Emporium

About a block north of my apartment is Emporium. This is a high-end fashion complex that has a grocery store on the 5th floor. I go there often to buy food, and to have lunch on weekends. I'm posting some pictures just to show how cool this place is. For the past few weeks there has been a festival featuring Korean food. The two Thai girls in the one pic below are wearing traditional Korean dresses. The last pic shows the park next to Emporium. It was taken while I was eating a delicious Tempura lunch at a Japanese resturant with a window view to the city looking west towards our office. And yes, when I get homesick I stop by Burger King. It tastes just a good as in KC.

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Soi Cowboy

Bangkok has an underside. In most cases you have to look for it. But in some situations it looks for you and hits you in the face. For example, Pantip - the computer store I mentioned earlier can be disturbing what with people halking Adult DVDs openly, pushing it in your face as you walk down the hallways. Then there is Soi Cowboy. a small Soi (side street) famous for its cater to tourist. It is only a few blocks from our office. I had never been there before today. Nor do I want to go there at night. Today was a nice day and on a Saturday morning I figured it would be quiet. And it was. It is called Soi Cowboy because of the one attraction that has the biggest sign. Closer towards my apartment is a Soi called Soi Yippun (Japan) because of all the Japanese resturants and grocery store.

It seems on Saturday mornings, Soi Cowboy is like any other Bangkok Soi - street vendors selling food - nothing more.

And of course the mothers with babies on the street. This is perhaps one of the most disturbing experiences of Bangkok. Usually the children are asleep, laying like rag dolls in their mother's arms. I believe they are given medication to put them out and make them look even more "starving". I've been told the children are shared by women. You find this situation close to where there are tourists. So I was not surprized to see this on Soi Cowboy.

Did I mention walking the sidewalks of Bangkok can be dangerous?

And here is why. On either side of the walkway there are food vendors, merchants, and you guessed it motorcycle taxi drivers waiting for anyone, carrying anything to hop on the back and off down the street for a few Baht (Thai currency).

Today was a quiet Saturday in Bangkok. The weather was again exceptionally cool. Not many

people out on the street when I took these pictures, but I'm sure you can only imagine what it is like during normal weekdays. Vendors, people walking and Motorcycle taxis on both sides of the walk.

And guess what. The center lane is reserved for bicycles and of course Motorcycles. Yes, that's right. They drive on the sidewalks.

Amazing Thailand

Ms. Saigon, the FBI and Vietnamese Food

Last November I was listening to NPR radio. They were conducting an interview with a former Ms Saigon, Meyung Robinson. Ms Robinson is also a former FBI agent. And now she is the owner and chef for one of the most popular Vietnamese restaurants in Bangkok. Xuan Mai (Shun Mai - means Spring Flower in Vietnamese).

Being fond of nearly every type of cultural food (at least once) I committed to make a vi st to this little restaurant which is located off of Suhkumvit road and the end of Soi 13. From my apartment it is a 15 minute ride on the Skytrain + a 15 minute walk up the Soi. With the weather in BKK now hitting the upper 90's and humidity competing for a win the last 5 minutes of the walk was difficult. My fault. I ventured out during the hottest part of the day. Still I had my bottle of water, towel and umbrella to keep the sun from doing too much damage.

One on-line review I had read mentioned a lack of AC, but I still decided to visit. Thankfully the AC was working fine.

The restaurant is cozy as you can see from the pics. And in traditional Asian style, the food is prepared while you wait. In the pic you can see the staff preparing my lunch. It is all so fresh. In fact, when I arrived at the resturant, I could not get in. The vegetable seller's cart, full of "picked from the garden this morning" veggies was making his daily stop. It is always 'summer' in Bangkok - everthing is fresh.

I started off with a bottle of Hanoi Beer. The name alone caught my attention. And instead of peanuts, they serve beef jerky to enjoy with the beer. You can see the jerky in the small serving bowl shown in the picture

The waitress then brought me a bowl of mixed green vegetables that included leaf lettuce, mint, basil, coriander and two small servings of picked vegetables. I've eaten Vietnamese food before but this plate was new to me. What do I do with it? So I asked - my Thai is bit better now by the way, so the waitress understood me - or was it the confused look on my face? Either way I figured it out. It is quite amazing and simple...one simply makes a collection of whatever they like from the bowl of veggies, roll it up and eat. I immediately began to feel "healthy".

I then tried Emperor Rolls. These are fried spring rolls that are the most unique I have ever experienced. They were wrapped in what appeared to be flaky rice paper - as thin as Philo dough. Instead of eating them plain, you wrap them in leaf lettuce, along with thin slice of cucumber in the middle, then then dip in a special sweet sauce.

And for the main course I ordered Lemon Grass Chicken which was incredible. Very light seasoning. Nothing hot.

Ms Robinson only works in the evenings so I will have to make another trip. If not this vi st to Bangkok, then the next. And certainly if my wife is here with me (can't wait). This is one Asian style food she can handle. Very light and not one hint of 'heat'.

See: http://www.xuanmairestaurant.com/ for more information