Bangkok

I’m really glad that I forced Derek to come back to Bangkok. Also I really wish we had spent Christmas in Bangkok instead of Manila, airport fiasco be damned. Some expats we talked to said they didn’t like Thailand because, while everyone is smiling and seems nice, they are all out to scam you. Well, everyone is out to scam you everywhere, at least in Thailand they’re nice about it.

One of the great travelling activities now is cooking courses, so I looked some up and decided on Angsana (website). She runs it out of her home and it’s a private course, and you get to choose which three dishes you prepare. We chose a spicy shrimp soup, fish stuffed lychee, and an egg custard cooked inside a small pumpkin. I really enjoyed the experience, Angsana is very kind and happy to talk about life in Thailand and the food we made was delicious.

Even though my egg custard failed in it’s visual integrity, it tasted better. We also learned of a new flavouring, pandanus leaf. I doubt we’ll be able to find it Toronto, but maybe the extract. I rather liked it, something to use as an alternative to vanilla.


Another traveller told us of a market that is one of the largest in the world, larger then the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul by a significant amount. It is. The stores aren’t set up in districts like most bazaars, so it’s a maze of similar stores repeating like a cheap cartoon background and after we had had quite enough (10 minutes) we couldn’t find the way out. Apparently they sell monkeys, but we only found the tiny fluffy puppies and bunnies (wearing tiny little dresses), also baby squirrels. Miserable looking baby squirrels that apparently get vicious when they get past puberty and have to be put down. I can’t imagine a worse pet. Here’s something tiny and adorable to care for, and the number of a vet that will put it down for you in a few months. They should just install a time bomb in it so when it’s almost at that point it explodes. Preferably around dinner time.


Thailand is well known for it’s sex tourism, which I knew, but still I was not prepared for the sex shows. When you are walking down the night markets hawkers are following you and hassling you to go inside a strip bar and watch a sex show. Derek thought they would bother him less if he was walking with me then when he walked around with Jim last year, but apparently enough couples are interested. They even had a laminated sheet of all the different acts. I’d seen enough tv specials on people being sold into brothels by their parents and the very dark side of the sex trade to deflate any interest. Also, ew.

How can you not enjoy a city with metallic hot pink cabs and Godzilla statues? I’d really like to go back and backpack around Thailand for 2 or 3 weeks, since Derek has no interest I’ll probably be pestering someone else to go with me.

(That is the biggest fruit have ever seen. Also, the apple is huge! Ba-da bsshhh)