They offered several different kinds of Pad Thai - the regular one, a spicy one, a vegetarian one, a seafood one, and Pad Thai in an omelette. I was super excited to try the last one. So the food was ok. It was not bad, but certainly was by no means the best of anywhere. It seemed to lack a bit of flavor. At the end I realized that you had to add your own peanuts, which I was super bummed about. The omelette was a very cool presentation, and I love me some egg in my Pad Thai, but even the amount of the egg of the omelette was too much for the rest of the dish. We did come back our second night, because after a long day, we wanted something that we were familiar with and more importantly, we wanted something close by. I did put the peanuts on this time (I got the regular Pad Thai), and it did help, but it still wasn't the "best".
by Katherine Through my research, I came across multiple sources that claimed Thip Samai was the best Pad Thai in Bangkok, maybe even the world. I drooled as I read about it and even saw it featured on a food show. I was so pumped to visit! When we got to the place, a couple of blocks from our hotel, we got there just in time. We waited a couple of minutes til a table was ready and then the line only got longer. When we left the line went down the block.
They offered several different kinds of Pad Thai - the regular one, a spicy one, a vegetarian one, a seafood one, and Pad Thai in an omelette. I was super excited to try the last one. So the food was ok. It was not bad, but certainly was by no means the best of anywhere. It seemed to lack a bit of flavor. At the end I realized that you had to add your own peanuts, which I was super bummed about. The omelette was a very cool presentation, and I love me some egg in my Pad Thai, but even the amount of the egg of the omelette was too much for the rest of the dish. We did come back our second night, because after a long day, we wanted something that we were familiar with and more importantly, we wanted something close by. I did put the peanuts on this time (I got the regular Pad Thai), and it did help, but it still wasn't the "best".
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by Katherine The craziest thing about Thailand might be that Thais are obsessed with straws! I had read an article about this but thought no way. But sure enough, at Thip Samai, I order a water bottle and with it comes a straw...for a water bottle. I personally love straws, so I was kinda digging this. You get straws for all beverages. Go to a seven eleven, get some drinks, the cashier throws some straws into the bag. Even beer gets a straw! It's crazy, but it's most certainly a real thing.
by Katherine Being that we literally had a half day to explore Bangkok, I knew we weren't going to be able to see too many things. I so desperately wanted to go to this market with a bunch of good street food and full of locals, but it was just too damn hot to make it there, especially since the timing would have cut it close to its end time.
I did research to try to figure out the "must do" temples. It seemed that Wat Pho was the one temple that you just can't miss while in Bangkok. And my Thai friend from college also said it was tops. It is known for its GIANT statue of a reclining Buddha. by Katherine ![]() Bangkok, or really Thailand in general, was a little pricier in terms of hotels. You can't really find a hotel for $10 a night and still get all the amenities like you could in Hanoi. We debated over several places but decided on Chern Hostel. Don't let the 'hostel' fool you; although there were dorm-style rooms, there were also private rooms with private bathrooms. We weren't in Bangkok for very long, so we didn't have a whole lot that we could actually do, but this place allowed us to walk to the major temples and to Khao San Road without being amongst swarms of tourists. We were also close to some great street food that is more frequented by locals than tourists - always a good sign! Unfortunately, we didn't get to try many places out because we just didn't have time. I really liked this hotel! The air conditioning worked amazingly, which I was so grateful for because it was really stinkin hot and humid in Bangkok. I actually got a heat rash there, something that's never happened before, so yeah, it was HOT! The hotel offered me a comfortable place to cool off and feel better. The atmosphere of the hostel also made it seem really fun and inviting. If we had stayed longer, this would have been a fun spot to meet other travelers. Only downside was that beyond the front desk, all of the other hang out spots did not have AC. by Katherine
by Katherine ![]() On our last night in Cambodia, I had a hard time choosing where to eat because I had so many more restaurants I wanted to try. I desparately wanted to eat at a place with a fancy tasting menu for like $25 but that was closed for the 3 days we were in town. My next choice, was a place where kids were taught to cook and serve, a great idea, but our hotel informed us that they were closed for the night. And then our next restaurant choice was closed too! Turned out there was a power outage across town! Luckily our hotel had generators. So when we made it in to town, we basically just picked a place with power at random - we just wanted food. by Bradley ![]() We stopped by the Blue Pumpkin twice; the first time was just for sweets and the second time was for lunch. They have a large selection of pastries and gelato, and the gelato you can get in a lot of unique tropical flavors. We got mango and jackfruit; mango is always delicious, and jackfruit was a very mild but unique flavor and is perfect on a hot Cambodian day! by Katherine ![]() Day 3 of templing consisted mostly of exploring Angkor Thom, a walled city comprising many different temples and other statues and structures. By day 3, the heat was definitely taking a toll on us, and we were all starting to get templed out. Turns out 3- half days is a good number to sufficiently see a lot of temples without going crazy, though it would be better to stretch those three days out over a week's time. by Bradley ![]() This place was pretty cool because it offered cooking classes, we didn't end up doing that but the food was good so I'd definitely recommend someone to try the class. I got fried chicken with lemongrass and bok choy. Somehow I expected something a little different but was happily surprised with what I got. I already love lemongrass and bok choy! The chicken wasn't overly breaded and deep fried; it was thin and tender and they used lots of butter to make this an awesome dish. by Bradley ![]() Our first experience with a Tuk Tuk was when we arrived at the airport in Siem Reap. We booked through our hotel a transfer from the airport to our hotel. We mentioned that we were booking it for 2 rooms but somehow they only sent one Tuk Tuk...so there were 4 of us and all of our luggage in one. Now to understand the significance of this, a Tuk Tuk is a little open air vehicle that's kind of like a golf cart being pulled by a moped. Needless to say it was a bit cramped on our first ride. Even the cramped ride was fun though, since they are open air and Cambodia is really hot, it's a great way to cool down. We rode in a real car later in the trip and the tuk tuk was actually better than a cars A/C because it started cooling you off as soon as you started moving. These things are great for taking you around the temples and are reallly cheap. It's such a fun mode of transportation, I wish we had them in the States! |
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Katherine & BradleyTwo engineers with a passion for food and travel! Join us as we eat our way through the world! Archives
October 2015
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