Bangkok, Thailand

I've now spent two full days in Bangkok.  You have no idea how sleepless and tired I am.  I got a decent amount of sleep before leaving LA, but it all went downhill from there in terms of shut eye for me.  It's so bad that my head kind of spins when I'm not doing anything.  I spaced out and missed my exit on the skytrain just tonight.  I'm going to try my best to put in a full eight tonight because I have a bike tour tomorrow.  Not much has happened here so far.  I rolled into Bangkok around two in the morning.  The second I stepped outside of the airport, I knew I wasn't in Kansas anymore.  Even at that hour, the humidity is so bad that you instantly start sweating out of every pour.  The next day was way worse because I was walking around midday.  I'll get to the travel stuff in a bit.  For now, here's all the food I've had since arriving. 

Ramen noodle soup in Teipei airport

I spent about an hour and a half in Taiwan.  Just long enough to grab a bite.  When I was walking to my connecting terminal, I passed by this place.  At first I wasn't very hungry, but I had time to kill and ventured in to at least see what they had to offer.  Originally I wanted a noodle soup, not ramen exactly, and they were out.  In fact the lady pointed out all the items they were out of, and it was like a third of the menu.  As I started digging into this ramen, I two things immediately dawned upon me:  it was very good and airline food is crappy.   The cost of this was about what I'd pay back home, around 8 dollars, I believe. Not too bad.  I paid around 18 for a sandwich, water and soda in LAX.  And except for the water and soda, it sucked.  Thanks Bruegger's for serving me a turkey sandwich with slightly soggy bread.  That cost more than 10 bucks.

Wonton soup at my hotel in Bangkok
This was free and pretty good considering it was hotel food.  The only think about traveling is that many places don't serve brewed coffee. I'm certain that that was instant coffee.  At least the wonton and fruit weren't.  Both were fresh and tasty, which I am decidedly not when walking around Bangkok for a few minutes. 

Roasted and stewed pork in Bangkok

This whole meal set me back a princely sum of less than $2.  It was so good; I devoured it within minutes.  The crazy part is that I got this in a food court mall.  It's kind of like food court's in the U.S., except with a thousands of Asians, all Asian food, and minus the disgusting, overpriced, not so fresh, highly process crap that spews forth from the corporate chain restaurants.

Tiger shrimp and morning glory vegetables in Bangkok

So here's one of the highlights of my trip.  This seafood place is known for it's kind of gimmicky premise of selecting the food fresh.  It's like going to a seafood market, selecting your items, paying for it, and then sitting down within minutes to have a server cook it for you on the spot.  This one of many instances where I let my stomach do the thinking rather than my stomach.  The reason:  I paid $60 for the whole meal.  While it beats Red Lobster any day, I don't know if I'd pay that amount again at the same place.  Those two pieces of shrimp set me back the most, each were 15 bucks.  There was a cooking and service fee, but I don't remember how much that was.

Fish in super spicy chili and lime sauce in Bangkok

I have a fairly high tolerance for spiciness and this kind of blew me away.  It was good, though.  The only complaint I had is that it was pretty small, didn't have much meat on it, and was kind of bony.  Hey those same descriptions can be used to describe me.

Me with a freakishly large prawn in Bangkok

These are the same shrimp that are in the news back at home.  There are reports that black tiger shrimp are possibly invading the Gulf, and thereby eating up all of the native shrimp.  Each sucker was nearly a pound.  No joke.  See how the circumference of the shrimp is bigger than my fist. 

Dim sum in Bangkok

Here's another example of how insanely cheap food here can be.  This whole meal was less than $5.  The drink was the most expensive item.  By the way, you can't see it, but I ordered a mango slush, which you'll never see at any traditional dim sum house.  

Curry chicken and yellow rice in Bangkok

Round number two.  I ate this minutes after the first meal of dim sum.  This is at a mall food court mall and was less than $2.  The food court looks amazing; they put a lot of effort in designing this food court, and the entire mall in fact.  I'll have to show some pictures of this mall.  It's pretty cool.

Strawberry ice cream in Bangkok

Round number three.  I'm not a fan of sweets, and the only reason I stopped by this place was for the views. 

Roasted duck in Bangkok

Yet another food court meal. Cheap, yet satisfyingly tasty.

Chicken salad in Bangkok

 Round two of the same mall at MBK.  This was in the "international" food court and was therefore more expensive.  When I walked by, I realized that I haven't had a salad in a while, certainly not on this trip.  

I'm sooo tired now.  Must go to bed.