Bye Bye BKK

Would love to return here! And also could try the paradise islands for some time.

Had last meal at the airport lounge, oh I miss the mountains of sweets already! Heading to totally another kind of Asia, Singapore.

Another lunch, another dinner

It's cute and nice to talk, think and blog about food. I think I've gained weight here in Thailand, which is not cute at all. And just now a small fly/mosquito bit me, maybe I got malaria as well? A little homesick and restless, have to admit.

Anyway, Wednesday was a good food day. Delicious lunch and delicious cocktail dinner. Won't even start guessing the ingredients, everything was good. Especially green chili sauce which I had plenty of. And the sweets made of sticky rice, beans, potatos...

Lunch at riverside restaurant, Ayutthaya

 Had marvellous lunch just after being sick :/ Food resurrected me and lift my spirit so I could munch a taro-coconut muffin with sesame later in the evening. Green Thai lemonade with weird sugary-fruity taste was too much, had to left it unfinished.

Really spicy good mushroom soup for starter, followed by mild vegetable dish. It was not curried but sweetly spiced, it also included the same unknown veggie which is not water chestnut but maybe pak choi or it's relative. The other warm dish was something crispy and not very unforgettable. But luckily I finally had a chance to taste Som Tam papaya salad. It was SO good! So much chili and garlic! As dessert fruit plate with pineapple, water melon and green mango. Didn't dare to have ice cream, chicken me.

Daytrip to history: Ayutthaya, Siam

Former capital ruins and temples were really fascinating. The day was otherwise just great but the heat made me throw up. That's why I'll report about my lunch in different post, later.

Unidentified dinner

Today I ate deep-fried somethings and green something, both I didn't recognize. Some beans maybe, water chestnut? Just pointed them with my finger at the food stall. It was a veggie one, so no worries, it wasn't pig snout. As dessert sweet sweet bananas with coconut cream as thick as gravy. Washed it down with jasmin scented iced green tea. Some fresh pineapple, longan juice and pandan-flavoured bun waiting in my fridge when I shall become hungry again.

Busy Sunday

On Sunday I cruised the Chao Phraya river back and forth. Visited Pak Klong flower market, Wat Pho temple and museum of Siam from where the weirdest pics are. Wonderful, if wearing, day.

Ate mushroom curry, drank coconut water and had more spiced tamarind. Later going out to get something to nibble, again. Now munching spiced tamarind. This is all about eating, isn't it?

Not a traveller, no way

If being a traveller means "been there seen this done that" attitude, looking all-experienced and sullen in front of world's most amazing views and talking about places in a too-familiar bit bored tone afterwards, then I don't want to be a traveller (anymore). I've done my share of trying desperately to look cool even being completely lost and bewildered. No more!
To pretend that I'm seeing only the genuine treasures and well-kept secrets is really humbug. Everyone not living permanently in Bangkok is a tourist here. Full stop.

I want to be childishly surprised, delighted and astonished about everything, mundane or noble or something in between. I want to take pictures of sleeping cats, buddha-like fat babies or bananas as well as temples. I am willing to confess that I have no idea about the culture, habits, etiquette around me and I don't want to pretend I do, but I'm willing to learn. I want to ask advice, tips and hints, find out.

Humbly I realize that I'm seeing only a fraction of this city, hardly learning to navigate in the closest blocks around me. But that's good and enough. I am here now, that's enough. Hmm... this sounded badly as dogmatic declaration but I had some negative encounters with hardcore travellers today and I want to differentiate.
 

One night in Bangkok, so far

Been here little over 24 hours, trying carefully not to get overwhelmed which is difficult here. Can't think of any verbs about Bangkok yet, here's adjectives to begin with: smelly, noisy, hot, poor, golden, cheap, smiling, indifferent, beautiful, ugly, tasty, pungent, chaotic, smooth, marvellous. An ongoing carnival.

I'm not sure after not sleeping properly for several days/nights (what time and date is now?) but I think I like this exuberancy. It is too much of everything, but in a far-out, enjoyable, surrealistically kinda too much.

On my way from the airport to the hotel without a map I got irrevocably lost. I didn't mind it at all, it felt nice. I've had the same feeling in some other first visits, and that usually tells me I'm about to like the surroundings. After walking in the heat for dunno how long, asking for contradictory but friendly advices, I finally took a tuk-tuk and bartered intensively about the price.

This is a sentence I thought never would escape my mouth, but I feel a little bit disadvantaged here, being a sensitive-stomached vegetarian. There's SO many weird weird thingies on the street vendor stalls and BBQs to taste! Settling for fresh fruits and veggie restaurants is ok but still... Ok, that's the end of the whining. Today I ate fried rice (not the sticky one yet) and sesame balls (made from sticky rice!) in green ginger tea. Now a siesta and in the evening wandering around Pratunam street market. Maybe durian fruit, jellied coconut or some fruit that I've never seen before. The pic is from my hoods, albeit the hotel is on a quiet side street.