Food Galore in Bangkok

We have finally started our 2015 travel journey! We left our home in England after 10 years and are on our way to New Zealand for a year with a few stops along the way. We arrived in Bangkok on the 4th, tired and ecstatic to hear the wonderful news of our nephew’s arrival into this world 🙂 I like to think he sensed we were arriving and decided to come few days early! He is one of the main reasons for our 3 week detour in Thailand.

Flight was uneventful, we flew with Ethihad and had 2 hour layover in Abu Dhabi. Kids are used to long haul flights as they have been to Bangladesh and USA several times. We all catch up on latest movies when we travel by air as rarely go to the Cinema when at home.

Arrived at Bangkok Airport!

As much as we wanted to see the baby immediately, we didn’t think dragging all our suitcases and our travelling dirty selves to the hospital was a good idea. We instead headed to our friends house, easy to get a taxi from the airport. I eagerly welcomed the heat,  Ashique and the kids, not so much…moving from 6 degrees to 30 was a shock to the system for everyone!

We have been enjoying our friend’s lovely 9th floor apartment in the Ashoke area, just off Sukhumvit Road. The apartment is very spacious, verandahs all around with  lovely views of the city. We loved seeing the sunbirds collecting nectar from the flowers on the Verandah, and hearing the melodious cuckoos.

Best part of the place is the large Swimming pool outside! We make good use of this everyday, I haven’t swam in an outside pool for so long (only in the sea, lake and river) but not a pool 🙂 We have been doing this twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening to cool off from the heat.

What else have we been upto the past 3 days we have been here?

To be honest the days have become a blur – our lives had been at such a frantic pace just before leaving, packing, finishing up work, farewell parties, saying goodbye to our life in England for 10 years…we got to Bangkok dazed and are still dealing with the jetlag, heat, and mosquitoes. The kids miss their friends and teachers at school and keep talking about them. I don’t think it has really hit us that we have left England (for good), it still feels more like a holiday and I think it will hit more when we are settling down in New Zealand.

We have been taking it really easy and not rushing to see all the major attractions. We haven’t done any serious sightseeing yet – Grand Palace and Floating Markets are on our list. We will also head off to one of the islands in a few days.  Mostly it’s been about lounging around the apartment, short walks around the area getting from the apartment to the hospital, swimming, spending time with our friends and their adorable baby at the Hospital (hospitals here are like Hotels by the way) and it’s been all about EATING big time!

Gorging in delicious Thai Food from the night we arrived, all throughout the day and then some more in the evenings. Papaya salads, Morning Glory, Pad Thai, chicken and rice dishes and so much more! Kids have been loving all the juices, as well as several of the food dishes. They are not picky eaters and are happy to try most things, they are just not fans of spicy food, and it has been easy enough to request their food be made non spicy.

We loved trying out random food from the street vendors – we had all kinds of juices, meat on sticks and fruits. Kids loved watching this one street vendor make lemonade and described it to me so enthusiastically (boiling water, lots of sugar, lemon and tons of ice.) I am glad to see them enjoying the new things they are experiencing despite the fact that they are struggling with the heat, constantly scratching their mosquito bites and being jetlagged! We have all been practicing new Thai phrases we learnt, I always enjoy this aspect of travelling when we visit new places. Visiting supermarkets has been fun, everything is so different and interesting. We have found everyone here so far to be very friendly and polite, always smiling.

Kids wanted to try Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) and this other fruit that I don’t know name of.

Having different juices from the street vendors

Thai Iced Tea

Pad Thai at Yolos

We went to Soi 38,  a well-known night streetfood market, last night. Not sure what to compare it to here as have only been to one, but Ashique and I were a bit disappointed as we had recently been to night markets in Beijing and then in Marrakech. The atmosphere was so buzzing and filled with energy in those places and they were quite big, long rows of food stalls, lot of different kind of food items. Soi 38 was quite small (in comparison) and it was quite chilled out. The food we had was good though, was very cheap and tasty. One stall was particularly successful with Ashique and the kids – Daniel Thaiger Burger Food Truck Shahaar says it was the best burger he ever had, he could have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner! There were several popular dishes to choose from, but I ended up having a simple noodles dish with vegetables and seafood.  The best item was the mango and sticky rice stall, so very very good, I could have this several times a day!

Noodles with Seafood and Greens

Best burger ever – according to shahaar

Writing this post has started my craving for more Thai food now 🙂 Need to wake the rest of my sleeping still jet lagged family so we can head out on our 4th day in Bangkok, ready to explore and eat our way through the city.

Linked to #weeklypostcard hosted by Travel Notes and Beyond and #wkendtravelinspiration hosted by Reflections Enroute

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