I walk around the corner from my hotel, past all the people selling lottery tickets (Thais are big gamblers, I learn), and discover that yesterday's street food vendors have been replaced by a new crop, cooking up a different range of deliciousness.
Roast pork for breakfast
Tempting as the food looks, I can't bypass a simple restaurant displaying crispy roast pork out front. I join several locals inside and enjoy a breakfast of pork, rice and the usual Thai accompaniments of boiled egg and cucumber. The cost: 85 baht, about $3.50. I leave 110 baht on the table, say khob khun kha and head out. Moments later a woman comes running up behind me and hands me 25 baht. She won't let me refuse it; all I can do is say khob khun kha again.
Thailand ❤ #5 - Chef LeeZ Thai cooking school
There are three couples plus me in today's class. "You're traveling alone?" asks one of the women. "That's brave!" I get this comment a lot, and wonder how many people hold back from solo travel – or solo anything – because they think it's too unsafe, or lonely, or challenging. After Chef Lee takes photos of the couples, I take a selfie with Chef Lee – my sous chef for the day. Being solo ain't all that bad.
Chef Lee is a force of nature: diminutive and energetic, full of stories and ancient wisdom. "Bean sprouts are like broom for your intestines," she tells us. "Grandma says: do everything three times. Everything is money." We soak the tamarind and squeeze out the juice, three times. We soak our grated coconut and squeeze out the milk, three times.
"Grandma says make man happy. Woman has to cook and clean and take care of babies." Chef Lee doesn't always agree with Grandma's wisdom. "I say it's 2018." We all laugh.
I learn more than I expected. Pad Thai gets its pink color from shrimp oil. If you fry shrimp heads in oil they make a delicious crunchy snack. The best way to get flavor from cilantro is by crushing the roots and letting the oil infuse your cooking. Real Pad Thai doesn't have a lot of noodles. Kaffir limes have double leaves.
We grate coconut on a grating stool and make coconut cream and milk. We cook Tom Kha Gai and Tom Yum Goong, Masaman curry and green curry, Pad Kra-Pao Gai and Pad Thai. We crush green papaya salad and cook sticky rice to eat with fresh mango.
An afternoon around Sukhumvit
I catch a canal taxi back to Sukhumvit Rd and spend the rest of the day exploring on foot, enjoying the city vibe and eye-catching architecture. I'm fascinated by the contrasts evident in Bangkok: modern and traditional, old and new, rich and poor, devout Buddhism and consumerist Christmas. At times I forget I’m in a different country, then I encounter a squat toilet, or a monk in a tuk tuk, or a massive portrait of the king, or a crowd of people saying prayers at a shrine outside a luxury mall.
Thailand ❤ #4 - a drink at the rooftop Moon Bar
Rooftop bars are a "thing" in Bangkok, so I head to the 61st floor of the Banyan Tree Hotel at dusk for a drink at the rooftop Moon Bar, next to Vertigo restaurant. I feel out of place, the only singleton in a bar full of well-dressed couples, sweaty from walking all day, silver Birkenstocks on my blistered feet. But I don't care: I want a cocktail with a view.The experience is both terrifying and wonderful. I feel exposed, even meters from the edge; vertigo has my belly in knots, as if I'm about to fall. But the 360° view is spectacular. I have a gin cocktail and reflect on the contrast between this morning, when the woman returned my 25 baht tip, and tonight, when I pay 800 baht (about $34) for a single drink.
Exceptional Thai food at 100 Mahaseth
I decide to walk back to Chinatown for more street food and manage to get lost; I can't distinguish one busy street from another, nor find street signs. I take a detour down some back alleys, away from the crowds, and discover that speeding motorbikes use the alleyways too. It's the first time I've felt unsafe in Bangkok, bikes whizzing by.
I escape and try to hail a taxi or tuk tuk, but the language barrier gets in the way; I show one driver Google maps and he throws his hands up as if to say "no idea where that is!" So I keep walking, longing to rest my feet, and stumble upon 100 Mahaseth, a nose-to-tail, leaf-to-root restaurant that appears in the Michelin guide.
I escape and try to hail a taxi or tuk tuk, but the language barrier gets in the way; I show one driver Google maps and he throws his hands up as if to say "no idea where that is!" So I keep walking, longing to rest my feet, and stumble upon 100 Mahaseth, a nose-to-tail, leaf-to-root restaurant that appears in the Michelin guide.
100 Mahaseth delivers the best meal of my entire trip: local beer, crispy pork rinds, cucumber with dips, green papaya salad, ground pork (entrails and all) with northern Thai spices. "Spicy OK?" I'm asked. I nod enthusiastically. "Thai spicy?" the waiter adds, looking skeptical.
The meal is spicy, and beautiful, and delicious. I ponder my good fortune, take my leftovers for breakfast, catch a tuk tuk back to the hotel, and collapse. Best day so far.