October 2017
When people ask you what you’d like to eat on your birthday you begin to think of your favourite restaurants and your all-time tastiest meals. When Maya asked this question to Rikun the only reply he had (like most days) was some type of hand-pulled, authentic noodles. Now “noodles” can mean anything. As we all know, there are so many types of noodles and each region creates them in hundreds of different ways…And just like that we found ourselves in the month of October, Rikun’s birthday month, with one quest on our minds. *SLUURRRP!*
81 Hours Left…
We landed into the grand Suvarnabhumi airport around 9pm and made our way through the humid BKK heat to our Airbnb. The train system in Bangkok is amazingly efficient (there are 2 lines, the MRT and the BTS) and we had strategically chosen to live in a central location near the intersection of both. Luckily, Maya had been to Bangkok once before to visit family, so we had some insider knowledge on how things worked. We got off at the Phrom Phong station and started heading south to our apartment. We caught up with a street cart vendor who was wrapping up for the night and managed to snag three garlicky chicken skewers. Let’s just take a second to talk about these skewers. We hadn’t even been in the country for two hours when our taste buds had already been taken on a wild ride. We tried like the dickens to find a cart selling these skewers during the rest of the trip but weren’t able to find them!
We finally dropped our bags off and didn’t even bother showering because of the intense humidity. We hopped in a tuk tuk to the Silom Night Market where we gawked at all the street food carts with smoke billowing from their grills. We were on a midnight noodle mission when we finally stumbled upon a street cart serving up thin noodles in a hot, beef broth. Mmm noodle soup! Noodles take us on a hallucinogenic journey through time and space. That’s why we feel sorry for Jack, as beanstalks aren’t nearly as tasty as noodles and definitely didn’t get him as high.
So there we were, a few thousand miles away from home sitting at a small plastic table on a couple of smaller plastic chairs with two piping hot bowls of Thai noodles in front of us. We were already sweating like crazy from the heat, but this was what our bodies needed. Birthday meal success!
We walked across the main road to Patpong and sat down for a couple rounds of Chang beer in one of the many bars to people-watch and talk about how we couldn’t believe where we were. We thought our trip to Hong Kong for Rikun’s birthday last year would be hard to beat, but it looked like Bangkok would be a worthy contender!
72 Hours Left…
We were up early because Thai chicken biryani was calling to us. Sounds odd, right? Well, there is a hidden gem of a food stall at Silom Soi 20 where one lady makes a single giant pot of the most delicious biryani bright and early in the morning and usually sells out by about 9am. To be on the safe side, we showed up at 8:35am and actually got the VERY LAST plate of biryani she served that day. We recited a little prayer before eating because we couldn’t believe how lucky we were. Then we devoured it.
We admired the chicken being grilled up and down the street.
With our trusty Nikes on, we made our way to the ferry port at Saphan Taksin, at the edge of Chao Phraya River. We stopped for a quick Thai iced tea from a shop along the way.
We took the ferry up the river to explore the Grand Palace and Wat Pho, the site of one of the largest statues of reclining Buddha. October 13 marked the one year anniversary of King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s death, so many monuments were closed to only residents of Thailand. Nonetheless, we made the most of the day by walking around the outskirts of the Grand Palace.
We were also visiting Thailand during the rainy season, and we started to feel clouds forming overhead, so we walked briskly over to Wat Pho. As we roamed the massive temple grounds to stare in awe at the emerald Buddha we got caught in our first torrential downpour in BK. We ran for cover and waited out the rain beside the reclining Buddha statue – fully decked out in our cute ponchos.
Rather than take a tuk tuk, we decided to take our chances and walk from Wat Pho all the way down the famous Yaowarat Road through Chinatown to catch the MRT. We navigated the shops and small streets and sat down for some delicious spicy noodles and pork buns.
After walking nearly 12 miles, we were parched and our feet needed a break. We stopped for a quick pick-me-up coffee at The Polar Cups before heading to May Massage near Asok station. This was a hole in the wall massage parlor but it definitely did the trick! You really can’t go wrong with a $2 one-hour Thai massage.
Our bodies felt rejuvenated but our sneakers were still soaking wet, so we headed back to our apartment to relax by the infinity pool, change, and get ready for the evening. Our Airbnb had an epic rooftop pool, so we watched the sunset against the Bangkok skyline and were ready to hit the town once it turned dark. Cue Mike Tyson’s rendition of “One Night In Bangkok” from the Hangover 2…
That evening, as we were walking down Soi Sukhumvit 11 to meet Rikun’s cousin, Niral, and friend, Jason, who also happened to be in BK, we noticed something strange. There was an eerie quietness around us and the bars weren’t playing loud music. Most people sitting out on the patios were enjoying a soda or a bottle of water with their food rather than a typical pint of Chang or Singha beer. We wandered into a rooftop bar called Above Eleven, admired the view, and were quickly informed that almost no bar in Bangkok would be serving alcohol that night in honor of the King’s one year death anniversary.
We searched on undeterred and knew we could find a bar that would make an exception for us. Our next thought was – we must find a bar that caters to outsiders. So, we found an Irish pub nearby and as luck would have it, they poured us a few pints of beer! We hopped around to a few more bars around Nana and by around midnight it was absolutely pouring rain. The streets were completely flooded with water two feet deep, so hailing a tuk tuk to take us back to our Airbnb was completely out of the question. We finally found a taxi driver who would brave the floods and he brought us home safe and sound.
48 Hours Left…
One Thai dish we had never tried before but knew we wanted to taste while in BK was boat noodles. We got up early to meet Niral and make our way to Boat Noodle Alley. At Boat Noodle Alley, you are meant to hop around and taste all the varieties of noodles each vendor has to offer until you are left with a tall stack of empty bowls at your table. Before we got there, we found a street cart selling Thai curry and rice and just had to grab some. It was spicy as all heck (so Maya was struggling) but definitely it hit the spot.
We took the BTS to Victory Monument and walked down to Boat Noodle Alley where we devoured at least 10 bowls each of pork and beef noodles. Each vendor serves their noodles with different accoutrements and at different levels of spiciness. At the end, you pay for your meal based on how many bowls you have stacked up at your table.
Next we stopped at Siam Paragon to find some respite in the A/C and sip some Thai iced tea to cool us off. We wandered over to Hapa Spa – one of Maya’s favourite spas that she and her cousin used to frequent for massages during her last trip to BK. We had a relaxing yet invigorating 1-hr foot massage each before we parted ways with Niral.
Somehow, we were hungry again. And what were we craving you might wonder? Noodles, of course!
Now, we had enjoyed our share of beef, pork and shrimp noodles while in BK but it was time to try something new. We set our sights on Soi Sukhumvit 63 to find a noodle shop that Maya had read about. We walked along the long street and felt extremely lost to the point where we almost turned around.
Suddenly, our noses started tingling with the joyous smell of goat noodle soup and we knew we had arrived. We don’t even know the name of the hole-in-the-wall shop we walked into, but as soon as we saw the cauldron of steaming hot soup they were stirring at the entrance, we were in a trance and quickly found a spot to sit down. This noodle soup was definitely one of our favourites from the trip! The goat adds a fourth, fifth, and sixth dimension to the broth which we haven’t successfully replicated in our own kitchen yet.
Safe to say, we were all noodled-out for the day and quite satiated. We headed home, had a quick swim to work off the noodles, admired the beautiful Bangkok sunset from our roof, and then got ready to meet Niral and Jason again for some late night eats and drinks.
Khao San Road is one of the most infamous party streets in Bangkok, so we knew that was the perfect spot for us on our last night. We grabbed a plate of pad thai, some paint bucket drinks, and a tower of Chang beer. In true tourist fashion, Niral, Jason, and Rikun bit into a few creepy crawly fried critters (snake and scorpion) while Maya gagged and tried not to watch.
24 Hours Left…
Early morning flights are tough, and they’re even worse when you’re severely hungover from a night of debauchery. We pulled ourselves together and jumped on a flight to Singapore where we would spend the last part of Rikun’s birthday trip. Since both of us had been to Singapore several times in the past, we focused this trip on our top hits.
We checked into the Grand Hyatt which is perfectly situated in the middle of the city. Then we ran to Lucky Plaza to eat our favorite Nasi Lemak and Singaporean noodles. Next up, was an outdoor food plaza called Lau Pa Sat where we inhaled 2 fresh watermelon juices and a bowl of wonton noodle soup.
Just in time to enjoy the last few hours of sun, we ascended to the roof of the Marina Bay Sands for a Pisco sour and a martini with Death’s Door Gin, Lychee, Shiso, Sparkling Yuzu Sake. The views over Singapore from their rooftop infinity pool are breathtaking and the pictures don’t do it justice. We watched the sunset and then headed to the back of the hotel to admire the Gardens by the Bay which were lit up in neon pinks and blues.
Instead of actually entering the park, we just admired it from afar and then headed over to our two favorite restaurants in Little India – Sakuntala’s for their spicy black pepper chicken and Anjappar for their tandoori chicken. We essentially had 2 dinners since we couldn’t decide which restaurant to eat at, but we had walked quite a bit that day so we deserved it 🙂
Next, we walked over to Clarke Quay for a few pints of beer and some dancing.
We left the next morning at 6am and somehow survived the 16hr flight back to SFO. It just so happened that “The Hangover 2” was available to watch on our flight. We sat back and joked about how it was a great feeling to have escaped “Allentown” but still have one hell of a time.
