We availed of the long holiday for the observance of Holy Week by going to Bangkok. The trip was more enjoyable because we brought along my nephew and 2 nieces. We arrived at night and the food on the plane served as our dinner. We just roamed a bit then went to bed. Early in the morning, the children saw for themselves the so called street economy - food and other wares are being sold on the streets. It seems to me that natives of Bangkok do not cook anymore for all kinds of food, from breakfast to dinner, are available in the streets. Our first haunt is the appearance of the monks. Coming from the monastery, the monks roam the city to seek food. The people give them food as a form of sacrifice. It is my second trip to Bangkok and I had done that before so I did it again - offering food to the monk. The streets of Bangkok is a sight to see. It can elicit so many stories that can fill a book. But for now, I want to show what we enjoyed. First is the fruit that so many vendors are selling. Agriculture is the main industry of Thailand so they have the best quality of fruits and all fruits are so sweet. We sampled watermelon, cantaloupe, macopa, maprang, pineapple, oh so many fruits to mention. We brought home some maprang and had planted the seeds. We now have 2 saplings which we hope would grow to be a fruit-bearing tree. In the photo above, the red fruit is the macopa and the yellow is the maprang. In the middle is duku or lanzones. They are all native to Thailand.
That is really neat corrie. I imagine your pictures is the closest I will ever get to Bangkok. I have some cousins that went though. They thought the traffic was pretty amazing. Most traffic here is pretty organized, even if it is excessive. They thought it was amazing that so much traffic could go through a relatively small area. I have heard most of the street food that is available in Thailand is really pretty good. I love Thai food in restaurants, so I might enjoy some of it as well.
It is natural for a tourist to walk and walk. However, my 2-year old niece felt ill so we rested for a moment in one store. When she learned that we were going to the flea market, she felt better. Surely she lacked sleep so perhaps that's why she was not feeling well. By off we went to the street boutique where the cheapest clothing items can be bought. Good shirts are priced at 100 baht, that's about $3, you add another dollar and you get the classy shirts. The kids had a grand time buying (because I gave them enough pocket money for that purpose). Here is the pic of the street boutique, mind you, those are not mannequins but real women - There was a variety of snack foods and one of the best was the small pudding that was cooked in coconut milk, sorry, I forgot the name. I was amused with the small corn that was as sweet as sugar, no exaggeration. What's good in Bangkok's street is the cheap prices. It doesn't matter to them if you are local or a tourist, the price is just the same unlike in our country where they jack up the tag price if the buyer is a tourist. Here is the vendor of that small corn - That night, it was actually our second, my husband pulled us to the street where they sell cooked insects. It was a challenge to the kids if they can eat the insects like beetle, scorpions, caterpillars. My eldest niece chose an assortment for $2 just to take the dare of my husband. You can imagine their faces when they were eating the cooked insects. Me and my husband took a pass on that challenge,. Here is the vendor and his cart while the girl is my niece.
@Corie Henson Corie, what a most interesting, and amazing story! I had no idea of the appearance of the streets and vendors and such! Having grown up confined to the mores and principles found in the States, such far-off places have for me always been a sort of "dream-land". Thank you so much! Frank
For our touring of Bangkok, we went to a Buddhist temple where this so called Reclining Buddha is located. The temple is almost occupied by the big statue and only the sides of the temple are left for the people. Here is my photo in that temple... In a theme park, we watched the live drama of an action show about a spy versus a spy. It was great with the special effects. However, it was too hot in the stadium, maybe a sizzling 40 degrees C, I really cannot say. Aside from the roaming vendors with cold drinks, there is one who sells cold face towel. We bought for each one of us at 10 cents per piece. In photo is me with my sister's 3 kids... For a taste of native Thailand, we took the elephant ride which costs around $18 per person. And that ride is just around the compound, about 50 meters in distance. It was highway robbery but we had to take it just for the experience. And to cap the theme park features, there was the feeding of giraffe. Oh, that compound has more than 100 giraffee, half are waiting for food from the tourists. They sell a bucket of plantain for feeding at $3 if I remember correctly.
I too visited Bangkok and went North to Chaing Mai and back. I had a terrific time and saw much the same things as shown in the pics. My most memorable event was a trip down the Mekong. There were still planes in the water that could be seen from the boat. My only disappointment was that being 5'8" tall, the clothing was too small!!! lol. We planted rice in a rice field, visited MANY Wats and ate some interesting meals. If you expect to pick up the language, the closest I got was "sawadika", i.e. a hello greeting. Oh yes, and the Pineapple Plantations!!! Best fruit I ever ate!