Bangkok, Thailand
/(Dec 21st - Dec 23rd, 2016)
Over the past couple of years Thailand has crept its way to the top of my travel list. I've seen pictures of the beaches and heard about how amazing the food was (and of course there was the fact that it would be warm and sunny). It seemed like it was the perfect location for our next adventure and I even convinced some of our friends to give up Christmas in Seattle with us and swap it for beach time in Thailand. Since 2016 had been one of the wettest falls/winters in Seattle, we were all ready to get out of the rain and cold for awhile. We swapped out our thick winter jackets and gloves for swimsuits and sandals and set out on our Asian adventure!
We had a rough journey over to Thailand (multiple layovers, delayed flights, missed flights, etc), but finally made it to Bangkok around 5am (after 35+ hours of traveling), took a quick nap, and then hit the ground running. After some serious caffeination, we took the BTS (Bangkok's skytrain) through the city on our way to see the Grand Palace. A little over a month before our trip, the beloved King of Thailand had passed and the country was still in mourning. Because of this, we didn't know what temples or palaces would be open to tourists, but we figured we would go and try to see as much as we could. We got off the BTS and planned to transfer to another line, but a friendly Thai man came up to us and offered to help us with directions. Long story short, we got scammed and our whole afternoon went a different direction than planned, but we made the best out of the situation. We never made it to the Grand Palace, but had fun and now laugh at what suckers we were!
Our Thai "friend" set us up with a tuk tuk driver who took us to the Triple Golden Buddha (which was supposedly a local hotspot and much less crowded than Wat Arun and Wat Pho, which were both on our list for the day). When we arrived, there was no one else there besides the people accepting donations to enter the temple. The tuk tuk driver seemed excited to show us around, so we humored him and explored the temple. Afterwards, we told the tuk tuk driver we still wanted to go to the Golden Palace, but then found ourselves at the International Fashion Center (IFC). This is a custom tailorshop that makes designer quality items for a fraction of the price. We were "lucky" because we were in Bangkok during the one week a year they allow tourists to take advantage of the prices. Our friends were interested in getting some custom clothing, so we decided to go in and check it out. The tailors welcomed us with air conditioning (it was about 90 degrees outside at the time), cold Leo beers, and started dazzling Allen and Erik with suit and sport coat ideas. Fast forward two hours and Allen was getting fitted for a custom designed sport coat and Erik was getting fitted for a custom designed suit and dress shirt. It definitely wasn't on our itinerary for the day, but ended up being a fun experience and the guys are very happy with the final products.
"Conveniently" our tuk tuk driver was waiting outside the IFC when we were done and in one last attempt to make it to the Golden Palace, we asked him to take us to the Chao Phraya River where we planned to take a short river cruise to get to the Grand Palace. We heard that it was a fun way to get to the Palace and there were spectacular photo opportunities from the river. Unfortunately our tuk tuk driver took us to a river cruise company who offered to take us on an hour and a half boat ride instead (we estimated that the distance we needed to go was only going to be about a 15 minute boat ride). At this point we were done with our tuk tuk driver! We set out on foot and despite the 90+ degree heat, we figured we would be better off navigating ourselves. After trying to orient ourselves, we realized that we were in a different part of the city than the tuk tuk driver told us we were, so when we thought we could walk on our own, we were mistaken. We scheduled Thai massages that afternoon and were running out of time to get there on time, so we officially gave up on the Palace and set out for the massage place. Based on the map that our hotel gave us, we could have either gone out of our way to get on the BTS or take a more direct route on foot. We decided to walk as we estimated it would be a 10-15 minute walk. It was extremely hot and we just wanted to get there as fast as we could. After more than 30 minutes of walking, we noticed that our map had a footnote that said "map not to scale"! When we figured this out, we were actually pretty close to the massage place, but were extremely frustrated and sweating from head to toe. Once we finally arrived we were desperately ready for some relaxation!
We didn't know what we were in for with a Thai massage (especially when the price for an hour massage was $9USD!!), but the Touch Massage had great reviews on Trip Advisor, so we felt comfortable trying it out. We hoped that we could all shower off before our massages, but once we arrived we quickly realized that wasn't an option. We were welcomed with a cool drink and then were led upstairs to their massage room. We were instructed to put on the traditional Thai massage clothes and lay down on the beds. There were no sheets or covers on the beds and I had no idea how they were going to massage us while we were wearing the large shirts and pants. I guess I was naively expecting something closer to the western style massage I'm used to, but this was a completely different experience all together. The massages ended up being AMAZING, but not as "relaxing" as we thought they would be. Instead of using oil or lotion, Thai massages use intense short strokes and involve a lot of stretching and twisting. Regardless, we were huge fans and ended up booking additional services for the following day.
After our services we went to a cute coffee shop next door called Great Earth CafeTeaRia and enjoyed some coffee and ice cream treats. We got affogato, creamspressos (ice cream floats with coffee) and an almond croissant. It was the perfect way to end our afternoon. We headed back to our hotel to finally shower and clean up before getting drinks at our hotel bar. We had dinner at Tim Ho Wan, a quick eats restaurant with a Michelin Star, and then capped off the night at a rooftop bar called Octave. The views and ambiance were spectacular, but the drinks were just average and our lack of sleep was finally catching up with us. We headed back to our hotel to try to get a good night's sleep and prepare for our final day in Bangkok.
Our second day started with an early tour out to the Dumnoan Saduak floating market. A floating market was something high on my list, but we found out that the best ones are only open on the weekends. We were only in Bangkok for two days, both of which were weekdays, so we didn't have many options for floating markets. It was super touristy and took forever to get to, but was still a cool experience. We took a boat ride along the market canal, had our first experience with local Thai food (delicious!), and shopped for Thai pants (photos to come in future posts). After a long van ride back to the city, we headed back to the IFC for our follow up appointments. We were again welcomed with cold Leo beers and most of the anxiety the guys had about whether they were going to be happy with their final products was resolved when they tried them on. They were both really happy with the fit, fabric combinations, and overall style.
After our appointments, we got a tuk tuk to take us to Lumpini Park (Bangkok's version of Central Park), but after being stuck in traffic for 15 minutes and only moving a few feet (Bangkok has some of the worst traffic we've ever experienced), we decided that setting out on foot was going to be our best bet. By the time we got to the BTS, we were hot and sweaty and decided that we weren't going to have time to make it to the park, so we headed back to our hotel and stopped in at a coffee shop nearby. Artis coffee shop was a real treat on such a hot day. We all got affogato and butter scones while enjoying the strong wifi and AC. Afterwards we showered and cleaned up for our most anticipated Bangkok experience...Gaggan! As true food enthusiasts and fans of Netflix's Chefs Table series, we were very excited to be able to get a reservation (several months in advance) and couldn't wait to experience the molecular gastronomy that Gaggan had to offer.
Prior to our trip, Allen had done a lot of restaurant research and Gaggan was definitely one of our most anticipated meals. The restaurant stands in direct contrast to the area surrounding it. The white exterior and extensive use of glass lets you know that you're about to experience something very different from what the rest of Bangkok has to offer. Eating gourmet Indian food in Bangkok seemed a little weird initially, but it didn't take long for us to get over that. Our initial menus were presented as a list of 22 emojis. There were no words or descriptions and we started guessing what each symbol represented. There were some interesting ones like a putting green, a kiss, and dynamite as well as normal food symbles like fruits, vegetables, and animals. The dining experience at Gaggan is intended to hit you with small bite after small bite every minute or two for the first 10-12 courses. It's rapid fire at the beginning and you hardly have time to think before the next unique dish is placed before you. We tried things like saffron foam, yogurt explosion, eggplant ash cookies, goat brain, pork vindaloo served on potato strings, etc. They were all tasty and interesting, but it wasn't the type of food that you crave later. Then the main dishes started arriving... We had the most flavorful lamb chop and tomato matcha soup. The dish we'll never forget however, was the crab curry. Allen claims that the crab curry at Gaggan is in his top 3 favorite foods of all time. It was honestly that good and we still talk about it from time to time. At the end of our meal, we were given new versions of our emoji menu with the name of each dish beside each symbol. Let's just say it was a good thing that we got that version at the end of the meal as I would have been reluctant to try some of the dishes if I knew what was in them (i.e. goat brain). Overall, Gaggan exceeded our expectations for a fun and unique culinary experience. The originality of the first dishes and the pure deliciousness of the final dishes made it worth every penny!
Being equally full and happy with our experience at Gaggan, we headed back to Touch Massage for our second round of Thai spa treatments. We all got different services this time around and enjoyed them just as much as our first experience the prior day (especially for the price). It probably wasn't the best idea to do spa services while being so full, but it was a perfect way to end our time in Bangkok. Bangkok was full of fun and excitement, but also lots of frustration. We were just starting our adventure though, so were optimistic about what was ahead. We now look back on the city with positive reflections and laugh at how different our actual experience was compared to what we expected it to be.
