April 18, 2023
Last night and most of today was kind of a food fest, though I had time for more than just eating.
On Monday evening I went to a foodie-recommended small plates Thai restaurant here in Bangkok that specializes in “urban rustic” using fresh ingredients, lots of fermented stuff, and drinks to match: Err Urban Rustic Thai. Some good eats (and drinks) – pickled turnip with chili and lime, steamed sticky rice grilled on a skewer, turmeric fried squid with garlic and shallot, and braised minced pork with eggplants on steamed rice custard.
Today, Tuesday, I decided to mostly get outside the city since I’d spent all of yesterday here. So – with a guide who’s name is Chai, I took a 90-minute road trip about 90 minutes west of Bangkok, with a 7 a.m. pick-up, to visit a “train market” followed by a floating market followed by, well, just a market to grab some food.
The Maeklong Railway Market has become popular on YouTube: lots of food and tchotchke vendors lining either side of railroad tracks, with their awnings overhanging the tracks; just before the (scheduled) trains come by they all pick up and move back, then immediately go back to where they started when its all over. And what did these vendors sell: a remarkable, stunning, incredible combination of fruits, vegetables, fish, meat, and tchotchke. Fruits and vegetables we only periodically see at home (mangosteen, rambutan, longan, pulasan, jackfruit, durian, buddha’s hand, and – of course – mango and papaya). Tons of squid, catfish, frogs. And chicken and pork, of course.
Following that we made a quick stop at a small family-owned brown sugar “factory” – with this brown sugar made from coconut oil. You could see how the brown sugar was made (think extracting the coconut sap from the tree itself – not the coconuts – and then boiling it. Yup, just like maple sugar). And – waddaya know – they also sold alot of what they made along with coconut carved stuff, coconut oil, and other trinkets.
From there we headed to the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market; this was fun, but also a bit depressing. After we paid, we stepped into a 12’ long narrow awninged motor boat that probably sat ten (tho it was just the two of us). Kind of like a long motorized canoe that goes 5-10 mph max. The driver slowly took us on a long loop through a bunch of canals; there were vendor stands along a good part of the way as well as other vendors in their own boats on the water. So – kinda fun to be on the water and seeing a ton of stuff being sold – great eye-candy. Depressing in that it is virtually all tourists there today – it seems very few locals still shop there – and, as well, there were many many empty vendor stands that closed as a result of the pandemic.
We got out of our boat and walked into the canal-side food market. That’s when we got to EAT! We started with a minced pork rice-noodle soup and followed that with shrimp pad Thai. Then it was sticky rice with mango, followed by a fruit tasting (the mangosteen, rambutan, and longan – all of which are related). To top it all off, coconut ice cream with peanuts. GREAT eats – and I was so stuffed I could’ve fallen asleep on the road-trip back home.
After returning to the hotel – hot and sticky from the heat and humidity – it was time for a shower before I headed back out to the Jim Thompson House. He was a Delaware-raised architect who re-discovered the quality of Thai silk in the 1950s while living here, and he started the Jim Thompson Silk Company, which still exists. He disappeared on a trip to Malaysia in 1967, and his home has become a museum – he designed and built a combination of new and relocated traditional teak Thai houses and filled it with beautiful objects he collected over his lifetime. And – yup – you exit through the gift shop – and they sell alot of silk clothing there! I ended my visit with a mango slushy in the shaded garden.
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