My First Time in Thailand: A Dream Finally Realized

I can say with absolute certainty that my first time in Thailand has been the greatest trip of my life so far.  With my dream finally realized WHY have I waited so long to visit my motherland ? Let me dive deep for a minute and give you a bit of my background…

For those of you who don’t know- I’m half Thai from my mother’s side. My father is English and Dutch. My parents met in Thailand during the Vietnam war when my father was stationed there. My mother left Thailand pregnant with me in 1976 only to return once more when her father died in 1985. She happily left Thailand for a new life in America and never took us back to visit or spoke Thai with my sister and I. In fact all I can really remember in Thai are colors , numbers , basic phrases pertaining to food , salutations, and The three little pigs. So random . As I got older I’ve always wanted to take my mom back to Thailand so I saved this trip thinking we would return together . As the years passed  I kept asking my mother to go with me. I started to realize, then accept that she didn’t want to go. She had her reasons and after having many of my own life experiences I understood why she didn’t have the same desires I did to see her homeland. My Dad, best friend Charmane and countless other friends kept telling me I needed to go to Thailand . I should see and experience this incredible country for myself. So finally in August of 2023 with my husband we spent one incredible month in Thailand.

Bangkok , We Meet at last …

Arriving into Bangkok  ( Suvarnabhumi) had me thinking ok this is going to be chaos but it’s one of the easiest airports to Navigate I found . We meet at last !  My first tip is get a Thai SIM card here  I can’t believe I had to go to Thailand to have BETTER wifi and cell phone service but here we were! If you want some fantastic information give  Retired working for you a binge watch . Chris is so funny and in this video he explains how to make your arrival into Thailand much easier . Paddy Doyle has fantastic guides that we bought from his channel . Paddy’s lived in Thailand for many years and  made countless videos of himself traveling the world. I like is carefree enthusiastic personality as he documents his journey’s.

Fatigue started to kick in a few hours after arriving but we were too excited to sleep and hungry ! Since it was late afternoon we decided to wander out and at least fill our grumbling stomachs with scrumptious street food! Our hotel was in The  Sukhumvit neighborhood, specifically on Sukhumvit Road between the Asok and Phrom Phong BTS stations. It’s situated in a high-end shopping, dining district with so much to easily see and do on foot. The hotel is close to various attractions, including the Queen Sirikit National Convention center and offers easy access to both the BTS Skytrain and MRT subway lines. There’s great massage spots and salons to get a manicure – pedicure if you didn’t get all primed up before you left !!

Our second Day we headed to Lumpini park because I wanted to see the Thai Monitor lizards. You all know how obsessed I become with animals and this was my goal for the trip. We took a tuk-tuk to the park and after walking around for a good twenty minutes I finally spotted one! He (I’m assuming a male but I’m not sure ) just slinked past me and I got so excited and took my first selfie of the trip with him . They are super chill I mean we found them mostly sleeping on the grassy banks or swimming slowly in the water . I read a sign at Lumpini that said the Thai Park Authority had to remove many lizards because they would frighten the tourists but I was happy nevertheless to see about twenty of them just living in the park ..

It was close to lunch time so I remembered my girlfriend Christy Bomb a few years prior had mentioned a Street food chef by the name of Jay Fai . She’s also profiled in the Netflix show Street Food Asia but it was Christy who sent me a YouTube link of Jay Fai cooking her famous crab omelette years before that sparked my curiosity . She was located a bit far from Lumpini so we got back in a Tuk Tuk and headed over not knowing what to expect but we had some luck on our side that day for sure!!  Honest review about OUR Jay Fai experience, we loved it. Yes you have to wait.. a long time. We put our names down (party of two) and waited one hour to be seated. Once we sat down we had our orders taken right away and we ordered the crab omelette (her most famous dish) , yellow crab curry , and Chili Shrimp noodles. It’s tiny inside with only seven tables and there’s Jay cooking alone . My husband and I sipped our Singha beers and were amazed to watch her- in her element just cooking dish after dish without stopping for a break once. We loved our food and we had a great experience. The crab omelette was fluffy, tender , and stuffed with a lot of juicy crab meat . The yellow crab curry was tasty with crab meat ( I’ve only had yellow curry with chicken ) and creamy . Very delicate and mildly spiced . Her chili shrimp noodles were my favorite . That perfect seasoning of spicy – sour- sweet and chewy noodles charred in her wok with crunchy greens and plump shrimp hit the spot for me . Would I recommend going there? No. There is so much incredible food in Bangkok for a fraction of the price and the wait alone can test your patience . If you’re super curious and want to go see what Jay Fai is all about then go but your belly and wallet will be just as happy if you don’t ..

Behold the Crab Omelette !

Singha for the win .. and wait .

Master of the wok Jay Fai

My husband usually consults the Michelin Guide when we’re abroad for restaurants. We had an amazing lunch at The Local where I tried their version of yellow crab curry and my favorite Som Tom (papaya salad ) Then had an Omakase experience here.   King Power MahNakhon Sky Tower glass observation rooftop for cocktails has the most breathtaking view of Bangkok. They give you these soft shoe covers so you can walk over the glass to get that iconic selfie 314 meters high but don’t look down! I did and it was scary! I’m not even afraid of heights but there was this wild feeling in the pit of my stomach when I would look down and see how high up we were!  We took a quick photo relaxed on the seats and enjoyed the view.

 

Day Three

Saturday we were up early to take our tour of The Grand Palace , Wat Phra ( The Emerald Buddha ), Wat Arun ,and  Wat Pho The Temple of the Reclining Buddha. Growing up Buddhist I heard my father speak of Wat Phra and this is his favorite temple . It was so incredibly emotional for me to go to each one and make my offerings and prayers …

If you plan on visiting the temples it’s important to know that as a tourist you MUST be covered and that means no shorts for men and women, wear long pants , cover your shoulders, chest , and NEVER point your feet towards Buddha . The detailing and beauty of these temples is truly something to marvel at . They are just stunning. We had a wonderful guide named Rabbit and after telling him we had the best crab omelette at Jay Fai he insisted that we let him take us to the BEST Thai food .This was his local spot Krua Apsorn and he wanted to show us the best crab omelette how could we refuse! It was delicious and we had the best green curry with fish balls plus a seasonal dish of Stir fried Cowslip flower with prawns . After this incredible lunch we wanted to check out Muay Thai   . Make sure you check the schedule for fights and times and go it’s so much fun to see !

Day four

Sunday we were up early again to visit the Floating market – Train Market. Both are situated about a one hours drive away from Bangkok so I recommend joining a tour or hiring a private guide like we did to help you navigate around the market which can be chaotic especially on the weekend. Our guide Nana was actually from the Issan Region of Thailand and  arrived in Bangkok to work during covid since there wasn’t work available where she was. I had a blast going through the fish market with her in the early morning , my husband not so much ! The intense smells of fresh salty pungent fish , crabs and everything else in the wet seafood market had Alberto running for the nearest cafe LOL.  We took a long tail boat through the floating market and we bought some things to take home to my mother and a new dress for me. My favorite purchase was the most beautiful and delicious mango sticky rice I had for breakfast .

I’m drooling just thinking about it now … The train market is quite a trip! I can’t believe the train passes (slowly) but so close to people and the shops every fifteen minutes or so! As the train passed by us I really thought it was going to clip my toes ! It’s worth the half day trip to see both of these markets and enjoy .

Day Five

 

 

It was Monday and we were leaving to Chang Mai the next day so we went on another tour with our friend Rabbit who took us to the ancient capitol of Thailand Ayutthaya . It was a long and tiring day but easily walkable to all of the temples and sites like Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon, Wat Chaiwatthanaram and Wat Phutthai Sawan. Wat Mahthat is where you’ll see one of the most iconic images of Thailand the “Ayutthaya Buddha Tree “. Buddha Heads explains the mystery of how Buddha came to be here and there’s other lovely anecdotes as well. It’s a one and a half hour drive outside of Bangkok so be prepared for a bit of a trek .  That night we got tickets to see The Calypso Cabaret Show located  here Calypso Cabaret

It’s one of Bangkok’s most iconic live shows , really vibrant and lovely . It’s located in the Asiatique Rivefront Mall so you can dine , and shop before or after. Lot’s do do here!

We had a breakfast buffet every morning at our hotel but this cute place across from our hotel beckoned us a few times that week and it’s delicious with fantastic service ! Tomorrow we fly to Chang Mai for the second week of our month long Thailand adventure so I’ll see you in Chang Mai! XO Tera