Last week my family and I went to the gorgeous kingdom of Thailand. While others had what they called “Laboracay,” I on the other hand had “Labor-angkok” or something like that. I just couldn’t think of anything witty, really.
We left Manila on the 27th of April at 0600 and got to the hotel by 1130 (Thai time of course). The very first thing we wanted to do was eat! Now, if you do some research, all travel blogs will tell you that if you want good authentic Thai food, you have to go to the streets and look for it. Restaurants just don’t compare.
Well, yes, that is true. However, if you’re not one for extreme spicy food, you better make sure what you’re getting is tolerable for you. For lunch, we ended up in this ‘hole in the wall’ type place outside our hotel. It’s what we call in the Philippines a ‘karinderia’ - point at the food you want and it will be given to you on a plate (like a cafeteria).
Me, my brother and sister opted to get this beef dish that looked the least spicy. My parents both got curry, something one might think to be spicier than everything else. We got settled in and started eating. But after just 1 spoon of the beef my mouth was on fire!!! I am not exactly the biggest fan of spicy food but I’m usually able to tolerate. This one was an exception. Soon, my brother and sister started taking to their sodas (which only made the pain worse, FYI). My mother followed suit soon enough. My dad, the only one really crazy about chili in the family, was doing ok and just trying to help us water down the fires in our mouths. Me and my siblings ended up getting some Magnum ice cream just so we could get rid of the pain.
We thought it was just us who couldn’t take our beef dishes, but when our dad tried it he too had to take to his soda. So much for our heat loving dad. It was quite fun, actually, to see him react like that to the dish as well. At least we knew we weren’t just reacting for no reason.
After lunch we decided to go back to our hotel just to rest a little bit more. But as soon as 1430, we girls decided to go to the famous weekend market of Bangkok - Chatuchak! The boys were still too tired to even get up from their beds.
We took the BTS (the skytrain) from Sala Daeng to Mo Chit. That ride actually required an interchange with another BTS line. For tourists, if you’re traveling in a group (3 or more), I suggest that taking a cab to get anywhere would be cheaper. For example, my mom, sister and myself had to spend 40baht each for the train ride from Sala Daeng to Mo Chit. It would have probably cost the same if we took a cab but that would depend on the driver you’re dealing with. I’ll get to that in another post.
Anyway, once you get off the BTS at Mo Chit, you are already in shopping heaven! Trust me! Vendors line the streets! And if you just keep following the road, it’ll lead you to Chatuchak or JJ mall, as the Thais call it. You can and will find everything there! From clothing to food to even household decorations - everything can be found in Chatuchak. Naturally, the girls opted to shop for clothing. Me and my sister were given a budget of just 2000baht (around 2700 Philippine Pesos) for this shopping trip. Immediately, I was able to find pretty collared blouses for 100baht each. Soon followed by Aztec printed shorts for 150baht each. Then we found this amazing beads stall that had the prettiest beads ever! I had to go look since you can barely find nice beads in the Philippines. All in all, I had only spent 1005baht for my haul that day. Not bad, right?
Before heading back to the hotel, we decided to look at the food there to bring back home to the boys for dinner. We brought home large shrimp, some squid, pork skewers, grilled fish, and some fruits. Again, all under 500baht. All me and my mom had to do was buy rice and some drinks when we got home.
And that was our first day in Thailand!
