Exploring the Flavors of Thailand
By Lauren Gerzina & Justin Hayes
Water Monitor Lizards, Thai Cooking Class, and Night Markets
We weren’t really sure why the Shark Tank guy from our Angkor tour added us on Facebook, but we were glad he did. A few days after the tour, he posted a Facebook story from a park in Bangkok that had water monitor lizards. So we knew we had to go check it out.
After a quick breakfast in the executive lounge, we called a Grab to take us to Lumphini Park, which a quick Google search revealed was home to hundreds of water monitor lizards (so many in fact, that they recently had to remove about 100 of them).
Immediately upon entering the park, we spotted the lizards in a small creek that ran parallel to a walking path. There were about three of them swimming in the water and eventually came onto the banks. They were very cool to watch, and a lot bigger than we thought.
We walked around the park for a little bit, taking pictures and enjoying the greenery, and then decided to go grab a snack before our cooking class. Since Justin hasn’t cooked in a while, we booked a Thai cooking class for the afternoon, but we weren’t exactly sure when we would eat, so we figured we needed a something to tide us over.
Luckily, Lauren found a highly recommended chocolate shop near the park called Kad Kokoa, so we walked about 10 minutes or so to a very bougie semi-indoor shopping mall. The chocolate was, indeed delicious. Lauren got several truffles with flavors like passionfruit and whiskey barrel while Justin enjoyed some dairy-free dark chocolate and a clear cacao tea that was surprisingly refreshing.
Lauren was also craving some tea, so we found a (again, bougie) tea shop in the same shopping mall and got some iced teas to go. While drinking our teas, we wandered around the mall and realized that it was outside of a very swanky hotel, so we wandered in to take a look and booked a Grab to take us to our cooking class.
We pulled up to what looked like a private residence with a line of propane stoves on metal racks out front. We waited outside for a bit with while other guests arrived and then went inside in the A/C to wait for our instructor and her assistants to get everything ready.
The class was wonderful. In about four hours, we made Tom Ka Ga (chicken and coconut soup), Pad Thai with shrimp, red curry with chicken, and mango sticky rice. With each dish, we would sit around some tables inside with large bowls with all the ingredients in them in front of us. Our instructor would talk about each ingredient and its use in traditional Thai food (like the different ways to use and cook sticky rice, Jasmine rice, and Basmati rice). Interestingly, our instructor was not Thai but from India. She was very entertaining and informative.
After learning about the ingredients, we would load up our bowls with everything we needed for each dish and then go outside to the stoves to cook them. After we threw everything into the woks, we would plate the dishes, then head back inside to enjoy. What we really liked was that, despite the peanuts we had to omit, everything was gluten and dairy free. We only used rice/rice noodles, coconut milk, fish sauce and tamarind sauce for our meals. Some of the interesting things we learned was that traditional Pad Thai is not meant to be spicy and that although curries in Thailand are inspired by India, many Thai people do not like the taste of Indian curries.
Despite having a great experience and instructor, we were a little bummed to hear that her boss was an asshole – apparently, he didn’t like that she talked so much about the history of the ingredients and the dishes (the part we enjoyed the most besides the eating) and wanted the instructors to just cook the meals. So she said she was planning on leaving soon and finding another job or maybe moving to Taiwan.
Once we got back to the hotel, we were so full from our class that neither of us really wanted to eat dinner. But we had heard very good things about one of the night markets (called Jodd Fairs), so we hopped into another Grab to go check it out.
The night market was packed with people and vendors selling food, clothing, souvenirs, bags, and other goods. It took up about 3 or 4 blocks with rows and rows of shops. We even found a place that was selling ugly Christmas sweaters. Justin got a magnet and a fanny pack/man purse (which are very popular here, and he has really been enjoying using since then for our adventures). We also got some vegan coconut ice cream that, although not as good as the dark chocolate sorbet, was still pretty tasty.
Overall, it was a very fun day full of Thai tastes, smells, and sights.
