Shoot First Eat Later

Sausages, Taxis and A Last Look at Bangkok

This is my last post on Bangkok. Sausages and taxis? What does one have to do with the other? Read on.

Every night the sidewalks in the Ratchadamri and Ratchaprasong area, where a lot of the malls are, turn into markets.

Clothes, food, drinks, toys and other knick knacks line the sidewalks.

Each time we walk these sidewalks I get lured by the heavenly smells of sausages being grilled. I finally succumbed and bought a couple to try.

The first sausage I tried was a delicious lemongrass pork sausage. The flavor was intense and the casing had a nice snap to it. It was cheap too at 15 baht.

The next one I tried was even cheaper at 10 baht and was simply awful. It tasted mushy and was almost all fat. I ended up spitting out most of it.

There’s really no connection with sausages and taxis except I like them both. I was amused with the fluorescent colors of taxis in Bangkok. I don’t know if there’s a meaning to the colors. Are certain colors private taxis? Are some un-metered?

Here’s a quick recap of my trip to Bangkok. Hopefully this will help others who are planning to go to Bangkok.

1. When you arrive in Bangkok, the cheapest way for a group to get to your hotel is to take a taxi and ignore all the offers of a ride from private companies. Our cab fare including tip and toll fees amounted to 400 baht.

2. Choose a hotel that’s walking distance to shopping, restaurants and massage. We stayed at Marriott’s Courtyard Hotel.

3. Rent a van to take you to Kanchanaburi to go to the floating market, River Kwai, Tiger Temple and Elephant Village. You will save time and money hitting all these spots in one day. It just takes precise timing since the Tiger Temple closes early that’s why we missed it.

4. Get the best massage of your life at Wat Po. If you can find it the foot massage at Mr. Feet is also unforgettable.

5. I always thought of Thai food as Pad Thai and tom yum soup. I never thought that they had awesome seafood too. Here are my recommendations on where to eat in Bangkok.

Must eat restaurant in Bangkok – Baan Klam Nam (yummy seafood and great ambiance)
Favorite Pad Thai and Tom Yum fried rice – a small stall in Chatuchak market
Favorite Thai salads – Best Seafood Restaurant
Favorite Hole in the Wall – I don’t know the name 😀
Favorite Mall Food – So many choices in Central World Mall

6. We asked the hotel to arrange a taxi to take us to the airport. We were charged 500 baht. It was a lot cheaper than the hotel van which cost more than double. And so this is how I will end my post, with a green taxi.

Final tip: Get to the airport early and make sure your hand carry is not full. There’s so much shopping in the airport. There were a lot of name brands as well as local brands.

What captivated us were all the free food samples and we ended up buying boxes and boxes of coconut cookies, dried pork snacks and some dried fruit snacks.

McDonald’s Bangkok

It was late and we just finished our last massage at Mr. Feet. We were tired but we were hungry. Since we had to pass by McDonald’s on the way back to our hotel and it was the only restaurant open we decided to eat our last dinner in Bangkok there.
In Bangkok the background of the signage is black. No bright red here.

Ronald McDonald says “sawasdee krup”.

We wanted to try their unique food items not found in Manila, Hong Kong or the USA.

I was impressed with their menu board which was an lcd screen with the objects moving and changing.

No plastic chairs in sight!

They’re trying for an upscale look with all these snazzy furniture.

Design yes, comfort no.

My order was a glass of cold Thai iced tea and chicken ham pie. The iced tea was ultra sweet. I had to ask for more ice.

The tray liners had all the nutritional information for all of McDonald’s food and drinks.

chicken ham pie 29 baht

The pie was described as chicken and ham with signature Italian sauce. I tasted the tomato sauce but there was very little filling inside. I couldn’t even taste the difference between ham or chicken. It wasn’t very filling either. Not too horrible but I wouldn’t buy it again.

My pie definitely didn’t look any where like the one on their menu board.

The only thing good on this tray was the fries.

Chris had the spicy chicken burger. It had a pathetic thin chicken burger with just a little spice which wasn’t enough to give the burger any semblance of taste or flavor.

spicy chicken burger

Rochelle had the pork burger since she doesn’t eat beef. After taking a bite she wished she ordered something else. I tried it and it was just bland and boring.

pork burger 23 baht

Chris and Rochelle had one corn pie each. I was surprised it was listed under desserts on the menu board. I forgot in Asia corn is popular for dessert. In the Philippines we have mais con hielo (sweet creamed corn with ice, maja blanca (corn pudding) and corn ice cream.

corn pie 23 baht

Where’s the corn? Inside the hot, flaky pie was a thick corn flavored filling with hardly any pieces of real corn.

For the pleasure of foot massage we gave up the chance to eat real Thai food one last time. It was a really sad, sad thing to have McDonald’s as a last meal in a country with such awesome food. For the money we spent in McDonald’s we could have eaten really good noodles or sausages in some street vendor.

Dessert & Fruits at Central World Mall

We deserved good dessert after our disappointing lunch at Phan-Khom Contemporary Thai Cuisine.

We walked to the other side of the mall and saw several restaurants we could have eaten at instead. There were even several eat-all-you-can restaurants that offered international food or steaks or Japanese food. All were priced quite reasonably too.

There were so many Japanese brand food and dessert stalls which I’ve never seen in Hong Kong or Singapore. Bangkok has much more imported retail and food outlets than Manila.

Harajuku cafe crepes

Crepes & Co.

I really, really, really wanted to eat those chocolate and orange crepes but I decided to look at all my options first. Chocolate and orange happens to be my favorite flavor!

After deep discussion we all agreed to try Bake A Wish’s cream puffs.

Bake A Wish

So many desserts to choose from!

I’m not really a cream puff fan but the green tea cream puff looked really tempting.

green tea cream puff

I eagerly took a big bite and it was more puff than substance. The pastry was light and crisp the way a good cream puff should be. The green tea custard was the right color and consistency but it was short on flavor. It needed more matcha powder. Too bad I really wanted to like it.

green tea cream puff

The chocolate cream puff was marginally better. I wanted to choose the chocolate filling but my friends overruled me and chose the vanilla custard.

chocolate cream puff with vanilla custard

They later agreed I was right. We should have gone chocolate all the way.

chocolate cream puff with vanilla custard

Since I didn’t have my chocolate and orange crepe, which to this day I regret, and I was disappointed with the green tea cream puff I decided I needed another treat.

Ho-Mu ice cream

I got a soft serve ice cream in orange and green tea. The flavors were prominent, the ice cream was creamy and not too sweet. It was a good deal for 49 baht. Yummy!!!

orange & green tea soft serve twist

We walked around the supermarket on the same level and I took pictures of the tropical fruits on sale. The Philippines has almost all of these fruits but Bangkok has more varieties of the same fruit. I never knew there was so many kinds of guava or pomelo.

Sala fruit

I bought one kind of guava each for my mom who loves guavas from Thailand. I wonder which one she liked best.

red Thai guava

pansithong guava

These mangoes were quite expensive. Maybe they’re imported from the Philippines. hee hee.

premium namdokmai mangoes

rose apple

Holland papaya

I really wanted to try both pomelo varieties.

khaonamphung pomelo

khaotankwan pomelo

peeled pomelo

Vietnamese dragon fruit

Thai coffee

At first glance we thought she was a real person. Well, she did have legs albeit cardboard ones.

The technology was fascinating.

7th Flr. Central World Mall
1 RAMA Bangkok 10150, Thailand
telephone: 02-2645555

Lunch at Phan-Khom Contemporary Thai Cusine

We devoted our second to the last day in Bangkok to shopping in Central World mall.

After an hour or two of window shopping we headed to the top floor of the mall in search for food. There were several restaurants but we chose Phan-Khom because of some interesting food items we saw on the menu.

Healthy but oh so boring and tasteless.

vegetarian Vietnamese spring rolls – 80 baht

Fried spring rolls filled with kani (faux crab meat) and cream cheese was simply ingenious. The best thing about this dish was the sweet and spicy mustard sauce. That’s how I describe it but it tasted really better than that. We couldn’t decide if the heat came from wasabi, hot mustard or both. It really gave life to the simple spring rolls that I can’t wait to replicate at home.

Phan Khom spring rolls – 85 baht

It looked interesting on the menu but it was just ok.

steamed baby corn wrapped with minced pork
and glass vermicelli– 85 baht

I’ve had better pomelo salad in Manila.

pomelo salad -95 baht

The sauce was good but the ribs weren’t tender and the taste didn’t permeate in the pork. It seemed like the sauce was just poured over the hastily cooked pork ribs.

Phan Khom baby pork spareribs with special sauce -125 baht

If you find yourself in Central World in Bangkok do yourself a favor and skip this ‘contemporary’ restaurant. The servings were tiny and not cheap. When we walked further we discovered so many more restaurants that looked even better. Oh well we can’t have all fabulous meals in Bangkok right?

Phan-Khom Contemporary Thai Cusine’s menu

Phan-Khom Contemporary Thai Cusine
Top Floor Central World Mall
1 RAMA Bangkok 10150, Thailand
telephone: 02-2645555

Dinner at Best Seafood Restaurant

Our friend Sonia recommended the restaurant that her boss owns. With a name like Best Seafood Restaurant I had high expectations.

The restaurant was within walking distance from Mr. Feet and very near all the big malls like Central World and Gaysorn.

outdoor seating

The interiors of the restaurant wasn’t a reflection of how good the food was.

Sonia said glass water bottles were served in restaurants only. While plastic bottles were sold in stores. I loved the pull tab cap on the bottle.

We wanted a simple and light dinner so Sonia ordered mostly veggies, salads and fish. The simply seasoned kang kong was a big hit with everyone.

stir fried morning glory or kang kong – 90 baht

Squid so tender with a spicy and sour vinaigrette. Very refreshing.

squid salad – 150 baht

I’m not fond of green papaya salad but everyone assured me it was delicious.

Thai papaya salad – 60 baht

I couldn’t believe this was catfish salad. It was perfectly crisp yet tender unlike the ones I’ve had in Manila that was sometimes overcooked and flavorless. It came with the green mango salad which complemented the crispy catfish to a tee.

catfish salad – 150 baht

green mango salad

Sonia must have read my mind. I love fried fish! Wow back to back fried fish. You would think fried overload but all the fresh, tangy salads balanced out the fried food.

deep fried sea bass– 400 baht

This was the first pork dish we’ve had in Bangkok. So simple, so good.

grilled pork – 100 baht

What’s a Thai meal without soup? Sonia ordered our two favorite soups. Tom ka gai or chicken with coconut soup and tom yum. Both excellent!

tom ka gai soup – 150 baht

tom yum soup (spicy sour soup w/ prawns) – 300 baht

Sonia asked someone to go across the street to buy this huge mango with sticky rice and coconut sauce from a sidewalk vendor. The mango was very sweet but I still prefer Philippine mangoes. I was already very, very full from dinner but I had to try the sticky rice. Even without the coconut sauce it was heavenly, so soft and flavorful. If I knew we were having this for dessert I would have skipped the soup.

Thai mango & sticky rice

Sister? Twins? Sonia and her mini-me daughter. So cute!

Thank you Sonia for the excellent recommendation.The food was faultless and very affordable. Even without noodles or rice we had a very filling and satisfying dinner.

Best Seafood Restaurant’s menu

Best Seafood Restaurant
9 Radjamri Road Pathumwan Bangkok 10330
(beside the klongsemsep water canal)

Lunch at Chatuchak Market

Our dinner at Baan Klang Nam was our favorite restaurant meal and our lunch at Chatuchak was our favorite cheap meal.

After our fabulous massage at Wat Po we took a taxi to Chatuchak Market.

It was huge. I don’t think we even covered 10 per cent of the market.

I didn’t expect so many food choices in the market. I thought it was all dry goods. That’s big vat of water chestnuts for dessert with coconut milk.

There was a covered open air area with several vendors cooking made to order food. It was so, so hot with all the cooking going on.

We looked around several stalls offering similar food and finally chose one that looked the cleanest. We lucked out. Their food was fantastic and cheap too. Nothing cost above 50 baht.

The succeeding pictures were taken with my iPhone since Rochelle’s camera ran out of battery and I didn’t bring my camera thinking we would be shopping only. Silly me. There’s always food!

green papaya salad

Why haven’t I ever heard of Tom Yum fried rice? It reminded me of paella. It was a bit wet, slightly sour, slightly spicy and the flavors simply exploded on our tongues. The rice wasn’t even finished and we already ordered a second one.

I wonder if this is available in Manila? We loved this even more than the crab fried rice I raved about here.

Tom Yum fried rice

I just had to order a Pad Thai since it’s my favorite and I haven’t had any really good ones on the trip so far.

How amazing is it to find the best ever Pad Thai in an open market? Even Rochelle who doesn’t like Pad Thai loved it. The noodles were chewy and perfectly al dente. That alone was a rare treat. The flavor was a perfect combination of sweet, sour and salty. I didn’t need to add sugar or anything else. What a wonderful all carb lunch!

Pad Thai

More batter than oysters but not bad at all.

fried oysters

The usual spices on the table. Check out the sugar.

While the others were still looking for more to eat I went back to the ice cream stand that was calling my name. There was a sign that said coconut ice cream. On the table were puffed rice, sugar palm (kaong), nata de coco, roasted peanuts and evaporated milk.

The steel container where the ice cream was reminded me of our taho.

While it looked interesting it wasn’t really anything different from our own macapuno ice cream. It was cheap though. All that for only 15 baht.

coconut ice cream sundae

While eating my ice cream I walked around to look at more food.

candied lotus root

Can anyone tell me what fruit this is?

Talk about fresh! Jumping prawns picked straight into the grill basket.

If I still had room in my tummy I would have bought a container of those grilled prawns.

grilled prawns

grilled fish

I was fascinated with these tiny fried quail eggs. I have never seen such tiny fried eggs.

fried quail eggs

This is how they fried those eggs. Can I have mine sunny side up?

We tried to do some shopping but it was too hot and there were many, many sections we didn’t know where to go. We went in indoors to the clothes section but the aisles were narrow and crowded we couldn’t even stand and look without getting bumped. We cut our trip short and went to an air conditioned mall instead.

I loved the food at Chatuchak but not the shopping. Maybe I’m just getting old. Sigh.

OXFAM – Grow Campaign

Grow.

Food. Livelihood. Planet.

Our planet produces enough food for everyone, but today, one billion people will go hungry. This is the scandal of our generation, and at its core is control of the world’s resources in the hands of a small number of people. Hunger is about power. It is estimated that only a few hundred corporations make 70% of the decisions made in the global food system, including decisions about resources like land, water, seeds and farm and fishing technologies.

Grow is Oxfam’s new campaign for better ways to grow, share and live together. A campaign for the billions of us who eat food and over a billion of men and women who grow it, to share solutions for a more hopeful future in which everyone always has enough to eat.

Practical positive change starts with each one of us. Every time we choose food that’s produced fairly and sustainably, every time we cut our carbon footprint, and every time we press governments and companies to change their ways, we’re helping to make good things grow.

Share solutions for food, livelihood and the planet. Join the movement. Let’s grow a better way.

Make Good Things Grow

To realize the vision of a future where everyone always has enough to eat, we have to change the way we grow. We must make practical positive changes in how we produce, consume, share and manage food and other resources.

1. Growing Better

We can and must invest in new agriculture, so that over a billion small food producers around the planet, many of them women, are no longer starved of the land and resources they need to sustainably grow enough for themselves and for others.

2. Sharing Better

We can and must transform how we govern the food system – managing markets to prevent food crises, stopping corporate abuses of power, reforming flawed policies at global and national level, and empowering families and communities to respond to shocks and disasters.

3. Living Better

We can and must build a new prosperity, with better ways to do business, organize our economies and live our lives – an ecological future rich in shared resources, safe from the risks of a changing climate, more equal and well-balanced, valuing what really matters for human progress and future generations.

Oxfam’s Good Food Lunch
The food we eat has consequences on our planet, on food producers and on ourselves.

Tomorrow, June 10, international non-profit, Oxfam will hold The Good Food Lunch at 12 NN, Bantayog ng mga Bayani, Quezon Avenue, Quezon City. Chefs Steph Zubiri, Sau del Rosario, and Tatung Sarthou, and Oxfam Ambassador Cherry Pie Picache will prepare “good food” – dishes using sustainably produced ingredients by poor women leader-farmers and fishers Trinidad Domingo and Ligaya Oria of Nueva Ecija, Rosario Mendoza of Cavite, and Nita Oigoan of Rizal.

Chef Steph Zubiri will serve Onion Soup with Blow-torched Kesong Puti Topping while Oxfam Ambassador Cherry Pie Picache will whip up her version of Sauteed Monggo Beans with Alugbati. Chef Tatung Sarthou will treat guests to Toasted Sitaw and Pureed Kalabasa to go with Mango-glazed Slow-roasted Pork and Spicy Alumahan Maki with Srirachi, Walnut and Apple Salad on Roasted Sesame Dressing will be Chef Sau del Rosario’s offering.

The lunch program will be hosted by Oxfam celebrity endorser Marc Nelson. Media and food bloggers are invited. RSVP Glenn Maboloc, 0928-504-2911 orgmaboloc@oxfam.org.uk .

Best Massage at Wat Po

On our third day in Bangkok we went to Wat Po not to see the beautiful temples but to get the best massage ever.

On the way to the massage center we couldn’t stop taking pictures. They really did a spectacular job with the renovation. Everything was so clean, shiny and sparkly.

We finally found the massage center. It didn’t look like the place my friend Jin described to me. When she went to Wat Po years ago she had her massage in an area without air conditioning and the mats were placed on the floor where customers lay side by side having their massage.

Wat Po massage prices

We were thrilled that there was now a new massage center that was fully air conditioned and had real beds.

We first had a 50 minute foot massage for 360 baht. We didn’t enjoy it at all. We liked the foot massage at Mr. Feet so much better.

I did like the cream they used for the foot massage. So smooth and silky.

There were two buildings with the same lay-out of beds with privacy screens in between.

We were given clean, loose pants to change into. The sheets of the beds were changed with each client. We were so impressed how clean everything was.

The massage was for 1 hour and cost 360 baht. It was not your usual Swedish massage. It was even better than the other Thai massage I’ve had. There was less stretching and pulling.

Instead there was a lot of spot kneading where the masseuse unerringly found all my painful spots and proceeded to use all her strength to make me cry. It was so painful in places I never knew was even painful! To survive the hour of blissful torture and freezing cold I fell asleep. I woke up refreshed, relaxed and free of pain. That is until we stepped out in to the hot, hot reality that is Bangkok.

We were given this cold drink after the massage. Sterculia lychnophora hance anyone? It didn’t taste bad at all. I was just glad to have something cool to drink.

Where else can you get a better massage than from a world renown Wat Po Thai Traditional Medical and Massage School? The massage didn’t disappoint. It was one of the highlights of our trip. Be sure to include it in your itinerary too.

Dinner at Baan Klang Nam

We had our best meal in Bangkok at Baan Klang Nam.

A big thanks to Kathy for recommending this restaurant and to her friend Alisa for making the reservations. We heard it was virtually impossible to dine here without a reservation. We left the elephant village past 4 pm and made it to the restaurant a little after 7:30.

The restaurant was actually an old wooden house converted into an open air dining area. The place was very charming and had a romantic feel to it with the lighting and river right next to it. My pictures don’t do justice to the place.

Baan Klang Nam specialized in seafood.

specials

The restaurant was right on the Chao Praya River and Alisa got us the best table which was on the deck overlooking the river. We could watch the boats pass but we were more focused on the food.

I was fascinated with this lady who made these appetizers one at a time.

These were the goodies she made. The wrapper was made of sticky rice flour and the filling was minced pork. It was something we’ve never tried before. Yum!

rice flour wrapping with minced pork

Our server recommended this appetizer. It was a good thing we only ordered 3 pieces. There was very little crab and it was too spicy. This was the only thing we didn’t like.

steamed curry with crab meat

The grilled river lobster was the best. Simply grilled it brought out the sweet flavor of the succulent and super fresh lobster. I specially loved the fatty roe.

grilled river lobster

We didn’t really know what kind of fish this was. We just saw it on the other table and pointed it out to the waiter and said, “we want that!” It was the best decision. The fish was very crisp and the very light, tender and flaky. This is how I like my fish cooked. I don’t like rich sauces that can mask the taste of the fish.

deep fried false trevally fish

Before leaving Manila Kathy reminded us to order their tom yum soup. We ordered the non-spicy version.

tom yum kung

She was right it was the best we’ve ever had. It wasn’t too sour and the flavor was rich from the prawns.The soup had a mild and natural sweetness that we suspected came from the use of coconut water. There were even strips of coconut in the soup.

The prawn was also delicious. It tasted almost as good as the lobster. It had a different texture which I’ve never tasted in Manila. It was softer yet not mushy.

We were curious to try ostrich meat. If you didn’t tell me it was oyster I would have thought it was beef.

oyster meat with black pepper

Rochelle and Chris were the only ones who ate the crispy pig ears. They loved it. Why I don’t know.

crispy pig’s ear

veggies with oyster sauce

Another wipe out!!

We’ve seen sala in several menus and we wanted to know what the fruit tasted like. It was tangy and firm.

sala in syrup

black sesame dumplings in ginger

Our entire meal cost a very reasonable 2,600 baht or P3,700 or US$85 for 5 people. I’m glad someone told me about this restaurant. When we were researching for places to eat this never even came up. I don’t know why. I think everyone who goes to Bangkok should try the seafood at Baan Klang Nam. I’m not a seafood lover but I thoroughly loved all the seafood we ate.

Here’s another view of our table just by the river.

Baan Klang Nam’s menu

Baan Klang Nam
762/7 บางกอกสแควร์ ตลาดนัดจตุจักรพระราม3
ถนนพระราม 3 แขวงบางโพงพาง เขตยานนาวา กรุงเทพฯ 10120

762/7 Bangkok Squar Jatujak Market – Rama III Rd.,
BangPongpang, Yannawa, Bangkok, Thailand 10120

telephone: 02-682-7180 , 02-682-7186
Open 11.00 a.m. – 10.30 p.m.

Muang Sing Elephant Village

Our final destination was the Muang Sing Elephant Village in Kanchanaburi. The weather was still a bit cool so it was just the perfect time to ride elephants.

entrance to the elephant village

Elephants and their mahout (handler) wait near the boarding area.

I had a chance to ride directly on my elephant and it was prickly and itchy. After a few minutes I went back to my seat where I felt safer and more comfortable.

The mahout used his feet to nudge the elephant’s ears indicating his commands.

We passed by two elephants doing tricks for the tourists. We forgot to go there after our ride.

The show was over by the time we finished our ride.

During the 45 minute ride, our elephants stopped several times to eat.

The other elephant used her strong trunk to rip off the leaves and branches from the tree.

Now this is what I call a good mahout (elephant handler)!

Piles and piles of elephant poop lined the path.

My elephant was the youngest at 7 years old. She was very, very playful and did several tricks whenever her mahout said some magic words. Looking for peanuts? I just loved Kate’s expression.

My elephant really liked Kate.

The highlight of the ride was going down the river. Each time our elephants went downhill we held on to our seats for dear life.

The end of the ride back to where we started.

I tried to give my elephant the tip for the mahout.

But she kept blowing it back to me. She needs more training :D.

The mahout finally got it!

Chris’ elephant saying goodbye.

We were served refreshments after. We really thought it was coconut water but it was just plain water and watermelon.

We really enjoyed the elephant ride. It was one of the highlights of our trip. Next time you go to Thailand you should plan to go to Kanchanaburi and hit the floating market, river kwai, tiger temple and elephant village in one day. It’s possible if you hire your own van. We couldn’t find any tour operator that had all these itineraries in one day. We just regret not going to the tiger temple because we took too much time eating lunch. But all these activities can be done in one day saving you time and money.