no.4: The bittersweet ending

 Hello from 11277 m in the sky!

I‘m writing this blog on my flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver, the middle ground layovers for me to get home. By the time this is published, I will be on the western hemisphere again, leaving my amazing time in Asia. It is truly a bittersweet ending. 

Regardless of my deep sadness that my trip is over, and the overwhelming urge to apply for engineering jobs and grad school in Asia (which I think I will), I have had an amazing time and am excited to return home to Colorado. I miss my family and friends, and I also really miss Chipotle, which will in fact be my first stop when I land. Although this blog will be talking about the last week I had on my trip, it is nowhere near the finale for this blog. I will be publishing more posts as I start to dissect my research, translate the vendor interviews and construct the cook book; but for the time being, I will talk about the final week I had in Thailand.

Friday: Where I left you last week in suspense! What an amazing day this was. We started the morning by taking full advantage of our airbnb location and amenities: we got some fresh fruit and delicious Thai tea that we enjoyed by our pool. Slow morning like this felt so good in Bangkok and also kind of necessary just because how hot it is outside, you can’t be out running around in the sun all day. Afterwards we got ready for a day of exploring centered around good food. We checked out the King Power building and skywalk which was absolutely insane. This skywalk was so much bigger than the one in Lotte tower of Seoul and the sunny views of Bangkok were breathtaking. From there we went to Siam Square which has a large, hip shopping area, but it is also the main Korea and Japan of Bangkok in terms of food. We kind of went against that theme because we found this hidden valley of food kind of tucked away from the main road. At first glance, and smell, the alley was filled with delicious Thai food stalls and felt like a home cooked meal in every corner. The benches were filled with office workers and taxi drivers on their lunch break, each enjoying a different delicious meal. We chose a Thai basil pork omelette dish to try and between translators, I was able to have a super wholesome interview with the vendor. We sat down and enjoyed our meal next to everyone else. What was very memorable was the bench style seating in the alley that made it feel like an elementary cafeteria; I saw a girl run up next to us to sit next to her friend who was enjoying food from the same stall as us, but I saw her pull out her home-packed meal to enjoy next to her friend in this alley. I felt like I could spend all day in this alley talking to everyone and hearing their stories, but alas, the day had to go on. Our next destination was the infamous Bangkok Chinatown. I had heard of this night market from every human possible in regards to Thai street food, so I know we had to dedicate a good chunk of time to it. By the time the sun set, the streets were flooded with foreigners, locals, young and old. It felt a bit stressful to get around and because of the high demand, it was also difficult to get vendor’s attention for an interview. We decided it was best to let the crowd cool down a bit so in the same area, we went for a Thai massage which cost us $6 each for the best massage of my life. Afterwards, the alleyways were more calm so we made our way to a couple of vendors and got some food and interviews. While witnessing my struggle to use my translator with one vendor, this kind woman who spoke both Thai and English stepped up and offered her help. With her assistance I got a very coherent interview from the Thai skewer vendor, so I’ll try remember that and her kindness overall After stuffing our faces and taking loads of pictures we decided to obey the Bangkok Friday nightlife culture and went back to Khao San road where we enjoyed some more food and drinks to end this packed day.

Saturday: The weekend was officially here which only meant one thing: Chatuchak weekend market! The largest market in Bangkok, we were going to have a full day here, and we really did. We walked around a fraction of the 15,000 stalls at Chatuchak and chatted with some people while also doing some souvenir shopping. After walking around for hours we had a delicious meal at a fried noodle stall and as the market was closing we made our way back to our airbnb to drop off our shopping bags. Since we had spent most of the day at the market, we were a bit tired so we freshened up and went to check out the RCA neighborhood and called in an early night to rest.

Sunday: The exhaustion from the heat and traveling had finally caught up to us and we ended up staying in bed for a while. This ended up working out fine because most of the plans we had worked better at night anyways. After some much needed rest and a bowl of amazing Chicken Massam curry, we were ready to head to the other side of the river which we had not been to yet. We started the afternoon at ICONSiam which had an insane architecture build and was filled with everything from luxury goods, car dealerships and variety of food. Besides the building’s good looks, I mainly chose to explore ICONSiam because it has the biggest indoor floating street market in Bangkok; and the indoor night market did not disappoint at all; we tried a little bit of everything and I was attempting to chat with some of the vendors but very few actually seemed interested to talk. I’m not sure if it was the environment of the market or if they were genuinely not interested, but the food was amazing regardless and I enjoyed it a lot. Afterwards we went to Asiatique which was a river side market and amusement area. We tried more traditional Thai food which was mind blowing. We then took the last ferry to Sathon Pierre and headed home. 

Monday: This was a very exciting day because one of Alysa and I’s friends, Claire, from back home is solo traveling throughout Asia right now, and we had planned to meet in Bangkok for our last two days. She arrived and after she got set up in our Airbnb we went to the Eastern area of Bangkok because I just HAD TO make time for the Little Zoo Cafe during my trip. This cafe is like a cat cafe, but with a variety of animals you can pet and play with. They had a room FULL of corgis, a raccoon, a fox, so many cats and other breeds of smaller dogs, and just a ton of more exotic animals. We had a blast there and the workers were so nice to explain everything to us about the animals. The cafe was also super organized, we reserved a time the same day and got our tickets for 350 baht each which included a cute pair of socks, an hour with the animals, and a complimentary cafe drink and dessert; amazing deal for such a fun activity. Our next destination I was super excited for! We went to Wattana Panich which is a street food style restaurant featured in multiple forms of media and the Michelin guide numerous times, known for their beef soup that has been brewing for over 50 years. We each ordered a bowl of the soup for 100 baht each (roughly $3) and it was so yummy and rich in flavor. Since the restaurant wasn’t too busy I really wanted to interview someone, but the people there didn’t seem to interested to speak to me either, but it is totally fine because I got to try the yummy soup and also there are hundreds of interviews and coverage on the place already that I can read up on. We then went to the original Jodd Fairs market where we did more shopping and had more delicious street food. We all had a blast that night and I am so grateful to have the opportunity to be traveling abroad the same time as my friends.

Tuesday: This was our last day in Bangkok, last day of my practicum :( We decided to stick to our routine of getting fresh fruit for breakfast one last time. We then made our way to the Grand Palace where we looked at the beautiful temples and palaces. The views of these magnificent temples in Bangkok will never get old and I was taken back in awe with every new turn we made. After lots of walking and admiring, we had our last meal in Bangkok, walked around the Suckemvit neighborhood and market a bit before heading back to our Airbnb to pack our bags. We had a very early flight out, so we said our goodbyes to Claire and made our way to the Bangkok airport. During the drive to the airport, the feeling really set in that the trip was over. The only way I can describe how I was feeling is “I don’t want to leave”. This opportunity has been so amazing and I gained so much out of it than I originally thought and I was just sad it was coming to an end. We lugged our bags to our gate,  I said my goodbyes to Alysa since she is flying separately from me, and we were out!

Wednesday: That’s today! Or yesterday or tomorrow. I am in fact traveling back in time zones so none of this really makes sense. The day is filled with flights and I’m trying to really take advantage of the downtimes I have to focus on catching up on schoolwork and writing this blog. Still feeling a bit bittersweet but again, I’m excited for Chipotle!

I know the journey is far from over and I still have so much to learn from the interviews and research to uncover, which will help me relive this trip again (in spirit haha). Before we get into all that though I want to say another round of thank you’s: A thank you to my university and the McBride honors program and honors enrichment program for making this trip come true, all my friends and family who have been as excited or even more excited than me for this trip and supporting me in reading the blog and showering me with love, the people we have met in the trip, the old and new friends who helped me in so many ways, and of course the one and only Alysa who came on this whole journey with me. I am truly so lucky and honored to have had this opportunity and I will try my absolute hardest to curate the best results to share with you all for times to come. 

Speaking of which, Alysa is not currently on this flight with me so no thought box :(

I cannot wait to get into these interviews and research, write the story and share it with you all, and I will continue to appreciate your support. 

So till next time, talk to you next from U.S!!

Love, 

Parmida 

P.S humbly accepting donations as I spent all my money on street food on this trip and I am still a broke college student haha 

Anywaysssss…here is the picture dump:

In order: Bangkok Chinatown 2. Me with one of many corgis 3.King Power skywalk 4. Delicious Penang Curry at Chatuchak market 4. Massam Chicken meal 5. ICONSiam indoor floating market 6. Asiatique 7. My new Raccoon friend 8. Alysa and Claire with Meerkats 9. Wattana Panich soup 10. The Grand palace