Northern Thai Curry

I tried a new (to me) dish at the S&P restaurant on Siam Square on Saturday.

S&P Logo

It was on the menu as a Northern Thai curry with crispy noodles and a chicken leg.

It came in a big bowl with condiments on the side: onion, lime for squeezing, pickled radish and some red chili sauce. I passed on the latter – it was quite spicy enough for my taste.

The noodles were fried and placed in the curry. Those submerged in the sauce were soft while those above-sauce were crispy.

It was hard to eat without making a mess. Beware of this dish if you are concerned about your clothes.

The sauce was tasty but very fatty. It reminded me of the Malay style curries I’ve eaten in Malaysia and Singapore. I felt full and thirsty after eating but I wasn’t hungry for hours afterwards. It powered me all the way up Phaya Thai Road, past Chulalongkorn University to Chamchuri Square where I happily read books and magazines for an hour.

You can see more pictures from my Saturday afternoon Bangkok walk in PicasaWeb here for about a month. The map view is here.

Evening Walk

I didn’t have time to go out during the day in Wednesday. I enjoy my Bangkok walks and get antsy if I don’t go somewhere and take some pictures.

There were rain showers in the evening but nothing serious so I decided to have an evening walk around a safe, well-lit area. Central World is the obvious, if unimaginative choice.

Bangkok Central World at Night at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail: GPS Community

I started from Siam (Central) Skytrain Station and walked along the overhead walkway to Central World at the Rachaprasong Intersection.

Then I walked around the whole shopping “lifestyle” complex. I used the Canon EOS-30D camera with the 28-135mm image stabilized lens. I set the camera to 1000ASA. That’s quite acceptable with the SLR – definitely not with a Point-and-Shoot.

I found it was good to bracket exposures by plus or minus 2/3 of a stop. Many good sights had a single bright light that fooled the camera’s metering. A more scientific approach is to use spot metering. but digital film is cheap so it was easier to bracket and select the best in Lightroom / Photoshop.

I could do more work and build a pseudo-HDR image from the best areas of each shot. I didn’t use a tripod but with the camera on fast “motor drive” I was able to take three almost identical shots.

I enjoyed the walk. Bangkok is so lively at night. At the end of the walk I stopped by the stairs to Siam Station. There were food stalls everywhere with people eating noodles and rice. It was a very different scene from the tourist oriented street commerce during the day.

I only got hassled by touts once – outside the Intercontinental Hotel. “No – I don’t want a one hour tuk-tuk ride for 10B thank you very much.”

I find that if I say “no thanks” in Thai the touts are less persistent than if I speak to them in English. They assume I am a local and leave me alone.

I Can Walk on Water

Here’s the proof:

Walking on Water

On Saturday the Bangkok weather was kind and I made my long anticipated trip to Thanon Tok at the end of the #1 bus line.

I uploaded the track log to Every Trail and then downloaded a KML file to Google Earth. This enabled me to show my path on Google Earth’s satellite images. Their images of this part of Bangkok are not great, but I assume they are accurate.

Even though I was out in the open (under a hot sun) on a clear day the Nikon Coolpix P6000 had a fairly large GPS error that in this screen shot made it look like I walked into the river. Of course I was on the pier to the right. (Beware, it’s very rusty and unsafe, even though it is used as a ferry dock).

The EveryTrail trip is here. There are more pictures (for a month or so) on PicasaWeb here.

The Bagkok Post has an article about Thanon Tok here. That’s what inspired me to travel to the end of the #1 bus line.

The Bangkok Post article explains:

Why is it called Thanon Tok? The answer is simple. If we walk on, we will fall [or tok in Thai] into the Chao Phraya River because the road ends at the river. Thanon Tok is the road’s colloquial name while Charoen Krung is its official name.

Now you know!

It was an interesting four mile (6.6km) walk, enlivened by three side trips to the River. I wish there was a path along the river bank but of course there are many properties, mostly businesses, right up to the river. Some old businesses are being replaced by expensive hotels and condominium complexes.

Out and About Again

The Bangkok weather was kinder to me on Tuesday. The rain held off until the evening. I was able to take a long (over 10km) walk around Bangkok. The trip is on EveryTrail at

Bangkok Bobae Market – Rattanakosin at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail: Travel Community.

EveryTrail Map 2009-09-09

It was a very long walk. Unlike San Francisco where I used to live Bangkok is very flat, so there’s only the traffic and the pollution to deal with. People are invariably very friendly, particularly outside the tourist areas.

Mothers will point out the farang to their kids and see if they’ve learned to say “Hello!” at school. A motorcycle taxi driver offered me some M-150 (a highly caffeinated beverage) and passing bus drivers waved when I snapped their vehicles. It’s amazing compared with the average Western city.

I can walk in Bangkok almost indefinitely if I have comfortable shoes and stops for water every 30 minutes or so. I have also taken a liking to Meiji brand coffee milk.

The only limit on my range is the two batteries I have for the Nikon Coolpix P6000.

Yesterday’s Walk

Bangkok Charoen Krung & Across the River at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail: Share GPS Tracks.

This is my latest Bangkok Walking Tour created with EveryTrail. It uses my latest camera -> GPS Interchange File (GPX) export routine.

The animated slide show on the EveryTrail site is very cool. Check it out!

Circumnavigating Hua Lamphong Station

Yesterday, August 31st, I had a free afternoon. I decided to take the subway to Hua Lamphong Station (the biggest in Thailand and the terminus for all major routes) and strike out in a new-to-me direction.

The weather was cooler than it’s been lately. Of course that’s relative. For most people in the world it would have seemed hot and humid. But I am used to it now.

I intended to walk to Bobae Market and take the Khlong San Sabe ferry home but I didn’t get that far. Instead I walked all around the railway station, seeing the working side of the railway.

The station lies on the western border of the Pathum Wan district of Bangkok. I walked mostly through its neighbour – Pom Prap Satttu Phai.

It’s definitely not a tourist area, nor much of a historical one. But for me it had tons of interest.

Here’s a Google Earth map of my walk:

Most of the pictures will be on PicasaWeb here for about a month.