A father and son duo who carry international flavor, 2 transplants in China, and a Beijing pub crawl brought an idea of a weekend in Bangkok into fruition.
Two weeks later, at the last bell of the school day with our passports in hand, Laura and I headed for Beijing International. I’m so grateful to have a gal pal join me on the weekend, who is impulsive and whose weakness is geography. “Thailand? I’ll go with you!!”…. However, it was only at the airport, that she realized where Thailand was, questioning her own decision to join on this weekend international flight. Oops, too late 😉 One direct flight later, we were rolling deep in Bangkok.
Was I ready to party like I was casted in Hangover 2? Hell yes.
After checking in with Siri, Khao San Road, sounded like the place to be. The son who carries international flavor and I followed google maps down and along the river, through dark and deserted alleyways, amongst the locals and strays, but at least I had a roadie in hand and a better map reader than I to lead the way.
We played “on the way”, popping into bars along what we thought was Khao San Road, for a shot, a drink, or a bucket o’ booze.
We took down a street shot of Thai Mix, twirled and attempted to dip at Molly Bar, and spent hours with other locals and tourists, street watching with a bucket at Gun.
Night turned into morning before our eyes, as we sat on our bright colored plastic chairs along TV dinner tables, shared by those around us. Stories were told, buckets were drank, street rats were observed, and bracelets were created. Bracelets which only now make us look like frauds. The effort was there, but we can’t help all the “better” girls come on early, and we come out late 😉 So much for that Hangover 2 bucket list.
As the sun shined a little brighter, no amount of sleep, or lack there of, was going to keep me from the Chatuchak Weekend Market. I rolled out of bed, grabbed a Grab (Thailands Uber) and my gal pal, and hit the stalls.
Chatuchak Market has over 15,000 stalls, divided up into 27 glorious sections. Laura and I only touched upon one of the sections our first morning there. Clothes, shoes, jewelry, accessories, oh my.
I bought handmade leather sandals, some funny, yet thoughtful (Don’t drop the soap) souveniers for my China 5 crew, and the best pants ever. Could I just buy 1 pair of elephant pants, aka, my new work pants? Heck no- grabbed ‘em in every color, yo.
After stripping down and into my new pants, Laura and I met up with the mens and our fellow cooks. We visited a local market, and were tested on various veggies and herbs. For this gal- epic fail.
After picking up our fresh ingredients we were led to the Bangkok Thai Cooking Academy. We each chose our 5 Thai dishes, and started preppin’ and cookin’. Thai food… makes my soul happy.
Panang Curry, Sweet and Sour Chicken, Tom Yum soup, Pad Thai, and Deep Fried Bananas… I’m salivating just thinking about the meal that I COOKED! A few of us chose other dishes which we passed around for a taste including mango and sticky rice, pineapple fried rice, various curry’s, chicken with spicy basil or cashews…. amongst many other culinary delights.
If you’re in Bangkok, you got to check them out. 👇🏻http://bangkokthaicookingacademy.com
We wandered the streets near the cooking academy and found our way to the Jim Thompson Silk Factory store. The 4th and 5th floor sells clothing and various accessories. The whole thing had me feelin’ I was at the Vera Bradley outlet.
After a day out and about, it was that time: nap time. The only hour of sleep I had the night before, had me struggling.
2 hours of nap time later, I was ready to hit the streets for Round #2- which directed us to the *real* Khao San Road. We picked up Laura off the street, and grabbed beers at Mulligans. Khao San Road is Broadway St. in Nashville on steroids.
Some were dancing, some shopping and eating, others getting their feet rubbed and backs cracked, but all were living. Everyone on that overly crowded street was having a blast.
We shared a scorpion. It was crisp and tasted like bacon. That’s a lie, it tasted like feet.
We danced and sweated to awesome beats in a club, and then we found magic.
Enroute back to our night before buckets, it was thrown out that we swing down an unknown alley to possibly save time through the chaos of Khao San. Hesistant, I voiced it only looked like a dead end, but followed along through the twists and turns of the brightly graffitti’d alley.
Magic.
In the midst of the tunnel, a band crooned out, “One Love”, in a small reggae bar as the audience sat at long communal high tops, and Chief Tui from Moana poured drinks from behind the bar.
We were there for a bit, getting to know the lives of those around us through various pieces of tattoo art… even peeking into a strangers travel journal… which was in German.
Laura and Galen put their signing skills to use, conversing with a local selling roses. Yes, I accept this rose 😉
It was eventually time to move onward, buckets needed drinking. We perched ourselves on our stoop, enjoying our cold cocktail… or 4 or 5… and plates of late night Thai food.
I’m a planner, who loves to-do lists and post it notes… The last on my to-do list, minus ping pong… was a late night rub down and a ride in a tuktuk2.0 ☑️
We got our rub downs and crackings at Jenny’s Massage on Khao San. The Pain… The sounds… The cracks… However, the end result- loose as a goose.
The night ended with my light up tuktuk ride, zipping through the streets and around the Democracy Statue to the Methavalai Hotel.
Since we barely touched the Catuchak Market, we went back Sunday morning to do a bit more damage. I did bring an extra large suitcase, empty, for this sole purpose. We also grabbed an incredible lunch (chicken fried rice) for under $1USD and a 1 hour, head-neck-shoulder-foot & leg massage for $6USD. If only this were real life.
Then, we did something that made me feel human. We went and saw a movie… that was just released. In English. At an actual movie theatre that was not in 3D or 4D. The only thing that reminded me that I was in a foreign country, was the entire theatre was asked to stand to pay honor to the King, prior to the film. It was a 3 minute slide show, dedicated to his life.
I got comfy in my recliner with my CokeZero and popcorn… and soaked it all in. Side Note: As I didn’t previously know the history, after seeing Bohemian Rhapsody- I have MAD respect for Queen… It made me tear up a bit and caused the older American man next to me to cry like a baby.
The closing credits caused us a delay and we had to make a mad dash back to the hotel to pick up our luggage… Rather than waiting for our Grab… We hopped in a tuktuk… A 13 minute ride, was made in 7. Terrifying, sure. Not missing our flight- worth it.
And it all started… with a swipe right.
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