The World is Flat...and DELICIOUS

Trip Start Oct 15, 2008

Trip End Ongoing

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Flag of Thailand Bangkok, Thailand
Monday, October 20, 2008

Today is my last day in Bangkok. Four days was the perfect amount of time to spend here. I've done every single thing from the New York Times, "36 Hours in Bangkok". [For those who aren't familiar with the 36 Hours travel column, it is probably the best thing ever!]

I leave for Chiang Mai tonight - my first trip on a sleeper train. I went to the train station to purchase the ticket on Saturday and it was quite an overwhelming experience. Thankfully there were English-speaking tourist agents roaming around preventing naive souls like myself from accidentally purchasing tickets to Myanmar or other dubious locations.

Midway through my conversation with the tourist agent, I spotted something off in the distance...my own personal version of the holy grail: Dairy Queen!!! The agent was beyond confused as I rushed past her and began taking photos of the Dairy Queen. I've always prided myself on my DQ radar but I did not see this one coming. Perhaps due in part to the lingering jet lag, I actually got a bit choked up. During my time in Bangkok I've found myself looking down on all the gringos enjoying McDonalds, Subway and, yes, Starbucks, but I was more than happy to jump off my high horse and indulge in a vanilla cone at Dairy Queen.

I suppose I should say more about the food in Bangkok. Dairy Queen aside, this place is a food-lovers dream. Breakfast today was stir fried squid with pork fried rice. I also had scrambled eggs, just to keep things interesting. For the past 3 nights I've eaten at the same food stall for dinner. Their specialty is Indian style roti, which is a doughy, fried pastry that you use to sop up a variety of curries. Yesterday I ventured to the infamous Red Light District, Patpong Night Market. I realize now that 11 am was probably the wrong time to visit a "Night Market" - not a single sex worker in sight (that's a good thing). What I did find in a back alley was delicious Pho-style noodle soup. By far the most incredible thing I've eaten has been mango sticky rice topped with sweet coconut milk. Up to this point, all of my dining experiences have been solo missions, but that hasn't stopped me from exclaiming out loud, "Oh my god this is so good!" or "Wow!".