Living In Bangkok

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Travel to Thailand is relatively cheap regardind time / distance of the country with others.

General info about Bangkok:

Bangkok is a city culturally rich, with great contrasts. Much different from any modern European cities without delicacy, gaining in exotic, architecture, gastronomy and culture.
Walking around the city is facing with a different reality, with its smells, colors and it naturally wildness.
Bangkok smells of spices, freshly marinated cooked meat, tiara flowers and powerful dusty ozone just before a thunderstorm, but it also smells like dirt, sewers, smoke, pollution ...
In Bangkok you can listening to cicadas that seem to howl, birds that seem any other exotic animal, toads that sound like insects and tree frogs that give identity to the "rainy season" and the nights.

In the "city of the eternal (but also faked) smiles, the gray colour of the streets blends with tones mixed with bright pink, red, blue and green neon lights, the multitonal taxis and the cute "Tuk Tuk" .
Splashes of green tropical trees, the lilac lotus flowers embraces all, and the neon electric night sparks remains eternal.


Climate:

The country has three seasons only: raining season, summer & winter.
In general, all year-round, sunrise starts around 6 am and the sun is between 6 / 7 P.M.
European summer is their winter and vice versa.
The temperature is constant throughout the year (25-31 º C day and 25-27 º C at night), but usually raise up to 14- 15 degrees in the Asian summer, especially regarding humidity matters.
As you can expect the humidity leves (from 50% in winter and 75% in summer), is real hell. The WORST period is from summer (Feb-May)and increases in the raining season (May- October).
You sweat constantly whatever you do, and you'll have a constant feeling "to be sticky" like.

The winter is just lovely, warm and with only a few tropical storms.
The nights are especially enjoyable, when the dark falls, and the city refresh itself with pleasant fresh breezes.
The summer is dry and extremely hot and sitcky.
The rainy season is the worst time to visit, is too hot, massive heavy tropical rain and electrical storms.


Clothing:

Breathable fabrics, linens, light cottons are the best.
Forget the jeans and fashion clothing.
Impossible to wear.
flip-flops of the feet daily.
Bring a raincoat with a hood for the unexpected huge rains and "Crocs" to protect your feet from the dirty of the floor.


Thai cuisine:

A real universe. Beyond rice and noodles, a rich cuisine stands by itself.
As a recommendation, do not forget to try fresh juices as a beverage companion to the meal. Guava, pineapple, mango, grenadine, orange Thai (such as mandarin), banana, mixed ones, etc ... Divine.
Regarding food and going in the cheap side , the best offer is the street food.
With ridiculous prices, it will be where you can enjoy the real Thai food.
Don't forget to ask your meal as "Mai pet" as the level here of spices and chilli is uneatable.

-Green or yellow Curries: Usually served with plain boiled rice or "sticky" (a Thai variety of grain longer than it is steamed and diced bamboo, as the grains are glued to each other).
The green curry is particularly tasty and served as a soup with coconut milk, chilli, boiled chicken and fig.

Noodles-: In soups, dry. Delicious
Offered sautéed with chicken orpork beef and veggies.

- Morning Glory: spring onion sauteed with water lilies, lemongrass and chili verde. Gorgeous.

- Lamb: Normally sweet with cinnamon. Sometimes sautéed with minced chives, onion, chili, basil and lemon grass.

-Chicken: Boiled or fried.
It's the most prized meat in street stalls. The most delicious variety is done with ginger, (my favorite spice here after the Lemongrass).

-Vegetables: Loads of chives, onion, garlic, basil, Lemongrass, ginger, chili, red and green peppers, bamboo, cabbage...

-Fruit: Everything and beyond.
Watermelon, mango, banana, coconut, grenadine, guava, kumquat... are quite common and easy to find. The rest are unidentify and dare to try ...

-Insects: Fried and crispy, crickets, beetles, worms, grasshoppers. Incredibly taste in palate as chips.

-Seafood: White fish grill or boiled with bamboo leaves.
Squid, normally grilled or deep fried.
A curious lunchtime snack based on live shrimp (raw and literally jumping) with chili powder.
I was so sick the first time I saw it.
i can't even dare to try.

... But the real winner, and most consumed like no other is:

The fried-egg: doesn't matter if is from chicken, duck or quail,but here, is consumed in pairs all day. Thai cholesterol in the country must be over the roof.

That's a humble introduction.
If you have any question / suggestion, please feel free to contact me!.

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