Chinatown in Bangkok is much like every other Chinatown in every other city. Everything is face-paced and lacking personal space. We headed to Chinatown to eat at Prachak, a restaurant known for their duck. Prachak was established in 1906 and is now ran by fourth-generation owners. The restaurant itself is quite small but easy to find because of its notoriety and proximity to the metro station.
Tiny place, big flavor
Sheer Excitement
While the duck is the main draw, we remembered the red pork from last time so ordered both dishes. We ate mainly amongst locals until a "Taste of Thailand" tour ushered the foreigners in. Rookies.
When we left the restaurant a man approached us and told us he was a teacher at Bangkok University and asked us about our travels. He seemed to be very genuine… but that didn’t last long. He started to ask us how much we were paying for everything and told us we needed to book stuff today- the last day of cheap prices. Then he called over a guy to take us straight to the booking agency. Nice try, teach! We said thanks but no thanks and thwarted his evil plan when we walked away.
Ian headed back to the hotel and I decided to go wedding dress shopping, because why not. I’ll tell you why not: Bangkok’s one size fits all is not exactly similar in any way to America’s medium. I didn’t go to a David's Bridal type place, but rather trendy boutique shops owned by the designers themselves. I loved this dress the most but would have had to lose two ribs and all the boobies to even begin to zip:
We met up again by Siam Paragon where a parade was to take place. The Thai government has been through some changes in the last year and they are still in a coup. In an effort to strengthen Thai pride, they held the first ever “Celebrate Thainess" parade along one of their main roads. The procession was supposed to begin at 5PM but didn’t actually start until 6:45PM. This is a phenomenon called “Thai Time”. While waiting for the parade to start we made friends with a lady named Lynn who was born and raised in Bangkok. She gave great context to the whole parade and pointed out the famous actors and comedians on the floats. We could only hope to goodness that she didn't hear us talking smack about her and her husband encroaching in on our space (before she revealed she spoke English).
Actors the Thai girls went gaga over
Look at the debauchery! Thais and tourists alike would run into the parade to take pictures with the performers. The other side of the main street was still open so everyone was dodging traffic. This would not fly in the US.
The parade was kind of "meh" because it started too late and didn't last too long. It was cool to see the traditional clothes and dances, but the attendee's poor etiquette put a damper on the experience. Also, no one threw candy out to the crowd. Imagine my disappointment!
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