Wow, second day in Bangkok was crazy!!! I got to get out of Bangkok and visit multiple areas of Thailand. So Thailand is known for their unique floating markets!!! My friends and I stared our day out seeking the most popular and touristy floating market in Thailand: the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market.

This market is located in a region outside of Bangkok, approximately 1-2 hours away! It is near the more rural and edge of Thailand. The drive to this market had views that shifted gradually to marshes, canals and greens. This market had a lot of food, but it was more abundant in souvenir trinkets that the merchants try to haggle you with. Shopping here requires carefulness!

After purchasing our coat tickets, we waited in a slow line to board one of the many canal boats. While waiting, we ate coconut ice cream for just 50baht. It was so good and refreshing! The ice cream itself had actual pieces of coconut in it. When I finished the ice cream, there was a layer of unpeeled coconut on the inside of the coconut itself.

Yay! We finally got on the boat and the only thing we managed to buy was Thai’s famous mango sticky rice, which I hear is a must buy while in Thailand. This was delicious! By far the best mango sticky rice I have ever eaten! The rice was perfectly sticky and chewy topped with roasted sesame seeds and coconut milk. The mangos itself tasted fresh and pre-sliced for us!

Now riding on these canal boats was not as glamorous and fun and safe as it looks. It was actually very uncomfortable! The seats were low and hard. We had the smaller canal boats so it was moved hand made by a skinny Thai woman with just one paddle. She was obviously over turned and out paddled by the bigger boats with an engine to steer and go!!! There were many times where our boat was rocked and pushed around by the bigger boats. Even worse, sometimes the bigger boats front or behind will hit us. There was even one point where our little old lady was trying to hard to get us near the starting deck again to let us out but we kept getting pushed around by the bigger boats!!!! It was a very scary and crazy experience.

After our nerve wrecking ride, we ordered some traditional Thai noodle dishes: chicken pad Thai and duck noodle soup. Both was very good and tasty!!! But nothing too different from what you can get in LA. (We are blessed to those who live in LA. There we get the best of everything all in one city)!

I saw this at a random stand on the street and wanted to try it. When in Thailand, just try random street food right? These were crepes!! Egg and coconut crepes to be exact. The crepe shells were very thin and crispy, with the taste of a sweet cracker. The white paste was coconut milk paste. And the colorful fillings were the egg and coconut? The color doesn’t all quite match up though.

Okay! So we found a ride to the floating market easily, but it’s finding a ride back that was the hard part!!! After all, we are wayyyy far off from the city. Luckily, one of our friends just randomly asked around and managed to find us a van that’ll take us back to the city. It was a dirty, old and almost run-down van with uncomfortable and almost-beaten down seats. But hey!! The driver randomly stopped about 30 minutes away from Bangkok and told us to get out. We tried to explain that he promised to take us back to the city but he kept saying, “Get out.” So we did because we were scared and on the way out he said “Take taxi rest of the way.” Wow thanks????

But in the end, we thanked him for it. He ended up dropping us off in a different city called Bangkok Noi, which seems to be a bustling shopping area filled with locals, not tourists. All of the food here, out on the streets and inside the malls, were way cheaper than in Bangkok. It can’t get any cheaper than this! Plus there was an abundant of Japanese food.

This mall was called Central Plaza Mall in the Bangkok Noi district, consisting of MANY floors and vastly huge! Over compassing both sides of the street. Yes, it was formidable with many street vendors in between.

So first Japanese restaurant we stopped at, because someone wanted to, we ate takoyaki. Takoyaki is what I would like to call octopus balls! They were generous with the octopus bits inside the chewy starchy balls. I think this appetizer was about $1-2 US dollars. It was dirt cheap. Food is so cheap here!!!

This whole bento box was 189baht, like $4?!?! We have here cheesy chicken karage, shrimp and salmon nigiri topped with kewpie mayonnaise, salad, and white rice. It even comes with miso soup!

This was gooooood! The chicken was perfectly moist and well cooked, the fried batter was crispy, and the egg and soft tofu was soft!!!! Even the sweet shoyu sauce bed was delightfully savory at the same time.

Then we explored the mall for a bit where I stumbled across mini macarons! These were just 35baht, which cane out to be approximately $1 in US. So cheap!

These were very crunchy!!! Not the typical soft and moist texture I am used to from the regular sized macarons.

And look at how tint they are! The size of my eyeball!

Outside of the mall, there were so many street vendors! First stop, Japanese pancakes in petite size? There were a choice of syrupy toppings and I chose honey to drizzle it on. And these were SO INSANELY GOOD. These petite pancakes adorably small, deliciously chewy, and perfectly sweet.

And why not try a random meatball skewer from a skewer stand. I wasn’t sure what these balls were but it tasted like vietnamese sweet meatballs.

This was probably my third boba drink and even though I was full by now, these boba drinks were only $1-2 US dollars so I couldn’t resist ordering even though I didn’t wanna drink it. Boba milk tea with matcha ice cream on top. Yummmmmm.

The milk tea was densely sweet and milky, the boba was very chewy and the matcha ice cream was so matcha!! I am in foodie heaven!

Okay. I was seriously insanely full to the point where my tummy wanted to explode and needed to poop, but then I saw Ippudo….. and any foodie will know Ippudo…. the insane 3hr wait in New York to this notorious ramen restaurant… but there was no line here.. so we stepped in. To read more about this world renowned Japanese restaurant, check out my blog on it when I was in New York (https://cookiecukie.com/2017/03/19/ippudo/).

Let’s order some physically appealing looking cucumbers just cause we’re in Thailand. These cucumbers were on a bed of sweet sesame oil and shoyu sauce, topped with garlic and roasted sesame seeds.

I always get the classic ramen with just a few slices of fatty pork because that is all you need when it comes to good ramen. You want simple. You want just pork broth, noodles and fatty pork. I just need those three in my bowl and I’m more than happy! Those dried black fungus mushrooms are a crunchy extra!

I was so full when these came out. I was actually so insanely uncomfortably full but I forced myself to eat these. I had to. They were available with no wait at 1/3 the price. How can any foodie say no to this? Must eat!

And the first bite into these pork buns took me back to when I was in New York. These simple pork buns just had two slices of fatty pork, a piece of cabbage lettuce and mayonnaise. And thats all you need!

Okay so last stop… at night time after our relaxing Thai massage that was just $3 for a full body and one hour.

So the Khao San Road is another famous and touristy destination while in Bangkok. A long street of lights, bars, and street food. It was like the Asian version of New York Times Square.

And here is where you can eat bugs on skewer sticks. I ate a scorpion.. for 100baht which is like $3. It was actually not that bad! It was more of a mind over matter situation. The texture was crunchy and it’s body tasted like chicken liver and crab brain I think. To watch me eat it, check out my instagram! Haha 🙂

And that concludes tonight! This street was very fun to walk around and dance in! The ambiance is so lively! Like Las Vegas strip but crazier and full of Asians!

Well that concludes my visit of Bangkok. Next stop: Phuket!!! 🙂