One night in Bangkok I went On Nut and saw the Super P*ssy

I arrived in Bangkok, Thailand at about 4 in the afternoon on January 2nd. I was sweating the moment I stepped off of the plane—quite the shock to the body to be living in 20 degree weather and then flip to 90 degrees and humid! I walked into a hostel in the center of the city that was really cheap (about 6 dollars a night). When I checked online, Hostelworld said that there were vacancies so I figured I wouldn’t have a problem. When I got there, however, the man at the front desk told me there were no rooms. I informed him that online said otherwise, he stopped and then said oh, yes, I think we have one bed and let me in. That first night I stayed in a room with one other girl in a tiny room that basically only had room for our bunk beds and our bags. This is also the only room without air conditioning and is on the 5th floor--hot, hot, hot. I dropped my stuff off and wondered over to a side street to find some food since I hadn’t eaten much all day. All down the street, there are little, local, outdoor restaurants with Thai women shoving menus at everyone walking by. I took a seat on a picnic table and pointed to a picture that looked good. I ended up with a lot of rice and noodles. Afterwards, I ran into a girl that I was on the airport transfer bus with (Trina from Germany), and we wondered around a nearby night market where you can purchase any “name brand” good your heart delsires—Ed Hardy t-shits, Gucci bags, Prada shades, Diesel jeans, rolex watches, whatever. The sides of the street are lined with bars and “ping pong” shows. I haven’t seen one yet, but apparently women do ridiculous things involving ANYTHING and their lady parts. There’s even a place called the “Super Pussy,” I’ll find out what that entails later. I was feeling pretty awful after all the food I ate, so I left and headed back to my hostel.

The next day I went for a run in Limphini park which was absolutely gorgeous. There are all sorts of groups of people doing dance, yoga, and martial arts throughout the park. After, I went to the Chatachak market which is only open on the weekends and is MASSIVE. I was lost inside for nearly four hours. Everything is there; food, bags, furniture, nick knacks, clothes, art, pet supplies—even puppies! Those poor things looked so hot and miserable; everyone was trying to touch them; it was so sad. I ate a bunch of street food including these waffle cone-like cups with some sort of custard, coconut ice cream in a cocunut shell, and balls of some sort of meat on a stick—a little spicy but I have no clue what it was. After, I took the skytrain back to the hostel and I walked around the night market again, and people watched while eating at a restaurant on the side. Thai men and women were heckling everyone to come to strip shows and bargaining over the price of bags and pashminas. I actually had an air conditioned room that night, and I met two people from Oklahoma traveling for a few weeks. We bonded over the idiocy of Sarah Palin during the recent election and traveling until we went to sleep.

The next night I had nowhere to stay because my hostel was booked, so I moved to another one randomly in hopes of vacancy. As soon as I walked in the door I heard a girl say my nme. I turn to find Corinne Rossignol who I went to Boston University with—Small world, again! She and I caught up for a while and she showed me a gym down the road that I didn’t have to pay for—horray! I worked out for a bit and then took the sky train to the pier in order to catch a river ferry to see some temples. I arrived a little late in the day so a few were closed, but I did get to go to Wat Po which is where the world’s largest reclining Buddha lies (his moment of enlightenment)--it’s 15 meters high and 46 meters long and is constructed with brick and wood and is plated in gold. The feet have designs in them in Mother of pearl. The next day I went back to the river ferry and they were trying to charge me more for the ticket—luckily I knew better and didn’t get scammed. I took the boat back to the Grand Palace and Wat Phraw Kaew where the Emerald Buddha sits (it actually is constructed from Jade). All the temples here are gold/glittering monstrocities with hand painted murals, colored glass, gold coating, and ceramic flowers. The view is awe inspiring to see all the work people go to for their faith.

FOOD CORNER

On my way back to the river ferry, I walked through a small food market. Nothing jumped out at me as too unusual until I decided to go down a random side aisle where I found COCKROACHES. I stood there in front of the bowl, staring at the deceased bugs coated in salt and, after much contemplation, purchased one. She ripped the wings off and put it into a plastic bag. Once I got back to the hostel, I found some moral support to witness my meal. Dave was ready with my camera while I munched on a cockroach as long as my pointer finger and twice as wide. It was awful. The body is similar to a peanut shell; mildly metallic tasting and difficult to break down. I was probably chewing for over a solid minute before I could swallow. The insides were gooey (which you would expect from a bug) but tasted like Jaeger, oddly enough, which is not one of my preferred alcoholic beverages. Yuck.

Taste: 1
Aftertaste:1