City of YUM

When my flight landed in the capital city of Bangkok, and I cleared customs and rendezvoused with my high school BFF/tour guide/interpreter/and shopping enabler---let’s call her “C”---the very first thing we did was eat. And eating would be a reoccurring theme throughout our trip.

No. We did NOT

Bangkok is a city of over 8 million people, and stretches across 600+square miles and I’m pretty sure there are at least three food opportunities---restaurants, food carts, street vendors---for every person. Fruit vendors, noodle vendors, chicken, pancakes, “vintage” ice cream---meaning not that the ice cream is old, just that the popsicle/ice-cream molds are---whatever you might want, it’s on offer in Bangkok. Including American favorites Starbucks, Subway and McDonalds.

In Thailand, things are cheap. And delicious. And before you know it, you are turning up your nose at a reasonably priced hotel breakfast and saying with a snort, “Pfft! I can get that on the street for 20 Baht!” Which, as of the time of my visit, was about .58 cents, American. You read that right, less than 60 cents. For breakfast. In Thailand. From a street vendor.

In fact, things are so cheap in Thailand, I could make a convincing argument that you could afford to fly to Thailand to have lunch and have someone there do your laundry --- 45 Baht/ $1.30 for 12 items, 1.5 KG “with dry”---take time to see a few dozen temples and still come out money ahead. The only reason I don’t sell my washer and dryer and just have my laundry done in Thailand is the jet leg. Turns out it’s a real thing---not just an excuse to nap in the afternoons, as I had previously thought.

In case you are thinking right now, on the phone booking your flights and packing your dirty socks, let me give you a quick list of ‘Things You Must Eat In Thailand’:

Breakfast

Lunch by the Pool

Som tum

Too Stinky to eat

Mangos. Mangos with sticky rice and sweetened coconut milk---from a street vendor. Do not question me on this, just do it. You will thank me for it.

You should also eat shredded, pounded, green papaya salad, “som tum.” “Som” means sour and “tum”  means ‘they kind of smoosh it up so the flavors of the lime and chilies mingle’. It is so yummy they should call it “some yum”. Eat around the tomatoes if you’re worried about food borne illnesses, and you’ll be fine. We tried to not eat anything that hadn’t been peeled or cooked and that strategy worked out well for us.