bangkok day #1 - the real pad thai

Bangkok was only a 2 1/2 hour flight from Manila, but after the 40 minute drive from the airport to the hotel we were ready to sink our teeth into some real Thai food. After walking through some shady streets and dodging the rain, we finally arrived at Kaloan Home Kitchen, which was recommended by the hotel. The restaurant's decor didn't scream 5 star, but it offered a great view of the Chao Phraya River and got our Thai food eating experience started right!

Shrimp Pad Thai. It didn't have as much noodles as we're used to getting back home, but the flavors of the dish made up for it. Yuuuum...real pad thai!



Crispy Flounder with Mango Salad. This dish beat out the pad thai...hands down! Crispy fish and mango salad is a match made in heaven.


Eggplant Salad. This salad was so light and flavorful that it didn't last too long on the plate. The eggplant was tossed in a combination of lime juice and fish sauce and topped with egg, red onions and shrimp flakes.


We finished the meal with some mango & sticky rice and lotus jelly dessert.



After lunch we took a tuk tuk to Khao San Road aka "the backpackers road" to check out the scene. A tuk tuk is pretty much a bootleg taxi. Here's our view:


Yup, all three of us fit into this:


If you're ever in Bangkok don't ever let a tuk tuk drive charge you more than 10 baht. For 30 bhat you can take a taxi (a/c included) anywhere in Bangkok.

Khao San Road is pretty much just a long road lined up with bars, hostels, and vendors selling everything from souvenirs to knock off Adidas track jackets.


After checking out the scene, we stopped by a bar to grab a few of Thailand's finest:



On our way home we caught sight of a street vendor selling pad thai. We thought that the street pad thai would taste better than any pad thai we had a home...I mean comon we're in freaking Thailand. We anticipated a repeat of what we had for lunch as we watched the lady cook up some pad thai. We even salivated over the sauces and ingredients that she had on the side, amazed like we've never had street food.


The finished product had more noodles than the pad thai for lunch, but it didn't taste like the real pad thai, it tasted like straight up street food...bland and full of all the carbs that you shouldn't be eating past 10pm. Good thing we had breakfast to look forward to ;o)