Chinatown, Bangkok style.

Thursday 11^th February 2016.

Today is the day designated to go to Chinatown and do some fabric shopping, so it’s back to the train to the ferry and jump off at Ratchawongse Pier for Chinatown. Instructions were to walk up Ratchawongse Rd until Sapheng Lane, turn left and dive in. So many stalls and shops selling fabric, I’ve never seen so much in all my life. I vowed not to go crazy and buy heaps, I was only going to buy if I absolutely loved it. So I came home with 2 x 2metres of fabric. Bit disappointing really, but the experience was pretty amazing. We said from the minute we got here that Bangkok seemed to be like every place that we’d ever been in Asia, all rolled into one and then put on steroids. The fabric shops seemed the same.

We found the most delicious pad thai made by a little Thai lady down a side alley behind the market, the sort of place many people wouldn’t venture, but it seemed the only place around selling food. There were several vendors and we chose this one because the food looked good. She charged us 50 baht for enough food to feed us both and it was sooo good! We saw a sign on the way back to the road that said 35 baht, so we guessed that was the ‘local’ price, but we certainly didn’t begrudge her the extra 15.

best pad thai in town, and the cook.

Walk, walk, walk, back to the ferry, skytrain and back to Sunrise Tacos for more beers, corn chips and salsa. Too early for happy hour today, but never mind, it’s still good value.

We’re determined to have a swim this afternoon, so don’t have the 2^nd beer. The pool at our hotel is 1.35m deep the whole way and it’s shaded pretty much all day, which was a box ticked in the decision making process when figuring out where to stay. Only problem with that was, it got no sun and was freezing cold!! Just keep moving, it’ll be ok. It was refreshing to say the least!

Apparently, the Patpong Night markets are a bit of an institution in Bangkok, a must see on the tourist trail. Expecting something similar to the night markets at the Ben Thanh markets in Saigon, we head over there, but there’s no food stalls, just a bunch of carts with assorted char-grilled meat on sticks, which is not an entirely bad thing. And then after our street food entrée, we find the Patpong Corner Café and order some stir fried veg, seafood in oyster sauce, rice and some beers. All very good for 500baht. Bit dearer than lunch but it came with the use of a clean toilet, so who’s complaining? And by the time we were homeward bound, there were so many more stalls set up, it was staggering. Only tempted seriously by one stall, selling the most beautiful photos of Thai scenes, but decide against buying any, not even sure how much they were.

We’re not loving Bangkok in the same way that we love Luang Prabang or Hoi An, but we’re getting by.