Bangkok

The past few days were spent scurrying around this massive city. The highlight was definitely getting to hang out with Liam after not seeing him for a few years from working at Soi 4 in Oakland, but I also had some fun with Mark roaming the streets before he caught a flight to Australia. Mark and I hit Khao San Rd to make fun of the backpacker hippies, had a delicious, but very spicy lunch at the Navy Club on the water, visited the legendary MBK mall and Sukhumvit, acted like tourists on the Sky Train, and even squeezed in a great game of pool at a local bar where we also saw some older western men canoodling with young Thai girls.

Liam was the perfect host. It was so great to see a familiar face after traveling for almost a month. I couldn’t believe how generous he was with his time. While he only lives about 20km outside downtown, it takes a while with traffic to make it in after work each night. We hung out Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and had an absolute blast! The first night he took Mark and I to a really great restaurant he and his friends visit called Somtum and then showed us an immense night market full of everything anyone would ever want to buy.

Our second night he and I went to a mouthwatering crepe place where we had tzatziki in a relaxing setting and then tested some very strange dessert where I was the only white person. The name I think is Mai Sai Nom which means fresh milk. It’s as popular as Pinkberry back home but serves texas-style toast with heaps of butter and a topping of your choice. We split three: orange marmalade, chocolate, and sugar. We also got fresh, unpasteurized milk and a thai tea. It was a very foreign event for me and I forced myself to not think about how many calories we consumed. But, I loved trying it and talking to Liam more.

The last course after greek tzatziki, french crepes, and thai toast must of course be fried bugs at the local market. I decided to add a few more items to my weird menu of foods consumed in Asia by trying grasshopper and larvae. It’s hard to even admit that I ate larva, but Liam said it tasted like a french fry (why does everyone say that insects taste like fries? They do not!) so I thought, “what the heck.” Post insect we toured the market, bought a few presents for friends, walked through the beautiful and fantastic-smelling flower market, and then drove home.

When Liam came into the city for the third night it was unfortunately a Friday night and raining extravagantly. It therefore took him two and a half hours to reach me, which I felt horrible for. We kept it low-key since I was tired and had to wake up early by enjoying an hour foot massage near my hotel with berry smoothies. I’m so lucky to have a great friend like Liam....