chao Praya river makes a great ‘S’ as it snakes through its center, connecting a lot of the city’s main features. It is a scandal that it took me eight visits to figure this out, but I now realize that Bangkok is a city that opens up and faces the river. The streets and avenues are merely the backyards of the riverfront properties. Boating makes sense in so many ways: the air is fresh, the traffic jams are absent and the surrounding scenery is beautiful.

The boat taxis are also faster than anything land based, and fun to ride. At 13 bhat (40 US cents) for a 20 minute ride, it is also very affordable.

Thumbs up.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Lottery Market

Martin — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 09:53:37 +0000

This is a huge marketplace in Bangkok. The only thing they sell here are lottery tickets of all kinds. It’s a boring place, which makes for boring pictures and an incredibly boring blog post.

Next!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

What in the World?

Jaime — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 09:44:15 +0000

Feeling that we have stomachs of steel, we’ve been making our way around the street vendors in Bangkok – trying a little bit of everything.

That is, except for this thing. Dining is mostly a visual experience and this 10” pile of Evil, covered in stringy bits of Nasty just didn’t pass the test.

Does anyone have any idea what the heck it is?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Edgy Bacon

Jaime — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 09:41:06 +0000

Bacon slipped me last week’s allowance (a two rupee note) last night. If the door happened to open past our bedtime, I should ignore it. Martin’s a heavy sleeper so Bacon knew he had nothing to worry about on that front. I told him the payoff wasn’t necessary. He’s welcome to do what he wants.

It seems he did just that. We woke this morning to find our friend reeking of cheap liquor and complaining that his ears hurt. Finding them pierced was as much of a surprise to us as it was to him. Someone had a little blackout last night (and it wasn’t the two who went to the Myanmar embassy super early this morning, that’s for sure).

Will he never learn?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

More Diaper Pants

Jaime — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 11:37:41 +0000

Diaper Pants! They’re alive and well in SE Asia, too.

I know. I know. I’m obsessed with this subject, but I can’t help it. Why on earth would you want to wear something that looks like this?

Why?

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Spicy and Humid, Not a Good Look

Jaime — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 11:30:08 +0000

Figuring we’d gained a tolerance for spicy food in India and Nepal, we ordered a spicy pork dish yesterday. Three bites into the dish and my face looked like this. Not only are the spice levels different, we’re eating in1000% humidity.

My dermatologist once called me a “nose sweater.” It’s random, but true. I sweat profusely out of my nose. It’s particularly bad in humid conditions. SE Asia, combined with spicy food is NOT a good look for me. Making matters worse is the new nose piercing – I can’t wipe my nose.

So I’m pretty much just a big mess, but a happy one. I’ve stayed true to my word and have eaten constantly since we arrived. A little sweat won’t come between me and my food, that’s for sure.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Big Brother: Panda Edition

Martin — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 11:28:23 +0000

Pictured above is an image of Thailand’s Panda Channel – a TV channel exclusively dedicated to broadcasting the lives of a couple of confined Pandas. I kid you not – it’s Pandas 24/7 365 days per year. Sleeping pandas, playing pandas, eating pandas and I guess that’s pretty much all that pandas do.

We should know. We’ve been watching the channel for two days now. There’s just nothing cuter than Pandas. Mmmmmmmm. Pandas.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.