Teradise found …
It’s exactly one month since I’ve come back from Thailand and I can say with absolute certainty that this was the greatest trip of my life so far. Thailand is country number one hundred and two that I’ve visited and why have I waited so long to visit my motherland ? Let me dive deep for a minute and give you a bit of my background…
For those of you who don’t know I’m half Thai from my mother’s side and my father is English and Dutch. My parents met in Thailand during the Vietnam war when my father was stationed there. My mother left Thailand pregnant with me in 1976 only to return once more when her father died in 1985. She happily left Thailand for a new life in America and never took us back to visit or spoke Thai with my sister and I after we started primary school. In fact all I really remember in Thai are colors , numbers ,basic phrases pertaining to food , salutations, and I can recite The three little pigs. So random … As I got older I’ve always wanted to take my mom back to Thailand so I saved this trip thinking we would return together . As the years passed and I kept asking my mother to go with me I started to realize then accept that she just didn’t want to go. She had her reasons and after having many of my own life experiences I understood why she didn’t have the same desires I did to see her homeland. My Dad, best friend Charmane and countless other friends kept telling me I needed to go to Thailand . I should see and experience this incredible country for myself. So finally in August of 2023 with my husband we spent one incredible month in Thailand.
Week one Bangkok
Beginning in Bangkok we arrived into Suvarnabhumi which serves as the main airport for international arrivals. My first tip is get a Thai SIM card here http://www.ais.th I can’t believe I had to go to Thailand to have BETTER wifi and cell phone service but here we were! Two Youtube channels we binged on were Retired working for you https://youtu.be/NFw-WizIt50?si=poCQYbuH0Sgr4oq2 . Chris is so funny and in this video he explains how to make your arrival into Thailand much easier . Paddy Doyle has fantastic guides that we bought from his channel https://youtube.com/@PaddyDoyle.?si=IX6PAHHzrtCkWvQd .Although he’s lived in Thailand for many years he’s made countless videos of himself traveling the world and I like is carefree enthusiastic personality as he documents his journey.
I booked our tickets six months in advance to Thailand from Italy and we had an idea of the regions we wanted to visit so we made an itinerary based on where we were going to be from one week to the next. In the four weeks we would be there we started in Bangkok . We stayed at The Carlton Hotel on Sukhumvit RD .The Carlton hotel is incredible and within walking distance to great shopping malls , food markets, breakfast spots , Thai massage and anything else you could possibly need. Some spots near our hotel we shopped and ate at were http://terminal21.co.th where you can get anything from clothes to electronics . http://emquartier.co.th had the most beautiful food market I’ve ever seen in my life! This luxury mall has all the high -end shops and on our last night here we ate delicious Mexican food at La Monita . There was this twenty -four-hour mango sticky rice spot across from our hotel that we hit up after a long day of sightseeing temples and it was SO GOOD. The mangos in Thailand are on another level .. ask anyone who’s had one seriously ! We also had Pang Cha which is Thai Iced Tea with shaved ice, soft white bread topped with tapioca pearls. It’s hard to describe unless you try it but its a sweet crunchy chewy combination of pure deliciousness ! We took ours to go and strolled Bangkok at night absorbing all of the beautiful chaos that is this fantastic city! Our first night we were exhausted so we had our first dinner Of Pad Thai, Tom Yumm Goong , and red curry at Pak Bakery and passed out early.
Day Two
Our second Day we headed to Lumpini park because I wanted to see the Thai Monitor lizards. You all know how obsessed I become with animals and this was my goal for the trip. We took a tuk-tuk to the park and after walking around for a good twenty minutes I finally spotted one! He (I’m assuming a male but I’m not sure ) just slinked past me and I got so excited and took my first selfie of the trip with him . They are super chill I mean we found them mostly sleeping on the grassy banks or swimming slowly in the water . I read a sign at Lumpini that said the Thai Park Authority had to remove many lizards because they would frighten the tourists but I was happy nevertheless to see about twenty of them just living in the park ..
It was close to lunch time so I remembered my girlfriend Christy Bomb a few years prior had mentioned a Street food chef by the name of Jay Fai . She’s also profiled in the Netflix show Street Food Asia but it was Christy who sent me a YouTube link of Jay Fai cooking her famous crab omelette years before that sparked my curiosity . She was located a bit far from Lumpini so we got back in a Tuk Tuk and headed over not knowing what to expect but we had some luck on our side that day for sure… I’ll say this about OUR Jay Fai experience , we loved it. Yes you have to wait.. a long time. We put our names down (party of two) and waited one hour to be seated. Once we sat down we had our orders taken right away and we ordered the crab omelette (her most famous dish) , yellow crab curry , and Chili Shrimp noodles. It’s tiny inside with only seven tables and there’s Jay cooking alone . My husband and I sipped our Singha beers and were amazed to watch her in her element just cooking dish after dish without stopping for a break once. We loved our food and we had a great experience. Would I recommend going there? No. There is so much incredible food in Bangkok for a fraction of the price and the wait alone can test your patience so if you’re super curious and want to go see what Jay Fai is all about then go but your belly and wallet will be just as happy if you don’t ..
My husband usually consults the Michelin Guide when we’re abroad for restaurants. We had an amazing lunch at http://www.thelocalthaicuisine.comwe had dinner herehttp://sushimasato.com then went to the http://kingpowermahanakhon.co.th King Power MahNakhon Sky Tower glass observation rooftop for cocktails and breathtaking view of Bangkok. They give you these soft shoe covers so you can walk over the glass to get that iconic selfie 314 meters high but don’t look down! I did and it was scary! I’m not even afraid of heights but there was this wild feeling in the pit of my stomach when I would look down and see how high up we were! We took a quick photo relaxed on the seats and enjoyed the view.
Day Three
Saturday we were up early to take our tour of The Grand Palace , Wat Phra ( The Emerald Buddha ), Wat Arun ,and Wat Pho The Temple of the Reclining Buddha. Growing up Buddhist I heard my father speak of Wat Phra and this is his favorite temple . It was so incredibly emotional for me to go to each one and make my offerings and prayers …
If you plan on visiting the temples it’s important to know that as a tourist you MUST be covered and that means no shorts for men and women, wear long pants , cover your shoulders, chest , and NEVER point your feet towards Buddha . The detailing and beauty of these temples is truly something to marvel at . They are just stunning. We had a wonderful guide named Rabbit and after telling him we had the best crab omelette at Jay Fai he insisted that we let him take us to the BEST Thai food .This was his local spot Krua Apsorn and he wanted to show us the best crab omelette how could we refuse! It was delicious and we had the best green curry with fish balls plus a seasonal dish of Stir fried Cowslip flower with prawns . After this incredible lunch we wanted to check out a Muay Thai fight and it was so much fun!! Our hotel organized tickets for us at http://rajadamnern.com stadium . Make sure you check the schedule for fights and times and go it’s so much fun to see !
Day four
Sunday we were up early again to visit the Floating market Damnoen and Train Market. Both are situated about a one hours drive away from Bangkok so I recommend joining a tour or hiring a private guide like we did to help you navigate around the market which can be chaotic especially on the weekend. Our guide Nana was actually from the Issan Region of Thailand and arrived in Bangkok to work during covid since there wasn’t work available where she was. I had a blast going through the fish market with her in the early morning , my husband not so much !! We took a long tail boat through the floating market and we bought some things to take home to my mother and a new dress for me. My favorite purchase was the most beautiful and delicious mango sticky rice I had for breakfast .
I’m drooling just thinking about it now … The train market is quite a trip! I can’t believe the train passes (slowly) but so close to people and the shops every fifteen minutes or so! As the train passed by us I really thought it was going to clip my feet but as soon as it passes it’s business as usual …
Day Five
It was Monday and we were leaving to Chang Mai the next day so we went on another tour with our friend Rabbit who took us to the ancient capitol of Thailand Ayutthaya . It was a long and tiring day but easily walkable to all of the temples and sites like Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon, Wat Chaiwatthanaram and Wat Phutthai Sawan. Wat Mahthat is where you’ll see one of the most iconic images of Thailand the “Ayutthaya Buddha Tree “. http://buddha-heads.com explains the mystery of how Buddha came to be here and there’s other lovely anecdotes as well. It’s a good one to one and a half hour drive outside of Bangkok so be prepared for a bit of a trek . That night we got tickets to see The Calypso Cabaret Show located
We had a breakfast buffet every morning at our hotel but this cute place http://www.breakfaststorybkk.com across from our hotel beckoned us a few times that week and it’s delicious with fantastic service ! Tomorrow we would fly to Chang Mai for our second week of our month long Thailand adventure so I’mm “see you” in Chang Mai!!! XO Tera
