Our five days in Bangkok was the biggest food trip Abet and I ever had. In the five whole days we were there, I had 5 pad thais, 2 tom yums, 2 orders of mango sticky rice, 2 orders of bagoong rice, and countless papayas, watermelons, Thai iced tea, and street food we barely recognized. Abet ate curry and more curry. I’m not going to say how much alcohol we consumed, because my mom reads my blog. (Hi, Ma!)

As you probably know, we went to Thailand for Abet to join the annual Asia International Guitar Competition. Unfortunately, he didn’t get into the finals, but I’m still so proud of him for joining and doing his best in his first international competition. I’m even prouder of his attitude with this whole competition, his disappointment dissipated quicker than I would have thought, and now he’s raring to practice and play and compete again. That’s my Abet!

This trip was our least expensive trip abroad, proud to say! With the wedding (and marriage!) next year, Abet and I are now more careful with our spending, and that includes our travel expenses. We’re King and Queen of Cheap Accommodation, so naturally, we stayed at an inexpensive but very good value-for-money hostel. We passed on some touristy spots/activities such as the Siam Ocean World, the Grand Palace (sayang ang 350 baht), and the Siam Niramit show (not only was it pricey, but we didn’t have the time for this). We even passed on the, erm, sights at Patpong, the red-light district, because we weren’t too keen on spending thousands of pesos to dodge ping-pong balls ejected from bare lady parts. Maybe next time when we aren’t on a tight budget. This is the first country we’ve been to where we didn’t buy any books, but that was because everyhing was in Thai (and Central World where the mega-book store Kinokuniya is was burned down last month). We even mellowed down with the pasalubong this time. On our previous trips, we maximized our luggage allowance with stuff to take back home, but for now–sorry, family and friends, we’re some kinda poor.

The only thing we splurged on was our food. I love Thai cuisine so much, and I’ve converted Abet into a Thai food lover as well. This trip was just heaven for us. I have low tolerance for spicy food, but by my third day I noticed that I no longer got a runny nose while digging into my pad thai, and my glass of Thai iced tea lasted until the end of my meal. I have to say though: THAI FOOD IS LITERALLY A PAIN IN THE ASS. Go figure.

We enjoyed getting around, their train and ferry system are very efficient, and the taxis we took were okay. Abet and I walked around a lot; we needed the exercise from all the food we ate. Walking around Bangkok is peachy with the relatively clean air, interesting sidewalk stalls selling all kinds of items from Thai souvenir items to soap carved into flowers to aromatherapy supplies to sex toys, and of course, yummy street food. Alas, a lot of that walking was under the sweltering Siamese sun, that even if I never go out without slathering a generous amount of SPF50 on my face, I still ended up with a bit of a tan. I think I may need some prototype 37c from all that sun damage on my face from the trip to the temples.

We got back this morning, and as usual when we travel, I’m already experiencing withdrawal symptoms from Abet. I’m so used to having him around the last week that I’m already starting to miss him now. And as usual, I ended up falling for my boyfriend all over again. He spoils me rotten when it’s just the two of us, I feel like a princess. I’m cheesy again. I can’t help it. Sorry naman.

I’m now back at work, but I’m still on vacation mode. Pfffft. Anyway, I’m relieved that I got back to just 62 unread emails waiting for me, I was expecting worse. Right now there’s a pile of tamarind candy on my desk with a sign that says “Kuha kayo!”

I’ll review the hostel in a future post, I highly recommend it, and I’ll be posting more about our trip, but guess what they’ll be mostly about? Yep, food!