Bangkok: by Matt

I had many expectations when arriving in Bangkok and Southeast Asia. Any food personality or writer I have followed has always described it as the land with everything. Delicious food, incredible smiling people, and yes, more delicious food.

Thai food has always been one of my favorite foods (not just to eat but to cook too), and this trip has fully reassured me on how truly amazing the food really is. Did I mention that you can have a meal with an appetizer, a main and a couple of beers for 200 baht? That's $6!!

The street food is cheaper and sometimes even tastier. Think about the average street food vendor...he or she makes this dish in a couple variations (chick, pork, veg) over and over all day, everyday. Basically, they've been able to perfect their dishes better than any restaurant. How can it not be good?

The list could go on for days about the good food that we ate in Bangkok and the Thai islands, but I can't remember it all and people don't want to read every last detail. There was so much curry and tom yum soup that I'm fine not eating it for a few weeks. The Thai spring rolls will be missed but excitement is building for the Vietnamese pork dumplings!

Enough about food though. Bangkok is a crazy and chaotic place. We stayed by Koh San Road, which is the backpackers area of town. The streets are full of cheap knock off clothing and is the place to stock up on goods before the islands where the price doubles.

A lot of our time was spent at travel agencies getting our plans together but we did have some time to check out the Grand Palace. Here are some of the pics.