Gin Len

Eat

Jui Kuai

Part of the fun is telling the chef how delicious his/her food is

Our Egyptian feast: Molokhia, Moussaka Béchamel, Bamia Stew

Clichéd but irresistible backpacker stand: Pad Thai and springrolls

Fighting the heat with Thai Iced Tea and Coffee

Gin Len, literally to "eat for fun," is a Thai way of life.  You cannot walk down the street without being stopped by the sights, smells, and once you've caved, tastes of the endless rows of food stands.  How do you resist sesame battered bananas fried crisp before your eyes, sweet and savory doughnuts, fresh mango salad, whole fried fish, fresh young coconut juice, curries of all color and composition, stir-fried rice noodles, nutella pancakes, tropical fruit smoothies, fried sweet peanut crackers, ad infinitum?  You don't.

In Bangkok the Thai dishes are spicier, sweeter, fresher, more fragrant, and more complete than anything I've had in the United States.  The street food costs beans, the restaurants a tremendous value.  And we haven't limited ourselves to Thai food.  The diversity of Bangkok led us to dine Egyptian in Little Arabia, feast through Chinatown, and inhale Belgian chocolate (we may have snuck in a few freshly fried springrolls, to remind us where we were).  Coming from New Zealand, where the food was generally neither what you would call good nor affordable, this is heaven.  The only meal to disappoint?  Of course, the only meal we shelled out on, an overly touristy Chao Phraya Dinner Cruise.  And the Jui Kuai we tasted in Chinatown may have been my single favorite bite.  According to the sign: "Jui Kuai is kind of Chinese snack.  Made it from powdery white sink bowl."  Life is a mysterious and wonderful thing.