Thailand - Bangkok Food Tour
If you know anything about how I like to travel, you know there is usually food involved. I love trying the local restaurants, taking food tours, and even cooking classes to bring that memory home with me to share with others. In Bangkok, Thailand we did a midnight food and tuk tuk tour.
We arrived at the meeting point where we were assigned a Tuk Tuk for the night. A tuk tuk is basically a three wheeled small open cab. It can hold two or three passengers (plus the driver) and zips in and out of traffic. It is also really cheap to get across town if you don't mind the wind blown look. Our first stop was a local family Northeastern Thai restaurant where we tried four dishes. Our group shared famous dishes from the region like spicy raw papaya salad (pictured below), deep-fried crispy catfish meat with spicy sauce, spicy pork salad, and spicy pork meatballs.
We were then driven across town to try some street food. We stopped at a street cart and tried the popular dish of mango with rice. Simple but so good. Next to the mango cart was a fresh coconut vendor. The vendor quickly "skinned" the coconut and stuck a straw in it. Refreshing on the super hot night.
We were then taken to another local family restaurant where we didn't go through the front door. We were led down the alley on the side of the building to the back alley where the cooks were outside on make shift fire stations making dinner orders. Yes, cooking in the alley and not in an actual kitchen. Mass chaos but it seemed to work. One of the cooks showed us how he made the big noodle dish (like drunken noodles) that were were about to enjoy.
We then jetted off to the flower market to grab some lotus flowers for our midnight temple visit. The lotus flowers were not fully bloomed so we were taught how to fold the flower. If you have seen the video or me folding the flower you know Tim took credit for the one I folded while I tried to fix his (see it here).
As we walked over to the temple we stopped to try some mango steins. An ugly purple and green fruit with a white fruit inside. The local Asian market near my house gets them every June and they always sell out before I can get my share. They might be my favorite fruit. We also stopped for some baby pineapple. By far the sweetest pineapple ever made. It tasted like pure sugar.
When we approached the temple it was lit up but there wasn't a single person inside. we had the whole place to ourselves. It was gorgeous and peaceful. We made a wish and left our lotus flowers behind.
Our last stop on the tour was the famous Thipsamai Pad Thai. At midnight there was a line out to the street. Out front was a few men manning pans to make the Pad Thai right there on the sidewalk. So we got a show while we waited for our table. The line moved quickly and we paid the extra money to sit inside with the air conditioner (worth every penny). Tim and I ordered the pad thai two different ways. Traditional pad thai and then pad thai wrapped in an egg envelope. Both ways were delicious.
The tour was one of my favorites and a great way to eat local and see the city. We tried tons of food, saw the city late at night, and had the temple all to ourselves. Tours like this are great to do on day one to help get an idea of things you want to come back to visit and to get local recommendations from your tour guide.
