In Thailand, there is food everywhere. I have never seen more places to
buy food. Markets, restaurants, and especially food carts, line the
streets. Even in a giant city like Bangkok, amid the skyscrapers, you
will find places to buy food. This small market is in Chinatown.
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I think those might be small bananas on the grill. Thai people do not
eat meals at regular times each day. Instead, they snack
whenever they are hungry. You can see Thai people eating at all times
of the day, sitting in the corner of their shop or on the street. I
assume this habit helps support the many small food carts.
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In Chiang Mai, many western tourists take cooking classes. Here we have
a group of them starting their class in the market, learning about the
basic ingredients of Thai food.
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Another of the ubiquitous food carts around Bangkok. Notice the soft
drink bottles on the front row. If you order one of those drinks, the
seller will reach into a cooler behind the stall and get you one. The
ones up front are not for sale.
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I ate at this small restaurant in the Banglamphu section of Bangkok, on
the recommendation of my guide book. It was really good, like almost
everything I had in Thailand.
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I took a few pictures of the meals I had. I wish I had thought of this
idea on earlier trips. Having a digital camera is part of what makes
this possible. You can take lots of pictures and not feel like you are
wasting film and money. The drink is lemon-flavored iced tea. The meal
is Pad Thai.
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This is the cafeteria where I got the meal above. You buy a
ticket first, for a certain amount of money. Then you choose a
restaurant and give them your ticket. Afterwards, you turn your ticket
in to the main booth and get your change back. I wandered around the
place for at least five minutes trying to figure out the system before
I understood what I was supposed to do! That's part of the fun, of
course.
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This was a restaurant in Ayuthaya, north of Bangkok. Notice that there
are no chopsticks. I didn't realize until this trip that Thai people do
not use chopsticks, unless they are eating Chinese food (like us). They
eat with a spoon, and use the fork to scoop food onto the spoon. I
think this was seafood curry.
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This is at a restaurant in Chiang Mai called Ratchamankha
that was designed
and run by an architect. This is fish, as always, with great tasting
Thai flavors.
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The inside of the Ratchamankha restaurant.
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This was my favorite meal, at a little restaurant in Sukhothai. The
drink is a coconut-flavored milk shake, the things on the green platter
are deep-fried banana leaves, and the main course is some kind of a
curry with potatoes.
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Sometimes you get things that look pretty familiar, but with a local
twist. These are Lays potato chips, "nori seaweed" flavor. They were
good.
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Outside the temple of Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai, I got a banana on a
stick, covered in a waffle, with chocolate syrup on top. It was
fantastic.
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