Thailand: Come hungry

If you’re into food, I’m not sure there’s a better travel destination than Thailand. From a culinary standpoint, this country is a goldmine. Not only is the food here delectable, it is also astonishingly affordable. I arrived in Bangkok weary from two months of travel in India. Within moments, however, the culinary delights of this new country had me reinvigorated.

Photo by Melanie Hansen - click to enlarge

Before I even checked into my hotel, I began sampling the street foods – pad Thai, mango sticky rice, fresh fruit shakes. The sheer volume of fruit in Thailand is enough to make your head spin. Mango, banana, pineapple, papaya, watermelon… the list goes on and on. I began to feel incomplete if I went a day without a fresh fruit shake.

My travels in the “Land of a Thousand Smiles” took me to all the usual tourist spots – Bangkok, the islands in the south, and Chiang Mai in the north. If you ever get to Thailand and are as fanatical about food as I am, then the Sunday Night Market in Chiang Mai is not to be missed. They close down Ratchadamnoen Road to traffic and pedestrians can stroll from one end to the other, buy a silk scarf or other regional handicraft, and sample an array of local foods from sweet to savory.

On the savory end of the scale, there was grilled corn-on-the-cob, skewered fish and chicken on the grill, pad Thai made-to-order, and a unique selection of deep-fried insects. I never got daring enough to try these, but friends who did said they were simply “crunchy.” I’ll take their word for it.

My travels through Southeast Asia will take me briefly back through Thailand. Needless to say, my stomach is already grumbling in anticipation. So if you’re looking for a food-based holiday, consider Thailand.

Melanie Hansen currently finds herself in India and from there plans to travel to Thailand and… to be continued. At the moment she is enjoying taking photos of her travels, eating strange new foods, and blogging about her adventures.