Please. I don’t think anyone here minds frequent posts providing us all with such interesting content.
Yep. Mayhem is never very far from that kid’s brain!
It could never happen!!! Your posts are always interesting and delicious-sounding. I love the ones where you get on a huge roll and go on and on, they absolutely make my day, every single time!!
Absolutely. It’s about as close to Thailand as I’m gonna get for a while
Bangkok has so many things to do but I tend to just walk around and eat good food when I am there. It is a tough job, but I am just the man to do it. But I figured I ought to see some sights here that I have not been to before, so I planned a day at the Museum of Contemporary Art, then booked a Chinatown food tour for the next day. MOCA is just a couple miles north of Chatuchak Park, so I took the MRT subway to the park and walked around a bit.
Perfect place to read in a shady spot. Then I hit the museum when the day got a touch warmer. First thing I saw as I entered was this monstrous ant. Loved the look and the welcome!
Then it was up the escalator to a collection of Thai and Lao decorative Khon face masks that were pretty cool, incredible variety of them. Tucked away at the end of the face mask corridor was a painting that just knocked me for a loop. The colors, the beauty of the women, the arrangement of the characters in the scene….
Sometimes artwork connects and you know that you will always remember it! Rearngsak Boonyavanishkul’s Legend of Wang Na was that work for me this year.
The last time I had a connection like this was when I was touring the Phillips Collection in Washington DC and The Luncheon of the Boat Party just leapt across the room and took my breath away. I love that piece to this day! But I had 3 more floors to see so I was off to the races after a few minutes. Another that leapt out at me, though for another reason was Chuang Moonpinit’s “Lovers”.
A very distant relative of mine, Aubrey Beardsley, created a bit of a ruckus way back in the day in late-Victorian England. But it is work that I know and when I saw Moonpinit’s work it really reminded me of Beardsley’s Art Nouveau poster style works.
Then I ran into a reminder of why i really should insist on larger ships for sea crossings. No more Lomprayah ferries to Ko Tao!
Then it was back to the Lancaster for happy hour in the club and an odd take on a Highball. Tasty and cold so I will not complain.
The next day it was a wander day, again in Chinatown. Just walking down random alleys, past scornful cats and untrodden paths. I hate when an interesting path dead ends into a stranger’s door…
The day was hot so i ducked into the Hex Bar for a couch in a corner. A snowy window scene played in a “window” to one side, an antelope mounted on the wall and a fake fireplace. Perfect setting for a Thai Iced coffee.
Not sure if that link will be live but it is worth trying to share it.
Then it was off to join my Chinatown food tour through the still festive crowds of Chinese New Years celebrants. This was where being a part of a food tour kind of grated. Being a gawking tourist is an uncomfortable role to play. But it is what I was, so I guess I should get used to it. Especially when we stumbled on the elementary age kids doing a Chinese New Year Dragon dance. It was pretty cute but it was peak tourist.
We started with sukiyaki (?) w pork belly…
… plus chicken skewers on the side, then a mild green curry w Chinese sausage at Jek Pui that was rather good! The place was standing room only with a line for takeaway food in those little 500ml plastic bags. I sat near a guy that was eating while seated on his mint Vespa scooter.
Then we stopped at a couple fruit stands, first the jackfruit stand, then a few steps over for the mildest durian fruit I have ever tasted. Not sure if they grow a milder version now, or if the woman chose the mild ones for the tourists? Is there such a thing as a mild durian? It seems so.
The shops were full of goods, I think the ones that I took the photos of were the sponge sellers. But they were all busy selling and chatting, nonstop.
One of the last food stops we made was at a place I think I may be mid-identifying, but I thought it was Jok One Table and we had phenomenal shrimp dumplings there. Jok Kitchen? Not sure. It was a Mom and Pop place, just one large round table. Great dumplings!
Then it was off into the crowds for a doughnut with a sweet green sauce and a few more photos.
I was up at 4am the next day for an 8am Qatar Air flight to Athens. Sorry to see Thailand in the rear view!
Those quiet late night/early morning taxi rides through a sleeping city have always reminded me of a Phil Collins video for some reason. Makes no sense.
I need a new video for crossing a city in the dead hours of night. Something reflective yet cautiously positive. Suggestions welcome!
I experimented with Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 14, Op. 131 since I had it on my phone.
My flight was a complete anti-climax.
Gratuitous Chinatown photos to follow.
Reading your most excellent post while listening to Beethoven! Thanks and yes always sad seeing Thailand in one’s rearview mirror… Cannot wait to go back, though other places (where I haven’t been before) beckon too!
This is kuay jab - fat rolls of rice noodles in a peppery soup, topped with roast pork belly.
This place used to be inestimably more Instagrammable when it was at its old location, with customers perched on a line of wonky stools set against a dilapidated wall.
Its new location, which does a lot of takeouts, doesn’t have the charm of its old persona.
Those are dried fish-maw, a delicacy amongst the Thai-Chinese - they are rehydrated, then added to soups or braised in stews.
I think this is taken at 𝗣𝗮 𝗧𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗚𝗼 𝗦𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗲𝘆, once listed in the Michelin Guide to Thailand (2018-2019). The sweet green sauce is sangkaya: pandan-flavored egg-coconut milk spread.
I hear you about having many places you want to visit, Damiano! Both the familiar and the new.
Thank you for your insight, Peter! I was thinking of you and your knowledge of this cuisine as my food group walked from place to place.
Fish maw? I thought they were sponges. Face palm.
I really enjoyed the curry at Jek Pui. My only concern was that the little plastic stool would fold out from under me. Those photos of it from a while back are outstanding.
But that food tour was well worth the time!
Knowledge of Thai and so many other cuisine!! Peter took my wife and I for a morning food and culture walk in Penang last week, the day after CNY.
Visited many venders (peter knew EVERYONE), got some real true insights into the history of the area and the diaspora that makes Malaysia such a fascinating harmonious blended culture.
I’ll need more time until I get on a PC back home to put pics and thoughts together. Thanks for a great experience, Peter!!!
Pleasure’s all mine, @Google_Gourmet . Always happy to meet a fellow HOer. I used to take part in, and also organise Chowdowns during our old Chowhound days - in London, Hong Kong and Singapore,
I’d read and vicariously followed those adventures. Always sounded so delicious!
Do give me advance notice should you make it to SF. There’s a slab of Prime Rib at the HOPR that I’m sure you would have no problem with.