You only live twice once.

A quick quiz:

1. What’s Sara’s favourite thing to talk about?
2. What is the first thing Sara thinks about in the morning?
3. What’s the last thing Sara thinks about at night?
4. What does Sara think about more than anything else?

Food, Food, Food, Food!

Day 9 was all about it.

The day started with the most amazing breakfast ever. Yes, ever. To tell you the truth, for me, nothing comes even close to this breakfast. From the silver tea pot (with an extra pot of boiling water so it’s just right) to the chef, clothed in a starched full uniform who cooks you pretty much anything you want. From the fresh tropical fruits, to the pastries that would not look out of place in the best Parisian patisserie. From mini pots of chai pudding with candied mango to the fluffiest of pancakes. From a huge assortment of dim sum, to noodles, salmon gravlax and grilled fresh vegetables. Yum Yum, Yum. Why oh why is there not a second stomach for humans, just like cows have!

The saying says: Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper. We certainly started today on the right foot!

After breakfast, as the dark rain clouds came rolling in, we boarded the hotel’s motor boat for a 90 minute cruise on the Chao Phraya River. The rain came down and the wind picked up just as we set off. Lucky we like a bit of an adventure and as we bumped across waves that were probably bigger than this waterway usually has, we enjoyed the river spray and the cool wind, a big difference from yesterday’s 36c.

We passed many of Bangkok’s famous sites along the way, including the Royal Palace, Wat Pho, Old Customs House, a Naval Base plus many other interesting things like an old railway yard, seafood markets and we even stopped to feed hundreds of cat fish the bread leftovers from breakfast.

Can you spot the canal crocodile? Certainly not what I was expecting to see ?

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According to the saying lunch should be fit for a prince. If you know Thailand, you will be aware that the Thais hold the royal family in extremely high regard. This lunch was actually an early afternoon tea, and it was certainly fit for even the most highly regarded Thai prince! The hotel has a restaurant called ‘The Authors Lounge’ which is in the original part of the hotel. The decor is colonial-style with rattan high-backed chairs, white timber paneling and photographic portraits of famous authors who have visited here and donated books to the hotels library. Among them Ian Fleming and Graeme Green. Dave snuck a picture of a sign in the men’s bathroom with a quote from Fleming, which suits our philosophy:

We chose to have ‘high tea’ which was both a fabulous experience and incredibly delicious. Each of us received our selection of sweet and savory tastes on a rack presented inside a ‘book’ by one of the famous authors. On the table they also placed warm scones with clotted cream and an assortment of homemade jams. The rack held tiny finger sandwiches (OMG the truffled egg was to die for), mini savoury pastries, hand-made chocolates, petit fours and tiny individual cakes. There was no way we could eat it all!

So much eating leads to tired travelers, so an afternoon by the pool, in the relatively mild weather was in order. When the pool attendant arrived with coconut ice cream, I couldn’t decline (it would have been rude), and I wasn’t sure when I dived into the pool whether I would sink or swim!

The food day continued into the evening. We had booked a ‘midnight tuk-tuk food tour’ which was actually from 7-11pm. The tour started at a nearby train station, where we met the guide, Tuk Ta, and our seven fellow foodies. I have done a few food tours before (Barcelona was my favourite). It’s a great way to get the feel for a city, meet some like-minded people and taste some things you might otherwise not be game to order.

Our tuk-tuk took us to seven spots through the night, from street-side vendors of fried fat rice noodles with chicken and egg, to the wholesale flower markets, a roof top bar, the Pagoda of the largest reclining Buddha, the restaurant that has been serving the same recipes of green mango salad and fried pork larb for over 50 years and our final stop, a tiny cafe where the famous dish, ‘Pad Thai’ originated from. I’m not sure we could say we ate like paupers at dinner, but we certainly did eat like locals.

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So today was, as is most days for me, all about food. As you are no doubt all aware, when we get home on Monday next week we will need to start 14 days of self-isolation. How can I make those 14 days be about food, especially when we left the cupboards pretty bare? (Thanks Ros for your suggestion that I could keep myself occupied by cooking for others!) At least, unless the house-sitter has used it all, there is some toilet paper 😉

Tomorrow we head to the coast!