5.19-5.21 Weekend Trip: BANGKOK

Alli (posting this and adding photos) on behalf of Ben (who’s not just a bomb translator but also a great teammate and weekend host) sharing what some team members were up to a weekend in Bangkok!

The past weekend, BLUElab had some time off, so I and the other team members decided to take a trip to Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand. We stayed at my aunt’s old house, in a residential neighborhood north of city. It was pouring when the team landed at Don Mueang International Airport. I could barely see two car lengths beyond the windshield. We rolled through the storm, rear lights around us looked like paint dripping in the glass. The lazy wipers of my Swedish car were struggling to keep up with the severity of a tropical downpour. What was usually a seven-minute drive turned into a twenty-minute crawl.

I had prepared a couple of Northeastern Thai (“E-saan”) dishes, including Laab (minced-beef salad), Som Tum (raw papaya salad), and an unholy amount of herbed grilled chicken, all served with sticky rice, for the team. We unwound over the meal, talking and laughing loudly. It was a good time. We fell right asleep right after dinner.

The next day we drove down south to a beach town of Pattaya City. We had lunch at a seafood restaurant. We had whole-fried fish, mantis shrimp fried with garlic, flame-grilled shrimp, and crab fried rice. After we were fed and happy, we drove to a hotel on a calm beach. It had an open terrace with an infinity pool, and a rough aesthetic complemented by artfully-distressed wood. The shores were still, with small fishing boats stationed like statues spread out a bit of ways into the shallow water. We made our way into the Andaman sea. The warm seawater caught Cassidy and Alex off-guard. The sand beneath was fine and slippery. It molded and folded around our feet as we high-kneed through the rolling waves. I fell asleep on the beach, with sea breeze running on my stomach and through my hair. Nicole lied on a black, square pool pillow and floated side to side in the clear, salt-water swimming pool. Alex made a spiffy sandcastle. A couple more hours of sun and we were on the way back to Bangkok.

On the last day, we took a cab into the city and ate duck noodles at the Klongtei district. In a quiet alley off of the big Rama IV road, near the Metropolitan Electrical Authority of Thailand, you could find a noodle stand called “Dancing Duck Noodles.” It was named after the eccentric way the owner prepared noodles. With spastic movements and rapid knocking sounds of the bowls on cutting board and cleavers on duck meat. The noodles at this place is unbelievably good. If you ever stop by Klongtei, make sure you stop by Dancing Duck Noodles for lunch.

After lunch we took the MRT to Hua Lamphong station, and walked to a neighborhood called Talad Noi (translation: Little Market). Here, you can find tasty street food, and occasional street art on walls. We picked up a couple of coconuts from a kind, machete-wielding lady in aprons on the side of the road. This part of Bangkok is one of the old, historic neighborhoods. There are many buildings that sport the older architectural style of Bangkok in the early modernization period. Our walk eventually led up to Bangkok’s Chinatown. We grabbed lunch at a Dim Sum place tucked away deep into a busy market alley off of Yaowarat road. Behind all of the tea vendors, spice racks, and fish stands, you could find a tight corner serving small, Chinese Dim Sum plates. The sun was beaming down on us. We were getting quite enough sweaty. Cassidy bought a bottle of pomegranate juice, but eventually we decided it was time to hit Bangkok’s big, and comfortably-air-conditioned malls.

After a bit of fun at the large Kinokuniya bookstore inside of the bafflingly-large Emquartier mall, we left for the multi-city-themed Terminal 21 mall to catch a showing of a Thai movie titled Bad Genius. The movie is about the lives of two valedictorian students. One started to help her peers cheat on exams to pay for the exuberant tuition that her school demands, while competing with the other valedictorian for the chance to win a full-ride scholarship to study at a university in Singapore. The movie offers a commentary on many social aspects such as capitalism and the education system, while highlighting how different socioeconomic classes in Thailand function in relation to one another and in relation to “success.” The movie is regarded by a number of BLUElab Thailand members to be “the most stressful movie” they have ever seen. At one point in the movie, Cassidy sank down from her seat and to the floor in suspense of the climax. By the end, I could feel my brain swimming in cortisol.

That night we had Indian food around the downtown Asoke area. We took a cab to Pra Sumen road and enjoyed live Jazz and live Thai music at two different venues.

It was a slow morning on Monday. We woke up just in time for brunch at a neighborhood restaurant serving Southern Thai fares. We had Massaman and Panang Curry. Both of which would have killed Alex via peanut allergy had he not already left us to catch his earlier flight back to Chiang Mai. At the airport, we cleared security quite fast, but got held up at the Burger King line. Nicole stuck to her guns and got herself a value meal. The rest of us abandoned our orders and ran to the gate as our planes were boarding. In the end, all of us made it on the flight. So, really, that was all any of us could have asked for in an airport setting.

And it’s back to the familiar mountains of Northern Thailand for another week. Keep up with BLUElab Thailand on our Facebook page and social media channels!

-Benjamin Chetsandtikhun