Day 4: Sawasdee 🙏
By: Malina Tran
Tags: Thailand, Travel, Vegan, Taiwan, Food

Day 4: Sawasdee 🙏

7am

There are some people who sleep in during vacations, and then there is me. My day officially starts when I get up to use the restroom, which was at 2am today. It gave me time to double-check our train and flight schedule and crank out this post. After checking out early, we took the 40-ish minute express train to the airport, went through security (pretty quick!), and reunited with my family. We are Bangkok-bound!

I ate the pastries we bought the night before, from the all-vegan bakery Yiihotang. My favorite was their pineapple cake and Viennese bread, a deceivingly-slender baguette with savory filling. The airport seems to have an obsession with Hello Kitty and a dearth of milk tea options, but I find a place where I settle for soybean milk tea with tapioca. It was okay. NT$80

Some time in the sky

For the flight, I thought it’d be fun to select my meal option as “vegan/vegetarian (Oriental),” innocuously thinking that I’d get delicious plant-based versions of orange or kung pao chicken.

I was wrong. Oh so wrong.

The entree was a porridge that I swapped with bæ and instead, I had hash browns, broccoli, and mushrooms. Compared to other types of airport food, it was pretty decent. The sides included fruits, a dinner roll, and coffee cake (the latter which I also acquired through a swap with bæ since I didn’t want another side of fruits/veggies). I felt bad since he said it was not tasty and ended up not eating most of it.

We weren’t quite sure about the butter since we weren’t familiar with the brand and it wasn’t labeled as dairy-free. We chose to not consume it since we’ve had actual butter for vegan meals (ugh, United) and we’ve learned from previous experiences the limited knowledge among flight attendants when it comes to veganism. A later Google search reveals that Australian-brand Nuttelex is indeed vegan, and now we know!

In any case, the meal was okay––perhaps a step up above than others, but it was not as good as the movie I was watching: Parasite.

5:15pm

Walking through the famous (although anxiety-inducing) Khao San Road, I felt like I was walking through the less-savory parts of any tourist spot. It felt like a cross between Times Square and Venice Boardwalk with its own touch of knockoff products, masseuse hawkers, insect vendors, and perhaps the most egregious spectacle to me: the full body of a crocodile being displayed as the flesh was still being extracted for consumption.

Having driven and walked through some of the street, the sheer number of vegans is fairly astounding. A few blocks from the hotel, we go to Mango Restaurant. I am hungry, but opt for the most basic of Thai food: pad thai. There is a bit of a spin with this dish, as there is a medley of seasonal veggies such as gingko nuts, lotus root, star fruit and beans (chickpea, red kidney beans, and black beans). At first I’m a bit miffed for getting a derived and way-too-healty version of my beloved pad thai. All of the ingredients felt rather incongruous together, but with their pad thai sauce (made of coconut, pineapple, and passion fruit juices) does ultimately taste good and it does feel good to eat good. Meanwhile, bæ’s curry is out of this world, and the portion is overwhelming. His smoothie is not properly blended and he gives up, in disgust. We are in a bit of a rush so we down our meals! I top off mine with a big glass of delicious iced Thai tea with coconut milk and it goes down smooth. ฿475 (for two)

6pm onward

We book it to nearby Wat Pho, which closes at 6:30pm. It is an enclosed Buddhist complex of ornate temples and stupas and the famous Reclining Buddha, and as soon as we get there, the sun set has just set and the buildings are lit, revealing fine architectural details and dramatic contours against the darkening sky. I am wearing shorts and there is no other option for me, so I’m turned away unless I can automatically conjure long pants. It is a deeply infuriating experience, a proof to me that sexism can be institutionalized and even honored, as men with shorts are permitted to enter as they please.

Coupled with a near-hit experience by a tuk tuk and the chaos of crosswalking in Bangkok, I resign for the night. I can’t help but feel that, especially compared to the calmness and controlled chaos of Taipei, I just don’t like it here. Or maybe I just got off on the wrong foot.

$18.32