Chinatown (Nov. 21, 2014)

Hi,

Last night I had a great sleep, alone again in the dorm room. Lucky me! Tonight there are two other girls, but Ian told me that for the next couple of nights, I am alone after they leave. Great.

I also had a great FT with my lovable momma, and Rachel, and finally, Wendy. She’s super busy getting ready for her craft show this weekend, but took some time to chat with me this morning anyway. Thanks Wendy, great to connect. Your glass looks amazing. I love it and can’t wait to do some more with you. Oh, I also talked to Sandra too, which was awesome. I caught up with quite a few people, last night and this morning. 

So today, I went to Chinatown with a guy from the hostel, named Caz, from Hawaii. I didn’t make it there last night as you’ve probably guessed, but today was really cool. Caz is an interesting guy. I can’t figure out how old he is, but he used to be a pro surfer and then he taught elementary school for a while. Anyway, now he travels a lot and writes various articles about hostels, restaurants, etc for travellers, and travel magazines. He has had a very colourful past, including being a widow, having cared for his dying mother, and becoming estranged from his apparently very wealthy family. In any case, he’s a nice guy, very smart, well read and good to spend some time with. I think he gets a bit anxious going places alone and chats to a lot of the people in the hostel, making friends to go out and about with, and sharing stories and conversations. He’s quite nice though, and easy to be around. Here's some of the things I saw walking toward Chinatown.

Another Temple

Golden Temple

Across the street

On the corner of a street

Shrine in the middle of the street

Pipes and hardware shop

Basket shop

Caz had wanted to try some street food, and I told him I was going to Chinatown and would eat down there as well. He decided to join me, so we took the subway there, walked around, found a place to eat, wandered through the busy streets and discovered various markets. It was a great day trip and super interesting. Plus, the street food place ended up being really yummy, with a great ambience and view for people watching. I had stir fried Morning Glory which was not the little Chinese corns this time, as you’ll see. It was so great, with lots of roasted or fried garlic chunks, and a lovely flavour. They serve it with white rice in a bowl, and I got a Lipton’s Iced Tea in a bottle to go along with it. Caz had an omelette and an Iced Tea. We shared a bit of each other’s but I was craving vegetables so much, that I only really wanted mine. The servings were very large, so thankfully, there was a lot to share. 

A look at the kitchen and food

Street food place I chose

Omelette and fried Morning Glory

Caz and me enjoying our meal

Caz eating mango from another street vendor
It was so sweet and delicious!

It was really weird when we first got there. Every time a guy stopped us to ask where we were going, the guy would say, ‘Chinatown closed, not open until night’. I had read about this scam, where they tell you it’s not open, then take you to one of their friends’ shops to buy stuff, or take you on an expensive taxi ride around the city, instead. I just kept saying that we wanted to walk and grabbed my map when they proposed where we needed to go to find what we were looking for. Finally, we managed to get out of the area where these vulture guys were, and into the heart of Chinatown. We just walked in whatever direction either of us thought was good, and looked at  all the sites. We found the market, which indeed was open and bustling.

Shop inside the market area

View from the market area #2

Market area #3

Market area #4

We ran into this caucasian couple in this weird alley, who seemed to be coming out of a building. We asked them where they had come from, and they told us about the hidden hotel they were staying at. We went to the hotel to have a look, and WOW, what a cute little gem. It was right on the river and almost seemed to be floating. You could see where the river ferry went by and could sit out on the balcony of the room, and watch the water traffic. It was so cute, had a restaurant, and hammocks in the rooms if you wanted, looking out onto the water. 

Hotel name

View of river from balcony

Caz doing yoga in front of the sign

A look down the hotel corridor

View of the inside of the hotel

It was a great day, and once back to the hostel, I decided to go to Lumpini Park one more time to try and finish off my drawing. I got there around 4:00 and stayed until 6:00. I was finished the drawing a bit before that, but I wanted to stay to see all the people in the park, running, working out on those machines, walking, doing yoga, and Tai Chi stop what they were doing for the playing of the National Anthem at 6 pm. It was very cool and I’m glad I stayed. Even more happy to have finished off that drawing as best as I could. It was really complicated with a lot more detail than I initially thought. Well, at least it’s done, and I am happy with it.

Happy me back at the hostel

I returned to the hostel, met up with Caz again who was going for something to eat, and joined him. We just went down the street and found an outdoor, quasi street food restaurant, and sat down to have barbecued chicken, salad and fries. It was delicious! 

Barbq street restaurant

Then we went down the street further to buy some vanilla ice cream from a guy with a little freezer cart and super pure vanilla ice cream. You could get coconut, condensed milk, and a variety of other things on it, but I opted for the plain vanilla. It was so good and a fantastic dessert. The guy being served before me had his ice cream on a thick slice of bread, covered in shredded coconut, condensed milk and something else that I couldn’t quite figure out. Then the bread was folded in half and given to him. Sure makes the meaning of the ice cream sandwich different than what I visualize…..lol.

Cute doggie on the street, keeping cool

I came back to the hostel, had a shower and finished my blog. I am going to bed early tonight as I walked a lot today, and am happily full and tired. Tomorrow I think I might venture to that huge weekend market that I went to before, with Victor, the Spanish guy. Oh, here is cool pic for you, Jon, Rachel, Mike, and mom. It's a restaurant supply shop in Chinatown that had everything!

Cool restaurant supply store, eh?

Good night all, and have a great day.