Last night I decided to track down one of the more famous noodle shops in Bangkok – Raan Jay Fai. It’s got a bit of a cult following and apparently has the best pad khee mao (drunken noodles) anywhere in town. It’s nowhere near the regular tourist path, that’s for sure. Unless you’re like me and always search out the weird and the odd places like amulet markets and the monk’s bowl village, which is the neighbourhood Raan Jay Fai is in. Actually, I’ve likely walked past it a number of times in the last year.
Given that it was way across town in Banglampoo, nowhere near a skytrain or subway stop, I decided to take a motorcycle taxi. I know, many people will not get on these machines in Bangkok for fear of, well, death! But in Bangkok traffic, they are an efficient way of getting around – they can duck and dive between cars and buses and move much faster than the regular traffic. But yes, they are all maniacs and in the last week I have seen 2 motorcycle accidents along Sukhumvit. Well, the aftermath of accidents anyway… But still, it’s efficient and after this many years, I’ve learned to just go with it and be a good passenger.
My first mistake was not checking the sky in all directions as I left. It’s the rainy season here. It’s not a matter of *if* it’s going to rain, but *when* and *how hard*. I didn’t bring an umbrella or rain jacket. Half way to Khao San, the sky got nasty and black and it started to rain. Torrential downpour!! My mototaxi driver pulled over (thankfully) and we stood under an awning to wait it out. No such luck. I finally paid him and got a real taxi. Once I got to Khao San, I managed to find a $3 umbrella in the plethora of tourist crap, by which time the torrential monsoon had diminished and I could walk to Raan Jay Fai without being soaked.
For anyone out to find the place, it’s completely non-descript. Thankfully, the street number is visible on the outside of the shop, 327 Maha Chai Road, and I was able to ask one of the cooks if it was for sure the right place (there wasn’t anyone at the tables!). I ordered the pad khee mao with prawns, and a Singha. Spicy. I must admit, the food was good. I’m not sure it was 300 baht worth good, but definitely good. The prawns were some mutant strain of crustacean – there were huge! Three of them only, but had the equivalent meat as about 10 tiger shrimp. Fresh water river prawns I suspect. The noodles were thick (2 inches wide) and very tasty and chewy (not in a bad way) and the spices were good. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone headed in that direction. But for $10, it was expensive Thai street food! There are a couple of places along that strip that I would like to try – the pad thai place was packed with people.
Today I checked out of my hotel, stored the large duffle bag with Thai gear in the luggage storage, and took a taxi to BITEC where I was to meet my colleagues from Burapha University, Chutimun (materials science) and Vasin (VP of the university). We had lunch with Pichai and Thanakorn and then Chutimun (or Wow as her nickname) and I headed to Chanthaburi in the van. It was a good trip actually – we have a lot in common – scuba diving, climbing, hiking, etc., so had a long chat on the way down. She said she was a little nervous about being put in charge of me for fear that I would be one of those professors/scientists who only talk work and technical science all the time!! So I guess I was quite a relief to her!! I thought that was kind of funny, and a bit of a relief to me as well – I’m always very nervous and uncomfortable and insecure meeting other researchers.
The campus is actually 20 km away from Chanthaburi and pretty much in the middle of nowhere! It’s a small campus (2000 students) and has three main faculties – gemmology, marine engineering, and arts. Burapha has a 2nd campus in Chonburi, an hour away. The campus here is only 10 years old. Most students and professors actually live on site, and I am staying in one of the residences on the top floor. It’s quite nice – huge room, AC, balcony overlooking the prawn farms and the briny marshes in the fields below. It’s a beautiful setting – mountains on one side and the ocean only 5 km away.
After getting settled in to my room, I met everyone downstairs and we took a university van to a fishing village on the ocean, about 20 minutes away, to have a seafood feast. It was a lot of fun – everyone was relaxed and friendly and laughing – like most geology departments I have been in! It’s obvious they are a tight-knit group, even with the VP of the entire university there and the Dean of the gemmology department. We feasted on squid, tom yam kung with soft-shelled crabs, deep fried and salt-baked sea bass, crab fried rice, spicy clam salad, and, my favorite dish of all time, chili basil scallops. But not just any scallop – possibly the best scallops in the world! Oh man, they were soooooooo good!!! Completely amazing. They had the scallop muscle, but also had the other parts still attached – the gills and ovaries – and those parts are incredible! Melt in your mouth, sweet, tender. I was in heaven. I also got to try snake fruit, or salak, which is a fruit that I have seen in the markets this trip but did not have the guts to try. It’s in season now, which is why I have never seen it before when here. It’s ugly, spiky, with a tough brown shell or skin, shaped like a football. Inside is something resembling a longan but larger, and with a pit. But they are good – kind of sweet-sour. Gonna find more in the market tomorrow, now that I know how to eat them!
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