Happy Fourth of July

4th July 2016
After 30 plus hours of flying and over an hour in the taxi, my family finally made it to Bangkok! In my 26 years, this has been the best Fourt of July ever. Sorry dad, but hot dogs and brews in Mokena, Illinois just don't compare with the views in Bangkok, Thailand!

Japanese Karaoke Anyone?

2nd July 2016
Why not go to a hole in the wall bar and sing japanese style karaoke? The beers were cheap, the sound system was on point and the crowd was wild! Thanks Dana for showing us that great times exist other than just on Khao San Road.

Dancing the Night Away

29 June 2016
 Ku De Ta has become one of my favorite places to spend Wednesday evenings. The DJs are tight, the bubbly is free and the girls are fun! The best part by far though is the motorbike ride there- 20 minutes of beautiful bangkok whizzing past. This is one place I'm definitely going to miss!

Cabbages and Condoms: Our Food Won't Make You Pregnant

26 June 2016
Don't ever ask me for a dinner suggestion-- my goal as of late has been trying to visit the most obscure restaurants in Bangkok. I definitely succeeded with this one. Cabbages and Condoms is a local thai restaurant with a twist: the restaurant decor is all made out of condoms. Condom Lighting: check. Condom Police Officer: check. Condom Santa Claus: check.  Although the concept is wacky, the restaurant itself isn't all fun and games. The owner erected the place (haha) to bring about sexual health awareness. Part of the proceeds from the restaurant go toward the Population and Community Development Association, which works to serve poor thai populations living in rural areas. The owner of Cabbages and Condoms, Mechai, has been so influential in bringing about sexual health reform and change in Thailand that his name is now used as a slang word for condom. The famed tagline of his restaurant is 'our food won't make you pregnant'. Mechai realizes that line doesn't hold true for all things in life, so he's instructed his workers to slip all customers a few mechais on their way out the door ;)

After visiting Cabbages and Condoms, I came across the article below. I can only hope that Mechai is on board and that after their release, Mechai will be slipping durian flavored mechais to all of his loyal customers.

durian flavored condoms are coming to bangkok

Amphawa Floating Market

25 June 2016
My thai teacher June invited me to join her and her friends at Amphawa Floating Market for the day. We left Bangkok around 11am and headed to Amphawa, which was about a two hour drive from Bangkok. We stopped for lunch at an outdoor thai restaurant along the khlong. The entire menu was written in thai, so the girls had a good laugh when they handed it to me and told me to order. They ordered  thai family style for us and the dishes were amazing! I absolutely loved the traditional fish and sauce and the crab curry. The prawn soup was a bit spicy and the green basil dish left my mouth hot for the rest of the meal after just one tiny bite.

The outdoor toilets were labeled in thai words only, so it was really good I had June with me. I snapped a photo of the word for women's toilet so that I won't ever have to guess and check. Awkward.

After lunch we went to a wat (temple) with a golden buddha. Temples used to be the centers of town life where markets, worship, teaching and even muay thai took place. I got to go inside the temple and walk around the big golden buddha. Those wishing to make merit pay for "specs of gold" to attach to the budda as they walk around. After visiting the small temple, we drove to a cathedral. The girls took me here because it was beautiful, although they didn't know the story behind the Jesus, Mary and Joseph statues. I explained the beliefs of christians versus catholics when attending mass. It was really neat to be able to share stories about buddhist and christian beliefs together.

Finally, it was time for the floating market. We wandered around an obnoxiously crowded riverwalk, stopping at stalls along the way to try different snacks. I think by the end of the day the girls were wishing June had never taught me "unee arai ka" (what is this thing) because I was pointing and asking all day long.

We sat along the river to watch the sunset. Once it was dark, we got in a boat of our own to watch the fireflies. Rainy season is the perfect time to do this because the trees are filled with them. It was an absolutely beautiful way to end the evening.

I was so unbelievably lucky to have gotten to go on a day trip with these girls and get a taste of what thai locals do for fun. Kittung Kru June Na Ka.

K Village

24 June 2016

While trolling the internet I found an amazing article that outlined the best japanese places to go for cheap beers in Bangkok. Julianne, Jenna and I decided on Mekiki no Ginji, a Japanese restaurant in K-Village that offers 50 baht beers (that's $1.42 US) for one hour. We decided to wander around in K-Village: an indoor/outdoor kitschy market with tons of amazing up and coming vendors- we're talking lamb kebabs, gourmet grilled cheeses, hotdogs wrapped in waffles-YUP! chocolate brownie bars and pomegranate iced teas for mere pennies. Dinner was delectable and dirt cheap. Now that our tummies were coated, it was time to head to Mekiki no Ginji. We entered and were immediately greeted in Japanese by the entire waitstaff. They ushered us over to our very own private bungalow booth. The specials on offer were highball, asahi and singha for 50 baht. We naively ordered highballs for our first round- our rationale? The online article was about cheap beers in Bangkok so highball must be a beer. We've never heard of said beer so it must be worth a try, especially for 50 baht. In case you were wondering, highball is not a beer, but is in fact a mix of whisky and soda water served up in a pint glass over ice. In case you were wondering, highball is not worth a try. Julianne and Jenna chugged like champs while I himmed and hawed until one of them gave in and finished mine for me. Asahi it was for the rest of the hour!

 

khun laea chan

22 June 2016

I literally can't begin to thank this woman enough for all of the things she's done for me this year. She's put up with my thai faux pas (one day I called her a bad word in thai instead of calling her 'quick' like I intended), she's played charades with me until we've gotten to the bottom of what I'm trying to say (acting out someone trying to fix the toilet is a lot harder than one may imagine) and she's worked to improve her english  (she must figure my thai is hopeless) so that we don't have to go through these scenarios quite as regularly. She's cleaned up after my many, many messes (who would've thought giving 4 year olds glitter and feathers would be a disaster?) and done it all with a smile on her face. Our time together is coming to an end so today she surprised me at school with flowers. She told me they were beautiful, just like me. Talk about a tear jerker.

touring all the places and all the spaces

18 June 2016
What better way to spend a Saturday than hitting up some local hot spots around BKK? I started with the Nielsen Hayes Library. Here's a little history: The Bangkok Ladies' Library Association was founded in 1869 by thirteen expat women. The "library" was staffed by volunteers and open 6 days per week, usually rotating between different women's homes. In 1922 a permanent building for housing books, the Nielsen Hayes Library, was opened.
I've heard a lot about the library so I decided to check it out. When I got there, I entered through the back garden and had a look around. I walked from one end of the building to the other in about 5 minutes. Figuring this was not the main library, I exited the building and wandered around front, looking for another building on the library campus. This building was the only building. Surely this wasn't THE Nielsen Hayes Library everyone had been talking about. I wandered through a second time, and again found myself out in the garden in less than 5 minutes time. After having taken the MRT and a motorcy taxi to get here, I couldn't justify leaving just yet. I wasn't allowed to check out any books because I wasn't a member, so I sat at the library cafe and watched others read their books. That had to count for something, right?

Feeling a bit discouraged from my library trip, I jumped at the chance to meet two of my co-workers for drinks at "The Book Shop". The Book Shop is a really swanky cafe in Phra Khanong that gives off an Alice and Wonderland-y kind of vibe. There are books hanging from the ceiling, staircases leading nowhere and oversized chairs complimented by a delicious cocktail menu. This type of library visit was definitely way more my style!

After drinks at The Book Shop, we tried out a veg restaurant, Broccoli Revolution. I had the most amazing broccoli quinoa charcoal burger (didn't think I'd ever hear those words coming out of my mouth!) with a delicious fresh squeezed juice. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone looking to eat healthy!

Although eating and drinking healthily is admirable, drinking craft brews is a bit more my style. After dinner I checked out an awesome craft brew bar, Mikkeler. They had over 20 beers on tap and a beautiful garden to enjoy them in.

As Tee and I were leaving Mikkeler, we ran into a street food vendor selling squished squid. Tash and I have been talking about trying this "delicacy" for ages. Having a little liquid courage and a willing partner was all I needed to cough up the 20 baht necessary for this treat. The vendor heats it on the grill and then flattens it on a press. The verdict: chewier than chewy without a lot of taste; the equivalent of sub par beef jerky in America.