March 25-26, 2023:
We arrived on March 25, 2023, at the port of Laem Chabang, Thailand, about an hour and a half drive from Bangkok. Jim and I explored this city thoroughly over a three day stay in 2017 (you can read about it here: https://vayacongringos.wordpress.com/2017/01/22/one-night-in-bangkok-ok-really-3-nights-2-days-in-bangkok/)
But for this visit, we were on a mission with several key objectives to achieve. Because it was such a long drive to and from the port, we decided to stay the night in town at the Peninsula Hotel on the Chao Phraya River, which was magnificent!
Our first and most important goal was to find some reputable Thai silk vendors to find the material to have my Mother of the Bride dress made when we return home for our daughter’s wedding this fall. The Executive Concierge onboard had worked with the port agent to find some suggestions for me. However, I also found this great blog post which became our road map for our quest : https://mythailand.blog/2018/01/21/find-thai-silk-bangkok/.
The traffic in Bangkok was unreal, so it took much longer to get into town and to our hotel than we had planned. Jim was a real trooper, though, and as soon as we dumped our bags at the hotel, we were off to the old Siam Plaza, where the entire second floor is devoted to beautiful Thai silk retailers, and bespoke tailors who could create the garments of your dreams. Had we had longer to spend in Bangkok, I would have seriously considered having my dress made here, but what I had in mind was too elaborate to complete in just 24 hours. Nonetheless, I was able to find a great silk retailer (Chalong Thai Silk), and bought my fabric (and the fabric to line it and for the sleeves, as well). Then we returned to the hotel for a well-deserved cocktail looking over the river.
We still had our main event to experience, though!
When our son and daughter in law visited here, they had taken a night market food tour in Bangkok, and they said it was the best experience of their trip to Thailand (other than getting engaged). We were excited to repeat their experience, and booked a tour with Expique Tuk Tuk tours.
The tour met at a monorail station not far from our hotel at 6 in the evening, but the heat hadn’t abated at all, and we arrived soaking wet from the humidity. We paired up with our Tuk Tuk drivers (our driver asked to be called “Jack Sparrow”?!), and went to our first night market.
Our guide, JoJo, was a human dynamo, and she took our group through the market. First stop was at a stall selling what looked like little grilled tacos. The shell was made of rice flour, and they all had a slightly sweet meringue topping garnished either with a dried shrimp and coconut topping, or a coconut and turmeric topping. They were delicious!
Jojo explained that Thai people usually eat out all the time except about maybe 10-15% of the time. Part of it is because apartments are very small, and with such a vibrant (and affordable) street food culture, most people don’t see kitchens as necessary. We tried some sausages and grilled meats, which JoJo used as a gauge to see how much heat our group could tolerate. Tasty, but hot, was the consensus. We quenched the fire with a fried dough thing with a cool yogurt and herb sauce, and then moved on. We also sampled fried quail eggs on a stick, which were actually yummy.
One of the things Jim and I really liked about this tour was how it interspersed food stops with photo opportunities and leading landmarks around town. Since dark had fully fallen, we were able to see these landmarks all lit up, which was new to us. Our first stop was at the Wat Arun (Dawn Temple), which had been obscured by scaffolding for our last visit in 2017. Jojo knew all the best spots for prime photos, so we quickly finished that.
Our next stop was at the flower market, which was a frenetic hive of activity. One of the most interesting things Jojo told us was that in the reign of the last king, Bhumipol (who died in 2016), the king and his wife wanted to incentivize the hill tribes in northern Thailand to stop growing opium for heroin. So they paid the farmers to plant flowers instead, and now the farmers earn more growing and selling flowers (and specialty fruits) than they earned growing opium poppies. Since flowers play a very special role in Thai culture, and flowers are displayed and given for many occasions, people can now afford to buy Thai-grown flowers, and they are everywhere! When we checked into our hotel, we were each given small jasmine garlands to scent our room. Almost every home and business has a small “ghost house” outside, and fresh flowers are always left there. For funerals, the families of the deceased receive so many flowers that the florists have gotten quite creative about decorating everyday items with flowers, like clocks, bikes and electric fans.
Then our Tuk Tuks took us to a restaurant on the river where we had a sit-down dinner! I think it was called the Navy Club, but I’m not sure. Yikes! There was a mountain of food, but we acquitted ourselves well.
Jojo took us by the Royal Palace, which was lovely at night. There is a structure in front of it that used to be a giant swing. There was some traditon about successors to the throne being chosen by whoever could ride the highest on the swing, but apparently, that ended tragically one time, and is no longer the custom.
Jojo also showed us a monument with the actual entire name of the city of Bangkok on it. The actual name is Krungthepmahanakhon Amonrattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokphop Noppharatratchathaniburirom Udomratchaniwetmahasathan Amonphimanawatansathit Sakkathattiyawitsanukamprasit, which is officially the longest city name in the world. The locals usually just call it Krung Thep.
Then we headed to Chinatown, for a view of night food stalls on steroids. It was complete pandemonium on this Saturday night, and we had to get out of our Tuk Tuks to forge through on foot. It looked like the entire population of Bangkok was out this evening in Chinatown! We wound our way through tons of different stalls selling everything you could imagine. There was even a stand selling grilled jellyfish on sticks. Thankfully, that wasn’t a stop on our list!
Instead, our final stop was at a shop selling iced desserts, Shanghai Moon, which we all really appreciated in that heat. Then our tour concluded, and Jack Sparrow returned us to the hotel.
We concluded our stay in Bangkok with what was probably the best hotel buffet we have ever seen, largely because it had both Eastern and Western culinary favorites. Jim and I started with some absolutely perfectly ripe mango, and then opted for dim sum, because I never can pass up a Char Siu bun! What an amazing 24 hours!
Vaya con Gringos 
Great post, especially with two of my very favorite things, flowers and fabric!
LikeLike
Unbelievably beautiful textiles! And the flowers weren’t shabby either!
LikeLike