This blog is going to begin with Bangkok because that’s where I started…
Our trek to Bangkok was a long one. We flew Qatar Airways which we loved because we felt treated like royalty and their vegetarian flight food was better than most.
We changed flights at Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar’s capital city. We descended over the Persian Gulf just after dawn – a stunning aqua juxtaposed by a white desert.
Having been built in 2014, the airport is one of the most artistically pleasing and filled with modern art and clean architecture.
Long Flight Tips – like NYC to Bangkok
- Buy compression socks. This will help with circulation and combat swollen legs caused by sitting for TOO long at a high altitude.
- Take hourly walks up and down the aisles, stretch when you’re waiting for the bathroom.
- Bring your own headphones. You’ll want something you KNOW is comfortable to wear for long periods of time.
- Download soft, relaxing music to help you rest during the long flight. I use Spotify.
- Bring antibacterial wipes for your seat arms and tray.
- You’ll be tempted to have a cocktail, wine or beer. Have one! You’re embarking on a long adventure and it might help you sleep. But limit it to one and drink PLENTY of water. Water will help with jet lag.
- Most often international flights provide a pillow and blanket. Even in economy.
- Download the airline’s app to your phone and check in 24 hours before your flight if applicable. It’s best to not be fumbling around with papers. PRO TIP: Screen shot your boarding pass so you have it in your phone’s photo library in the event of faulty phone service at the airport.
And finally, just as the sun began to set, we landed in the land of smiles – Thailand. Where everything is “same, same but different.”
We hadn’t checked luggage; we challenged ourselves to only pack essentials to live more simply. We were greeted with an intense humid heat and many monks draped in electric orange robes and a kind smile. It was leaving the airport that life had felt truly changed. That I stepped into a life of new people and new weather. It was exciting and refreshing.
Our driver picked us up with ease and brought us to our first stay, the Amara Hotel in the Bang Rak district of Bangkok. With the big change from leaving Manhattan we wanted something new – something with a rooftop that challenged the one at out home, the one we loved so much in NYC. And we found it at the Amara.
We settled into our room, exhausted from our travels but riding our excited energy we decided we needed something to eat.
Authentic Thai Dinner in Bangkok
Down the street we stumbled upon the most packed restaurant in the neighborhood – Somboon Seafood. If all of our travel books and research taught us anything, it was that a crowd typically means good food. We entered by a wall displaying live crabs. Without glass. On the sidewalk. A site I couldn’t image seeing NYC without a big F health rating plastered on the window behind it. But, we were in a new country and we needed to trust their way of doing things. It’s common there, that restaurants advertise their eatery by displaying their main ingredient on the street for all to see to entice passerbys. We nestled into our seat and chose between two beers, Singha and Chang, which we would come to find are the two national beers of Thailand – each with their distinct following. We went with one of each. But more on that later.
We looked at the menus blankly and realized that for the past month, we were so focused on making big plans to change from one life to another that we had done little to no research on the food. And although illustrated with pictures and written with broken English, we needed to pick something at random off the menu. And there seemed to be a lot of fuss over their signature dish – one they’ve made since 1969. Their famous Fried Crab Curry. The dish itself was noted in a CNN article titled, “World’s Greatest City: 50 Reasons why Bangkok is No. 1” where they claimed Somboon’s Fried Crab Curry as one of THE reasons to visit Bangkok and deemed it the “best crab curry in all Asia.”
Well. That made the decision easy.
So we started with Deep Fried Minced Prawn Balls and Stir Fried Morning Glory with Garlic.
Then we went on to their famous Fried Curry Crab with Young Water Mimosa, a root with a cabbage-flavor grown similarly to rice.
Our Order
- Stir fried morning glory with garlic (Pictured: Center, Top)
- Deep fried minced prawn balls (Pictured: Left)
- Fried curry crab (Pictured: Right)
- Young water mimosa (Pictured: Center, Bottom)
Their renowned crab dish was an expected explosion of flavor, much like Thai cooking in general, but where the flavor had seemingly become perfectly balanced over the generations. It offered a deep curry flavor, with fresh crab meat and a not-overwhelming heat rounded out by a welcome creamy flavor, assuming it to be a coconut cream.
We faded fast and honestly, didn’t have the energy to pick apart the exceptional flavors of our first Thai dish. We just feasted and with our eyes half open we enjoyed the simplicity of filling our bellies with a warm meal after hours of travel.
A Rooftop Night Cap
But before we dragged ourselves to bed, we ventured to the rooftop of the Amara for a quick cocktail. And sitting down with two Mai Tais we toasted to each other. Eyes filled with tears both from exhaustion and victory. A toast to making a change that seemed far from reach. A toast to looking out at a new city skyline from a rooftop at night. A toast to an incredible amount of planning, to stepping into the unknown and leaving family, leaving friends, leaving comfort. A toast to new adventures and living life with spontaneity. And a toast to being proud of each other, to being a team and to the first day of an incredible adventure.
Those often are the moments you remember most about travel. The ones that give pause to the moment at hand. To let you internalize the feelings of achievements. To be proud of yourself.
And with that. The adventure begins…