Adventures of a Wandering Thirtysomething

I’ve always been reluctant to travel to Asia, but if there are two things that get my attention they’re beaches and food. Thailand was a natural fit for me to break through my anti-Asia sentiment as it features some of the best beaches in the world and, thanks to Thai Tom in Seattle, cuisine that Christina and I both associate as comfort food.

When we landed in Croatia last fall, there was a distinct feeling of familiarity finding ourselves once again in Europe. Landing in Bangkok, there was a distinct feeling that this was a whole new ball game.

For those who know us to be experienced international travelers, and even for me personally, it’s hard to remember just how overwhelming it was to arrive in Rome for day one of our 32 days in Europe a few years ago. Those were the days when just catching a train or riding a bus seemed like a daunting task I preferred to trust to my own two feet and a map. It’s almost embarrassing to admit we walked several miles to our hotel in the sun and traffic of Rome with our backpacks after being unable to find the subway entrance at Termini station and not yet courageous enough to attempt traversing the language barrier to ask for help.

Thousands of miles of traveling later and Bangkok appeared as though it was going to bring me right back to that first day in Rome. With our stereotypes of Asian culture in hand, a language barrier that was going to be impossible to overcome, and the closest comparison to Bangkok I’ve experienced being the third world city of San Salvador, we braced for a tough adjustment.

However, as Christina mentioned, our food tour was the perfect way to break in our new home and by the end of our first day in town we had regained some travel swagger. We lucked into our hotel being directly next to a ferry pier, and with that came our connection to the sky train and metro lines. There’s nothing we love more than big city public transit when we travel. Calling a cab is always the last resort and, in most parts of the world, the quickest way to get scammed.

With transportation in place and a new stroke of confidence, we set out on our second day to tackle the market and Chinatown. Chatuchak Market is a massive market covering more than 26 acres of land. You can find just about anything you could possibly need or want including live animals, clothing, home goods, flowers, religious items, food, antiques and, of course, tourist trinkets.

The market is a semi-indoor structure that I can best describe as a storage locker facility with the lockers serving as stalls for vendors. It’s all tight spaces with stall after stall spilling out into the corridors. As you walk from section to section the smells continually oscillate between trash and raw sewage, cheap plastic, religious oils and incense, and grease and curry from the countless vendors selling all manner of street food. Even with a map, we often got lost in the maze of stalls passing by a dozen alleys of shops before emerging to daylight on the other side. Amidst the maze, and frankly a lot of crap, we even found a couple of very chic shops where we purchased gifts, and a great coffee shop that by night turns into a bar frequented by the local hipsters.

But if we thought Chatuchak was crazy, Chinatown was on a whole other level of being crammed with vendors and goods. Not a single inch of sidewalk or street goes untapped for retail potential. You literally squeeze your way through merchandise and hoards of people lining the sidewalks. Down the alleys, motor bikes and trucks are constantly pushing through the crowds with only inches of space. We did manage to find some terrific street food, not all of which was identifiable, but given the crowds, the cramped quarters and intense claustrophobia, we moved on fairly quickly.

Day 2, as seemingly chaotic as it was, also was fascinating. In our travels, we are constantly amazed at the different ways cultures shop, eat and live their daily lives. Bangkok is a street market city unlike anything we’ve ever seen, where it’s common and often cheaper for a small family to eat meals in the streets than to buy groceries and cook at home. And where the streets below their homes are littered with everything they need in life from food, home goods and toys to electronics, clothes and books. And anything you can’t find immediately on the street? Check out the 7-Eleven. There’s one on every block.

Couldn't tell you what this was but we just point and enjoy.