New Year 2009

We were in Bangkok during New Year's holiday season, I was delighted because of light traffic and people, and nice weather. P.Ou and I had parties with friends and families which made us gain weight. We intend to diet from now on.

We had a party at my Mom's home with my family.

We had dinner at Thien Doung, Dusit and took P.Ou's Mom to dine and shop Bon Marche.

Making Merit to Dad

On December 27, 2008, we offer food to monks and make merit to my Dad at Wat Mai Yai Paen, Bang Khun Non. There were only 8 monks left on that day so it seems too many dishes. My aunts made Nam Prik Pratu and I bought other 6 dishes. In addition, my aunts made Nam Pra Warn eaten with mangos, the other anut brought Lod Chong and Mom bought coconut jelly.
After monks finished their lunch, we all enjoyed all the dished and were delightful of virtue that we have done.

Taling Chan Floating Market

Taling Chan Floating Market opens only at weekends in front of Taling Chan District Office, nearby railway track. The market offers variety of flowers, plants, orchids, fruits, vegetables, foods and trinkets. Food stalls sell several foods such as grilled fishes and seafood, satay, noodles, som tum, spring rolls, etc. They smells good and looks yummy.

We take a 2-hour boat trip along the canal. It is fun and worth seeing.

P.Ou is acting on railway track.

Food stalls are not only on land but also on boats.

Pictures show scenery of canal and junior local divers.

Local grocery is along the canal and also come in front of your pier.

Beautiful houses can be seen along the canal but it is surprised that boathouse is seen here.

Making merit, we stop at Wat Pak Num Fang Tai to feed fishes and free eels and Wat Koh to worship Luang Por Dum which is presumed that it was built in Ayudhya era, approx. 315 years ago.

The last stop is orchid garden, there are plants for sales.

Rua Thong

Rua Thong is traditional Thai restaurant that I passed by many times because I cannot find parking space along Thonglor Road.  But it can compensate with its taste of their foods and some dished you cannot find anywhere else.  

They have many kinds of Nam Prik, we dined Nam Prik Makam or Tamarind which is not too spicy, eating it with soft boilded egg and fresh vegetable, such as cucumber, Thai wild ginger (Khamin Khao), and peas.  We also ate Mushroom Curry, stir-fry Pork Crackling with Chilli and Ginger Paste, and stir-fry Shrimp with Sator seeds.  P.Ou does not like Sator because of its smell; he would not let me have it if I did not come with his Mom who likes it too.  We had durian and custrad apple as dessert.  

We have not tasted many interesting dished.  We will be there again soon.

My Birthday Party

My birthday party was held on Sunday, being late in order to gather my family together. We dined at a restaurant inside Pom Phra Chulachomklao. I intended to be there before sun set to pay respect to the monument of King Rama V and visit H.M.S.Mae Klong Battleship Museum. The area are surrounding by mangroves which the wood bridge was built for us to walk along to to observe nature and ecological preservation. My Mom seem to be hungry so I miss to see egrets, sea gulls, mudskippers and many types of crabs.
We had Thai food, such as Som Tum, Tom Yum Goong, Fried sea bass, Seafood fried in chili paste, etc., and the taste is fair. Pum+ bought me a cake from her favourite shops, yummy!

Bukhara's

Being inexpert about Indian food and feeling indigestion after the meal make me rarely dine at Indian restaurant. We went to Bukhara's, located on Sukhumvit Rd and adjacent to Nana BTS station, as recommended by Khun Rachan and P.Oy. We dined on chicken curry, mushroom curry, fish curry, cheese curry, stir okra with spice, nan bread and a few dishes of which I could not name it in Indian correctly. It is tasty compare to those I used to have before and I am glad that my stomach did not upset this time.

Pin and Oishi

Pin comes back from Tasmania, Australia for a month and she is going to continue her study in early December. She has been there for 6 months but I am not surprised with her gaining weight of 10-kilo since she likes to eat chips, potato, avocado, something with cream and cheese. I heard from her mom that she has her wish list about food that she wants to have before going back.
One of her wish list is Oishi Buffet Restaurant, so we went to Oishi Express for lunch. It is Japanese buffet and we have 1 hour and 45 minutes to eat. I do not want to describe what we ate but we used full time they gave us and I were so full so as to skip dinner.

Rung Kasem

Coming to Tha Pra Chan, I would think of having Tom Yum Goong at Rung Kasem. It is tasty and spicy although I ask him to cook not so spicy. Other recommended dishes are Lad Nha Moo or fried pork and noodles with Chinese cabbage, Koi See Mi or fried egg noodles with chickens and bamboo shoot, fired prawn with garlic and pepper, fried pork/crispy pork with holy basil, pork/shrimp omelet, fried rice. The special thing is that all food is still cooked on traditional stove with charcoal.

Rung Kasem has been opened for almost 50 years, located on Maha Rat Road, opposite to Wat Mahathat. It may be crowded at lunch time, and food may come slow.

Krua Apsorn

It is about remarkable delicious food and owner's hospitality. Krua Apsorn is selected to be the best restaurant by Bangkok Post in 2006 as well as is published in many magazines due to its being favorite of some members of Thai royal family. The place is quite crowded although we, P.Ou's Mom, P.Aey, P.Ou and I, reach there before lunch time, there are a few seats left and reservation is still recommended.

The menu presents around 30 simply local dishes. We start with Mieng Kana, red onion, ginger, peanut, lemon, dry shrimp, pig crackling and sweet sauce warpped in Chinese cabbage. The dishes that should not miss and the restaurant's best selling are Gaeng Luang Lai Bua, or sour and spicy yellow curry cooked with lotus stems, Hoy Malangpoo Pad Cha, or stir-fried mussels with basil leaves and chilli, and Kai Jeaw Poo Foo, or omlet with crab meat. We also have Kana Moo Grob, or stir-fried Chinese cabbage with crispy pork. Dessert is also notable, we have sticky rice and peanut in coconut milk, banana in coconut milk, and coconut ice cream.

Krua Apsorn is located on Samsen Road between Wat Rachathiwat and the National Library, opposite Suan Sunantha Institute. There is no parking space, but parking place can be found some places around there and it may not be convenience for elder to walk. However, it can make up with it tasty food. P.Aey said it was worthy.

Birds Attack

My house is surrounding with many kinds of creatures. Recently, fishes are attacked by birds. They settle down on trees in our house since they find that there are easy to find food here. They fly to the edge of the pond and eat fishes. Firstly, I think of putting a scarecrow, but it comes out like it is in the picture. It still cannot stop them coming. Anyone has any ideas!

P.Ou ??th Birthday

This year P.Ou turns ..., we had a tiny surprised birthday party in our room at Courtyard by Marriott, Cha-am Beach. Proud and Gene joined the party which had only cakes; it is yummy although we were so full by seafood dinner.

P.Ou showed his birthday cakes.

Seeing landscape of the hotel from cafeteria, no one was in the pool since it was raining.

Krua Mali

Krua Mali is known as one of a delicious Thai Cuisine, located on Samsennai Road, opposite to Sam Sen Train Station. It is rather far from our regular route which usually is Sukhumvit area. We called on Pa Ya who had a back surgery at Rajavithi Hospital then had lunch at Krua Mali. Parking space is on the street, in front of the restaurant which may not be enough on any busy day. Anyway, it is chilled at lunch time on Saturday.

We had Fried Catfish in Spicy Soup which in Thai called Kang-Pha because it is no coconut, Krua Mali Salad which is Som Tum with Roasted Pork, Shrimp, and Crispy Fish, Sator Fried with Shrimp Paste, and Fried Sea Bass. Black Jelly in Syrup (chow kuay) is our dessert.

Veggie Girl

This year, I am veggie from September 28 to October 8. I am pretty strict so that I separate kitchenware and table set as well as study each label on food before purchase. However, I am the only one in the house who is veggie and P.Ou does not understand why my veggie life seem to be so difficult even though I do this every year since I remember.
Being offended, it is because I do not live my life harmonize with him. He is worried that I cannot find anything to eat although I find that almost every eatery sell veggie food. Moreover, I do not know the reason why he does not want to try veggie food although it is tasty.
On the other hand, I realize why I am veggie, it is because I love myself. It is healthy and helps detox without using any chemical. It also gives mercy to all animals; I do not eat them for 10 days so they can grow or live longer. I will think positive for the remaining veggie day.

Noodle Tour - Bang Khun Non

Bang Khun Non is about 10-15 minutes from Sanam Luang, we drive across Chao Praya River by PinKlao Bridge to Boromratchachonnani Road and turn left to Chaiyapruek Road which connect to Bang Khun Non Road. We intend to start a Noodle Tour at Pra Sop Larp or Nai Kare Pork Noodle. The shop is opposite to Siam City Bank, close to Chak Pra intersection. The specialty of this shop is taste of its noodles and Tum Loung and pork organs which they put in the noodle. We eat 2 noodles, a bag of crispy fish skin, a bottle of tea and 2 glasses of ice, cost Baht 72. Besides noodles, they sell pork satay and dim sum.

Nai Ngieb Fishball Noodle Shop is our next stop. It is easier to park since the road is wider and we can park along the roadside with baht 10 fee. I eat fish dumpling soup and P.Ou has egg noodle. The noodle is tasty which its specialty is fishball and soup. It costs us Baht 102 for 2 noodles, a bottle of water and 2 glasses of ice.

In front of the noodle shop, there are various kind of food stall such as Isan sausages, Thai desserts, kanon bueng or coconut crape, bakery, etc.

The last stop is Yentafor Peking. Yentafor is a kind of noodle in red sauce with morning glory, cuttlefish, fired tofu, and posk blood. The specialty of this Peking yentafor is crispy taro putting in their noodle. I am almost full so I eat very slow although the noodle is yummy. We have 2 Kao Lao Yentafor, and 2 glasses of plum juice, cost totally Baht 80.

Nearby is Crab Noodle. They was in Phut Bridge area and they was expropriated so they moved here since then. My mom family prefer crab noodle. I see the owner still cook the noodles; I will taste it next time and hope that the taste is still the same.

Bangplee Ancient Market

Why goes far, it is across the street, in the soi to Wat Luang Poi Toh or Wat Bangplee Yai Nai, it is Bangplee Ancient Market. The market was built approx. on 2400 B.E. or 150 years ago while Bangplee people continually live together with the market for a few generations. We park at Wat Bangplee Yai Nai and walk through the market which the wood path was built and connected with wood bridges for almost 1 kilometer along the Samrong canal. There are various kinds of shops, such as food, desserts, cloths, home appliances, kitchenware, fortunetellers, salons, Thai massage, etc. In this September until October 25, many activities have been organized especially during weekend, for example, boat trips to see scenery of the canal and to visit a few interesting places nearby as well as singing and dance shown by students of nearby schools.

Drugstore sells not only medicine but also herbs and miscellaneous things.

Our lunch is from many food stalls and the table is set on a fixed ferry.

They use 2 boats connected as a bridge for people to cross the canal and it can open for other boats to travel by.

Exhibition tells their life style.

Students perform wonderful Singing and Dancing Show during weekend.